Gov. Scott hot for jobs, lukewarm on casinos
Gov. Rick Scott is not a gambler.
While saying he remains focused on his campaign pledge of creating jobs, Scott told The Palm Beach Post editorial board that he doesn't necessarily want to see those jobs coming from new casinos in South Florida as touted by some lawmakers.
A day after a casino developer told legislators that bringing three gambling resorts to Broward and Miami-Dade counties could generate 100,000 jobs, Scott was noncommital on whether he'd sign a bill to expand gambling in the state. More...
Small-business loans: Florida firms receive boost
A U.S. Treasury Department program aimed at getting cash in the hands of small business owners across the nation fell short of expectations, but it did help some Floridians. Among the small-business owners to benefit: H.L. Burkley, owner of Custom Closets & More in Bonita Springs. "We'd heard (Encore) was willing to loan when others weren't," Burkley said. He put 20 percent down on a $95,000 loan to buy the space he formerly rented at the Constitution Center. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]
Before heading out to shop this holiday season, local merchants want you to consider more than just the items on your wish list when it comes to where you decide to buy. Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, said the trend to spend during the holiday season has shifted greatly to big-box retailers and online websites and away from smaller, locally owned businesses because of the economy. "Big-boxes are popping up everywhere for a reason," he said, "and it's not because people don't shop there." [Source: Seminole Voice]
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» Buy-local effort promoting Black Thursday
Angry over pay, correctional officers ditch union
Frustrated by stagnant pay, pension plan changes and fears of more privately run prisons, Florida correctional officers fired their union Thursday. After more than three decades, the rank-and-file ousted the Florida Police Benevolent Association and chose the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to represent them instead. Prison officers, like other state workers, have not had an across the board pay raise in nearly six years. They also must contribute 3 percent of their pay toward their pensions for the first time, a legislative decision that the PBA and other unions are fighting in court. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Healthy progress in the push for digital medical records
In six years, the Big Bend Regional Healthcare Information Organization has amassed and digitized medical records of 500,000 individuals in Leon and eight surrounding counties. It expects to add 50,000 by the end of 2012.
Despite a national push to create digital medical records, today's healthcare industry remains 90% paper-driven, says volunteer Executive Director Allen Byington, one of five founders of the organization. "It's been estimated that physicians often have to make clinical decisions based on 60% of the available information."
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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Digital Domain hopes to raise $55 million in IPO
Digital Domain Media Group, a special effects company whose work appears in Transformers, TRON and Titanic, hopes to raise $54.8 million in an initial public offering of stock set for Friday .
Digital Domain has scaled back its ambitions since May, when it asked regulators for permission to raise as much as $115 million in an IPO.
» Focusing on Florida's Film Future
› Feds: Fort Lauderdale businessman ran $11 million fraud
A Fort Lauderdale businessman was arrested Thursday on charges he ran an $11 million fraud, convincing investors he owned lucrative shares of privately held companies such as Facebook.
John A. Mattera, 50, raked in the money through his hedge fund, the Praetorian Global Fund, preying on clients' hope that they could capitalize on the next big company to go public, according to federal prosecutors in New York.
› Tampa port turns to Blake High to fill tomorrow's jobs
When Dave Sessums looks at his employees at International Ship Repair & Marine Services in Tampa, he sees an international crisis.
The median age of workers in the maritime industry is about 43. But with maritime jobs expected to grow 15 percent in the next seven years, the race is on to introduce young people to the field.
One solution is taking root at Blake High School, just up the Hillsborough River from Tampa's port, where 14 freshmen are participating in the inaugural Maritime and Marine Science Academy.
› Cape Coral's Big John preps for homecoming
Big John, Cape's lovable and enduring symbol of pride, is returning to his place in the Big John's Plaza, awaiting his triumphant homecoming party, set for 5:30 p.m. Friday as a kickoff to the downtown area's Nights on the Parkway event.
Currently Big John, all 28 feet and 6,000 pounds of him, is having his grocery bags placed in his arms to resemble what he once was - a grocery boy for what was then the Big John Supermarket in the plaza. Those bags have not been seen since the 1990s.
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› NASA budget may push commercial flights to 2017
In a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden has reiterated that Congress' limited funding for commercial spacecraft development is likely to delay their flights of astronauts from Florida to 2017.
» Related: KSC to get as much as $484 million in construction money
› Lawmakers now want tougher regulations for ALFs
Just months after Florida lawmakers tried to strip away crucial protections for residents of assisted-living facilities, legislators are now radically reversing course in what could lead to the biggest changes in state law in a generation.
After months of reports of elders dying at the hands of caretakers, lawmakers are considering changes to ramp up fines, increase credentials of people running ALFs and give more power to the state to shut down dangerous facilities.
› LASER tours at FIT worth $4,000 grants
High school and community college students got a first-hand look at Florida Institute of Technology on Wednesday — and those who liked what they saw came away with an offer worth $4,000.
More than 300 area students and 35 parents attended the 20th annual free Liberal Arts, Science & Engineering Resource Day event. One of the benefits of attending LASER Day was a $1,000 grant renewable for up to four years to students who participated and eventually enroll as undergraduate, full-time students.
› Thanksgiving travel to rise about 4 percent, AAA says
For the second year in a row, Thanksgiving travel is expected to rise, travel group AAA predicted on Thursday.
Nationwide, the number of people traveling 50 miles or more for the Thanksgiving holiday is projected to increase by 4 percent to exceed 42.5 million this year,with about 90 percent of those people traveling by car.
In Florida, where the economy has been harder hit than the U.S. average, travel will grow at a slower rate: up by 3.6 percent to 2.2 million people, with 2 million traveling by car, AAA said.
› Medicare plan to be shut down
Quality Health Plans, a Medicare HMO with 10,000 Florida members, has been ordered into liquidation after failing to come up with the cash reserves the state says were needed. Its members will be moved to another -- still unnamed -- plan by Dec. 1.
Circuit Judge Terry P. Lewis signed the order, which turned over control of the company's assets to the Division of Financial Services, after an hour-long hearing Wednesday in Tallahassee.
The Tampa-based plan, which operates in 32 Florida counties and four in New York, had been warned it had to come up with cash at a hearing last month.
› Bonita-based firm launching Caribbean venture
The Bonita Springs-based Stafford Engineering, Inc. will be starting a new business venture in the Caribbean.
With 12 years of providing engineering and design services to the building industry of Southwest Florida, the company will launch Stafford Internacional during the Hispanic American Business Alliance (HABA) Second Annual International Summit for government and business leaders.