Growing 'swag' business a sign of improving economy
The production of those free little goodies people find at conventions and business events -- mouse pads, stress balls, pens, thumb drives and the like -- can be a decent economic indicator. If more orders are coming in for this stuff, it likely means more businesses are budgeting money for marketing and advertising. At least that's the way the promotional product companies see it. And after a tough couple of years, all indications point to a rebound. "We had a slight increase last year over the previous year and in the last couple of months there has been a lot more people willing to spend money on marketing," said Beth Ouellette, vice president and owner of Century 2001 Promotional Products in Indian Harbour Beach. Others in the business are seeing the same thing. [Source: Florida Today]
Battle for retired shuttles gets fiery
With competition fierce to land a retired space shuttle orbiter, the cities and states vying to bring one home have gotten creative.
Florida's Finances
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Republicans in Legislature hold all the political cards
In the next 30 days, Florida lawmakers are poised to make it easier for insurance companies to raise rates, make it more difficult for women to receive an abortion and hand over control of prisons to private companies. These are just a few of the proposals the Republican-led Legislature is pushing in the final weeks of its 60-day session. Others include radically changing the way the state handles Medicaid, state pensions, courts, growth and the environment. The proposals are detailed, sweeping and encompass many conservative issues that legislators have resisted enacting in the past. And they are moving forward for one reason: They have the votes. With a veto-proof majority, a hard-right conservative governor, and a determination to seize the moment in a non?election year, legislative leaders have packed the agenda — and Democrats are powerless to stop them. "You've got a very conservative governor, president and speaker, so they've gone down some roads that people have kind of been afraid to go down before,'' said Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton. [Source: Times/Herald]
Legislative Roundup:
» OPINION: Florida — the sad state of our state
» Gov. Scott courts controversy during session
» COLUMN: What happened to anti-tax Legislature?
» Halfway through session, some issues still unsettled
» Classrooms in Florida could be getting crowded again
» Prison privatization opens door for politically connected GEO Group
» Small-business group lays out its political priorities
Sarasota fest fuels visions of a Florida 'Hollywood'
They are serving up something more than celebrity sightings and outdoor cocktails at this year's Sarasota Film Festival. For the first time, the festival will feature a made-in-Sarasota movie that has a great shot at distribution. Layer that on top of other film activity in Southwest Florida, and you might have the beginnings of what economic developers call a cluster: businesses in the same industry that develop synergies and attract even more players and jobs. Think Silicon Valley, or Arthur Andersen's former Sarasota County operations, or this region's concentration of so-called "employee leasing" firms. Chief among the green shoots in this nascent film cluster are the commercially oriented posture of the Ringling College of Art and Design — now completing a $1.75 million post-production suite that can handle two feature films at once — and Sanborn Studios, which last year established a brick-and-mortar film production center in Lakewood Ranch. But the mere creation of a pilot for a proposed TV comedy called "Workers' Comp" pulled enough high-caliber film-making folks off the golf course to give some credence to what studio founder Ken Sanborn has been saying since last fall — that if he built it, they would come. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Florida's colleges and universities rank 10th on research spending
What good could possibly come from studying a nematode's libido? Or a shark's sense of smell?
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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Ellen DeGeneres: I'll take Orlando; Oprah can have Australia
Ellen DeGeneres on Sunday brought her daytime talk show to Universal Orlando Resort for the fifth time, and she gave the region a huge endorsement.
Let Oprah Winfrey have Australia, and DeGeneres will take Orlando, the host told the cheering audience. She also joked about new NBC Universal rides, such as the Star Jones Emotional Roller Coaster and a "Today" attraction that lets people ride Ann Curry's back.
Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who was in the audience, said she appreciated the plugs for the city. "Any time we get national exposure on a show like that, it's all good for us," she said. "It shows how beautiful it is here. We are more than theme parks, but it's a great industry. When we get that kind of exposure, it's a win-win, not just for Universal."
› Lantana business owners brace for bridge closure
What they really wanted to do was blow it up.
