From cause to commerce: Hospices in Florida
In the 1970s, hospices began to grow in the United States as a grassroots effort by those who believed that terminally ill people should be able to die with dignity. Advocates set up non-profit organizations called hospices on shoestring budgets to care for the emotional, social and spiritual needs of dying people and their families. The programs relied almost entirely on charitable contributions and volunteers. Florida became the first state to set standards for care. Today, hospice has become a multibillion-dollar industry -- increasingly populated by for-profit firms competing with the non-profit providers that pioneered the humane approach to dying. Read our four-part Special Report on Hospice:
- From Cause to Commerce: A look at how hospices in Florida are transitioning as revenue - and need - increase. ?
- Pros and CON: The certificate of need process (CON) creates costs for non-profit hospices already operating in an area, leading them to spend more money on marketing to be competitive.?
- Evolution of a Hospice: Samira Beckwith runs her non-profit hospice, Hope HealthCare Services, as an entrepreneur. ?
- The Big For-Profit Hospices
 Florida is home to some of the largest non-profit and for-profit hospices. While the number of non-profits held steady from 2000-07, for-profit hospices more than doubled. [Photo: Jon M. Fletcher] |
Florida falling behind on renewable energy development
Two years ago, the Sunshine State seemed poised to assume its natural role as a national leader in renewable energy. Then-Gov. Charlie Crist touted a plan for 20 percent of the energy generated in the state to come from renewable sources such as solar by 2020. After wide praise, the effort died in the 2009 Legislative session — and every year since. Now, instead of emerging as a leader, Florida lags behind 29 other states — including such places as New Jersey — in developing a renewable energy policy. "Florida should lead the way," Crist said in a recent interview. "It's going to take leadership. It always takes leadership." Actually, the problem is bigger than that. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Shuttle, rocket liftoffs leave legacy of costly cleanups at KSC
NASA spent decades to send men to the moon, launch the space shuttles and build a laboratory in space, and now it will take a century to clean up the chemical messes left behind. Plumes of carcinogenic chemicals used in the launching of the space shuttles, Apollo moon shots and other rockets seeped deep into sandy soils beneath launch pads and other structures at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. They form viscous toxic goo that will take $1 billion in cleanup costs agencywide over many decades, and could bog down funding for next-generation spacecraft. [Source: Florida Today]
Opposing the health law, Florida refuses millions
When it comes to pursuing federal largess, most of the states that oppose the 2010 health care law have refused to let either principle or politics block their paths to the trough. If Washington is doling out dollars, Republican governors and legislators typically figure they might as well get their share. Then there is Florida. Despite having the country's fourth-highest unemployment rate, its second-highest rate of people without insurance and a $3.7 billion budget gap this year, the state has turned away scores of millions of dollars in grants made available under the Affordable Care Act. And it is not pursuing grants worth many millions more. [Source: New York Times]
Florida auto insurance rates climbing steadily
State Farm, Geico, Progressive and Allstate — the big four auto insurers in Florida — have been aggressively battling for your business on the airwaves, with each promising lower rates than the other guy.
You'd think auto insurance is getting cheaper.
You'd be wrong.
Auto rates in what is already one of the most expensive states in the country have been on the rise through a steady stream of twice-a-year increases by many insurers since late 2009. All of the big four insurers have been hiking rates.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› The effectiveness of human -- and sometimes animal -- billboards
Christopher Bonea is a chicken, literally.
It's a sweltering 93 degrees as Bonea, 17, bravely stands at the corner of Military Trail and Community Drive near West Palm Beach dressed in a mustard yellow - and insanely hot - chicken costume to promote Wing Zone, a popular fast-food eatery.
As the Palm Beach Lakes High School senior gleefully spins a red Wing Zone sign, dances excitedly and bobs his head like, well, a 5-foot, 7-inch human chicken would, motorists honk their horns and wave in appreciation.
"They keep me going," sighs Bonea, the sweat dripping off his angular face like oversize raindrops. "This heat, man. I just suck it up."
Chances are you've seen someone holding a sign with a message such as "Cash 4 Gold" or "New and Used Tires" as more companies use this low-cost form of advertising to drum up business in a down economy.
› Nostalgia reigns at reopening of historic drive-in theater
More than 350 vehicles, including about 180 hot rods, antique autos and collectible cars, packed the grand reopening of the Ocala Drive—In Theatre on Friday night. Cars like the supercharged 1957 bright yellow Chevy owned by Sid and Debbie Mastrangelo, a 1969 Mach 1 Mustang and a 1974 Corvette Mako II gave the night a nostalgic ambiance. "This is awesome," said Sid Mastrangelo, 55. "Everybody wants to go back to the drive-in and sock-hop days."
› It's hands off for hands-on Orlando Magic GM
So what does a general manager do when he can't, well, generally manage?
Otis Smith laughed at the question. "Yeah, it's tough." Smith said. "You can only take so many bike rides."
Nevermind Smith's 2,200-mile motorcycle ride for now. Today, he's an uneasy rider, considering owners have locked out the players in this labor dispute.
