Small business lending reaching 'new normal'

Banks are making it easier for small businesses to get loans, and they're giving companies better terms and lower interest rates. Banks are willing to lend because small businesses are generally healthier than they were during the recession and its aftermath. More at the AP.

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Win or lose, Miami Heat benefits economy

Who doesn’t love a win? While 1-4 isn’t the desired way to wrap up 2014, win or lose, when the Miami Heat play at the downtown AmericanAirlines Arena, the benefit to the area is huge. More at Miami Today.

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The new fight to save Florida orange juice

Editor's Column Affording It Trevor Burgess, CEO of C1 Bank, decided last year that all employees should earn at least $14 an hour. His move to establish their own “living wage” and differentiate the bank is paying off – for employees as well as their business. » Access full column

For more than five years, Florida’s citrus industry has fought an expensive and difficult war against the devastating and ongoing effects of citrus greening. Now the industry is launching a new offensive to save the state’s orange juice from negative publicity, declining consumer demand and ever-increasing competition. More at Highlands Today.

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All Aboard Florida to borrow $405 million for railway

All Aboard Florida, the rail project that will send passengers round trip between Miami and Orlando, plans to borrow $405 million to help finance the high-speed railway. This will be in addition to the $1.6 billion in loans the company applied for from the Federal Railroad Administration. More at the South Florida Business Journal and Bloomberg.

See also:
» All Aboard Florida tries to block public records request

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Inventors chase their dreams of multimillion-dollar TV payday

There was no shortage of nifty ideas in the room. But would the products sell on TV? More than 20 local inventors gave their best pitches Tuesday to direct response company Top Dog Direct, which claims $2 billion in retail sales by selling products on TV. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Retail Trends Refocusing on the competition Bristol’s Camera was one of the longest-running businesses in Key Biscayne when it closed in 2012 after more than a half-century. Like booksellers, record shops and video stores, camera retailers have taken a punch in the digital age. More than 1,300 American camera stores closed in the past decade, a decrease of 35 percent. » Full story from the Miami Herald

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