Florida field workers get stiffed by employers
During the March green bean harvest, a team of 16 federal investigators visited dozens of farms and packing sheds in Homestead and Florida City to see whether workers were being paid the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. What they found confirmed something that workers and their advocates have known for years: many growers, contractors and facility owners pay far below the federal minimum wage. Multiple workers reported to the Department of Labor (DOL) having earned $28 for eight hours of work; that is, $3.50 per hour. The enforcement initiative found that some 590 workers are owed about $670,770 in back wages. What's different about this investigation: the DOL did not just focus on contractors as often occurs. This time, authorities fined multiple growers along with their contractors another $128,850 for violating federal laws. [Source: Miami Herald]
Barefoot running craze hits the Sunshine State
They call it "barefoot" running, although many fans do it in $100 shoes. It's based on the almost-mythical cross-country feats of an obscure Mexican Indian tribe, although even many of its members wear sandals. The craze has reached South Florida — big-time. "Barefoot" runners come in two kinds: those who actually run barefoot and those who use — as one shoemaker puts it in a triumph of ad-speak over logic — "barefoot running shoes." The shoes are almost annoyingly cute — vividly multicolor with separate pockets for each toe. Their soles are 3-millimeter-thick polyurethane, their uppers lightweight, breathable, coconut-active charcoal. Fans say the shoes reduce injuries by causing runners to strike the ground more lightly, on the balls of the feet, instead of slamming down on the heels as they do in typical running shoes. [Source: Miami Herald]
Development: A big bet on Brickell
It may take years for Miami to fully recover from the recession, but one large multinational developer is betting on the city's future with a 9.1-acre, nearly $700-million mixed-use real estate development. Hong Kong-based Swire Properties, which developed and still owns most of Brickell Key, in May received preliminary city approvals for the development in downtown Miami's Brickell Financial District.
The first phase of Brickell CitiCentre would contain 500,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants, a 290-room hotel, two office towers and a 270-unit apartment or condominium tower. Swire plans at least one department store anchor and a mix of moderate and luxury national and international retailers, but no "big box" stores.
Downtown Miami finally has the dense 24-hour population, the right income, and the business tourists for this type of retail, says Stephen Bittel, CEO of Miami Beach-based Terranova, a commercial real estate advisory and investment company. But Swire will have to get all the details right — from parking accessibility to the mix of anchor tenants and restaurants, he says. Continue reading...
 Rendering of Swire's $700-million mixed-use project in downtown Miami. |
Non-US citizens can get Florida hospitality jobs
Jobs are available in the Palm Beach County hospitality industry. Since June 1, some of the county's poshest resorts and country clubs have posted hundreds of open jobs on the state website EmployFlorida.com . They include 304 jobs for waiters and waitresses for country clubs, starting at $10 per hour, posted by one company alone, Workaway Staffing of Palm Beach Gardens. Also posted by Workaway are 88 jobs for server assistants at $9.50, "senior servers" starting at $12.51, prep cooks at $10.64 and assistant dining room managers at $15.70. [Source: Palm Beach Post]
George LeMieux boasts big fundraising in Florida Senate race
It takes loads of money to win a statewide campaign in Florida, and George LeMieux is proving himself a formidable money-raiser in the crowded Republican U.S. Senate primary. LeMieux, who served 16 months in the U.S. Senate, reported raising more than $950,000 over the past three months. That's not nearly as much as the $2.6 million raised by Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos in his debut fundraising quarter earlier this year — and Haridopolos added another $900,000 since April — but considerably more than the $560,000 raised last quarter by former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, who had been known as one of the most prolific money-raisers in the Legislature. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
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» Former Ruth's Chris CEO to seek Fla. Senate seat
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Boutique bowling targets different audiences
Latitude 30 brought boutique bowling to Jacksonville's Southside.
Cassat's Batt Bowl is doing the same for the Westside.
The family-owned bowling alley on Cassat Avenue recently opened eight new lanes that combine bowling's traditional appeal — the whirring noise of a rolling ball, the thunderclap of toppling pins — with the modernistic decor of plush couches, ceiling fans and overhead television screens displaying graphics like a video game.
"It kind of reminds me of Latitude 30, but more for kids," said Westside resident April Bradlee, who tried out the boutique bowling with a group of friends and their relatives.
"We've got several generations here from grandmothers to moms to cousins to babies," added her friend Charlene Sawyer, pointing to the strollers where babies somehow napped through the clatter.
› Big dreams on campus for USF Sarasota-Manatee
Sarasota may be on the way to becoming a big-time college town. For the first time, a large university with traditional campus life — dorms, sports teams, younger students — is taking shape locally that could add a long-missing dimension to the region's higher education offerings.
The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee's late June announcement that it has gained independent accreditation could significantly transform the school. The designation makes USF Sarasota-Manatee a separate academic institution from the main USF campus in Tampa. The local school plans to create unique academic programs, develop student housing and admit younger students for the first time in 38 years.
