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Why Florida's freeze is still costing you at the grocery store

Tomatoes have become the new poster child for rising grocery prices.

Some economists are calling it "Tomatoflation" because the savory fruit has had the biggest percentage price gains among all food items in recent months. Florida is one of the reasons why.

Florida, the largest producer of fresh tomatoes in the United States, was hit by two severe winter freezes early this year that caused production losses to 80% of the 27,900 acres where tomatoes are grown in Florida by commercial farms.

That cost Florida's tomato industry an estimated $164 million in losses and a staggering $3.17 billion for the state's agricultural industry as a whole, according to Florida Agriculture Secretary Wilton Simpson.

It also coincided with setbacks — including bad weather and a disease outbreak — that hit the tomato industry in Mexico. That country produces 70% of the fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S.

Those factors combined to boost the national average price of fresh tomatoes to $2.689 a pound in April, up nearly 40% from $1.793 the same month last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for that month.

April's average price was the highest for tomatoes on record, at least since 1980 which is how far back the BLS historical data for that fresh produce item goes.

Health alert issued for Lake Okeechobee after blue-green algae tested

The Florida Department of Health in Martin County issued a health alert on June 19 for the presence of harmful blue-green algae toxins in Lake Okeechobee.

Health officials are urging people to stay out of the water at several sampling points and to keep pets away from any visible scum or discolored water.

The blue-green algae in Lake Okeechobee is not unlike the algae bloom that formed in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The reflecting pool — a centerpiece of Trump’s highly touted Washington, D.C., makeover — has turned into a spectacle of green water, peeling blue coating and political blame‑shifting. A massive algae bloom has turned the water lime green.

Blue-green algae in Lake Okeechobee is not uncommon.

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has issued multiple health alerts and cautions since spring, most recently after a June 10 sampling at site L007 and a June 17 sampling at S352 showed harmful cyanobacteria or visible blooms, triggering signs around the lake and standard guidance: don’t swim, don’t drink the water, and avoid spraying it on lawns or crops.

What Florida is sending in a time capsule 250 years into the future

Among the artifacts in a time capsule that will be dug up 250 years from now is a coin representing Gov. Ron DeSantis and a notecard from the Florida speaker of the House.

To commemorate America’s 250th birthday, a national nonpartisan organization called America250 asked each state and American territory for items that “reflect the people, places, ideas, and innovations shaping the United States at 250 years.”

The capsule, a 900-pound cylinder built by a team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was sealed earlier this month. On July 4, it will be placed 10 feet underground in Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.

Knowing that the capsule would not resurface from the earth until 2276, some states came up with elaborate ideas to reflect life today.

Not just anything was allowed in the capsule. Experts from the Library of Congress reviewed submissions to determine if they could be included in the vessel without compromising the protection of other artifacts. For example, Old Bay seasoning from Maryland was rejected, according to the Associated Press.

Byron Donalds sketches a ‘decentralized’ media future — and his own communications playbook

Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds offered this week a glimpse into his vision of the future of media, as well as his own communication strategy, to the Florida Association of Broadcasters.

Donalds talked about the “trust issue” in politics being something that extends to the entire culture, a problem compounded by what he called the “five-minute news cycle” driven by people “thumbing through their social media feeds” in search of new content.

“What makes it really difficult is you can see something explode on social media, and then before you get an opportunity to address it, you have a segment of your population who truly believes it,” he said.

To counter that, he said politicians must “overcommunicate in all mediums” to create a “constant flow of information.”

The “old media” is increasingly rejected, he argued, with podcasting and other forms augmenting the amount of sources available and requiring a diversification of strategy via “over-communicating in all spectrum of media” to reach audiences.