Florida wins NASA contract for station research
In a big win for Florida, NASA picked a team from the state to manage the national laboratory aboard the International Space Station -- a victory that comes with a contract worth up to $15 million annually and the potential to create dozens of jobs or more. The announcement is a welcome piece of good news for an area bracing for the retirement of the space shuttle, a closure that is expected to put 7,000 Florida employees out of work. While the new contract won't replace all these jobs, NASA's decision to award management of the station's laboratory to the nonprofit Center for the Advancement of Science in Space could mean high-paying salaries for dozens of KSC workers in the immediate future -- and perhaps more over the next several years. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Sustaining in Miami and Dining in the Boonies
Funky, high-style MiMo hardly seems the setting for fresh-from-the-field food. With its otherworldly twig walls and basket ceiling, there's more sci-fi than farmhouse about the urbane look of Sustain.
But the Fifty Mile Salad brings the proof — an organic, local and eco-friendly bounty, all harvested from four separate farms in the un-urban corners of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Further north, Curtis Beebe has reversed the current farm-to-fork trend: He's taken the fork — knives, spoons, wine glasses and pasta-making tools — to the farm.
Technically, he took them to the grove, for tiny St. Joseph, 40 miles from Tampa, has been planted almost entirely in kumquat trees for almost a century and is now the largest U.S. producer of the sweet little Japanese fruit.
Getting to Pearl in the Grove is a journey for city folks, and a long trip for Beebe career-wise. He spent an entrepreneurial life in IT before moving from Tampa to eastern Pasco County more than a decade ago. His love of food and country living led him to embrace the dream of local eating.
» Read Trend Restaurant Editor Chris Sherman's full reviews:
 The 'Pearl in the Grove' restaurant, in a cinderblock house, was once a kumquat souvenir shop and features whitewash walls and concrete floors. [Photo: Stephen J. Coddington/St. Petersburg Times] |
Container Art: Using Cargo Containers for Development
When Adam Kaye set his sights on creating a project for Tallahassee's creative-class entrepreneurs, his architect, Craig Huffman, went shopping for 56 recycled shipping containers to build the five-story Art-Tech Hub at Railroad Square. Kaye and Huffman liked the idea of melding experimental design with inventive materials for the $3-million-plus, 30,000-sq.-ft. hub, slated to begin construction in late summer. Layering the steel-framed containers offers cool aesthetics — almost like stacking Legos, says Huffman, who's also a FAMU architecture professor. And because the containers are recycled, there's a "green" element to the project. They're also readily available: "We're a country that usually imports more than it exports, so these pile up in our port cities.'' Read more about Container Art.
 Adam Kaye's Art-Tech Hub will be built using 56 cargo containers. |
Liberal groups: more unions will help Florida's economy
Gov. Rick Scott's policies keep the Sunshine State's middle class under economic siege, liberal groups asserted Wednesday. With state budget cuts and tighter unemployment benefits, Florida's latest legislative session put more of a strain on the middle class, according to a report by Demos and the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy. Advocates from the groups urged Tallahassee and Washington to spend more government funds in order to revive the economy. "Instead of turning to proven strategies of investment and infrastructure, we're continuing on this path of short-term deficit reduction,'' said Tamara Draut, a vice president at Demos, which advocates for voting rights and a larger public sector. The presentation titled "Under Attack: Florida's Middle Class and the Jobs Crisis" adds more fodder to the main political debate of the day: will more government spending help or hurt the economy? [Source: Miami Herald]
Mayors worry debt ceiling standoff could delay funds for 2012 convention
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Charlotte N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx went to Washington this week with the same message:
Don't let the partisan rancor over the national debt get in the way of a proposed $110 million federal appropriation for security at next year's Republican and Democratic national conventions.
"In spite of the debt ceiling debate and the sort of overheated rhetoric, we have conventions to put on and the federal government has obligations to provide security costs," Buckhorn said Wednesday.
"Everyone that we spoke to acknowledged that that was correct," he said. "Where they differed was how the money was to be allocated. That was more of a process question."
For the two cities, the stakes could not be higher.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Southwest Florida homes a relative bargain
So are homes a bargain in Southwest Florida? At an average of $254,402 in Sarasota, $211,871 in Bradenton and $223,446 in Punta Gorda, yes -- at least compared with most of the international locales recently surveyed by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
The list of the average listing prices in U.S. dollars compiled by the real estate company stretches from Panama to Malaysia.
