Thursday's Daily Pulse

Posted 3/28/2013

Updated 1 decade ago

Women make better corporate leaders than men, study finds

Women make better corporate leaders than men because they are more likely to make fair decisions when competing interests are at stake, a new study has found. The study, published this week in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, was based on a survey of 600 board directors. [Source: Miami Herald]

Dave Barry's interview is here
[Photo: Daniel Portnoy]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Dave Barry is a 'Florida Icon'

» Apparently, you’ve run down all the real icons there ever were in Florida. It’s a sad commentary on the state that I would be iconic. I can see myself being iconic in Delaware. There’s Joe Biden and then who?

» A lot of the time, when I ended up writing a humor column about something, the thing that initially spurred it was not funny to me at all. It was like horrible when it happened, but then later on you can go, ‘Oh, OK, I can write about that.’ A good example is colonoscopies.

» Full conversation with Dave Barry

Florida a national hot spot for restaurants

OpenTable has announced the 2013 Diners’ Choice Award winners for Top 100 Hot Spot Restaurants in the United States. Winning restaurants are scattered throughout 21 states. California topped the list, taking 26 places on the list of winners. Florida follows with 18 winning restaurants. Read more from OpenTable and see our Golden Spoon Awards.

Report shows $20 million incentive giveaway could happen again

An internal investigation has turned up evidence that former Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders were personally involved in pushing a failed, $20 million economic-development project that bypassed the normal review process for incentives. Read more from the Orlando Sentinel and the Florida Times-Union.

Homeowners rankled by foreclosure money going to dorms and developers

Struggling Florida homeowners and consumer advocates are questioning how plans by state lawmakers to spend $200 million in bank foreclosure reparations will stave off foreclosures. The plans, which in the Florida House’s version include paying for college dorm rooms, domestic abuse shelters and mortgage down payments for assistant state attorneys, are being pitched as ways to spend part of the state’s take from the National Mortgage Settlement. [Source: Palm Beach Post]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Gainesville Compost turns food scraps into black gold [Gainesville Sun]
Chris Cano and Steven Kanner cycle through Gainesville regularly, collecting garbage that they turn into gold. Gainesville Compost Black gold, that is.

› Delray Beach is looking for new marketing leader [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
If it has to do with selling Delray Beach to the world, then Sarah Martin has had her hand in it. But not for much longer. The Executive Director of the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative – a multi-agency partnership in charge of selling Delray as a hot spot – is resigning effective April 7.

› Jim Greer, Florida ex-GOP chairman, gets 18 months in prison [Orlando Sentinel]
An Orlando judge on Wednesday sentenced Jim Greer, former high-flying chairman of the Florida GOP, to 18 months in prison for stealing $125,000 from the party. It was a humbling end for a man who, until four years ago, wielded enormous political power in Florida and was part of then-Gov. Charlie Crist's inner circle.

› St. Petersburg Pier lawsuit in the hands of judge [Tampa Bay Times]
The lawsuit filed by a former City Council member to save the Pier is now in the hands of a judge. After listening to arguments for three hours Wednesday, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Jack Day told former council member Kathleen Ford and city lawyers that he will soon rule on the case.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Keeping rising sea levels at bay [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Picture Longboat, Siesta and Manasota keys with beaches five times as wide as they are now. Or with human-engineered barrier islands rising between the keys and the Gulf of Mexico. Or with ranks of invisible walls that flip up from underwater whenever a storm surge is on its way.

› Peanut Island museum, neighbors at odds again [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Come summertime, Anthony Miller says he will host educational sleepovers at the Peanut Island museum he runs off the coast of Riviera Beach, in an old Coast Guard station. He does not believe this is controversial. His neighbors beg to differ.

› Adult arcade owners, patrons unhappy over gaming legislation [WFTV]
Adult arcade owners are angry about proposed state legislation that would shut them down. They say they're being lumped in with Internet cafes and are unfairly targeted by lawmakers.

› Universal Health Care's liquidation hits some members with surprise out-of-pocket expenses [Tampa Bay Times]
The fast-track liquidation of Universal Health Care is leading to unexpected out-of-pocket expenses for thousands of Medicare enrollees. Instead of placing members of the insolvent St. Petersburg-based insurer with another Medicare Advantage Plan run by a private company, enrollees are being shifted by default into original, government-run Medicare.