Business

Visit Florida is teaming up with a popular television show for an advertising campaign and pet photo contest. The winner walks away with a $10,000 trip to Florida. But, state officials are banking on the program creating a return on investment in the form of tourism.

Film industry leaders are making another push to get an incentives deal through the Florida legislature. They’re banking on its inclusion in a tax package when lawmakers return to Tallahassee for a special session next week.

Film incentives bills - designed to lure production to Florida - died in the House and Senate when the regular session ended early. But Representative Mike Miller, who sponsored the House Bill, says there’s still hope.

“What is still alive is the incentives program through the tax package that has been presented in the call by the speaker of the house and the senate president”, said Miller.

Miller says the current incentives program - which ran out of money - would be extended by one year. He says lawmakers first have to settle major issues like healthcare.

Tasting rooms at Florida’s craft distilleries could be getting a bit busier soon.  Florida law may soon allow distillers to sell more bottles in face to face transactions.

Two very different alcohol measures came before their final committee Wednesday.  But even though they began to converge, only one passed its final stop.

The Florida Senate is working on a measure that would alter the way some home insurance claims are billed.  And some in the repair and restoration industry worry it could put them out of business.

A bill allowing 64 ounce growlers is headed to the floor of the Florida Senate.

Florida is home to many world-famous flight schools, but the taxes on aviation fuel can further elevate the already sky-high education costs. Florida lawmakers see those taxes as unnecessary ballast.

Last year 4 million people visited SeaWorld's theme parks, where the top shows feature orcas, also known as killer whales. For years, activists have charged that keeping orcas in captivity is harmful to the animals and risky for the trainers who work with them, a case that gained urgency in 2010 when Dawn Brancheau, a veteran orca trainer, was dragged into the water and killed by a whale at the SeaWorld Park in Orlando, Fla. When Brancheau died, there was some dispute as to whether the whale's intent was aggressive and whose fault the incident was.

There comes a day in every car owner's life when she knows, it's time. For Carolyn Ballard of Atlanta, that was on a hot day last July, while driving her SUV with misfiring cylinders.

"I drove to the dealership with the car literally chugging along," she says. "I mean, in traffic on the interstate. I was just sweating, thinking I've just got to get to the dealership so I can get rid of this, before I put any more money into it."

The Senate Commerce and Tourism committee took up the state’s growler ban Monday.  Measures doing away with the state’s restriction continue to march forward in both chambers of the Legislature.

The ride-hailing app, Uber, has been operating in the state for the better part of 2014 despite statewide concerns over safety, insurance coverage and legality. While a patchwork of regulation has begun to develop on the local level,  state lawmakers are eager to settle the issue once and for all.

The most valuable tech start up in the world does not want to be legally defined as a car service alongside taxis and limos.

Utilities won’t be able to up a customer’s rates because of how they read meters if a bill sponsored by  Sen. Charlie Dean (R--Ocala)  becomes law. Dean says some of his constituents saw higher bills after a utility in his area extended its meter reading period. The longer time bumped customers' usage up into a more costly pay bracket. Dean says his bill would prevent that.

After beer retailers and distributors challenged a legal exception that helps craft brewers open up tap rooms, two Florida senators put forward a measure doing away with the exception completely—in effect ensuring breweries can sell beer on-site.  But that original challenge hasn’t disappeared.

The United States hasn’t imported a thing from communist Cuba in 53 years. Today the Obama Administration set out the rules for changing that. 

But you won’t see any of Cuba’s famous cigars arriving at PortMiami just yet.

Gas prices in Florida are going up.

Some gas stations are already increasing prices by about 10 cents and that’s normal around this time of the year.

According to the auto club AAA,  seasonal demand and maintenance are the causes for the gas price increase.

As we approach spring, prices usually rise between 30 and 35 cents.

But it’s not all that bad. Even when station gas prices do go up this spring, the national average is not expected to surpass $3 dollars a gallon.