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Also, read about the University of Central Florida's leading-edge experiments in simulation and training: Virtual Reality Check at UCF
Florida consumer confidence holds steady; US index dips
Consumer confidence in Florida leveled off in May after three months of declines, but the national mood toward spending took an unexpected dip in separate surveys out Tuesday. Florida's index remained at 68, and attitudes about the U.S. economy were steady, according to the University of Florida Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. However, the mood toward personal finances has been uncharacteristically volatile in recent months, according to Chris McCarty, survey center director. Perceptions of personal finances now compared to a year ago fell four points to 52 in May, while expectations of personal finances a year from now rose three points to 76 after also rising in April from a record low. The Florida economic outlook is mixed, McCarty said. Unemployment dropped last month to 10.8 percent, the lowest since 2009, and tourism has shown gains, but several thousand layoffs loom in the public sector and associated industries. Median housing prices rose to $132,700 but could decline due to a backlog of foreclosures. Gas prices have declined for the past two weeks but should rise again with the summer travel season. [Source: Gainesville Sun]
Related:
» UF Study: Florida's consumer confidence stays level for first time in months
After bashing stimulus, Scott includes federal money in state budget
Gov. Rick Scott campaigned against President Obama's "failed stimulus" program — yet the freshman politician kept nearly $370 million of the federal cash in the Florida budget he signed last week. Scott's decision to keep the stimulus money stands out in a year when the governor touted record budget vetoes of up to $615 million. He emphasized the vetoes of "wasteful" spending at a Thursday event that featured a campaign-style "Promises Made, Promises Kept" banner. But as he ran for office last summer, Scott said he "would fight all the stimulus money." He also told reporters "I would have figured out how to balance the budget without it." When asked Tuesday why he appeared to reverse himself by keeping stimulus money, Scott didn't specifically answer.
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 Juliana Costa with model Maria Smirnova |
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Are you eating at your desk today? Odds are you answered yes. Over the last decade, fueled by salary cuts and job insecurity, lunch hour has evolved. It's shorter, more purposeful and more often spent in the office. It's the source of lawsuits, a point of contention among generations, and a contributor to the obesity epidemic. The shift in the midday ritual has some businesses repurposing their lunchrooms and others reshaping their policies. It has even launched a national movement called Take Back Your Lunch Hour. For some, the move toward brown-bagging began with an effort to cut costs and show commitment. But even as the economy rebounds and summer approaches, habits aren't changing. For most managers, eating at your desk has become the new status symbol of efficiency. "It shows you're trying to be more productive, more committed," says Diana Metcalf, major gifts officer with Junior Achievement of South Florida. "With all the balls we are juggling, it's just easier to eat at your desk." Catherine Haga, president of Junior Achievement of Greater Miami, says she used to go out to lunch regularly. Not anymore. "With so many time demands, I'd rather take 20 minutes to pound out a memo or read emails and eat at the same time." [Source: Miami Herald]
Fla. Orchestra announces cultural exchange program with Cuba
The Florida Orchestra has announced a multi-year cultural exchange with Cuba.
It is scheduled to begin Sept. 26-29, when a wind quintet made up of principal players from the orchestra will perform a concert and give master classes in Havana.
This will be the first in a series of exchanges between the Florida Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, with the ultimate goal of the full orchestra performing in Cuba as early as the 2012-13 season. It would be the first visit by a U.S. orchestra to Cuba since 1999, when the Milwaukee Symphony played there.
The orchestra got permission to travel to the island on Tuesday, when it was granted a license from the Office of Financial Asset Control in the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees trade with Cuba.
The timing appears to have been fortuitous.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› UF develops method to make plastic from discarded plant material
Plastic may compete with paper in the grocery line, but it doesn't have to compete with the world's food supply, according to University of Florida researchers.
They've developed a way to produce plastic that doesn't use valuable natural resources, such as food or fuel, for raw materials.
The new method uses a strain of bacteria to create bioplastic from discarded plant material, such as yard waste.
Bioplastic, or plastic from renewable resources, is produced when an organism such as a bacterium creates lactic acid while fermenting carbohydrates. The lactic acid can then be converted into long chains of molecules to form plastic.
Current bioplastic production uses food carbohydrates, such as cane sugar or corn starch, as raw materials. Traditional plastic production requires petroleum.
Keelnatham Shanmugam, a UF microbiology and cell science professor, Lonnie Ingram, a distinguished professor in microbiology and cell science, and their co-workers made the development. Their research is published in the May issue of the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.
"As we start using more and more bioplastics, we are infringing upon the use of food material," said Shanmugam. "We'd like to switch away from food-based carbohydrates to non-food-based carbohydrates for producing plastics."
