March 28, 2024

Tuesday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/19/2013

Florida College System brings billions into state's economy

Students will be getting their monies worth out of a Florida college education. The state will see a return on its investment too. The State Board of Education and the Florida College System joined forces to break down the numbers. A new study shows that Florida colleges are bringing in the big bucks into the economy. Read more from WCTV and StateImpact Florida.


Florida Senate releases details of 'Healthy Florida' plan

The Florida Senate has finally released details of a plan to draw down $51 billion in federal aid and use it to purchase vouchers for the private insurance market. Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, is the chief architect of the proposed bill to create the Healthy Florida program as an alternative to expanding the state’s safety net health care program. [Source: Jacksonville Business Journal]

Legislative Roundup:
» Florida House: Spend money on teachers and veterans
» Bill Forbidding Local Governments from Passing Sick-Day Ordinances Advances
» Legislature weighs ticket-buying changes
» Florida Senate moves forward on med mal, won’t go as far as house
» Jaguars join Dolphins in seeking state help for stadium improvements


Short sale stigma alive and well, study finds

If you’re trying to sell a home that’s not a short sale, be sure to say so in the listing. The “not a short sale” designation will help a home sell quicker and for more money, according to a study of 5,000 Boca Raton properties by real estate professors at Florida International University and the University of Southern Mississippi. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]


Florida farmers prepare for less citrus

Florida’s farmers could lose a percentage of their citrus this year due to premature drops. When citrus trees overproduce, the extra fruit is shed early. The overproduction can be caused by warm temperatures during the winter season, early blooming and the greening disease. [Source: WUFT]


Gas prices leap 11% in first two months of new year

We felt it at the pumps: Gas prices jumped 11 percent in just two months in January and February in South Florida, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That contributed overall to a 1.5 percent increase in consumer prices in Broward and Miami-Dade -- the sharpest spike in five years during the first two months of the year. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Related:
» Gas prices drop again, though further decreases expected to slow
» Consumers feeling effects of higher food prices in Southwest Florida


ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida company supplied organs in rabies case
An official at an organ donation service in Florida says it was the supplier of transplanted organs from a man who later was found to have died of rabies.

› Fight intensifies against ferocious termite
The coneheads are about to swarm. A ravenous Caribbean termite with a pointy head — hence the name — is awaiting the start of rainy season to send out clouds of winged colonists to found new nests, threatening to spread the species beyond its square-mile foothold in Dania Beach.

› New aerospace company planning to locate in Melbourne
A subsidiary of a Brazilian aviation company has plans to come to Melbourne International Airport, a project expected to create at least 50 jobs during the next three years.

› All Aboard Florida seeks federal loan
The builders of a privately financed train linking South Florida with Orlando International Airport have applied for a federal loan to help pay for the $1.5 billion project.
» Related: All Aboard Florida on track for 2015


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Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

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