The University of Tampa Lowth Entrepreneurship Center will showcase its students’ startup business concepts at the inaugural New Venture Exposition on Friday, April 14.
The exposition will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center, which is located in the Daly Innovation and Collaboration Building on the UT campus. It is free and open to the public.
The New Venture Exposition is the culmination of work of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center students and program participants. Graduate students in the M.S. in Entrepreneurship program, as well as senior undergraduate students majoring in entrepreneurship, will present business concepts that were developed at the start of the academic year. Their concepts will be judged alongside Spartan Accelerator and Incubator program participants, many of whom have already committed hundreds of hours to their new ventures.
The students will compete in the following categories: 1) Tech, Online and Application; 2) Retail and Product; 3) Health Care; 4) Food and Beverages, Hospitality and Entertainment; 5) Services. Winners in each of the categories will be selected by experts in each field. Experts will include Lowth Center advisory board members, entrepreneurs- and experts-in-residence, UT faculty members and other community stakeholders in the Tampa Bay entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This annual, campus-wide event will educate students and the community about opportunities the Lowth Center provides and enhance students’ ability to achieve their professional goals. It will also provide employers access to qualified candidates to meet their recruitment needs.
To register for the event, visit https://2017newventureexpo.eventbrite.com.
Hialeah man wins top prize playing $1,000,000 CASHWORD Scratch-Off game
The Florida Lottery announces that Llidier Rodon Estevez, 44, of Hialeah, claimed a top prize in the $1,000,000 CASHWORD Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $760,000.00.
Rodon Estevez purchased his winning ticket from Tula Citgo, located at 4098 Palm Avenue in Hialeah. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.
The $10 Scratch-Off game, $1,000,000 CASHWORD, launched on May 17, 2016 and features eight top prizes of $1 million and more than 2.9 million winning tickets. The overall odds of winning are one-in-3.39.
Scratch-Off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 65 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $734 million for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2015-16.
Florida Polytechnic University Students and Leaders Head to Tallahassee for Florida Poly Day
WHAT: Students, faculty, staff and lawmakers will meet at the Florida Capitol on Tuesday, April 4 for Florida Poly Day. This annual event is focused on promoting the state’s newest public university and the only one dedicated exclusively to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Nearly 50 Florida Poly students and representatives will meet with lawmakers to discuss Florida Poly’s mission, applied research initiatives, industry partnerships and the school’s overall economic impact on the state.
Florida Poly will also set up a display booth in the Senate Portico to share information and answer questions.
WHO: Florida Polytechnic University President Dr. Randy K. Avent, students, faculty, staff and legislators.
WHEN: Tuesday, April 4, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Florida State Capitol
Senate Portico
400 S Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Florida PSC Urges Residents to Call 811 Before You Dig
Spring marks the start of home improvement projects for many Floridians. Whether that includes building a deck in the backyard or planting a tree, before you get that shovel out, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) urges you to “call 811 before you dig!”
“April is National Safe Digging Month and since safety is a top PSC priority, we fully support this annual campaign,” said PSC Chairman Julie Brown. “A free call to 811 before any digging project will help avoid injury, damage expense, as well as a possible interruption of electric, internet, or phone service.”
An 811 call, which is the federally designated call-before-you-dig number, notifies affected utility companies to dispatch crews to mark the location of underground utility lines. Utility markings show those who dig the approximate location of underground lines to help prevent damage to vital utilities.
In Florida, 811 is open for calls from 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday and is managed by the Sunshine State One Call Center, a nonprofit corporation. Residents are urged to call 811 two full business days before beginning their digging project.
For more information on the 811 campaign, supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, visit www.call811.com or access the PSC’s Consumer Tip, 8-1-1 Know What’s Below.
For additional information, visit www.floridapsc.com.
Follow the PSC on Twitter, @floridapsc.
Action News Jax: FL House Vote to Eliminate Enterprise Florida Could Hurt Military Families
“FL House Vote to Eliminate Enterprise Florida Could Hurt Military Families”
WFOX – Jacksonville, FL
March 29, 2017
To view the clip, click HERE.
Attorney General Bondi Appointed to President’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission
Attorney General Pam Bondi is honored to be appointed to President Donald J. Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. As a member of the commission, Attorney General Bondi will work alongside national leaders in the opioid fight on drug prevention, interdiction and treatment strategies. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will chair the commission.
“I am honored to work alongside President Trump, Governor Christie and others to combat the national opioid crisis that is claiming thousands of American lives every year,” said Attorney General Bondi. “For more than two decades, first as a state prosecutor and now as Florida’s attorney general, I have fought drug abuse at the local and state level—with this appointment I will work with national leaders in this vital fight.”
In 2011, when Attorney General Bondi took office, seven Floridians were dying every day from prescription drug abuse, 98 of the top 100 oxycodone dispensers lived in Florida, and Florida was known as the Pill Mill Capital of the Country. Working with law enforcement and lawmakers, Attorney General Bondi took quick action to shut down pill mills and save lives. Today none of the top oxycodone dispensers live in Florida.
