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WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008
SOUTH FLORIDA:
After Building Boom, Work Eludes Day Laborers
Day laborers such as Javier once powered South Florida's building boom. For almost three years, he worked six days a week, making about $100 a day on construction sites from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach. The work helped him rent an apartment, feed his family and send money back to his southern Mexican village, where he bought a small plot of land for a home he hopes to build.
Now Javier is among the legions of day workers in South Florida desperately chasing a dwindling number of construction jobs. Today, only a handful of the cranes that once cluttered the local skyline are still visible.
The building boom -- which at its peak in 2006 employed more than 165,000 workers from Miami-Dade to Pompano Beach -- has shed more than 21,000 jobs since, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
[Source: Miami Herald]
THE VILLAGES:
With Solar Power, the Electric Bill Is Just $3 a Month
Many people cringe when they open their electric bills, especially in the summer when the AC is always churning.
But there's no angst for Bob and Joan Pine, who are thought to be the first residents in the giant Villages retirement community northwest of Orlando to go full bore into solar power. Their monthly bills are as low as $3.
Their home already had some energy-efficient appliances and window and attic insulation when they moved to The Villages in 2004. But the couple recently took energy conservation to the next level: They installed 24 solar panels on their roof. Now, their house produces more electric power than they need. The Pines sell back their extra power to their electric company, Sumter Electric Cooperative. [Source: Sentinel]
CAPE CANAVERAL:
3,000 Jobs to be Cut in September
A major NASA contractor is expected to notify nearly 3,000 workers today that their jobs at Cape Canaveral will be eliminated in September, although many may be rehired by new companies coming to the Space Coast.
Space Gateway Support plans to inform 1,800 full-time employees and about 1,100 contract workers that the company's lucrative base operations deal with Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is expiring Sept. 30.
Space Gateway has held the joint contract since 1998, but it is being replaced by a number of companies that are taking over various aspects of the work. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
TALLAHASSEE:
New Flexibility to 'No Child Left Behind' Law
Hundreds of Florida schools will be spared the drastic reorganization called for in the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that Florida would be one of six states to pilot a program that allows schools in compliance with most areas of the law to face less stringent penalties. The other states are Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland and Ohio.
No Child calls for schools that have been out of compliance five years in a row to be taken over by the state or turned over to private companies. But with Tuesday's change, most of those schools will instead be able to choose less severe options, such as hiring consultants or offering more teacher training.
[Source: Herald-Tribune]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
›Ruling Gives Hope to Cuba Travel Specialists [Miami Herald]
U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold temporarily lifted a measure signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist on June 23, requiring Florida travel agencies specializing in trips to Cuba to post a $250,000 bond with the state and pay up to $2,500 in annual fees.
›Gainesville a Finalist for ESPN's 'Titletown' [Sun]
Gainesville made the cut as one of 20 cities to be profiled as part of ESPN SportsCenter’s search for America’s top championship city.
›Machine Makes Water From Air [Florida Trend]
The AquaVentus unit is designed for disaster. The cost: $2,250.
›FPL Gets 19% Boost, But Spreads into 2009 [Palm Beach Post]
Florida Power & Light Co.'s residential customers will see their monthly bills jump by an average of 8% from August through December to cover half of the $746 million in unanticipated fuel costs FPL is facing this year, state regulators decided Tuesday.
Also: Progress Energy power bills' rise is slowed
›Farm Bureau's Rate Hike Request Officially Denied [St. Petersburg Times]
Ending a long saga, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Tuesday formally rejected Florida Farm Bureau's filing for a property insurance rate increase.
›FIU Gets $10 Million for Wind Studies [Miami Herald]
The grant will allow researchers at Florida International to develop products to help homes withstand hurricanes.
›Victim's Parents Watch Killer Die [Palm Beach Post]
Florida's first execution by lethal injection since the procedure was halted 18 months ago went off seemingly without a hitch Tuesday as child killer Mark Dean Schwab slipped away tranquilly.
›Tribune, Ch. 8 to Lose 31 Newsroom Jobs This Year [St. Petersburg Times]
The cuts were smaller than the 60 newsroom positions predicted by some news reports, though Media General has already disclosed it expects to eliminate 250 jobs this year from its Florida outlets, which include the Tribune, WFLA, TBO.com, Hernando Today and a host of other, smaller newspapers.
