FYI Miami: February 27, 2020

Below are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

$5 MILLION SALMON GRANT: Indoor salmon farming company Atlantic Sapphire will receive $5 million in grant funds through Miami-Dade’s Targeted Jobs Incentive Fund Program over the next decade to begin the second of three phases on its sprawling Redland facility and create 237 jobs paying at least $60,000 yearly, excluding benefits, in the next three years. County lawmakers Feb. 19 OK’d the grants, to be paid to the company through 2031, without comment. Atlantic plans to build by 2022 a 1.1-million-square-foot facility that will house a manufacturing and fish-processing plan, engineering services and world headquarters just outside Homestead General Aviation Airport. The new structure will rise near an existing 390,000-square-foot facility housing the company’s complex tank system, which simulates the spawning and growth cycle of the fish, whose eggs it sources from Norway and Iceland. According to a memo from Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt, Atlantic would pay $11.2 million in property tax over the grant disbursement period, which “will realize a positive fiscal impact of $6.2 million over the 10-year period of the [grant] award.”

ENROLLMENT FORECASTS: Miami-Dade County is forecast to have 344,920 students enrolled in the 2020-2021 academic year, according to a forecast that state analysts updated last week. Broward County, the state’s second-largest district, is expected to have 268,558 students, followed by 223,019 in Hillsborough County and 209,400 in Orange County. In all, about 2.89 million students are expected to enroll.

MOST CRIMES DECLINE: Most serious crimes decreased in the area patrolled by the Miami-Dade police in January compared with January 2019, but both homicides and rapes increased markedly, figures supplied by the county on Tuesday show. Total serious crimes declined nearly 7%, from 3,400 last January to 3,171 this year, the county’s figures show, but homicides rose from seven to 12 and rapes increased from 55 to 79 in the same period. The figures do not include areas patrolled by municipal police departments.

STUDENT LOAN SHIELD: With no discussion, the Florida Senate gave final approval to a bill that would shield health-care providers from disciplinary action if they default on student loans. The Senate voted 35-1 to pass the bill. The House unanimously approved the bill last month, meaning it is now ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis for signature into law. Under current law, state health officials are required to issue emergency suspensions of practitioners’ licenses if they default on government-backed student loans and do not attempt to repay the amounts.