Tuesday's Daily Pulse

› Plastics firm seeks tax-free loan to hire and expand [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Custom plastics maker Octex Holdings will beef up its operations and nearly double its payroll, using Sarasota County government as the conduit for a $7 million low-interest, tax-free expansion loan. Octex, owned and managed by James Westman, is operating at capacity in its 34,000-square-foot building in the International Trade Center, an industrial park off Fruitville Road two miles east of Interstate 75. Assuming its bond proposal is approved by county commissioners, Octex will use the preferred-rate loan from BB&T Bank to buy and renovate the building it currently leases, acquire an adjacent 2.6 acres, and expand by 22,000 square feet. Westman did not return a call Monday seeking more information. The company, which now employs 61, will add "over 50 additional people" during the next three years, its application states. In the manufacturing operation, the company runs the raw material -- plastic pellets -- through precision robotic injection molding machines to create exactly what the customer wants. That could be anything from boat decking to beverage tumblers. Sales last year hit $14 million, up from $9.8 million in 2009.

› One airport celebrates while another ponders its future [USA Today]
The Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport celebrates its one-year anniversary today with music, food and giveaways, according to the Panama City News Herald. The airport is one of a select few brand-new airports that have opened for business for the first time in recent years. Southwest was the first airline to serve the new airport from day one, according to the News Herald. Delta joined after Southwest. Load factors have exceeded Southwest's original projections of 50%. While one Florida airport celebrates, a different Florida airport is concerned about its fate now that Southwest has acquired AirTran. According to the Herald Tribune the merger means Southwest will expand service in Southwest Florida, but it is uncertain if the combined airline will continue to fly from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, or consolidate its operations into the much larger Tampa and Ft. Myers airports, both of which Southwest already serves.

› COLUMN: A plan to boost the bay area's economy [St. Petersburg Times]
Another report came out Monday that offers the latest strategy for the Tampa Bay area to diversify its economy and focus its economic development firepower on those few industries deemed most likely to succeed here and generate better-paying jobs in the coming decades. We've asked Mission: Impossible's Mr. Phelps to take on this assignment because it really is starting to feel like an insurmountable task for this area. How do we stop issuing reports — even a gold-tipped one like this $500,000 beauty from the consultants at SRI International — and take the plunge to make it happen? The economic development powers will frown at my impatience, but many in the business community may appreciate it.

› Tampa to receive steel from the World Trade Center [St. Petersburg Times]
Two pieces of steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center are headed to Tampa. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is donating the artifacts, one an I-beam about 8 feet long and the other a flange nearly 4 feet across. Rusted and battered, each is powerful symbol of a day that changed the nation. "It's something you just feel is charged," said Robin Nigh, who manages arts programs for the city of Tampa. "It was there when. ... I think it'll be important for us for a long time." City officials have not decided how to display the steel. But Nigh said one piece could go to a corner of Bayshore Boulevard where the Bayshore Patriots regularly wave American flags at passing motorists. The other could go to the Tampa Firefighters Museum on Zack Street. Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Matthew Rametta, the museum's president, said it would be an honor to have a piece of the towers. Visitors sometimes ask whether there is a memorial in downtown Tampa to firefighters killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

› Panel: Diocese likely discriminated against Hispanic employees [Gainesville Sun]
The Diocese of St. Augustine likely discriminated against Hispanic employees in Gainesville who bore the brunt of last year's restructuring as a result of a budget shortfall, a state commission determined. The Florida Commission on Human Relations found reasonable cause that the diocese, based in Jacksonville, discriminated against the employees based on national origin. The commission found no cause to complaints that the employees also faced age discrimination. Records provided to The Sun show the commission found on behalf of two employees May 13, and attorney George Harth confirmed the same results for a third client. He said the commission told him about a fourth complainant, but he said he is not aware of the results of that case. Other affected employees are not protected under civil rights laws because of exemptions for church ministerial workers, he said.

› Coyote sightings in Florida's urban areas increase [Tampa Tribune]
Game officials are working on a statewide effort to better track how often Floridians encounter coyotes that have made themselves at home from the Keys to the Georgia line since migrating into the Panhandle 40 years ago. One main goal of the year-long work group set up by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is to educate people on how to live with coyotes that are now as permanent a Florida fixture as alligators and mosquitoes. The group that includes the University of Florida and U.S. Department of Agriculture also hopes to develop a policy for what to do with aggressive or nuisance coyotes in neighborhoods and come up with a game commission trapping program. "Honestly, we don't have a protocol to respond to an aggressive or a problem coyote," said Karen Parker, a game commission spokeswoman. There have been no reports of a coyote attacking a person in Florida, she said, but has been reported in western states where coyotes are more common. Getting rid of coyotes is not going to be an option. "Coyotes are here to stay. Increasingly they're moving into suburban and urban neighborhoods. Eradication is next to impossible from what the biologists tell me," Parker said.

› New chamber does business with faith [Fort Myers News-Press]
A new Fort Myers-based chamber of commerce has captured the attention of businesses that want to operate above board. Jeanne Sweeney, the former executive director of the Christian Chamber of Southwest Florida, left the chamber in November and began to lay out plans for the Above Board Chamber of Florida in January. The faith-based chamber helps businesses operate to their full potential with integrity while setting an example for clients, employees and family members, Sweeney said. The new journey has been an exciting experience for Sweeney. After 13 years with the Christian Chamber of Southwest Florida, she felt it was time for a change. "God just opened up a new path and a new opportunity so I could go out in the community and talk to new businesses about being above board," she said.

› Sunovia to light up part of Sarasota [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc. is collaborating with Siemens Building Technologies to replace 200 traditional streetlights in the city of Sarasota with light-emitting diode products. The replacement lighting fixtures are produced by Sunovia's light division, EvoLucia Inc. The Sarasota County-based Sunovia did not disclose the terms of the deal. The project, scheduled to begin this month along the Ringling Bridge Causeway and St. Armands Circle, is expected to reduce the energy costs for the lighting by 60 percent. Sunovia recently announced that it would provide its LED lights in a contract with Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo. Other military customers include the U.S. Navy's Souda Bay base in Crete, Greece, and the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.