In 2012, Attorney General Bondi chaired the Prescription Drug Abuse and Newborn Task Force to raise awareness, improve reporting and identify policy recommendations regarding Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. NAS effects babies born drug exposed. The task force finished ahead of schedule with recommendations to raise awareness, increase reporting and improve treatment. The task force also worked with the legislature to secure millions of recurring dollars to treat expectant mothers addicted to drugs.
Since taking office, Attorney General Bondi has issued executive orders and worked with lawmakers to ban 136 of the most common chemical compounds used to produce deadly synthetic drugs. In 2016, Attorney General Bondi helped pass sweeping legislation to dramatically improve control over synthetic drugs.
For the 2017 legislative session, Attorney General Bondi is supporting legislation to add Fentanyl to Florida’s drug trafficking statute. Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic substance 50 times more powerful than heroin. Drug dealers commonly mix Fentanyl with other substances and sell it as heroin or a prescription painkiller—all too often resulting in drug abusers suffering fatal overdoses.
As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi has fought drug abuse for two decades. She is currently the Co-Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Substance Abuse Committee. The appointment to the President’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission will allow her to work with other national leaders on drug prevention, interdiction, treatment and recovery strategies.
House and Senate Committees Vote to Protect Florida’s Reemployment Program From Fraud
The House Government Accountability and Senate Rules committees today unanimously approved HB 671 and SB 372, which strengthen the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s efforts to fight fraud in the state’s Reemployment Assistance program. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Kelli Stargel and Representative Mike LaRosa, provides DEO access to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ DAVID System, which includes the state photo identification database.
Cissy Proctor, Executive Director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, said, “Sen. Stargel and Rep. LaRosa have shown incredible leadership by embracing DEO’s fight against fraud and because of their commitment, we are closer to achieving stronger protections for Florida’s Reemployment Assistance program. Access to driver’s license photos will ensure criminals cannot fraudulently steal Reemployment Assistance from job seekers who need it.
“I applaud the House and Senate for their unanimous support of DEO’s fraud prevention efforts throughout committee hearings and I look forward to receiving support from the full House and Senate when they vote on the bill soon.”
The legislation includes the tools and legal authorizations that are critical to prevent and fight public benefits fraud by providing DEO access to the driver’s license database to confirm claimant-provided IDs are not fraudulent.
About DEO
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity combines the state’s economic, workforce, and community development efforts. This new approach helps expedite economic development projects to fuel job creation in competitive communities. For more information, including valuable resources for employers and job seekers, please visit www.floridajobs.org.
Flagler professor selected to participate in summer seminar at Yale
Flagler College Associate Professor of Art History Dr. Chris Balaschak was recently selected to attend a seminar at the Yale Center for British Art focused on “Landscape and Identity in Britain and the United States, 1770-1914.”
The seminar is organized by The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and will be held between July 24 to 28 in New Haven, Conn.
“Part of my interest in going is to learn more about the pedagogical role of the Flagler art collection (most of which is in the Flagler Room),” Balaschak said. “I’ve used it in my teaching, and for student research and writing projects. We actually have fairly limited information on Flagler’s collection. While at Yale, I am hoping to gain a broader context for the material we have on campus in such a way as to benefit my classes and scholarship.”
Balaschak received his doctoral degree in 2010 from the program in Visual Studies at University of California, Irvine, and his bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1998. Dr. Balaschak specializes in the history of photography, contemporary art and visual culture. His research looks at how ‘photography in print’ (books, essays, ephemera) constructed an American sense of place during the mid-20th century. The legacy of American social documentary photography, the political context of the Cold War, and the socio-economic conditions of post-industrialism are common themes in his writing. His work has recently appeared in several different books, including “Paper Cities: Urban Portraits in Photographic Books” (Leuven University Press), “Conflict, Identity and Protest in American Art” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), and “Truth in the Public Sphere” (Lexington Books).
According to CIC, the week-long course at Yale will address British and American landscape painting in a global context. Seminar participants will view major works of art at the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery, and will take trips to New York City to view the great collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Hudson River Valley, a favored subject among American landscape painters; a visit to Olana, the home of painter Frederic Church; and to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
For more information on the seminar, click here.
Gov. Rick Scott to Host Zika Preparedness Roundtable in West Palm Beach
Tomorrow, March 30th, Governor Rick Scott will host a roundtable with community leaders in West Palm Beach on Zika preparedness ahead of the rainy season when mosquitos are most prevalent in Florida.
WHAT: Zika Preparedness Roundtable
WHEN: 3:00 PM
WHERE: Florida Department of Health Palm Beach
1150 45th Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
Florida Access to Justice Project statement on House passage of judicial term limits
The Florida House today passed a measure that would impose term limits on state Supreme Court and appeals court judges. Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo issued the following statement on behalf of the Florida Access to Justice Project:
“Today’s vote is yet another in a series of attacks against the courts for doing their job and striking down unconstitutional actions by the legislature. We hope the Senate takes a more responsible approach and doesn’t continue to move this dangerous proposal forward.
“This resolution is nothing more than petty political retribution on the part of leaders in the Florida House who resent the court for doing its job and acting as a check on their abuse of power.
“We don’t need to limit the terms of the judges on our highest courts. What we need is experienced, seasoned jurists, and we need to keep politics out of our judicial system.”
