Tuesday's Daily Pulse

Will Short Gorham | 11/8/2011

Shoppers getting an early start on holidays

Florida residents may be starting their holiday shopping earlier than ever. Typically, about 40 percent of consumers nationwide start holiday shopping before Halloween, said Kathy Grannis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "There is some reason to believe that shoppers are getting started earlier this year than last," Grannis said. Some Florida stores are already feeling an increase in traffic and seeing people making big purchases. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

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Florida Trend Exclusive
Training Camp

The Jacksonville Regional Political Leadership Institute is the brainchild of Mark Mills and John McReynolds, two former aides to U.S. Sen. Connie Mack. As Mills tells it, the two old friends were bemoaning the declining quality of public leaders and the challenges created by term limits and decided "there had to be a candidate-focused program" that could help prepare business-minded candidates for the rigors of campaigning and elected office. Read more...

Politics 101 at the Jacksonville Regional Political Leadership Institute. Participants learn how to file for office and are briefed on public budgeting, economic development and strategies for balancing public and personal life, among other topics. [Photo: Ken McCray]

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International tide lifts South Florida real estate market

South Florida is already the nation's epicenter for residential real estate sales to foreign buyers, and experts said Monday that they expect those international sales to be even stronger in 2012. "You have a unique opportunity for the next few years,'' Moe Veissi, the president-elect of the National Association of Realtors, told more than 200 people gathered for the 17th Miami International Real Estate Conference at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. "You are at the juxtaposition of the best global real estate market we've ever seen in this country.'' [Source: Miami Herald]

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Fake weed and fake cocaine makers skirt Florida bans

Florida's fight against fake marijuana and fake cocaine is heating up. Yet as police try to put the drug makers and sellers behind bars, most are slipping through their fingers, skirting state and federal bans of their products and still raking in the money.

Florida's Regions Find key regional demographic information with this interactive map of Florida.

Earlier this year, alarming reports of overdoses from the products led the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Florida legislators to outlaw a long list of chemicals found in fake weed and fake cocaine. But drug manufacturers are one step ahead of police, changing the chemical compounds just enough to beat the bans. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

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Florida private prison fight puts state on defense

The state has twice squared off in court with a union for prison workers. Twice the union has won and the state has lost. Is the state prepared to lose a third time? The Florida Police Benevolent Association is trying to prevent the state from hiring a private vendor to run 29 South Florida prisons, an idea hatched by the Legislature and approved by Gov. Rick Scott. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]

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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Disney track to feature exotic sports cars you can drive [Orlando Sentinel]
There will be a brand-new thrill ride at Walt Disney World beginning in mid-January, but it won't be what you'd expect. The Richard Petty Driving Experience, which already offers stock car drives at the Disney World Speedway, will begin offering rides in exotic cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. The new option is coming, in part, because the stock car business, including NASCAR, has contracted in the tough economy.

› USF Poly spends $10,000 on sci-fi figures [Tampa Tribune]
USF Polytechnic was looking for a way to make its business incubators "something different, innovative, progressive and creative." They found Captain James T. Kirk, with his confident gaze and slicked-back 1960s hair. And much more: ET, an Imperial Storm Trooper and Darth Vader, complete with cape and attached light saber. Polytechnic, it turns out, spent $10,000 to buy life-size "museum quality" recreations of the four sci-fi characters earlier this year.

› To keep young talent, Tampa Bay needs to get 'cool' before economy rebounds [St. Petersburg Times]
What Tampa Bay needs are more ways to be "cool" to young, talented adults, says Nielsen Co. executive vice president Bob McCann, who runs the 3,000-plus employee media rating/consumer research business in Oldsmar. Sound familiar? It's the mantra muttered in every aspiring metro area in the United States. And despite some positive strides, Tampa Bay — like most metro areas across the eastern U.S. (exception: Washington, D.C.) — remains a follower, not a leader when it comes to conjuring ways to attract and keep young adult talent.

› New Florida bill would end NFL blackouts [AP]
A bill introduced by a Florida legislator would end NFL television blackouts in the state. Republican State Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey filed a bill (SB 836) Friday requiring Florida's three National Football League teams to televise all home games whether they're sold out or not. The NFL franchises are in Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa. The proposal applies to any teams using facilities that receive tax dollars.

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