FYI Miami: December 15, 2022

Bellow 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.

HOTELS TOP NATION: Miami-Dade has recorded once again the highest hotel average daily room rate (ADR) in the US at $374.88, a 33.1% increase since 2019. In addition, average revenue per available room (RevPAR) in Miami-Dade, which calculates total hotel revenue divided by the number of rooms in each hotel, has increased 25.1% from 2019 to $301.26. By comparison, RevPAR in San Francisco has fallen 44.2% since 2019 and now stands at $95.77. The US hotel average daily rate increased 10.2% since 2019 and is at $141.71, and RevPAR has increased 1.7% nationally and is at $78.50.

FILLING PARTNER’S SEAT: Miami Beach has welcomed its new city commissioner Laura Dominguez, life partner of late commissioner Mark Samuelian, to take the seat he left vacant. Commissioner Dominguez won the run-off election with 61.21% of the votes and was expected to take her seat at the commission Dec. 14. In her speech, Ms. Dominguez prioritized public safety, infrastructure projects and education. “It’s been a challenging year,” she said. “I lost the love of my life and immediately jumped into a special election to fill his seat during a governor’s year election with the voter universe of almost triple the size. It was a very hard and surreal experience.”

SOCIAL-MEDIA WATERSHED: The US Supreme Court is slated Jan. 6 to discuss whether to take up a high-profile case about a 2021 Florida law that placed restrictions on major social-media companies such as Facebook and Twitter. A court docket said justices are expected to consider the case during a behind-the-scenes conference. The Supreme Court receives thousands of cases a year but decides to take up only 100 to 150. Florida went to the Supreme Court after the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in May upheld much of a preliminary injunction against the law. The law targeted large companies such as Facebook and Twitter over decisions to remove politicians and other users from the social-media platforms. In part, it would prevent the platforms from banning political candidates from their sites and require companies to publish – and apply consistently – standards about issues such as banning users or blocking their content.

MIAMI-DADE TOTES MORE: Miami-Dade leads Florida in the number of people licensed to carry concealed weapons with 202,894 licenses, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Broward is next at 182,491. More than 2.61 million Floridians have concealed-weapons licenses, the department said.