Bradenton —?Manatee Community College has a new name: State College of Florida. The college’s board of trustees made the change because the school can now grant four-year degrees. The trustees also changed the college’s mascot from the lancer to the manatee.
» Veethree Electronics and Marine, an Illinois-based supplier of mechanical and electronic instrumentation, has moved its engineering headquarters to a 35,000-sq.-ft. facility in Manatee County.
» First America Bank, with three branches, and Manatee River Community Bank, with two, have merged.
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Fort Myers —?Edison State College, with campuses in Charlotte, Collier, Lee and Hendry counties, has announced a “rapid recovery” job-training program, intended to quickly retrain workers left jobless by the economic downturn.
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Hillsborough County —?Phosphate company Mosaic has broken ground on its Florida headquarters, a 113,000-sq.-ft. facility in the FishHawk Ranch development. The building will accommodate 400 employees.
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LaBelle —?Hendry County is getting a new emergency operations center. The 10,000-sq.-ft. building, designed to withstand winds of more than 180 mph, will cost $4.76 million. Completion is set for November.
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Lakeland — Polk commissioners voted to allow the Central Florida Development Council to donate $1 million to the University of South Polytechnic for a proposed business technology incubator, a project that school officials say will ultimately cost $37.5 million.
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Manatee County —?FB Energy announced plans to build a $185-million power plant near Port Manatee. The plant would create electricity from biomass. Construction is expected to start in December.
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Palm Harbor —?Curlew Hills Memory Gardens has set aside part of the cemetery for families following Greek customs. Called the Hellenic Cemetery Morpheus, the 1,000-gravesite section will follow Greek traditions, including having all of the graves facing east. According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, Pinellas County is home to more than 13,000 residents of Greek heritage.
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Pinellas County —?St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport will get $5.36 million in federal stimulus funds to upgrade its terminal building.
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Tampa —?PricewaterhouseCoopers will add up to 320 jobs at its Tampa offices within the next two years. The company plans to spend nearly $7 million on construction, renovation and equipment to accommodate the growth.
» A $1.5-million, 2,800-sq.-ft. simulation center has opened at Tampa General Hospital. The University of South Florida facility allows physicians to practice a variety of medical techniques with no risk to patients.
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Tampa Bay —?Accused of excessive pumping during the drought, Tampa Bay Water, the region’s water utility, faces up to $1 million in fines from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.