This fall, the East Ocean Avenue Bridge will close for two years as it is replaced, hitting merchants hard and forcing miles-long detours to or from barrier islands.
Recalling that film producers paid to blow up a Delray Beach mansion for Bad Boys II in 2002, Lantana Town Manager Michael Bornstein figured his span could go out with a bang as well.
It didn't work out, mostly because of environmental concerns "and all the permits," he said.
The town does plan a big party when the bridge closes. And lots of festivals, fishing derbies, other events and discounts in the next two years to get people to keep coming to Lantana. Once the bridge is cut, detours will heavily hamper commerce for Lantana businesses from the Hypoluxo Island neighborhood, the Lantana municipal beach and the Ritz-Carlton - all on the east side.
› Chicken swap offers opportunities for more than just eggs
Liz Cleckner has been trying to get chickens in her house for years.
"I've told my husband for 11 years that I wanted a chicken," Cleckner said. "I think it's important for the kids to get to know where their food comes from."
Cleckner, 29, saw her chance to press the issue again about a week ago, when she came across a post on Craigslist about a "Chicken Swap" in St. Petersburg.
The event, hosted by Tyra Humphrey, brings poultry lovers together to buy and sell chicks, eggs and other types of poultry.
Cleckner's husband, a St. Petersburg police officer, tried to talk her out of it.
"He looked up the ordinance to try to prove that we couldn't have them," Cleckner said. "And he found out we can."
So on Saturday morning, Cleckner got up with her two young kids and her neighbor (who recently got some chickens of her own), and drove from her house on the city's west side to Humphrey's, in the Five Points neighborhood. Within an hour, Cleckner had collected one small cardboard box and three chicks.
› Sarasota piggyback contracts ripe for abuse?
Sarasota County aggressively uses a purchasing process that experts say is risky and should be used sparingly because it is susceptible to fraud and overpayment. Nearly half of Sarasota County's contracts last year came through piggybacking, a bidding shortcut in which contracts are not put out to bid, but rather are approved by a handful of county officials.
A lucrative piggyback contract was used for Chaz Equipment Co., the company accused of bribing former county project manager Rodney Jones for six years in order to keep work coming.
Experts say the Chaz case illustrates the pitfalls of piggybacking, especially for long-term, open-ended service contracts.
Sarasota County piggybacks at least three times as much as Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties, with nearly 100 active piggybacking contracts for everything from asphalt repair to fence building. Those neighboring counties use piggybacks mostly to buy tangible items, such as paper clips or service trucks
› Jacksonville public companies show improvement in 2010
While some people have doubts that the economy has improved, the results of Jacksonville public companies show that 2010 was definitely a better year than 2009.
Fourteen of the 25 publicly traded companies headquartered in the Jacksonville area reported either higher earnings last year or became profitable after a 2009 loss, while only nine of the then 23 local companies improved earnings in 2009. And 18 companies increased t heir revenue in 2010, after only six reported growth in 2009.
The improved financial results translated into stronger returns for shareholders, with 15 of the 25 companies producing an increase in their stocks' values.
› Mislabeling of fish at restaurants may be widespread
That white tuna sushi you order at your favorite restaurant may not contain tuna at all, but an oily fish known as escolar.
Last year, 186 restaurants in the state were cited by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for mislabeling their fish, including 24 that involved tuna substitutions in sushi or sashimi. In most instances, the "tuna" was escolar, an oily fish also known as snake mackerel and sometimes called the "Ex-Lax fish" or "castor oil fish" because it can cause diarrhea.
The problem most frequently cited by the state was labeling imitation crab meat, usually pollock, as real crab, while other common substitutions include less costly tilapia in place of red snapper and panga for grouper.
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Such mislabeling may be widespread, recent studies and lab reports suggest.
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› All Children's now officially part of renowned Johns Hopkins Health System
Nearly nine months after announcing it, All Children's Hospital is now officially part of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Health System.
Top officials from both institutions will make the formal announcement Monday morning at an event outside the hospital.
