Lunch Sponsored by Beyers Funeral Home
Christmas in the Villages is put on year at the Wildwood Community Center. Thirty or more vendor showed up to show off their services or products. The weather was good and hundreds of people attended. What for it next year.
First Friday Art Walk
Date: 02/03/2023 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Downtown Square
1 SE Broadway St.
Ocala, Florida 34471
Various artists will be setting up easels / stations and work on arts / crafts throughout Downtown Ocala. Performance on the Downtown Square. For additional information, please contact the City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department’s Cultural Arts Division at 352.629.8383.
Digital is increasing and print is stabilizing. Large & Small Businesses are Buying more digital in 2023 while print newspapers are stabilizing.
By Mark McCormick says, Borrell Associates, a marketing research firm based in Virginia, hosted a webinar recently to shine a light on local business trends and what their spending might look like down the road. In addition to actual ad spending, they offered publishers insight about tomorrows spenders.
The webinar, titled “What 2023 Will Bring?” Local ad spending forecasts, opened with a look at some upward sales trends since the pandemic began, Including general retail sales (above) as well as categories such as liquor, hardware, and cars. With that foundation, Borrell Associates shifted the focus to small businesses, particularly business applications.
With the New Year upon us, many people, including me, are happy to say good riddance to 2020! Moving forward, the Lady Lake Police Department would like to remind you to check around your home to ensure that all alarms, monitors, and detectors are in good working condition. These include your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. It’s a good idea to change the batteries in these detectors every year. You may want to have them replaced if you have not done so within the past 10 years.
It should come as no surprise that carbon monoxide deaths are the highest in winter. Cold weather increases the use of gas-powered heating or portable heaters using a fuel source. Homeowners should be aware of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, especially those that use natural gas as a heat and cooking source. These symptoms include feeling dizzy, light headed, and/or nauseated.
It’s a good time to remember the following safety tips to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Here are some tips from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.6 percent — the lowest among the nation’s top ten largest states and 1.1 percent lower than the nation’s. November marks two consecutive years (24 straight months) that Florida’s unemployment rate has remained below the nation’s. Florida also continued to exceed the national job growth rate for the 20th consecutive month in November 2022.
Florida’s private sector employment increased by 28,100 jobs over the month in November 2022, an increase of 0.3 percent. Florida’s total private sector employment increased by 5.2 percent (+420,700 jobs) over the year in November 2022, faster than the national private sector job growth rate of 3.6 percent over the same time period. Florida employers have added jobs for 31 consecutive months in November 2022.
“Florida’s continued success over the past two years is no accident. No matter the challenges, we have stayed on offense,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Florida’s economy is outpacing the nation for the second consecutive year because we have invested in our workforce and prioritized keeping Floridians at work and businesses open. As the new year approaches, we will continue investing in our workforce and infrastructure to create jobs and keep our economy moving forward.” Continue reading
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed two bills following the special session that took place this week. Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill (SB) 4-A which provides $750 million for additional disaster relief to Floridians following Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. The Governor also signed SB 2-A,the most significant property insurance reform bill in recent history which helps to stabilize our property insurance market, increase competition, and strengthen consumer protections. More on actions taken during the recent special session can be found here.
“We have taken an all hands on deck approach to cut through bureaucracy to help our communities recover from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “I want to thank the Legislature for bringing additional disaster relief to communities across the state as we continue our historic recovery.
“The issues in Florida’s property insurance market did not occur overnight, and they will not be solved overnight. The historic reforms signed today create an environment which realigns Florida to best practices across the nation, adding much-needed stability to Florida’s market, promoting competition, and increasing consumer choice. I am thankful the Legislature answered the call for meaningful reform.” Continue reading
Congresswoman Kat Cammack named Melissa Li, Hailey Lin, Katie He, and Una Kinbarovsky the winners of the 2022 Congressional App Challenge. Ms. Li created an app called “PlanIt,” which provides users with an integrated, customizable planner that uses a rewards system to incentivize and motivate users to track and complete their daily activities.
“I’m excited to name this team this year’s Congressional App Challenge winner,” said Rep. Cammack. “It’s truly incredible to see these talented high school students channel their creativity in such innovative ways, using sophisticated technology and coding software at such a young age. I’d like to congratulate all our applicants from the competition for being part of the next wave of young innovators, and of course, the winners of the challenge for their app, ‘PlanIt.’ We can’t wait to see what you do next!”
Winners of the Congressional App Challenge are eligible to have their app displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and featured on the House of Representatives website. They are also invited to a reception on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to celebrate their accomplishments.
Congresswoman Kat Cammack announced this year’s Veteran of the Year as Mr. Ansil Lewis, a 30-year United States Marine Corps veteran.
Mr. Lewis served as a Sergeant Major in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 2017, where he received the Bronze Star; Legion of Merit; Meritorious Service Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; Combat Action Ribbon; Joint Meritorious Unit Award; Navy Unit Commendation; and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Medal.
After his decades-long service to our nation, Mr. Lewis has continued to demonstrate his dedication to our area’s veterans as an involved member of the Clay County veteran community, serving as the past Commandant of the Roy S. Geiger Marine Corps League Detachment 1047, a member of the board for Operation Bambas, and the president of the Veterans Council of Clay County.
“I’m honored to announce Mr. Lewis as the 2022 Veteran of the Year,” said Congresswoman Cammack. “Sergeant Major Lewis served our nation honorably for three decades, committing his life’s work to the Stars and Stripes. Upon his return, he’s only increased his commitment to our veteran community, introducing more people to our region’s vibrant history of service and leadership. From his presidency with the Veterans Council of Clay County to his organization of dozens of events for our nation’s heroes, I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor. I’m excited to celebrate this award with Mr. Lewis and his family in the new year.” Continue reading
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Reps. Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) and Darren Soto (D-FL-09) led the Florida congressional delegation in sending a bipartisan letter to House and Senate appropriators, urging them to provide relief for specialty crop insurance providers who are facing steep Administrative and Operating (A&O) costs.
In 2011, a cap on the administrative and operating (A&O) expense reimbursement was established to ensure that, when the prices of crops like corn, wheat, soybeans, or cotton increase, A&O costs associated with these crops’ policies do not also significantly rise. Unfortunately, specialty crops have not seen the same price increase as row crops but have been subject to the same A&O caps, resulting in steep decreases to specialty crop insurance funding.
Thus, the downward pressure on specialty crop funding has made it more difficult for crop insurance providers to deliver specialty crop insurance policies to producers in Florida and elsewhere, which in turn threatens the long-term survival of our nation’s specialty crop producers
The letter is a follow-up to one sent by Rep. Cammack and Rep. Soto in June of this year, and asks the House Appropriations Committee to provide relief in the FY23 Agriculture appropriations bill to ensure that specialty crop insurance policies are not tied to this A&O cap Continue reading