It means the NBA is closed for business.
› Anti- government activist takes on foreclosures
On paper, Jacob-Franz Dyck is one of the largest property owners in Florida. More than 600 deeds have been filed in the name of trusts he controls in 17 counties, including eight in Sarasota and Manatee.
But Dyck never paid a penny for those properties.
A self-proclaimed "sovereign citizen" who believes that U.S. laws don't apply to him, the 72-year-old Dyck filed some deeds with the purported goal of helping people facing foreclosure remain in their homes. Others were to help evicted owners reclaim their property.
Feeding into a more radical version of the anti-tax, anti-big government, anti-Obama passions that have stirred everything from the Tea Party to the Birthers in recent years, Dyck's ideology has resonated among those hit hardest by the Great Recession.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› Fort Lauderdale seeks help in naming project to craft long-term vision
Fort Lauderdale officials are looking for help from the public to choose between four names for their project to craft a long-term vision for the city's growth. City commissioners agreed this spring to hire a consulting firm to create the plan over the course of 10 months of public input beginning later this year. The first step, though, is what to call the project. The choices are:
- 1. Fort Lauderdale, Forward Focused
- 2. Vision Fort Lauderdale — Dream It, Do It!
- 3. Fort Lauderdale — Our City, Our Vision
- 4. Fort Lauderdale — Future In Focus
› Bookstores fight for survival in a tech age
The Internet hasn't killed bookstores, but the bricks-and-mortar book-selling industry in Orlando and across the nation has been wounded and is trying to figure out a way to stop the bleeding.
Across America, Borders is closing down the last of its stores, and Barnes & Noble has begun rebuilding itself for a digital future.
In Central Florida, independents such as Chapters Café & Bookshop and Urban Think! have closed, and Leedy's Books on Colonial Drive plans to shut its doors.
Bookstores were once a staple of malls, but now many — from struggling centers such as Orlando Fashion Square and West Oaks to thriving ones including Mall at Millenia — have none.
› For a summer switch, Miami boasts of cooler climes
South Florida makes the most of its bragging rights in the winter, when the rest of the nation shivers and we bask in sunshine.
But this sweltering summer, Miami tourism officials are fixing to boast about the destination's cool factor.
On the heels of a weekend heat wave that sent temperatures soaring past 100 in the Northeast, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau is preparing to launch a $100,000 marketing effort in print, digital advertising and billboards proclaiming Miami a relative respite from heat waves.
"It's actually cooler in Miami — and you need a lot less clothes," said Rolando Aedo, the bureau's chief marketing officer.
› Elderly who trusted high-living couple now face nightmares
When her husband's Alzheimer's disease made him so violent that she had to lock her bedroom door at night to feel safe, Janet Lentz knew it was time to put him in a nursing home.
Heartbroken, alone and unsure how to manage financially, Lentz turned to Kissimmee elder-care lawyer Linda Vasquez Littlefield to help get Medicaid for her husband.
Five years later, Eugene Lentz is dead; Janet Lentz, 76, is pinching pennies to survive; and Linda Vasquez has been arrested and disbarred.
› Honey business keeps retired partners buzzing in Palm Bay
The beekeeping business, which Paul Dawkins entered six months ago, came with a painful -- but important -- revelation.
"I found out I'm not allergic to bee stings," said Dawkins, who recently retired from the West Melbourne Post Office and joined his former co-worker, the also retired Mike Adams, in a beekeeping and honey producing business in Palm Bay. The men hit upon honey production as a business opportunity. It's hot work, with a lot of heavy lifting, but they are making a go of it after investing about $7,000 in the operation, including equipment and permits.
"There are opportunities if you want to take them and do the work," Dawkins, 57, said. "Not that many people want to sweat anymore."
› Ticked off over tickets: The battle over secondary ticket market
When you buy a ticket to fly to Detroit, you can't sell it to someone at work. Or give it to your sister as a gift.
But what if concert and sports tickets were the same way?
It's already happening in some cities, and slowly seeping into South Florida.
If the doomsayers are right, it'll make the prospect of getting into a game more burdensome than ever for fans already forced to round up the kids, fight traffic and seek out a parking space — often during the rush-hour crush — just to get to the gate.
›
Drive a billboard, get big discount on car rental
When Nia Lewis was looking for a car to drive to Florida to visit her in-laws, she went to the Atlanta Budget Rent a Car website as she normally does. But she stumbled upon something unusual.
There, on the site's home page, was a big discount. The catch? The car is a moving ad.
With the price of gasoline approaching $4 a gallon and the economy still in bad shape, Budget is hoping more deal-hungry vacationers want to rent cheaper vehicles - as long as they don't mind driving a billboard.
Lewis read the fine print on the website, searched the company the ads were promoting and filled out a questionnaire that asked what types of areas she might be visiting.
But the selling point was the price: Lewis saw that she could get an SUV that would usually cost closer to $300 for a four-day trip for about $88.