Wednesday's Top Stories

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14, 2009

ARCADIA:
Solar Plant Set to Open, Even as Shadows Loom

The road to North America's largest photovoltaic solar plant passes cows and orange trees before turning to gravel amid a field of 90,000 black panels -- enough to power 3,000 homes. Florida has never seen anything like this: vast fields of clean renewable energy drawing young people with high-paying, high-skilled jobs in an emerging industry. Read on ... [Source: Herald-Tribune]

Also regarding energy:

• FGCU receives $1 million gift to study renewable energy [Naples Daily News]
• FSU to hold offshore-drilling symposium [Democrat]
• Chinese energy opportunities cited [Herald]

THE KEYS:
Makeover Hits a Wall -- For Now

Luxury developers with grand plans swarmed the Florida Keys during the real estate boom, paying big bucks to gobble up campgrounds, trailer parks, marinas, mom-and-pop motels -- even renowned Holiday Isle and its World Famous Tiki Bar. Then came the real estate and credit crash. From Key Largo to Key West, at least 18 pricey projects screeched to a halt in 2007 and 2008. "It doesn't feel like the rich people are taking over any more," said Shawn Wilson, a realtor at Prudential Keyside Properties. "Everybody's broke." [Source: Miami Herald]

JUPITER:
Biotech Firm Settles In

In a boost for the area's biotech industry, a start-up firm said Tuesday it has set up shop in Jupiter -- and it boasts $8 million in venture capital and the imprimatur of a Nobel Prize winner. The new company, Envoy Therapeutics, said it raised $8 million in a private placement led by 5AM Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm in Menlo Park, Calif. Envoy's website said it will try to develop drugs for schizophrenia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, drug addiction, epilepsy, anxiety and depression and other disorders. [Source: Palm Beach Post]

Transitioning Florida's economy:

• Florida Chamber encourages hard choices, long-term thinking [Times]
• Medical City is changing Florida's DNA [Trend]

Cuba's workplace cafeterias are closing, President Raúl Castro keeps saying the well-off shouldn't get the same subsidies as the poor, and now there are rumblings that one of the stalwart vestiges of the revolution -- the ration booklet -- has outlived its usefulness. As the Cuban government struggles through a deep recession, its leaders have begun picking away at socialism in order to save it. But experts say the latest buzz by the Cuban government is simply another desperate fix to stem the slide of a failed economy that buckled long ago. [Source: Miami Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:


› U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler Leaving Congress to Lead Think Tank [Post]
Seven-term U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, has told South Florida Democratic insiders he will resign from Congress to take a job with a nonprofit that promotes peace in the Middle East.

› Intelligent Use of Water in Naples [Florida Trend]
Naples Botanical Garden, a 170-acre oasis that opens to the public next month, beat out organizations from around the country to win the Intelligent Use of Water Leadership Award at the 2009 WaterSmart Innovations conference in Las Vegas last week.

› Jaxport Pushing to Be 'National Cargo Hub' [Times-Union]
The classification could be used as a reason to deepen harbor.

› Insurers Drop Drywall Victims [Wall Street Journal]
At least two home insurers in Florida have begun dropping policyholders who filed claims for property damage linked to drywall imported from China.

› Crist 'Regretted' Secrecy [Palm Beach Post]
Gov. Crist released a memo Tuesday showing he approached Republican leaders in the legislature before approving $20 million in cash incentives for a Port St. Lucie animation company.

› Orlando, Front-Runner for JetBlue Headquarters [Sentinel]
After an extensive review, the New York-based airline said it has decided to focus its search on just two destinations: the New York metropolitan area and Orlando.
Also: Southwest adding Tampa flights

› Fergie May Become Miami Dolphins Partner [Herald]
NFL owners meeting in Boston this week approved the Black Eyed Peas singer as a part owner. She would join celebrities Jimmy Buffett, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Marc Anthony, Serena and Venus Williams.

› New Home Building Picks Up in the Tampa Bay Area [St. Petersburg Times]
Local builders started 1,040 homes in the third quarter, which ran from July 1 to Sept. 30. It's the first time in a year that quarterly home starts cracked 1,000.
Orlando: Home prices decline in September

› Sen. Nelson Votes for Health Care Bill [Times/Herald]
Sen. Bill Nelson voted this afternoon in favor of the Senate Finance Committee health care bill, joining other Democrats and one Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine, in advancing the legislation. The final vote was 14-9.

› Report: Burmese Pythons Pose High Risk to Everglades Ecosystem [Sun Sentinel]
Authorities are now investigating whether African rock pythons also have established themselves in South Florida.

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