ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — Amid rising costs, the U.S. economy continues to set inflation records — now at a 40-year high. 

Data shows prices accelerated in May at the fastest rate since 1981 and experts say it doesn’t look like it’s showing any signs of slowing down.

The prices of food, gas and most other goods and services jumped astronomically and a lot of people are feeling the pinch.

It’s down to necessities only, between groceries and gas, there is no more money left to squeeze.

Pensacola economist Dr. Rick Harper says the struggles will likely continue. 

“My view is that we’re increasingly at risk for a long battle with inflation because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows no signs of being reversed,” Dr. Harper said.

Inflation currently sits at 8.6% nationally but in Florida, it’s actually worse than that. 

“We’re at just over 11%,” Dr. Harper said. “A lot of that is due to the extreme increase in housing cost.”

He says Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine continues to drive up prices. 

“If you expect inflation to be high that means that you as a business are going to raise prices because you know that your input costs are going up,” Dr. Harper said. “Everything from the trucks that you use to deliver your product, to the labor that is used to produce the product, those costs are all rising, so the longer it continues, the greater risk it is and I’m afraid given the stalemate in the Russia war against Ukraine, that we’re not seeing any prompt resolution.”

Dr. Harper says as the government tries to offset inflation with higher interest rates, we’re at risk for even more financial hardships. 

“If they raise interest rates too much then we run the risk of a very rapid slow down, perhaps even bursting of the bubble in the housing market, so that would throw us into a recession,” Dr. Harper said. “Because when we’re not building houses, there are no jobs for people in the construction sector, in the finance and insurance industry that provides the financing to buy houses, and of course, the car industry is enormously important as well.”

The Federal Reserve is set to meet this week in Washington.

Dr. Harper says he expects them to raise interest rates another half a percentage point.

Fuente

Aprobada por el Sr. Ron De Santis el 14 de abril 2022, la Ley denominada HB5 del Estado de Florida, entra en vigor el 1 de Julio de 2022

Por Carmen Jackie Gimenez For Florida

Cuando hablamos de aborto, el significado en Estados Unidos, (Abortion Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.) definida como la terminación del embarazo por varios métodos, incluyendo cirugías médicas, antes de que el feto sea capaz de sostener una vida independiente.

Y desde este primero de Julio, comenzaron las discusiones, peleas, protestas, reuniones, aplausos, entre otras manifestaciones en favor y en contra de una ley que muy poca gente seguramente leyó.

De Santis, como si la tal ley fuese algo de verdad maravilloso, hizo todo el teatro necesario, llamo a ruedas de prensa y presento HB5 como la panacea del siglo.

Para los que hemos tenido la valentía de leerla, nos ha parecido un total fraude de ley, que no es más que una serie de medidas nada impactantes mixto con unas leves modificaciones de un escrito del pasado año 2017, que además combina con ciertas medidas limitantes para los fumadores. Vaya mezcla!

Para los cristianos, que creemos en las palabras de la biblia, que creemos que el feto esta vivo desde el momento de la unión entre espermatozoide y óvulo, resulta una burla, un acto de DISTRACCIÓN POLÍTICA PARA QUE LOS FLORIDIANOS MIREMOS A UN LADO DE LA REALIDAD.

¿Cuál es la realidad de los que vivimos en Florida, la Florida de a pie?

La Florida de hace 10 años era un sitio bello donde todo mundo quería vivir, con un balance importante entre producción, población, transito, desarrollo de negocios, la educación estaba en mejora, así como el balance entre la libertad y el libertinaje, donde Disney desempeña un valor agregado importantísimo de valores y prosperidad. Una delicia.

Solo dejo las cifras despejadas acá para ir dando poco a poco las soluciones que propongo como gobernadora del Estado.

