Sunburn â The morning read of whatâs hot in Florida politics â 3.2.21
The Legislative Session is here, and Florida Influencers believe that come April 30, Gov.
Ron DeSantis will be the big winner.
Florida Politics asked the stateâs top consultants, lobbyists and political minds who stands to have the best Legislative Session and 43% picked the Governor. His believers include more than half of Republican Influencers, with just 27% of Democrats saying heâs their early favorite.
For the minority party, that honor goes to Senate President
Wilton Simpson, albeit by a narrow margin. Three in 10 Democrats say heâll be the clear winner when the hankie drops. More than half of independents believe the same while just 21% of Republicans agree.
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Normally, Sarasota-Manatee has an idea of what seasonal business will look like by this time of year. Beaches are packed, travel plans are already booked and those who aren t here yet are dreaming of their upcoming vacations to Siesta Key or Anna Maria Island.
But this year, the answer to the question “what will season look like?” isn’t as clear.
After COVID-19 hit, the booking window for new trips to Manatee County shrunk dramatically, Anne Wittine, director of data analysis for Research Data Services in Tampa, told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council Feb. 1. Travelers, who mostly came from within driving distance, were booking last-minute trips – literally days before their date of arrival.
Glenda and Joe Padgett stood at gate B10 at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport on Sunday morning, wearing face masks and holding up “welcome” signs for Southwest Airlines made for them by a friend’s daughter.
There were a lot of people excitedly waiting for Southwest’s first-ever plane at Sarasota-Bradenton to land, which it did at 11:34 a.m. Sunday, but the Padgett family’s connection to the first-ever voyage was a little more personal.
Their son, Jared, is a Southwest employee who has worked as an in-flight scheduler for the airline for about five years. The Padgetts are now a “Southwest family,” Glenda said, and they have taken their fair share of maiden Southwest voyages.
LAKEWOOD RANCH – Since its inception, Lakewood Ranch, with its premier golf courses, out-of-this-world mansions, cute shops and perfectly crafted, insulated villages, has been an idyllic place to live for those who can afford it.
But from a tourism standpoint, it hasn’t always been clear where this booming master-planned community fits as a place to bring visitors to the area.
“We’ve been looking regionally at how we can bring tourism awareness to east county, specifically Lakewood Ranch,” Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. “It’s a 35,000-acre master-planned development, No. 1 in the country – how do we showcase that?”