Stet News🚸 South Florida school districts fear voters supporting Amendment 3 may push back against a November ballot measure calling for an increase in school taxes that must be renewed every four years. If passed, the tax in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties of $1 per $1,000 of property value would continue to support higher teacher pay, school safety measures and mental health resources. (WLRN)
🗳️ What Florida voters need to know about Amendments 1 and 2. They will decide whether to increase the state’s rainy-day fund and exempt tractors and more from farmers’ property taxes. (WUSF)
- How Amendment 2 could provide a big tax break for marijuana growers. (Seeking Rents)
📺 To stop political ads criticizing Attorney General James Uthmeier, the Republican Party of Florida is threatening criminal prosecution of television stations and the Democratic Party for repeating a Leon County grand jury’s finding that high-ranking state officials diverted $10 million in the Hope Florida scandal. (Florida Trident)
📆 A prime 52-acre property, the long-shuttered jai alai fronton on 45th Street in Mangonia Park, goes on the auction block Oct. 30. Minimum bid: $55 million. Bankruptcy trustee Robert Furr thinks bidding will exceed $60 million. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
❓ The mystery man who bought two land parcels on PGA Boulevard outside BallenIsles for $29 million in 2023, Jacob Wohlstadter, is behind the $27 million purchase of an 84,000-square-foot warehouse at 1114 N. Congress Ave. His company, Miso Scale Diagnostics, plans to create 100 biotech jobs at the site that used to be part of the Palm Beach Kennel Club north of Belvedere Road. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🥙 What constitutes a picnic? And what crosses the line into an illegal food distribution event? Advocates for the homeless are bracing for a law-enforcement crackdown Thursday in Lake Worth Beach’s Bryant Park. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🏨 West Palm Beach neighborhood groups sued Oct. 14 to block the city and county approvals of the Related Ross convention center hotel, following up on a lawsuit against the city filed Sept. 30, as Stet reported. The Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association and the West Palm Beach Neighborhood Alliance filed the suit. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
⛱️ Palm Beach plans a community meeting at 2 pm Oct. 29 to share information about the planned seawall replacement at its Midtown Beach. The project would close the waterfront for 18 months starting in December. (WPTV, Flyer)
🌮 Restaurateur Martin Sprock has bought the former Rock Irish Pub in Lake Worth Beach. Sprock plans to open the downtown eatery after he launches RuRu’s Tacos & Tequila in an art deco building on the city’s north end. (Lake Worth Beach Independent $$$)
🌴 One year in Palm Beach, where entrepreneurs start again. (Forbes)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, analyzes what Amendment 3’s property tax cuts could mean for homeowners, why local governments are against it and what will happen if it doesn’t pass. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today.)
