Monday's Afternoon Update

Joyce Edmondson | 6/11/2012

Florida Panhandle assesses flood damage after heavy weekend storms

As heavy rains added to the severe flooding in Pensacola, Fla., Escambia and Santa Rosa counties began assessing damage. Escambia officials expect damages to cost more than $20 million. In Santa Rosa, officials estimated that the Midway area alone saw more than $1.5 million in damage to dozens of homes. On Saturday alone, 13.11 inches fell in Pensacola, Fl. its second-highest single day rainfall total on record. NOAA reported that Thursday, June 7, through 7:00 a.m. today (Monday), West Pensacola received 27.63 inches of rain. Video:

More from USA Today.

Related:
» North Florida soaked by weekend rain - with more to come

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Business Advice
Column: How companies get the highest possible product prices

Ron Stein

Pricing is one of the most important elements of marketing. Sure, you have to worry about costs such as design, production, promotion, and sales. Yet, your customer doesn’t really care about these -- that’s your problem! The secret is in understanding human behavior. Getting the highest prices possible requires you to know your customers better than your competition does. It’s the only way to make sure you don’t leave money on the table... continued.

» Full article, with pricing strategies, is here.

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Florida State spending big money on football recruiting

According to a review of more than 1,000 athletic department documents, obtained through public records requests, the Seminoles are spending nearly twice as much on football recruiting now than they did under former head coach Bobby Bowden. Where Bowden's staff spent just more than $280,000 on recruiting during his final season three years ago, FSU cranked that budget up to $500,000 in 2010-11 and raised it again to $525,000 in 2011-12. That's an overall increase of nearly 86 percent. More at the Tallahassee Democrat.

Out of the Box Help wanted - crocodile handling experience preferred A new part-time job has opened in the Florida Keys for Florida Keys crocodile 'response agents.' "Experience handling crocodilians preferred," says the notice from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — but the agency will train. This offers those who qualify a unique chance to wrangle a toothy reptile that can grow to 15 feet and weigh a ton. » Continued at the Palm Beach Post.

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UF researchers identify syndrome that keeps patients from full recovery

University of Florida researchers have identified "persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome," or PICS, as a syndrome that keeps many intensive care, heart surgery and burn patients from recovering fully and returning home. PICS defies existing treatments and leaves patients weak and unable to breathe or move properly. "Hospital mortality is progressively decreasing, but more people are being sent to long-term acute care facilities," said Dr. Frederick Moore, chief of acute care surgery in the UF College of Medicine department of surgery. "We’re creating this new population of chronically, critically ill patients." More at UF.

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Jerry Osteryoung's small biz advice
A relaxed social-media policy at work may be best for business

I was recently consulting with a company when the CEO made a comment about how many of her employees were using social media networks instead of working. After walking through the office to talk to her staff, she had become concerned about how much time they seemed to be spending on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, despite the fact that many were continuously saying they are overworked. In light of this, she wanted to pull the plug on all social network access... Continued

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EVENT

You are invited to a live Web chat about internet security in Florida:
FloridaTrend.com/chats	When: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Where: FloridaTrend.com/chats Who: Join South Florida Editor Mike Vogel and AppRiver Senior Security Analyst Fred Touchette. We hope you can join us. This free event will be a great way to learn more about data security, which in turn should help protect you and your business.
Related links, from Florida Trend: » Attack of the zombies and other cyber-battles A cluster of Florida companies is carving out a niche in protecting others' websites and e-commerce » Guardians: Florida companies patrolling the internet? Profile of several computer security firms in Florida » Advice: How to keep your business data secure