Wednesday's Top Stories

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4, 2009

TALLAHASSEE:
State Sues Online Travel Companies

Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Expedia.com and Orbitz yesterday, asking for a court declaration that Florida is entitled to sales taxes on the full amount of hotel prices -- not just the marked-down room rates the companies negotiate with resorts.

Here's how it works: An online booking service might charge $159 a night for a hotel room, for four nights, for a total of $636 -- but it might negotiate a rate of $118 a night with the hotel, actually paying only $472. A 6% tax on the retail rate would be $38.16 for four nights, but the companies are calculating their sales taxes on the wholesale rate, paying $28.32. Thus the companies keep $9.84 that the traveler pays in "taxes." [Source: Democrat]

TAMPA:
Blowing Smoke at Cigar Tax

Last spring, the cigar industry fretted that the federal government might tax so-called "little cigars" into oblivion. Several months later, though, it appears that the makers of cigarette-shaped little cigars have found a way to escape the high taxes. The cigarmakers have added more weight to their cigars, reclassified them as large cigars and now are subject to a lower tax rate. One Tampa cigar factory, Hav-A-Tampa, blamed the tax for a steep drop in sales, and the company ceased its Tampa operations in the summer and moved the plant's operations to Puerto Rico. [Source: Tampa Tribune]

PANAMA CITY:
Shipbuilder Is Busy with Plenty of Work

Despite the economic downturn, this shipyard is bustling, fulfilling contracts signed when the economy was more favorable. Read on ... [Source: Florida Trend]

Scientists at the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute in Port St. Lucie have begun research that they hope will answer some nagging questions about the flu. Among them: Why are infants and older people most susceptible to severe flu? How does last year's illness, or a flu shot from two years ago, affect the body's ability to fight the virus? John Schatzle of VGTI Florida said powerful new technology might help researchers unravel the riddles of flu. "We only recently have had the tools to do this," he said. "We have to use supercomputers to make sense of all of it." [Source: Palm Beach Post]

Related:

• University of Miami, Jackson Health square off at summit [Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Slots at Miami Airport Plan Moves Forward [Miami Herald]
Despite long odds for approval, Miami-Dade commissioners agreed to apply for a permit to allow slot machines at MIA.

› Python Hunters Bag 37 in Hunting Season [AP]
Wildlife officials began issuing permits to snake experts in July in the first-ever state-sanctioned python hunt. Those permits, 15 in all, expired Oct. 31.

› Outback Steakhouse Parent Names New CEO [St. Petersburg Times]
Elizabeth "Liz" Smith, 46, of Avon Products Inc., brings a wealth of food and cosmetics marketing experience as replacement for Bill Allen III, whose five-year contract at OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. is expiring.

› 'Burn Notice' Actor Lobbies for State Film Tax Credits [Times/Herald]
Jeffrey Donovan relayed one example of how his show pumps up South Florida’s economy.

› Toxic Drywall Might Have Insurance Repercussions [insurance]
Not only do the insurers have no obligation to cover the defective drywall, Commissioner Kevin McCarty said, but residents could face the possibility of having their coverage dropped by the companies if they move out of their homes because of problems caused by the drywall.
Also: Chinese drywall manufacturer agrees to be sued in class action case

› Rubio Fundraising Follows Obama's Small-Donor Model [SP Times]
A closer look at the Senate candidates' latest campaign finance reports, in fact, shows Crist has relied so heavily on large donors that his financial advantage over Rubio is less enormous than it might appear.

› Scott Rothstein Stripped of Power; Alleged to Have Stolen Up to $500M [Post]
A Fort Lauderdale attorney who surrounded himself with beach-front mansions and a fleet of Lamborghinis and Ferraris was stripped Tuesday of all power he had over the law firm he created and amid accusations he put it at the center of a Ponzi scheme that funded his lavish lifestyle.

› FPL, Progress Energy, TECO Get Rate Cuts [AP]
The Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday cut rates effective in January for three large power companies because of declining fuel prices and other reasons.

› Class-Action Suit Accuses KB Home of Inflating Prices [SP Times]
A Florida class-action lawsuit filed Friday accuses KB Home, among the bestselling builders in the Tampa Bay area, of inflating home prices by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Related: Feds announce more than 100 prosecutions in mortgage fraud surge

› WellCare's Back, Reports Deception [Health News Florida]
Federal sanctions imposed on WellCare Health Plans in March were lifted Tuesday, just in time for the Tampa company to sell its Medicare drug and health plans for 2010.


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