1. 48% de las personas sienten que la inflación afectó su capacidad para pagar facturas,
2. el 77% admite que esta problemática alteró sus gastos de supermercado y comestibles.
3. el 24% explica que han tenido problemas persistentes para mantenerse al día con sus pagos de renta o hipoteca.
4. los niveles de inflación han superado las cifras nacionales.
5. Únicamente en Tampa la tasa de inflación anual en marzo del 2022 era de 10.2%,
6. La inflación del Estado de Florida es al menos 2 puntos porcentuales de la tasa de inflación nacional que rondaba en el 8.5%.
7. La tasa de rendimiento escolar que va de A a la F, está en un rango que varía de C a D, muy por debajo de muchos estados cuya rata de rendimiento escolar esta entre A y B.
8. El número de delitos violentos aumentó en un 2,3 %, según cifras del Departamento de Aplicación de la Ley de Florida
9. El galón de gasolina se encuentra al menos unos $0.30-0.50 centavos de dólar superior al estado vecino de Georgia
10. La producción de cítricos del Estado, tradicionalmente conocido como un estado de cítricos por excelencia, ha disminuido a cifras similares a las de antes de la segunda guerra mundial, según El Departamento de Agricultura de EE.UU
11. La escasez de maestros en la Florida ha empeorado desde que comenzó el ciclo escolar, con más de 5.000 plazas vacías, según los datos actualizados de la Asociación de Educación de la Florida
12. Gracias a las acosadoras leyes antiinmigrantes, La deserción escolar es elevada en el centro del estado, donde labora un buen número de trabajadores que, sin permiso de residencia ni trabajo, recogen frutas y verduras (informa El Nuevo Herald)
13. la calidad de vida para los niños parece no estar mejorando, ya que el estado pasó a ocupar el puesto número 37 en el ranking nacional, comparado con el puesto 34 en el cual se encontraba el año anterior. (Miami Herald reporte)
14. El bienestar económico para los niños, Florida está clasificada en el puesto número 45 de 50 estados (Miami Herald)
15. según un reporte del portal inmobiliario Zumper, aumento de los precios en Miami y Tampa, con un aumento del 38 %, lideraron esta lista en la que figuran además Orlando (32 %), Jacksonville (27 %) y St. Petersburg (24 %), mientras que la media nacional fue del 11,6 %.
16. Según el Diario Los Ángeles Times, Los salarios ya no llegan para pagar la vivienda en Miami, que se ha convertido en el mercado inmobiliario menos accesible de los Estados Unidos, peor incluso que Nueva York. Para ser propietario hay que destinar el 78,7 % de los ingresos a ese fin y con los alquileres por las nubes, los desalojos no cesan.
17. Univisión reporta La pelea de DeSantis con Disney: la Legislatura de Florida despoja a la empresa de sus privilegios de impuestos
18. Son 12 paginas en documento PDF, de vetos que el Sr. De Santis aprobó, sacando del presupuesto temas importantísimos en este momento de emergencia del estado, quitando fondos a universidades, hospitales, cárceles, fondo de prevención cáncer y tratamiento para niños autistas, fondos anti inflación, becas, grants, entre otros importantes rubros en los que profundizare en loas próximas entregas.
Nos vemos en los centros electorales cuando Usted y yo votemos por la única solución del estado de Florida: CARMEN JACKIE GIMENEZ
Entre otras alarmantes situaciones que afectan a los floridianos diariamente y que poco a poco ire develando las soluciones a cada uno de estos tremendos problemas que evitan que los habitantes del estado, podamos vivir en paz y felicidad!

Fuente

Violent incidents, and threats of them, have been occurring with rising regularity at some Florida schools. Law enforcement have been called out on nearly a daily basis in some counties, responding to tips of bomb threats, kids with guns and other problems. Some observers have suggested it’s fallout from the pandemic. It’s becoming problematic. Read on for that story and more Florida education news.

‘I have never worked at a more chaotic place.’ A teacher at Hillsborough County’s Greco Middle School raised concerns for faculty and staff safety amid rising student violence.

Threats of violence have been occurring more frequently in Alachua County schools. A student was arrested in connection with the most recent bomb threat at Gainesville High, the Main Street Daily News reports.

Tips play a part in stopping the activity. One led to the arrest of a Miami-Dade County student who attempted to come to school armed, WPLG reports. • A 12-year-old Flagler County student was arrested after a teacher overheard her saying she planned to shoot up her school, Flagler Live reports. The girl told officers she was “just playing.”

Will increased law enforcement presence help? Leon County public schools are about to find out, WTXL reports.

Public input

Some Florida school boards have stopped residents from speaking if they name specific officials in their comments. A lawyer has called on the Alachua County School Board to stop the practice, claiming it’s a First Amendment violation, the Alachua Chronicle reports.

