Friday's Daily Pulse

› After Budget Cuts, Staffers Get New Jobs at Higher Pay [Miami Herald]
Miami City Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff ordered furloughs and cut staffers to get his budget under control, but two of his employees have landed higher-paying jobs elsewhere in the city. Both former staffers now work at the city agency created to attack inner-city blight, the Community Redevelopment Agency. The recent job shifts add to a series of questions involving the CRAs and potential abuse of agency funds.

› Plum Creek Looking to Industrial Development [Florida Times-Union]
Plum Creek, the biggest timberland owner in Florida, is branching out into industrial development. Today, company executives will join state and local officials from Columbia County for speeches and a panel discussion about converting land owned by Plum Creek into a hub for distributing cargo that flows through global trade.

› Small Business Owners Fret over Health-care Reform Law [Gainesville Sun]
A lobbyist told small business owners and consultants that his organization is leading the legal challenge against the health-care reform law that he says will stifle their growth -- even while urging them to prepare to comply with the law. Bill Herrle, Florida executive director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, told about 20 people some of how the law will affect small businesses. He also encouraged them to get involved in NFIB's efforts to overturn the law.

› Fiat Returning to U.S., Looking to Open Florida Dealerships [Orlando Sentinel]
Italian automaker Fiat is recruiting dealers to sell Fiat products in 41 states — including Florida — with sales beginning in December for the Fiat 500, and a convertible version of the 500 in 2011. Current Chrysler dealers will have "preference," said Chrysler in a statement, over non-Chrysler dealers who want to sell Fiats.

› Jacksonville Community Council to Conduct Employment, Economic Growth Study [Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville Community Council Inc. will conduct a study beginning in October that will explore ways for Northeast Florida to quickly create jobs and get in position for long-term economic growth. Titled "Recession Recovery and Beyond: Job Creation, Employment and Improving Northeast Florida's Competitiveness," the study will take 25 weeks and will include fact-finding visits to seven counties in the region. Elaine Brown, incoming president of the Northeast Florida Regional Council and former Jacksonville City Council president, will chair the project.

› Disney Volunteers Produce Musical Extravaganza for Charity [Orlando Sentinel]
It has been three decades since Clay Price and his twin brother Cliff produced variety shows for their parents and neighbors in tiny Wrightsville, Ga. They created a stage of sorts around the family fireplace and rigged curtains out of bed sheets. Back then, a big night meant a half-dozen grown-ups in the audience. Tonight, the brothers could bring in close to 1,400. And that's just the opener.

› 'Make or Break' Lobster Season for Florida Keys [Miami Herald]
Gary Nichols built Nichols Seafood of Conch Key from scratch in the 1970s with a crashed boat headed to the junkyard and scrap wood scavenged from a dump to make traps. On Friday, the 53-year-old begins his 38th spiny lobster season. It's a "make or break" season for his family business that now includes his 26-year-old daughter as captain of his second boat. The Nichols are optimistic that prices will be much better than last season's abysmal going rate of around $3 a pound on the global market, about the same price Gary Nichols said he got 30 years ago on the South Florida mainland.

› Electricity Usage Statewide Expected to Continue to Rise [Palm Beach Post]
Demand for electricity is projected to continue to increase in Florida over the next decade, but at a slower rate than previously predicted, an official with the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council said. In 2009 there was a decrease in the forecast growth due to the recession and lower customer growth for utilities, he said. Customers also reduced the amount of electricity they consumed. Energy efficiency, such as appliances that use less energy, also played a role.