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Florida Legal Elite 2011 The 8th annual edition of Florida Legal Elite recognizes a prestigious list of esteemed attorneys chosen by their colleagues—lawyers listed exemplify a standard of excellence in their profession, and have received endorsement from their peers. Named by their Peers |
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› Going, going, gone! Scott Rothstein loot sold
Scott Rothstein's once-prized possessions — the gleaming cars and sparkly Rolexes bought with the proceeds of his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme — went one by one to the highest bidder Wednesday at auction at the Broward County Convention Center.
The money is to be funneled into a federally managed account to pay back victims of the swindler, who is serving a 50-year prison term.
The sale drew a full house: about 600 people armed with paddles to signal their interest in a given item.
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More options available for Floridians interested in virtual school
For some students, a few virtual classes in addition to a traditional school environment is just perfect.
Some prefer to go virtual full-time.
In 2011-12, both groups will get their way thanks to a change in Florida law that offers students more virtual school options.
Now students in most grades K-12 are no longer required to have a year of public school education before enrolling full-time in virtual classes. In addition, entering ninth graders must have at least one virtual class before they graduate.
› Sarasota's Sanborn Studio works on Plan B
When Sanborn Studios recently laid off four employees, pushed the start date of its key project, "Miami 24/7," from June to November and repackaged the television series as a feature film, tongues began to wag.
Did this mean the studio, which opened in November with the help of a $650,000 grant from the Sarasota County Economic Development fund, was in financial trouble? Was the reworking of "Miami 24/7" a ploy to grab more of the state's film incentive dollars? And weren't they supposed to be creating jobs, not deleting them?
Not to worry, insists Karinne Behr, Sanborn's president.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
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St. Johns proposes first property tax hike in 5 years
Citing declining property values amid the continuing economic downturn, St. Johns County commissioners proposed a .73 percent property tax rate increase Tuesday, raising the possibility of the county's first tax rate hike in five years.
They proposed .25 percent increases for county fire services, a new or upgraded mandated emergency radio system and for maintaining county service and avoiding future fund deficits.
Combined, the increases would raise the property tax rate from the current 6.67 percent to 7.40 for fiscal year 2011-12.
› Supply of Orlando home listings continues to shrink
Orlando's inventory of houses listed for sale is the smallest its been December 2005, according to a report released today by Orlando Regional Realtors Association.
Median prices for single-family homes remained flat at $110,000 from May to June, as the amount of distress sales diminished for the fifth consecutive month, based on association member sales. Compared to a year earlier, prices were down more than 4 percent.
› Florida picked for program to help gets fruits, veggies on students' plates
Florida is one of two states selected to participate in a pilot program designed to make it easier for schools to put fresh fruits and vegetables on the plates of students — a federal initiative that will enhance Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam's push for healthier eating habits in the schools.
Michigan will also be part of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service and Food Nutrition Service program, which will build on existing farm-to-school programs in both states. The pilot will be based on commercial distribution models already underway, allowing schools to obtain produce grown locally for use in school lunches.
› South Beach bikini boom this week
Sexy, bikini-clad models strutting down runways. Designers from around the world unveiling their newest collections. Buyers, international press and celebrities soaking in the fun, excitement and heat of South Beach.
Swim Week brings the fabulous, daring world of swimwear to Miami Beach through Monday with an array of fashion and trade shows, parties and satellite events — all luring thousands of designers, models, retailers, fashion show producers and international press to our shores to bask in the glow of the latest designs.
In the scorching days of mid-July, the events are a refreshing economic torrent, filling hotel rooms and restaurants, and putting to work scores of people to erect tents, hang lighting, set up sound stages and more.
› Buying a hot dog outside American Airlines Arena may soon be history
Food vendors and Miami used to go together like hot dogs and sauerkraut. From Flagler Street to the old Miami Arena to the Orange Bowl, it seemed every corner had someone serving sausages, hot New York pretzels doused in mustard, shish-kabobs or arepas.
But as Miami evolved into gleaming condos, a bustling Civic Center and a thriving Government Center, the gritty roadside food vendor has gone the way of the Pinto — still around but rarely seen, and, to some, not exactly aesthetically pleasing.
And now, the few vendors who remain could be gone by the end of September if the City of Miami gets its way.
› Expired contracts plague Sarasota County
Problems in Sarasota County's purchasing department have gotten so bad that the county has stopped paying two businesses for basic government work, commissioners learned Wednesday.
The county's chief financial comptroller, Clerk of the Circuit Court Karen Rushing, warned commissioners that if they did not take immediate action she would refuse to issue checks on another 14 contracts that have expired, threatening everything from the mowing of medians to the purchase of auto parts for county vehicles.
The commissioners grudgingly voted to extend the contracts, but had to do so without reviewing the prices being paid. The contracts had all been expired for years, but nobody was tracking them. The expired contracts were discovered amid an effort to fix systemic purchasing problems that have recently come to the forefront.