Arts and culture in the Sunshine State
The cultural arts scene in Florida is exploding with new theaters and museums, expansions and organizations pursuing new marketing strategies. A few arts organizations are celebrating milestone anniversaries, and gallery districts throughout the state are drawing visitors with special events. A roundup of some of the cultural happenings around the state:
Art Gallery Districts and Museums
New and Improved Performing Arts Centers in Florida?
Children's Museums in Florida?
 Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa [Photo: Daniel Wallace/ St. Petersburg Times] |
Sign name, spend more, study finds
If you sign your name while shopping it's likely you'll spend more later on yourself at a store you like, a new University of Miami study says. The "Signature Effect" study, conducted by Keri Kettle, an assistant professor of marketing at UM's School of Business Administration, found that shoppers who happened to sign their name, for example on a credit card receipt, and then visited a store they liked, spent 10-15 minutes more time shopping there than if they hadn't just signed their name. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Behind-the-scenes at Art Basel Miami Beach 2011
After a year of planning, the day is finally here: The 10th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach opens at noon. Called "the most prestigious art show in the Americas," the show features more than 260 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. There will be works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. In our photo gallery, photographer Bill Wisser captured some of the activity that has gone on in the days leading up to Art Basel.
Good news: Florida is aging much more slowly
Maybe it's time for Florida to shed the "God's waiting room" image and revive its slogan as the Fountain of Youth. The country's overall population has been skewing older the past 10 years in tandem with aging Baby Boomers. Florida can't escape that trend, but it is aging much more slowly than practically anywhere else. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Payroll tax break for 9 million Floridians at stake
The White House, as part of its campaign to pressure Congress, predicted on Wednesday that 9.1 million Floridians would save $9.3 billion if the House and Senate approve President Obama's proposed 3.1 percentage point cut in the payroll tax. The current 2-percentage point cut provided for this year will help 9 million Floridians save $5.6 billion, according to figures put out by the White House.
[Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Florida site helps you dress like your favorite celeb
YouCeleb.com is a dream come true for anyone who likes to dress like their favorite movie characters stars — while on a budget.
Want the same Ray-Ban sunglasses worn by Tom Cruise in Top Gun? Or a scarf you saw Rachel Bilson wearing in a recent paparazzi photo? The South Florida-based Website tracks fashion items worn by A-list celebrities, such as Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez and Rachel Bilson and then works with designers to offer the items for sale at YouCeleb.com for a discount.
› CVS blacklists some Florida doctors
One of the largest pharmacy chains in the state has decided to fight Florida's prescription pill abuse epidemic head on. CVS Pharmacy sent out an email to certain Florida doctors this week to inform them that they will no longer fill any pain pill prescriptions they write.
» Related: Doctors on CVS blacklist are feeling branded
› Uncertainty holding back Central Florida's job market
Central Florida's economy and its anemic labor market will improve only modestly during the next year, held back by uncertainty here and abroad and by a housing market that continues to struggle, economists and civic leaders said Wednesday.
Unemployment will remain high and job growth reserved, as skittish employers look for signs of economic progress, according to a panel assembled by the Orlando Sentinel.
› Miami port dredging faces challenge
A last-minute legal challenge to the planned dredging of the Port of Miami has put the brakes on the massive project, at least for now.
On Monday — the deadline to formally oppose a final, state-issued permit for the "Deep Dredge" — a group of environmentalists filed a petition with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection contending that the project is prohibited, would badly damage Biscayne Bay and kill protected wildlife.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› Busy season for hurricane specialists - and it's not over
As yesterday was the last day of the 2011 storm season, you might think all the hurricane specialists, forecasters and other support personnel at the National Hurricane Center can exhale.
But, no. After the tropics finally have subsided, the hurricane specialists must write up a ga-zillion reports, documenting all of this year’s storms. And there were a bunch of them, 19 to be specific, making this the third most active season on record.
› With new districts taking shape, Florida races to be more competitive
One of the bright spots in the aftermath of the 2010 election was the passage of the Fair Districts amendments, which to the horror of incumbent politicians, actually made it harder for them to pre-cook legislative and congressional districts that were theirs forever (or until they passed them on to a trusted aide or relative).
Now, Florida faces the actual process of apportioning those districts, and it appears that in the first round, none of the politicians are happy. Perhaps that's as it should be.
› New Dreyfoos gift for classroom technology
Famed Palm Beach County business leader and philanthropist Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. is making another significant contribution to his namesake public high school — a $150,000 gift to upgrade classroom technology.
On Thursday, Dreyfoos is expected to announce the award and address students at the School of the Arts in downtown West Palm Beach.
› Proposals for reducing Citizens headed to Cabinet
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is acting on a suggestion from Gov. Rick Scott and moving toward decisions designed to shrink the size of the state-backed insurer and a corresponding risk to taxpayers.
A panel of executives for the state-backed insurer decided Wednesday to provide recommendations to the governor and Cabinet next week that they believe will put the brakes on Citizens growth. The company now has roughly 1.5 million policyholders making it easily the largest property insurer in Florida.
› USF to add 'Tampa Bay' in new branding efforts
It's not clear where you'll see it yet, but "Tampa Bay" will soon be added to "University of South Florida" to pinpoint its location in new branding efforts.
In a story on its website announcing the move, USF notes that many people associate "South Florida" with a region well below Tampa Bay — Miami-Dade, even, at the peninsula's southeastern tip.
Surveys of national reputation, USF says, show people outside the state confuse the acronyms for Florida's universities: USF, FSU, UCF, FAU and FIU.
› Graham says Florida needs to stop the 'hemorrhaging' of its environmental laws
Calling for a re-emphasis on protecting Florida's water and other natural resources, former governor and U.S. Bob Graham warned today that recent changes to state law and policies have "reversed 40 years of Florida's progress in water and land conservation."
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