Using discarded plant material to produce plastic helps keep commodity prices down. The plastic produced from the process is both biodegradable and recyclable, Shanmugam said.
› After budget cuts, juvenile-detention centers face closure
Two Central Florida facilities are among five juvenile detention centers that will be shut down after recently approved statewide budget cuts, officials said.
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice announced last week that the juvenile detention centers in Osceola and Seminole counties will close by June 30.
Statewide, 1,229 positions will be eliminated, 500 of which are currently vacant. A spokesman said the agency is working to help displaced employees find jobs, with the state or elsewhere.
"We are doing everything we can to assist the affected employees," including offering job fairs and counseling, spokesman C.J. Drake said.
According to the DJJ, the youths currently incarcerated at the Seminole and Osceola facilities will be transferred to the Orange Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Orlando.
› Digital Domain files for $115 million stock offering
Digital Domain Media Group has asked federal regulators for permission to sell shares to investors, and the movie animation studio's newly public financial statements show both growing revenues and red ink.
Port St. Lucie-based Digital Domain lost $42.5 million in 2010, turned a profit of $8 million in 2009 and reported losses from 2006 through 2008. Its 2010 revenue was $105 million, up from $22 million in 2009.
"We have a history of losses and may continue to suffer losses in the future," the company said in a May 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Digital Domain aims to raise $115 million in its stock offering.
The state of Florida and the cities of Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach have promised Digital Domain millions in cash, land and loans in exchange for high-paying animation jobs. The company had 154 employees in Port St. Lucie as of Dec. 31.
» Treasure Coast Yearbook 2010
› Comcast to buy all of Universal Orlando
Comcast Corp. has decided to buy the Blackstone Group's half of Universal Orlando, two people familiar with the plan said Tuesday.
The move would give the Philadelphia-based cable-TV giant full control over NBCUniversal's biggest and most profitable theme park, which has been experiencing record crowds since opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter last summer.
The pending deal was first reported by TheWrap.com, a news website covering the entertainment industry.
Comcast is expected to pay between $1 billion and $1.5 billion for Blackstone's stake in Universal Orlando, TheWrap.com reported, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the details. Universal generated $267 million in operating profit last year.
Representatives for Comcast, Blackstone, NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando all declined to comment Tuesday. The people familiar with the pending sale who spoke with the Sentinel did so only on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized by any of the parties to discuss the deal publicly.
› As hurricane season begins, expect unlicensed contractors
Florida's hurricane season officially begins Wednesday, and so does the season of unlicensed contractors, warns state officials. Bids from bad-acting contractors increase as people worry about installing storm shutters, fix roofs and repair fences.
The best thing you can to protect your home and bank account is to make sure you only do business with licensed, reputable contractors. Check your contractor's license at MyFloridaLicense.com and report unlicensed activity by calling 1-866-532-1440.
It's the law: Any person who acts as an unlicensed contractor during a state of emergency declared by executive order of the Governor is committing a third degree felony, reminds the Department of Business and Professional Regulation in a press release statement issued today.
More tips...
› Five reasons homeowners insurance keeps getting more expensive
Florida's annual, high-stakes game of hurricane lotto — will we be hit by a major storm this year or not? — kicks off with the start of hurricane season today.
Florida has been spared a significant hurricane hit for five seasons, but that means little to the industry and regulatory forces that set property insurance rates.
Experts predict an active season of three to six intense storms in the Atlantic, with a 72 percent probability of at least one major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coastline. Regardless whether that happens, homeowners may still wind up paying more out of their pockets.
Here are five reasons to expect property insurance rates will continue trending up.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› Jackson Health System seeks $200 million from unions
Jackson Health System executives announced Tuesday that they want to reduce salaries and benefits for the system's 11,100 employees by more than $200 million to help shrink a budget gap for fiscal 2012.
Chief Executive Carlos Migoya said he wants unions to accept cuts of 16 to 18 percent in total compensation but, as a trade off, he planned no layoffs. He didn't offer details of the kinds of cuts he envisions, but in the past Jackson executives have noted that Jackson's employee pensions tend to be much more expensive than the 401(k) plans most hospitals offer.
Martha Baker, president of the SEIU local that represents many of Jackson's healthcare professionals, called Migoya's proposal "absolutely ridiculous." Union workers at the financially troubled public hospital system already gave up 8 percent last year in reduced pay and postponed raises, she said, which means Jackson's nurses and others now work "for 2007 wages."
› Developer buys only home on Winter Park's Central Park
For many of the last 50 years, Christine Kilbourne fended off offers to buy her home.
It's an enviable position for many sellers in today's depressed real estate market. But then again, most sellers don't own property in arguably the best location in the most desirable neighborhood in Central Florida.
