Identifying Local Opportunities

The Florida Times-Union

The local newspaper I looked at was The Florida Times-Union. The Florida Times-Union is one of the many newspapers for Duval County and covers everything from sports to classifieds. I thought this newspaper would be great to find opportunities because they cover a large range of things happening in Duval County.

Stories

1a) Reopening Jacksonville: Buffet restaurants struggle to recover from Covid-19

1b) https://www.jacksonville.com/entertainment/20200525/reopening-jacksonville-buffet-restaurants-struggle-to-recover-from-covid-19

1c) Arden's Kountry Kafe & Katering is a buffet located in Northeast Florida. Arden and Michelle de Saussure, the owners of Arden's consider themselves lucky to have survived the pandemic this long. For a little, they thought their trouble were over when Jacksonville's Mayor, Lenny Curry decided to reopen restaurants at 25% capacity. However, Mayor Curry decided to not include buffets in this order because the FDA recommends that they remain closed. Now, Arden and Michelle fear that they will not be able to keep Arden's open much longer.

1d) The main problem in the story is that some restaurants are unable to open because they were not included in Mayor Curry's order. Even when buffets can reopen, many owners feel that they will not get much business because customers will not be comfortable eating food that is out in the open. In all, buffet owners fear they will have to close down because of this.

1e) The people affected b y this are restaurant owners who provide self-serve food services.

2a) Judge rules against Florida on felons paying fines to vote

2b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200525/judge-rules-against-florida-on-felons-paying-fines-to-vote

2c) Apparently, there is a law in Florida that states if you are a felon, you must pay a fine ion order to regain your right to vote. Recently, a Florida judge called this unconstitutional. Former felons across the state of Florida now have the right to vote in the state without having to pay a fine. The article says that the law took the right away from close to 774,000 people. The article ends with a quotation from the ACLU.  They call this judgement a "tremendous victory for voting rights".

2d) The article also addressed how this could have "deep ramifications in the crucial electoral battleground". The author says that many of the former felons are African American and presumably Democrats. This could be a problem for Republicans and Independents who are trying to get elected in the state. This judgement swings future elections in favor of Democratic candidates.

2e) The people who are going to have a problem with this are the Republicans and Independents who are trying to get elected in Florida. The state just gained 774,000 voters, most of whom will vote for Democratic candidates.

3a) NOAA predicts another busy hurricane season

3b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200521/noaa-predicts-another-busy-hurricane-season

3c) Hurricane season is just around the corner and the NOAA is expecting between 6 and 10 hurricanes to form. This marks the fifth consecutive year where we are expecting above-normal activity which means that the chance of a hurricane making landfall will increase. Many scientist attribute this increase in the amount of storms to climate change. The article ends by saying that the upward trend in number of hurricanes is going to be the new normal.

3d) The problem addressed in the article is that we will see more hurricanes making landfall in the future. Within the last couple of years, we have seen more and more category five hurricanes like the one that hit Puerto Rico, and the one that hit Panama City two years ago. Hurricanes destroy everything in their paths and this is a worrisome sign for people who own homes in coastal cities.

3e) The people that this affects the most are people who live in cities that are along the coast. Hurricanes can destroy homes and having more of them could raise insurance rates for homeowners. Overall, this is very bad for those living in coastal cities.

4a) UF survey: Coronavirus has decimated some Florida farms

4b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200521/uf-survey-coronavirus-has-decimated-some-florida-farms

4c) When Governor DeSantis decided to close down the state, people and businesses decided to change their buying habits, and this change has negatively affected farmers. The IFAS found that some growers lost close to 90% of their business during this time. Luckily, many farmers are receiving Federal aid in order to offset some of their losses. The state has also created a website where farmers can sell directly to consumers. Many farmers fear that they may never be able to recover from this, but with help from the Federal and local government, they just may be able to continue their farms and businesses.

4d) The problem addressed in the article is that many farmers are facing tough times because of the change in consumer habits. Farmers across the state are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because of this. For smaller farms, losing this much money could mean that they have to close their farms down. Luckily, the government is offering aid to keep farms across the country afloat.

4e) This primarily affects farmers, but it could also affect consumers as well. Many farmers will not have the money to grow crops or raise livestock, so we very well could see a shortage of food in our grocery stores. Hopefully, the government's actions will help offset some of this.

5a) Oh deer! New baby born at Jacksonville zoo

5b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200525/oh-deer-new-baby-born-at-jacksonville-zoo

5c) The Jacksonville zoo just welcomed a new Pudu deer to its family. The fawn was born today in the Pudu deer exhibit but removed shortly after with its mother. The zoo hasn't released anything about the fawn (name, sex, etc.), but the zoo and zoo-goers will be happy to have it when the zoo reopens at full-capacity.

5d) The article didn't really address a problem, but you can kind of infer that the zoo is struggling like any other business during the coronavirus. As of now, the Jacksonville zoo is operating at half-capacity and is most likely hurting because of it. I'm sure they receive enough money in donations to care for all of the animals in the zoo, but they will not be able to improve the zoo without bringing in as much money as possible.

5e) The people most affected by this are the people who work at and own the zoo. Like I said, they can probably care for all of the animals at the zoo but they will not be able to improve the zoo until they can operate at full-capacity.