› Split Palm Beach County commission raises property tax rate
A majority of Palm Beach County commissioners today agreed to raise the countywide property tax rate by 2.6 percent, but said they would spend the next two months looking for ways to cut it.
The commission voted 4-3 to set the maximum property tax rate at $4.88 for every $1,000 of taxable value, up from this year's rate of $4.75. Commissioners Karen Marcus, Steven Abrams and Paulette Burdick voted against the increase.
The $4.88 rate is generally the maximum the county can charge when tax bills arrive in the mail later this year. Local officials can lower the proposed rates with a simple vote before finalizing their budgets in September, but can raise the rate only if they first notify all county taxpayers by first-class mail.
› Prices for Tampa Bay homes continue to rise
The median price of a single-family home in the Tampa Bay area has risen or remained flat every month since January, the longest stretch without a monthly decline since 2006.
In those six months, the median selling price of single-family homes — including conventional, foreclosure and short sales — rose 18 percent from $107,500 in January to $127,000 in June in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, according to Multiple Listing Service data.
Further analysis shows the median price of just conventional home sales rose 8.5 percent — $156,000 to $169,400 — from May to June in the five counties, the highest price since hitting $169,900 in October.
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› Insurance of last resort is first choice for coastal properties - especially in Florida
A record number of home and commercial property owners — at 3 million, half of which are in Florida — were insured by state-run property insurers at the end of 2010, according to a national report released Monday.
Nearly 1.5 million such policies were underwritten by Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the largest insurer in Florida since 2006, according to the Insurance Information Institute's "Residual Market Property Plans: From Markets of Last Resort to Markets of First Choice."
As of May 31, FCPIC policies had dropped to 1.4 million, equal to the 2008 number, but up from 1.2 million in 2009, the report noted. When FCPIC was introduced in 2002, it insured 658,085.
› Disney to cut monorail hours
Walt Disney World is cutting operating hours for its monorail, a move designed to give maintenance crews more time to work on the aging transportation system.
Disney plans to begin shutting down monorail service one hour after regularly scheduled park closings in the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, the two theme parks served by the resort's trains. In addition, Disney will no longer run the trains during evening "Extra Magic Hours," the late-night period during which only guests staying in Disney hotels are allowed in the parks.
Disney had previously kept its trains running until at least one-and-a-half hours after park closing or through any extended hours.
› Medicare anti-fraud system launched in Florida
Using South Florida as a trailblazer, federal officials launched a nationwide computer system this month to spot suspicious Medicare claims and try to prevent billions of dollars from flowing to criminal enterprises.
It works much like credit-card systems that raise alerts about suspicious purchases — such as 20 pairs of shoes or unusually large sales — to help block criminals from using stolen cards or IDs.
Called "predictive modeling," the new federal system will examine the millions of Medicare claims filed each day to look for signs of fraud while factoring in warnings from tipsters and a database of suspects.
› US Senate panel gets earful on oil spill aftermath
Nearly 15 months after the massive BP oil spill blighted the Gulf of Mexico and beaches across the southeast, Florida's top agriculture official said Monday that an untold number of residents whose livelihoods were disrupted have not yet been compensated.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, along with some Panhandle business owners and fishermen affected by the massive spill, testified at a U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing. U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., requested the hearing to be updated on the long term effects on those affected most by the spill that resulted from a blowout of a wellhead on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010.
"Our fishermen and their corresponding businesses - charter boats, restaurants, hotels, seafood distributors and processors - all continue to suffer," Putnam testified, noting a widespread public skepticism about the safety of seafood taken from Gulf waters. He told the panel that a survey completed just last month revealed that more than three of five people remain skeptical about the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico despite laboratory tests that show nearly 90 percent of the samples show no trace of an oil contaminant.
› Disabled visitors' access to roller coasters left to parks' discretion
Seven years ago, a man who sells prosthetic limbs for a living was barred from getting on the Montu roller coaster at Busch Gardens because he wore a prosthetic right leg.
Cary Frounfelter of Seminole sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He settled out of court for an amount that barely covered his lawyer fees. But amputees wearing prosthetic limbs above the knee are still not allowed to ride the 60-mph roller coaster on which riders' legs dangle freely.
"If you go there now, there are signs up at the front of the lines," Frounfelter said Monday. "Those signs are there because of me."
Lawsuits like Frounfelter's have forced amusement parks to balance access to rides by the disabled with safety.
› Aging puts retirees' money at risk
With age comes wisdom about money -- up to a point.
Years of handling your own finances and investments sharpen the ability to make sound decisions. But failing to prepare for the day when growing older hampers your judgment can be costly at an age when more is at stake. Seniors older than 65 hold about $18 trillion in assets, according to government data, or about a third of all U.S. net worth.
That's not to say that those in their 70s and 80s can't stay on top of their finances. But they should take precautions. "Sometimes the senior's worst enemy is himself or herself," says Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago attorney and investment adviser. "Poor financial decisions and declining cognitive impairment go hand in hand."