Monday's Top Stories

MONDAY, NOV. 23, 2009

JACKSONVILLE:
Ports Prepare for Panama Canal Expansion

The Panama Canal is undergoing the largest expansion in its 94-year history. Florida wants to be in on the action by racing to handle bigger cargo ships. Read story from Cynthia Barnett ... [Source: Florida Trend]

Also in this package:

• Building the ports of the future
• What a larger Panama Canal means to Florida

BREVARD COUNTY:
Rethinking Class Size

By next year, schools must measure class size by individual class rather than taking a school-wide average, according to the Class Size Amendment approved by voters in 2002. Pre-kindergarten through third-grade students should have no more than 18 students in each classroom and fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms should not exceed 22 students, according to the Florida law. Complying with class-size averages seems like an unattainable goal for the majority of Florida's districts. Brevard school officials estimate they would need to hire between 200 and 600 teachers and spend at least $10.8 million to meet the statute. [Source: Today]

Also:

• Senate looking at class-size change [NWF Daily News]

TALLAHASSEE:
Some Leery of Revenue Promised by Oil

To lawmakers staring down the barrel of a $2.6 billion budget deficit next year, the prediction of $2.3 billion a year in direct revenue from oil and gas drilling in Florida waters may sound like a dream come true. But some industry observers, regulators from Gulf drilling states and critics of offshore drilling say the prediction is overstated. "Legislators should be careful," said Robert Bryce, managing editor of Energy Tribune, a trade publication. "Even if the industry could produce those kinds of numbers, you won't see any revenue for probably 10 years. You don't have the rigs, you don't have the personnel, you don't have the pipelines." Florida waters could hold as much as 3 billion equivalent barrels of oil, which includes possible natural-gas deposits. [Source: Democrat]

The $848 billion healthcare bill unveiled by Sen. Harry Reid includes a 5% tax on cosmetic procedures and surgeries. The tax would raise an estimated $5 billion over 10 years to help pay for extending health care coverage to millions. Plastic surgeons decried the proposal, saying their practices were battered by the recession and are just beginning to recover. "This will be devastating to doctors who do cosmetic surgery," said Dr. Angela Cuzalina, a Tulsa cosmetic surgeon. But Diane Archer, director of the health care project at the Institute for America's Future, isn't sympathetic toward the plastic surgeons' concerns. "We pay taxes on virtually every good and service, and luxury goods and services should be taxed even higher," she said. [Source: Kaiser Heath News]

Also:

• A nip, tuck that's less intrusive [Trend]
• Fla. doctors' group blasts Senate healthcare bill [Miami Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Citizens Rate Hike Not as Harsh as Expected [Times/Herald]
Florida approved an average 5.9% hike for single-family homeowners and 9.3% jump for businesses, according to an order issued Friday. The new rates, which take effect Feb. 1., ended a three-year rate freeze.

› Corporate Gift Guide [Miami Herald]
All items feature a touch of luxury, yet nothing is over $200.

› Pasco County Spends Millions Repairing Foreclosures [SP Times]
Pasco County received $19.5 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program money — the 17th highest allocation in the nation — to help deal with the record number of foreclosures. Also: Foreclosures auctions in Pasco going online

small biz advice
› Customer Service Performance Standards [Florida Trend]
It is great to set a goal of having outstanding customer service, but without a way of measuring or evaluating your staff on their performance, how effective could this goal be?

› St. Pete Times Sells Its Last D.C. Publication [Tampa Tribune]
The Times Publishing Co. announced a deal to sell Governing magazine to e.Republic, a Sacramento, Calif.-based media company that publishes Government Technology magazine.

› Florida's Unemployment Reached 11.2% in October [Sun Sentinel]
The rate of job loss in Florida is slowing, but there aren't enough new jobs to indicate a recovery.

› Scope of Scott Rothstein Scandal Emerges [Sun Sentinel]
The alleged fraud even vacuumed up the little guy. A Miami man who owns an ink cartridge business put up $2 million, and a Fort Lauderdale couple in their 80s, $1 million. A Palm Beach County man fears his life savings -- $135,000 in a Rothstein law firm escrow account, money to close on a condo -- is gone.

› Commercial Real Estate Agents Go from Callous to Collegial [SP Times]
The business of leasing and selling offices and shopping centers in Tampa Bay was so lucrative that brokers weren't above driving an elbow into the ribs. But in the lousy real estate market, something's happened on the way to foreclosure court. Brokers have discovered brotherhood.

› High-Speed Link Could Draw $2.5 Billion [Sun Sentinel]
Like the SunRail commuter train proposed for Central Florida, Tri-Rail is looking to the state Legislature for help during a special session that could take place in December.

› LongHorn Steakhouse Beefs Up Look, Expands [Orlando Sentinel]
Darden says the restaurants will have a more polished look, with natural materials accented by stacked stone and western-inspired artwork. Also: Can Outback's new guard find success?

commentary
› Today's Matchup: Piranhas vs. Iguanas [Palm Beach Post]
Sometimes, when Florida wants to "extirpate" one invasive species, we import another nonnative species to attack it.