March 28, 2024

The Daily Pulse

What You Need to Know About Florida Today

Palm Beach County-owned Sugar Giant Goes Global

Two Palm Beach County-based sugar companies have just extended their reach to Europe. American Sugar Refining (ASR), owned by Florida Crystals Corp., based in West Palm Beach, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, in Belle Glade, has signed an agreement to acquire Tate & Lyle PLC's European cane sugar operations. [Source: Palm Beach Post]


Blood Bank Denies Calls Gave Donors Phony Story

Donations to Metro Orlando's main blood bank have been falling for months, forcing the nonprofit to buy more blood from other operations and to close a branch office to save money. Florida's Blood Centers is so desperate that its phone solicitors have in recent weeks told a story that's not true to try to lure donors, according to a telemarketer who works for the agency. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]


Jacksonville Broker Confessed to Ponzi Scheme

After 22 years of telling hundreds of investors they were making healthy profits, Wayne McLeod finally admitted it was all a lie. The promised government-secured bonds had never existed. The FEBG Bond Fund had been a scam all along. Those were the confessions McLeod made to investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 17 about the fund he had formed in 1988. One day after the confession, he told investors he was closing the fund. Four days later, he killed himself. [Source: Florida Times-Union]


You Bet It's Hot - June Sets Florida Temperature Records

You want to argue about global warming? How about local warming? Your flowers are wilting, your car's roof gave you second-degree burns, and crowded elevators are a little gamey these days. You're not imagining it. What's more, the waters surrounding the state are 1.2 to 1.5 degrees Celsius above normal. What feeds on warmer water? Hurricanes. [Source: Palm Beach Post]


Oil Disaster Roundup:

» Spill Now Worst in Gulf History [Palm Beach Post]
» BP Ignores Offers to Help Clean Spill [AP]
» Obama's BP Claims Czar Pledges Prompt Aid [St. Petersburg Times]
» Spill Pays Dividends for Crist [St. Petersburg Times]


ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Rubio: 'Our Government is Broken'
Bad weather grounded Marco Rubio's campaign plane Thursday, but it didn't stop the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from hearing bad economic news from Panhandle residents frustrated about the gulf oil spill.

› EDITORIAL: NASCAR Speeds Economy
Economists talk about "economic drivers." In Daytona Beach, flesh-and-blood drivers give new meaning to that abstract term. When race car drivers step on the gas at Daytona International Speedway, they do more than zoom down the straightaway. They also power the regional economy. So that thunderous noise you hear on International Speedway Boulevard is the sound of high-octane economic drivers. This weekend the local economy will get a supercharged boost from NASCAR and the Coke Zero 400.

› IRS Still After Mirabilis in Payroll-tax Fraud
Once ground zero for one of the biggest payroll-tax frauds in U.S. history, Mirabilis Ventures Inc. of Orlando is now in bankruptcy court getting squeezed by federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service — but successfully squeezing back. The $200 million fraud, which led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Mirabilis, pits the IRS and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Orlando against certified public accountant Bill Cuthill, a veteran bankruptcy receiver.

› Gainesville to Make Solar Feed-in More Available
Fifteen months after Gainesville's renowned solar feed-in tariff program began, the city's utility unveiled a plan Thursday to make it more accessible to homeowners. While the program — which essentially turns buildings into mini power plants by putting their solar-generated power back onto the grid and paying the property owners for it — has been a "resounding success," it hasn't been flawless.

› Dali Museum Founder Dies
Eleanor Reese Morse passed away last night at the age of 97. Mrs. Morse and her late husband, Reynolds Morse, moved their enormous collection of original Salvador Dali artwork to a permanent site in St. Petersburg in 1982, creating one of the state's largest and most renowned museums and visitor attractions.
» RELATED: Tampa Bay's Change of Art

HEALTH FOCUS

› Florida Hospital Performs Frenzy of Transplants
It started with a phone call at 4 p.m. last Friday. There's a heart, liver and kidney available from one donor, the organ-procurement coordinator told Florida Hospital transplant surgeon Dr. Bobby Nibhanupudy. Come get them. Last weekend, Florida Hospital's dream team of four transplant surgeons — and a supporting cast of more than 80 volunteer nurses and physician assistants — set a hospital record for the most number of transplants ever done in a weekend.

› From Treating Hearts to Tending Spirits
Cardiologist John Dormois is taking a leap of faith. On July 16 he will close his thriving South Tampa medical practice to attend divinity school at Duke University. After 35 years of caring for patients' bodies, Dormois, 65, wants to broaden his focus to caring for their spirits. He believes he can best do that by teaching medical students something he feels is lacking in the current curriculum: compassion.



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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.

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