›Miami Airport Train Deal OK'd [Miami Herald]
A train between Miami International Airport and its new rental-car and transportation center will cost $30 million more than originally planned.
›Crist Praised for Veto of Flawed Bill on Homeowner Associations [Sun-Sentinel]
The rejected measure included a provision that would have let homeowner associations lien and foreclose on owners who don't pay fines of more than $1,000. Orlando Developer Kevin Azzouz Battles Bank Over Condos [Sentinel]
Kevin Azzouz, the developer best known for trying to upgrade MetroWest with a $400 million Italian-style village center called Veranda Park, is facing financial troubles over the project's condominiums.
Wachovia bank is proceeding with four separate foreclosure lawsuits against Azzouz and several of his companies for a total of $51 million.
›Flaws Surface in Everglades Plan [New York Times]
Florida Crystals, so far, has signaled that it is eager to be involved. Last week, company executives lent environmentalists and scientists a company helicopter to tour the area. And politically, helping the company expand could blunt complaints of lost jobs from the small towns that have depended on U.S. Sugar since 1931.
›Judge Orders Varn Off Ballot [Tallahassee Democrat]
A judge ordered former Leon County School Board member Fred Varn off the Aug. 26 Democratic state House primary ballot Tuesday for violations of the state's resign-to-run law.
Varn resigned retroactively from his school board post, but not in compliance with dates that required his resignation before the end of candidate qualifying.
›Red Sox Press for Details of Deal to Move to Sarasota [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
"We would like to understand what interest there is to pursue this further," said Mike Dee, chief operating officer with the Red Sox. "We said, 'We've been at this for a couple months and would like to know whether this would work out or not.'"
›State Sues Lender, Cites Unfair Practices [Tampa Tribune]
The suit says Countrywide, one of the nation's largest mortgage companies, knowingly put Florida borrowers into mortgages they couldn't afford or into loans with rates and penalties that were "misleading."
›Opinion: Florida's College Tuition Increases Justified [Sun-Sentinel]
Those unhappy with college tuition increases should bear the age-old caveat about trying to get something for (almost) nothing. Floridians have been lucky. They have enjoyed access to higher education at cut-rate, discount prices.
›Planned Parenthood Expels South Palm Beach, Broward Chapter [Sun-Sentinel]
The rarely seen punishment was imposed by the group's national board Monday evening, and it means the local family planning agency born 33 years ago as Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach and Broward Counties can no longer use the group's name.
›Pasco Firm Enodis Sold for $2.4-Billion [Palm Beach Post]
After years of fending off takeover bids, international food-equipment maker Enodis, whose global headquarters is in New Port Richey, has been bought by crane and beverage dispenser manufacturer Manitowoc Co. of Wisconsin for $2.4-billion.
›Deal Represents Security for Danka Workers [St. Petersburg Times]
Danka will still be part of its name, but the St. Petersburg-based office equipment company has a new owner, a new product line and a new opportunity to reverse its flagging fortunes.
›Scripps Community May Win Fast OKs, Take Years to Build [Palm Beach Post]
Palm Beach County is asking the state to fast-track construction approvals for a 683-acre biotech-based community near The Scripps Research Institute, even though no construction deals are in the works.
›Developer Inks Deal for Project on Former St. Pete Landfill [Tampa Tribune]
The agreement gives Florida Gateway Development LLC a year to investigate the feasibility of redeveloping the landfill site at Interstate 275 and Roosevelt Boulevard. It also provides the development team up to three years to secure development approvals from state and local regulatory agencies.
›Going Out to Get a Sandwich? Bring Extra Change [St. Petersburg Times]
Like airlines that are charging for checked luggage, restaurants are coping with rising costs. Rather than raise entree prices, restaurants are limiting portions, charging for condiments or using less expensive ingredients -- like 10 cents for lettuce.
›Alico Inc. Reaches Tax Settlement With IRS [Naples Daily News]
LaBelle-based land manager and grower Alico Inc. has reached a $64.5 million tax settlement with the IRS.
The settlement involved a dispute over Alico’s subsidiary Agri-Insurance and its tax-exempt status dating back to 2000.
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