Kilbourne woke up nearly all of her 94 years just steps from Winter Park's manicured Central Park and stylish Park Avenue. Her green and white two-story bungalow tucked between The Collection bridal shop and a parking garage is the only house on the park.
She refused to sell, even as hopeful developers and speculators would leave their cards at the door or drop proposed contracts in her mailbox.
Allan Keen was one of those would-be buyers, first eyeing the property 20 years ago. On Tuesday Keen and his wife, Linda, closed on the 1915 house known as the Kummer-Kilbourne home, which quietly went up for sale after Kilbourne died in December.
› St. Petersburg will hold contest for new Pier design
When it comes to designing the new Pier, may the best team win. Literally.
The city will hold a competition to decide what will replace the iconic upside-down pyramid.
"The complexity of a project of this nature simply warrants it," Chris Ballestra, director of the city's downtown enterprise facilities, told the City Council in a recent workshop. "The bottom line is we've got to get the Pier right."
The competition will be held in two phases.
In the first round, which could start this month, the city will solicit ideas from teams around the world interested in the project, which will cost more than $50 million.
A five-person jury will then narrow the field to three firms by the end of the summer. Once the top three teams are approved by the City Council, the second phase begins. The firms will have several weeks and a $50,000 stipend to produce a more in-depth vision.
› EPA chief's visit puts Satellite Beach's Lighting Science in spotlight
The environmental benefits of a Brevard company's LED bulbs were extolled by someone who knows a thing or two about the environment.
Lisa Jackson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, visited Lighting Science Group's plant in Satellite Beach on Tuesday to highlight the company's efficient bulbs, streetlights and commercial lighting applications.
"The cleanest power is the power you never use," Jackson said after touring the plant where about 300 workers design and build light bulbs that are expected to last up to 20 years and use about a fifth of the energy of traditional incandescent bulbs. "We (in the Obama administration) talk a lot about the green economy and how it creates jobs. Well, this is how it works."
The bulbs also don't require mercury, which is used in compact fluorescent bulbs.
Related:
» Has the gov't gone to war against light bulbs?
› hsn.com to offer online games to keep more customers on the site
Lots of people work crossword puzzles, ponder sudoku or play solitaire while watching TV in their living room. Now they can engage in those and 22 other video games on hsn.com — sometimes for prizes.
Called HSN Arcade, it's the St. Petersburg-based TV shopping channel's latest tactic to draw new customers and get them to linger longer at a website with 2.4 million unique visitors daily.
About 140 million people play games online, reports comScore. Half are women, the core of HSN's audience. So the network hopes to woo them with free games on a computer screen shared with a live feed of TV shopping.
"It's a natural fit: offering shoppers something they may already be doing somewhere else," said Jill Braff, the St. Petersburg network's new executive vice president of digital commerce, who logged in 20 years in the video game industry at Nintendo, Sega and, most recently, Glu Mobile. "This makes our site stickier."
› Endeavour returns for last time
The last and next-to-last ships in America's 30-year space shuttle program passed in the night early this morning as Endeavour returned to Earth completing the penultimate mission and Atlantis crawled slowly toward its final turn on the launch pad.
Endeavour touched down gently at 2:35 a.m. at Kennedy Space Center, after awakening a few in Central Florida with its farewell double sonic boom. Commander Mark Kelly, thanked the thousands of workers who kept what he called "this amazing vehicle" flying, and took note of the end.
"It's sad to see her land for the last time but she really has a great legacy," Kelly said.
Atlantis, scheduled to launch July 8 on the 135th and final mission of the 30-year space shuttle program, took its final rollout a little late because of a hydraulic leak in the gigantic crawler-transporter vehicle that transports it from the Vehicle Assembly building.
After Atlantis, NASA officials concede, there will be a lull before NASA can create a new space program for Kennedy that might provide an economic engine for the Space Coast, as the shuttle program has been for 30 years, and as other manned-space flight programs were before that. Already, thousands of shuttle workers have been laid off, and thousands more will yet be after the Atlantis mission is completed.
› Florida Citizens Bank to enact new detection policies
Gainesville-based Florida Citizens Bank must enact new procedures to detect and report suspicious account activity in order to comply with federal and state regulations as the result of a routine bank examination.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Florida Office of Financial Regulation issued a consent order April 20 after the bank board of directors agreed to new procedures April 12. The FDIC announced the consent order Friday.
The bank must enact new policies and procedures to detect and report high-risk and suspicious activities to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 that requires banks to assist federal agencies to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and other criminal activities.
Florida Citizens must monitor and report wire transfers or cash deposits of significant amounts, said Gainesville lawyer James Quincey, board chairman.
An independent auditor will review high-risk accounts and transactions going back to Jan. 1, 2008.