The partnership will be visible in a logo that adds "Johns Hopkins Medicine" under the All Children's name. The logo has already been seen on a banner in a conference room and on stethoscope ID tags handed out to doctors over the weekend.
"This is a momentous occasion — the beginning of a new chapter in the history of All Children's Hospital," said Gary Carnes, All Children's president and CEO, who remains in his position along with the rest of the hospital's leadership team.
› Are Bright Future scholarships going to the right students?
Florida's Bright Futures program began as a way to keep the state's smartest students from attending college out-of-state
— driven by fears they might never return. To prevent this "brain drain," high-achieving students were given thousands of dollars a year toward tuition costs. More than a half-million students have benefited so far, and Bright Futures is enormously popular with both politicians and parents alike.
The money is awarded regardless of family income.
Now, Bright Futures' future direction is a little cloudy as state lawmakers look at ways to ratchet back the benefits amid flattening lottery revenues and the loss of stimulus dollars used to shore up the fund last year.
› For businesses, Escambia is tax-break heaven
Escambia County doesn't lead the state in many economic development categories, but there's one where it's head and shoulders above the rest.
And that's the total value of private sector properties with 10-year exemptions from ad valorem taxes.
Fifteen counties throughout the state had property valued at $747.7 million exempted from ad valorem taxes in 2010, and Escambia accounted for $261.7 million of that total figure.
As a result, Escambia forgave nearly $2 million of its 2010 ad valorem revenues that totaled $101.5 million, according to Property Appraiser Chris Jones.
Only Bay County, with $232 million of exempt property values, is close to Escambia. By comparison, Dade County, with nine times the population of Escambia, has $69.3 million of property exempted and Duval County had $7.6 million of properties off the books.
› Since state privatized child welfare, pay for top executives has climbed
Florida's privatization of child welfare services was supposed to be good for kids and taxpayers.
But in the decade since the state began making private agencies responsible for the care of abused and neglected children, one cost has soared — the salaries of top employees.
Child welfare executives throughout Florida are now making six-figure salaries, with some topping $200,000 — double what state employees used to be paid to do the same work.
"They should not under any circumstances be paid these sorts of outrageous salaries,'' said state Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico and chairwoman of the Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs. "If you get your money from taxpayer funds, you should not be paid more than the governor.''
Agency leaders say that children are safer and better off under the private system, but Storms and others say the pay is out of control.
› Florida rode out of frontier status aboard trains
In the long-ago day when Florida was considered the last frontier, derided as an infested swampland swarming with alligators, snakes and black clouds of fever-carrying mosquitoes, the railways opened the state to the first snowbirds and developers. Henry Flagler laid tracks down the east coast and Henry Plant did the same on the west side with both building high-brow hotels along the way, laying the groundwork for Florida's development. (When Plant opened his storied Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891, he sent his rival, Flagler an invitation. Flagler responded, "Invitation received. Where the hell is the Tampa Bay Hotel?" Plant shot back, "Just follow the crowds.")
Sophisticated brochures published by Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway and Plant's The Plant System showcased majestic hotels, towns and points of interest and recreational activities which could be found at every stop.
› COLUMN: Is this 2010 all over again?
Last year: the European debt crisis and the Gulf oil accident. This year: the Libyan war and the Japanese nuclear accident. Let's hope we are not in for a third part of the rerun: a stalled economic recovery in Florida.
At the start of 2010, the economic chatter centered on rebound. Consumer confidence was up, the unemployment rate stopped its climb, and housing seemed to be hitting bottom. Then came worries of spreading defaults across Europe and an ecological crisis that might stretch from the Gulf to the Atlantic.
Suddenly, the fiscal tea leaves morphed from recovery to the potential for a double-dip recession.
This reversal of fortune came to mind last week when I wrote a story on the latest consumer confidence report from the University of Florida. It dropped in March, ending a pretty nice streak of gains. One key part of the survey — asking Floridians if it was a good time to make a big purchase — dropped nine points. That was the biggest decline since March 2010.
Uh-oh. Have we seen this movie before?
Probably not, economists say.