Number of Florida homes in foreclosure down by half in year

The number of Florida homes mired in some stage of foreclosure has been cut nearly in half over the past year. The state's foreclosure inventory in January stood at 3.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage, down from 6.4 percent one year earlier. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Miami Herald.

---

Florida Senate pushes alternative to Medicaid expansion

The Florida Senate is moving ahead with a bill that would use federal funds to offer health insurance to nearly 1 million low-income Floridians. A Senate panel voted unanimously Tuesday for the legislation even though it remains uncertain if House Republicans will be willing to support it. More from the AP and the Times/Herald.

Legislative Roundup:
» Florida House bill would remove gay-adoption ban from law
» Bill allows Citizens policyholders to expand some properties
» Seminole Tribe's $1.6 billion expansion hinges on fate of gaming compact
» In Florida, 93 percent of enrollees get financial help for Obamacare

---

Prison inspectors: Corruption rampant in Florida system

Breaking their silence about Florida’s troubled prison system, several current and former prison inspectors told lawmakers Tuesday that their bosses repeatedly ordered them to ignore evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing by corrections officers. [Source: Miami Herald]

---

"Frozen" characters heat up Florida's economy

Call it the Olaf effect? Characters from the Disney movie “Frozen” are (in part) boosting Florida’s economy. “We’re experiencing our equivalent of the shale-oil boom and that’s the new characters at the theme parks,” said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. [Source: Wall Street Journal]

---

Florida ranks fourth lowest in unemployment insurance claims

A new report by Florida International University asserts that states like Florida that have dramatically tightened eligibility for unemployment insurance are seeing the biggest drops in the jobless receiving any benefits at all. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

---

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Ad agency founder Jordan Zimmerman donates $10 million to USF [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Jordan Zimmerman, founder and chairman of Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale, has donated $10 million to the University of South Florida's College of Arts and Sciences, the college's largest gift ever.

› Top biz execs: robust economic picture on the horizon for Northeast Florida [Jacksonville Business Journal]
A new Business Pulse Survey by SunTrust Bank found that 80 percent of corporate decision-makers feel confident about the vitality of their own companies — so much so that they're considering plans for expansion and growth.

› Miami tops major Florida cities for local government efficiency [South Florida Business Journal]
There are many different moving parts involved in the running of a city, but one way to tell how efficient a city is by how it spends taxpayer dollars.

› USDA estimates lower Florida citrus crop [AP]
Hammered by citrus greening disease, Florida's citrus industry will produce an estimated 102 million boxes of oranges during the 2014-15 season.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Boeing, SpaceX look to commercial crew flights after ISS [Florida Today]
It will be two or three years before Boeing or SpaceX launches astronauts to the International Space Station, but they're already looking to what comes next.

› Teaching and petting zoos combine forces [Ocala Star-Banner]
Petting Zoo Ocala's ducks, peacocks, ponies and camels are making room for some endangered animals that will soon be moving into their neighborhood.

› Preserving the state's stake in steak [Orlando Sentinel]
Got beef? Cattle producers do with a stampede of bad press about pink slime, changing tastes and dueling opinions about beef's healthy bona fides.

› Duke Energy proposes $146 million to settle Progress Energy merger lawsuit [Tampa Bay Times]
Duke Energy says it proposed to settle for about $146 million a shareholder lawsuit tied to the company's controversial 2012 merger with Progress Energy. That $32 billion deal created the nation's largest power company and allowed Duke to enter the Florida electricity market as Duke Energy Florida.