In September 1774, John Adams attended the first Continental Congress in  Philadelphia and wrote to Abigail about his encounters with the delegates from 12 of  the other 13 colonies for the first time. Adams wrote: “I flatter myself, however, that we  shall conduct our embassy in such a manner as to merit the approbation of our  country.” In this letter, Adams was quite rightly describing himself and the other Massachusetts delegates to the Continental Congress as if they were ambassadors to a foreign power, explains Peterson. “And when Adams says ‘our country,’ he is referring to  Massachusetts,” not the United States, notes Peterson, who adds that up until the Civil War, both nationally and internationally, Boston and its New England hinterland was thought of as a separate country with its own “national” identity. 

A new study recently published in the journal Tourism Economics by the University of Florida has quantified the financial shock that the 2018 bloom had to Florida’s economy, using the Airbnb market as a gauge of the broader impacts. For the study — which was funded by the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System and NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science — researchers reviewed Airbnb property and reservation data.

… a Walton County circuit court judge issued a lengthy ruling earlier this week regarding his rejection of a challenge to the precedent of the public’s “customary use” of dry sand beach. Judge David Green countered a development company that owns property on the Gulf of Mexico after representatives claimed that customary use violates state and federal constitutions.