Florida Forecast Charts ...................................................................20

FLORIDA NEWS SUMMARIES

Disney moving parks division jobs from California to new Florida campus

• The Walt Disney Company is moving some employees in its Parks, Experiences and Products division from California to a new campus in

Central Florida. • The move will take place over the next 18 months to give employees time to make arrangements.

The company is still determining which employees will be relocating to the new campus, which is a project that he said has been in the works since 2019. • Disney’s new regional campus will be built in the

Lake Nona area of Orlando. It will house more than 2,000 Imagineers and other employees. Source: Spectrum News 13, July 15, 2021

Florida back-to-school tax break teed up as students return to classrooms

• During the tax holiday, shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes, shoes and backpacks that cost $60 or less, school supplies that cost $15 or less, and the first $1,000 of the price of personal computers, including laptops and tablets, and computer accessories. • The holiday is part of a $196.3 million tax package that state lawmakers approved in April and will run through Aug. 9.

• State economists estimate Floridians will save $69.4 million during the 10-day period, cutting state revenue by $53.3 million and reducing local tax dollars by $16.1 million. Source: News4JAX, July 28, 2021

Florida sees tourism rebound in second quarter

• Florida attracted 31.7 million visitors in the second quarter of this year, as the state continued to expand tourism-marketing efforts and

COVID-19 vaccinations became readily available. • The total was a 16.3 percent improvement from the first three months of the year and was 223.4 percent above the second quarter of 2020, when the global pandemic devastated the state’s vital tourism industry. • The 2021 visitor numbers from April 1 through

June 30 were also just 2.2 percent below where the state was in 2019, a year when the state was unknowingly at the end of a decade-long run of annual record-setting tourism numbers. Source: Tampa Bay Times, August 16, 2021

Florida orders school boards to relax mask rules or risk pay

• Florida officials are threatening to withhold funds equal to the salaries of school board members if school districts in two counties don’t immediately