Monday's Top Stories

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009

TALLAHASSEE:
2009 Fla. Legislative Preview

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As legislators look to slash regulations to encourage growth, environmentalists worry about losing hard-won protections from pollution. Here's a look at what lawmakers hope to tackle starting tomorrow. [Source: Florida Trend]

More on this topic:

• Florida seeks per-gallon water fee from bottlers
• Lawmakers look for ways to aid condo associations
• More than 1,100 state workers make over $100,000

ORLANDO:
Firms Train Sights on Military Contract

Only a month after it was announced, the Army's latest multibillion-dollar simulation training deal is becoming a magnet for new companies seeking to join a key Central Florida industry. STOC II — the Simulation and Training Omnibus Contract II — has sent a buzz through the region's high-tech training community. More than 120 companies nationwide were selected to compete for scores of contracts potentially worth $17.5 billion during the next 10 years to modernize the Army's stock of war-game simulators. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

More on this topic from Florida Trend:

• Military projects could bring 6,241 jobs to Okaloosa
• Military is big client of race track

SARASOTA:
Associations Want Faster Foreclosures

Some community associations -- especially condo associations -- have been complaining that banks are initiating foreclosure proceedings against owners, but then taking their time when it comes to actually pulling the trigger to take title. As a result, the process frequently goes beyond the six-month liability period for condos, and leaves condo associations with months' worth of assessments that will never be repaid. The Community Association Leadership Lobby, a lobbying group that represents about 4,000 community associations in Florida, plans to push for new laws during the upcoming legislative session that would shift more of the responsibility for unpaid assessments to lenders. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

State forecasters project that for the first time since the state began making population estimates -- nearly 60 years -- Florida's population growth has ground to a standstill. The state is expected to have about the same population -- 18.8 million -- in April of this year as it did in April 2008. That marks one of the most radical demographic changes in state history. Florida's boosters have long bragged that the state attracted 1,000 new residents a day, and in some years, far more than that. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

More on growth from Florida Trend:

• Editor Mark Howard: No Water, No Growth

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:



› Games Make Gains, But Dogs Are Fading [Herald-Tribune]
Derby Lane in St. Petersburg has staged greyhound racing for longer than any other dog track in the world, but a $2.5 million renovation in December left no doubt about what the owners bet the future will look like. The main entrance now opens to a brand new poker room featuring Texas Hold 'em. Getting to the dog track means walking a hallway lined on both sides with poker tables.

› Recession, Balky Regulators Stall Orlando-Area Startups [Sentinel]
A gloomy mix of financial crisis and economic recession has chilled a Casselberry-based business group's effort to launch a new community bank called Semoran National Bank.

› Mosaic Finds Fit In Lithia [Tampa Tribune]
Phosphate giant Mosaic Fertilizer will construct a new $20 million headquarters building in Circa FishHawk this year, putting several hundred subcontract employees to work in the next 11 months.

› Publix Marketer, Lobbyist Randy Roberts Dies at 36 [Ledger]
Randy Roberts, a Publix Super Markets executive known from Lakeland to Tallahassee for his marketing and lobbying expertise as well as his civic work, died at home Thursday night of what was described as a heart attack.

› Growers Facing Tough Times [Naples Daily News]
As lawmakers face massive budget shortfalls, the agriculture industry in general expects to spend most of its time in defense mode — protecting what it has and fending off cuts to important programs. Also: Abandoned citrus groves in Hillsborough breed disease

› Port St. Lucie Steers I-95 Cash Toward Drawing High-Pay Jobs [Post]
To attract more research institutes and business prospects to southwest Port St. Lucie, City Manager Don Cooper has proposed using about $22 million that developers gave the city several years ago as part of a massive annexation agreement.

› USF Hopes to Take Lead with Campus Hospital [Tampa Tribune]
USF has begun working with Caine Brothers, health care capital advisers and investment bankers based in New York. The firm is advising the university on how to evaluate partnership offers.

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