Florida offers look at problems with education law
Responding to an outcry from the states and congressional inaction on rewriting the No Child Left Behind law, President Barack Obama on Thursday told 10 states, including Florida, that they will be freed from the strictest elements of the law, including the requirement that all students be up to par in math and reading by 2014. In exchange for flexibility, states had to present individualized plans aimed at ensuring all students leave school ready for college and career. Florida, home to several of the nation's largest school districts, offers a look into what went wrong with the law and why states are now clamoring for relief. Read more from the Associated Press and see also:
In Case You Missed It Consult A Doctor makes bottom lines healthier Wolf Shlagman admits that 2008 wasn't a good time to ask companies to spend money on anything, especially an unproven service.
But he knew that the company he had founded the year before, Miami-based telemedicine provider Consult A Doctor, could save employers and insurers money by replacing some employee visits to the doctor, urgent care or emergency room with less costly telephone consultations.
Two South Beach hotels to join Marriott’s Autograph Collection
Two Art Deco boutique hotels are joining the Autograph Collection, Marriott International’s portfolio of independently owned and operated upscale properties.
The Blue Moon and Winter Haven hotels are the first in South Florida to join the collection, which launched in 2010.
[Source: Miami Herald]
Long-awaited Trader Joe's opens in North Naples
An hour before the 8 a.m. grand opening, the line of shoppers waiting to get through the doors at the new Trader Joe’s in North Naples squiggled around to the back of the 14,000-square-foot store.
Had the shoppers been a generation younger, it could have been mistaken for an outdoor rock concert. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]
Florida Life: Favorite apps and gadgets
... for Florida professionals
Business Profile: Barnie's Coffee & Tea, founded in 1980, has rebranded as Barnie's CoffeeKitchen and gone smaller after a series of setbacks.
Five Flags Banks: The conservative Pensacola banks are among Florida's highest-rated.
Hive Creations : The Bradenton Beach jewelry store and art gallery is more than a souvenir shop.
Resources and perspectives for Florida small businesses: Throughout Florida, companies that avoided government work in the past because of red tape or other concerns are seeking it in the downturn.
Tech Trend Florida looks to get ahead of curve on driverless cars
Florida Rep. Jeff Brandes hopped into a special Toyota Prius recently and rode down Interstate 10 during a break from the Legislative session in Tallahassee.
Not a big deal, except no one was actually driving. No human, that is. A Google-fueled concoction of technology guided the car at up to 70 mph around other cars, up and down hills and around corners, said Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.
"I pressed the button," he said, "and the car took over. It drove better than I did."
Brandes is shepherding a bill (HB 1207) through the House that calls for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to study what rules are needed to ensure the safe operation of so-called "autonomous vehicles."
Remember the blob? Just over a year ago, Florida beaches were inundated by a smelly, irritating seaweed known as sargassum. Will the same thing happen in 2024?
The fourth-annual Construction Career Days event brought together more than 1,000 high school students from four counties to introduce them to the various career paths available across the construction industry.
Another mixed-use development may be coming to part of Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve, one of the few swaths of relatively open land left in all of South Florida.
Orange County has started work on several transportation projects in a $100 million initiative. The progress comes on the heels of the county commission tabling the effort to get a transportation sales tax on the 2024 ballot.