With comment sessions growing heated, several boards also are looking to revamp their rules on public input. Brevard County’s board is exploring ideas such as shortening speaker times when the list is long, and preventing the display of signs, Florida Today reports.

Coronavirus concerns

Gov. DeSantis won another round over mask mandates. A federal judge refused to reconsider his denial of an injunction on the governor’s order, reiterating that students have options for better education solutions than acting against DeSantis, the News Service of Florida reports.

More parents are pushing back. Groups in Duval and Alachua counties asked a court to require their superintendents to undo strict mask requirements, contending the district policies violate state law, WJXT reports. More from the Gainesville Sun.

The State Board of Education will chime in this week. It has scheduled a 1 p.m. Thursday conference call to review the policies of 11 school districts. • One of those districts, Sarasota County, will have a board meeting Tuesday to consider rescinding its mask rule, the Herald-Tribune reports.

Employee issues

St. Petersburg College faculty voted to unionize. They said worsening work conditions have negatively affected their ability to serve students.

‘We cannot live off this pay.’ Miami-Dade County school bus drivers protested for higher wages, WTVJ reports.

Citrus County district officials are exploring whether to have athletic trainers at all high schools. The discussion comes after a teen football player died at practice, the Citrus County Chronicle reports.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the state pouring millions of dollars into research and marketing efforts, Florida’s citrus industry is approaching the end of the 2021-2022 growing season with its lowest production since around the start of World War II.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report Friday that estimated Florida growers will fill 44.75 million boxes of oranges, grapefruit and specialty crops during the soon-to-end season, down more than 22 percent from the previous season.

Oranges make up the vast majority of the estimate, 40.7 million boxes, while grapefruit production is estimated at 3.3 million boxes and specialty crops are at 750,000 boxes.

Growers have pointed to a winter freeze hindering production this year. But in an initial forecast for the season, issued in October, the federal agency estimated growers would fill 51.7 million 90-pound boxes, which would have been the lowest output since the 1941-1942 season.

As it stands now, the estimated production is the lowest since the 1939-1940 season, when 43.995 million boxes were filled. That season, oranges accounted for 25.35 million boxes and grapefruit filled 15.9 million boxes.

Overall production during the 2020-2021 season totaled 57.94 million boxes, according to the federal report.

The industry has been on a downward trend for two decades because of issues such as residential and commercial development, foreign imports and an incurable bacterial disease known as citrus greening.

Senate President Wilton Simpson, a Trilby Republican running for agriculture commissioner this year, warned Thursday that another key issue is citrus growers leaving the industry because of the difficulty in making a living.

“In his view, as a citrus grower himself, finding and producing trees that are resistant to the devastating disease is paramount to the industry surviving in Florida as farmers are more willing to continue growing citrus if trees are more viable long-term investments,” Simpson spokeswoman Katie Betta said in an email.

A new state budget signed last week by Gov. Ron DeSantis provides $37 million for the industry. The biggest chunks of money are $17 million for Florida Department of Citrus marketing programs; $8 million for research programs; and $6.2 million for what is known as the Citrus Health Response Program.

In the federal agency’s forecast released Friday, projected orange production received a slight bump for the second straight month, going from an estimated 40.2 million boxes in May to 40.7 million boxes.

“While the gains may seem incremental, any increase is a positive,” Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner said in a prepared statement. “With support from leadership, research and a little more time, I’m confident we’ll come back stronger than ever.”

But orange production was forecast at 47 million boxes when the current season began and totaled nearly 53 million boxes in the 2020-2021 growing season.

The orange total for this season is the lowest since the 1942-1943 season, when 36.5 million boxes were filled.

Through the 1990s, the industry produced more than 200 million boxes of oranges a year, with overall citrus production topping 250 million boxes.

In Friday’s forecast, grapefruit production was pegged at 3.3 million boxes, down from 3.4 million in a May forecast and off 19.5 percent from the 4.1 million boxes filled in the 2020-2021 season.

The forecast for specialty crops, primarily tangerines and tangelos, slipped from 800,000 boxes in May to 750,000 boxes in June. The industry filled 890,000 boxes during the 2020-2021 season and began the current season with a 900,000 projection.