Author Archives: Justine88

Posted on by

Tampa Bay Times: Whatever happened to the Zika epidemic?

By Justine Griffin

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting Zika. Cases of the virus are down dramatically in Florida. Associated Press

Remember Zika?

The last time Gov. Rick Scott warned Floridians about the potential threat of the mosquito-borne virus was in July, when he urged residents to still be vigilant against bug bites and standing water. At the time, doctors and researchers were bracing for what was supposed to be another active summer season for the virus. Some expected it to be even worse than last year, when 1,100 travel-related cases were reported statewide and Zika spread into pockets of South Florida.

But it’s been quiet on the outbreak front ever since, as Zika cases have dropped dramatically this year.

The state Health Department counts only 180 Zika infections in Florida so far in 2017, on track to come in well below the 1,456 cases reported all of last year. The vast majority are travel-related cases brought to Florida by people who came from somewhere else, like Zika hotbed areas in Central and South America or the Caribbean, already infected with the virus. The rest, about 40, were cases where officials could not determine exactly where the patients contracted the virus or instances where people acquired it locally last year but weren’t tested until 2017.

Officials say they have determined one thing for sure: This year, there are no reported areas in Florida with active, ongoing local transmission of Zika, which means no known instances of mosquitoes carrying the virus.

Another piece of good news is that the number of pregnant women with the virus appears to be declining. With only 101 cases reported so far this year, it would be difficult to match last year’s total of 299 cases.

Read more here.

Posted on by

Tampa Bay Times: One Florida bank is willing to risk it all on cannabis when others won’t

First Green Bank, a community bank based in Orlando, is the first in Florida to work with licensed medical marijuana companies. [Photos courtesy of First Green Bank]

By Justine Griffin

Opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Florida naturally comes with a lot of red tape.

Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance at the federal level, despite the 29 states that have legalized it for recreational or medicinal use in recent years. That makes it nearly impossible for banks to fund marijuana distributing companies, which in turn makes it hard for those companies to sign a lease for a store or warehouse or even get insurance.

But one Orlando area community bank is willing to take on the risk.

First Green Bank, a community bank that began in 2009, is working with six out of the seven currently licensed medical marijuana dispensing companies in Florida.

“It all comes down to compliance and transparency, since we’re subject to enhanced money laundering rules,” said James Whitcomb, the chief financial officer of Surterra Holdings Inc., an Atlanta-based medical marijuana company which has grow operations and dispensaries in Florida, including in Tampa. Surterra is a client of First Green Bank. “In order for banks to be compliant with us as customers, they have perform a lot more due diligence. It basically means they have to track every single transaction we make to ensure that no dollar goes to any gang or criminal enterprise,” Whitcomb said.

Because federal law makes it illegal to possess or distribute marijuana — no matter the laws passed in an individual state — it’s considered money laundering, according to the American Bankers Association. It would take an act of Congress to change that. Because of this, most banks in Florida have steered clear of working with the state’s seven licensed growers and distributors of cannabis.

Read more here.

Posted on by

Tampa Bay Times: A trip to Walmart’s innovation store in Florida reveals new shopping perks

The Walmart Supercenter in Lake Nona, a suburb of Orlando, is an innovation store where the retail chain tests new programs. [Photos by Justine Griffin | TIMES]

By Justine Griffin

With all the doom and gloom about the state of the retail industry, it isn’t easy to find a company other than Amazon that is considered a bright spot among the ongoing narrative of declining sales and shuttered stores.

But Walmart is proving it will not go gentle into that good night.

Walmart was once the behemoth of the shopping world, until Amazon morphed from being a book retailer into an everything retailer. Today, Arkansas-based Walmart is still among the biggest brick-and-mortar retailers out there with 4,692 stores in 50 states. But Walmart is also investing heavily in ecommerce business these days — it bought both Jet.com and Modcloth.com in the last year — to better compete against Amazon and others.

Walmart continues invest in its growth online by expanding its own third-party marketplace (similar to Amazon Marketplace) and piloting more convenience options for shoppers, like free two-day shipping, pick-up in store options and curbside grocery pick up and delivery programs. It also announced partnerships with Uber and Google this week. The company made headlines in June when it launched its first “vending machine,” which is essentially a giant self-serve kiosk, at a store in Oklahoma. One of these futuristic vending machines opened in Naples last week. Walmart also opened a “Next-Gen Test Store” earlier this year in Lake Nona, an affluent and growing suburb of Orlando.

Read more here.

Posted on by

Tampa Bay Times: Five Big Projects, Five Big Problems Looming

ABS Final Rendering_RGB

By Justine Griffin

The city of Tampa is on the cusp of a total makeover. With billions of dollars in investment and dozens of new apartment, condo, office and cultural buildings in the pipeline, the city’s skyline and surrounding communities are poised to look a whole lot different than what it does today.

But dreaming up the future of Tampa doesn’t come without its challenges. For all the promises of a new urban core filled with hotels, parks, food halls and stores, there are also potential pitfalls.

The Tampa Bay Times identified the five key obstacles that stand in the way of some of the biggest projects proposed in Hillsborough County. Many of these challenges are ones local politicians and business leaders have been fighting for years to find a solution. Others are fairly new territory, but still pose a real threat to the region’s continued growth.

Read more here.

Posted on by

Tampa Bay Times: Florida’s first walk-in clinics for medical marijuana are opening in Tampa Bay

Patient Julie DiPietrantonio, 67, of St. Petersburg, is examined by Dr. Howard Riker of Tetra Health Care. DiPietrantonio suffers from chronic pain caused by spinal stenosis, degenerative arthritis, and sacroiliitis. She is looking for relief by using medical marijuana. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]

By Justine Griffin

TAMPA — Inside a nondescript white-washed office building across from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa is one of the state’s first walk-in clinics for patients seeking medical marijuana.

Similar to a walk-in urgent care center, Tetra Health Care is a place where patients can see a licensed doctor about obtaining medical marijuana as a form of treatment.

Tracilea Young, president and founder of the California-based chain of clinics, saw an opportunity to expand in Florida after the most recent round of legislation passed in Tallahassee earlier this year. She’s opened six Tetra Health Care clinics in Florida so far. Five of those are in the Tampa Bay area, including St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tampa and Brandon locations. She plans to open 20 more across the state by next year.

“With such a high population of aging communities, medical marijuana is needed here,” Young said. “You wouldn’t believe the patients we see who come in here with Excel spreadsheets detailing all the medications they’re on and when they take which pill. I just want to cry for them.”

Medical marijuana is a new but burgeoning industry in Florida, with laws that change nearly every year. Lawmakers have limited the selling and growing of marijuana to seven companies, but that number will expand to 17 this year, based on last-minute legislation that came out of a special session in Tallahassee earlier in this summer.

Read more here.