Scores of Top Staffers in Legislature Drawing Six-figure Salaries
To help shrink state government, the new leaders of the Legislature have brought in a stable of advisers at six-figure salaries. In the House, incoming Speaker Dean Cannon has given salaries of at least $100,000 to 28 staffers. In the Senate, 33 will earn six figures under incoming President Mike Haridopolos. Both leaders say the pay is justified for their skilled workers, yet the numbers stand out in a state where average wages are stagnating, one million Floridians can't find work, and Gov.-elect Rick Scott wants to eliminate up to 6,000 state jobs. Haridopolos and Cannon, who must fill a projected $3 billion budget hole, said costs were trimmed elsewhere in the Legislature's budget. Haridopolos, for example, has consolidated numerous jobs with a stated goal of cutting $1 million from the Senate's $35.5 million budget. "We've got to lead by example," said Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island. [Source: Times/Herald]
Orlando Bidding for WWE's Hall of Fame
If you've always longed to see Andre the Giant's size-24 boots or Rowdy Roddy Piper's kilt up close, you may be in luck.
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UCF Biz Prof Takes Hard Line on Cheating, Becomes Folk Hero
It was a lecture Richard Quinn hoped he would never have to deliver. Faced with evidence of cheating by up to a third of his class — 150 to 200 students — the University of Central Florida business instructor confronted them in a weekly lecture. "To say I'm disappointed is beyond comprehension," Quinn said, his voice quavering with indignation. "Physically ill. Absolutely disgusted. Completely disillusioned." Then Quinn gave them a choice: Confess and you had a shot at clearing your transcript. Don't and you could be suspended or expelled. "If you want to take a high-risk gamble, take it," he told his students. "I challenge you to take it, because we know who you are." This week, a video of Quinn's emotional lecture turned him into an academic folk hero. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Hyundai Sues Avera Motors Over Name
Avera Motors, the Rockledge company that aims to make a moderately priced, fuel-efficient sports car, likely will be changing its name as a result of a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the U.S. division of the South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Co.
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Clearwater Gears Up for Influx of Triathletes for Ironman 70.3
It's Ironman time again. On Saturday morning, about 1,800 fitness fanatics in spandex will plunge into the water off Clearwater Beach, then run and bicycle through the streets. This is Clearwater's fifth and final year of hosting the World Championship 70.3. It will move to Las Vegas next year, partly to make the race tougher than it can be in flat, sea-level Florida. The Nevada race will feature a challenging bike route with steep climbs through mountainous terrain.
In Clearwater next year, the event will be replaced by a new Ironman race tour called the 5150 Series, which will feature shorter, Olympic-distance triathlons. The whole race will cover 5,150 kilometers, or 32 miles instead of 70.3 miles.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Gainesville's Infinite Energy Taps Texas for Potential Sales Boom
Infinite Energy has taken its model for buying and selling natural gas to Texas' deregulated electricity market, a move that could double or triple the private Gainesville company's sales in five years, President Darin Cook said.
Infinite Energy became a retail electric provider on Nov. 1 for the Oncor power company's service territory centered in Dallas/Forth Worth, one of four electric regions in the state, with plans to expand to the other regions. The company landed its first commercial customer Wednesday, Cook said.
Texas deregulated electricity service in phases starting in 2002, allowing providers to buy and sell power over the existing utilities' wires, as a way to increase competition on pricing and service.
› Struggling Oviedo Mall Gets New Manager
Abandoned by its owner and on its fifth manager in just a few months, Oviedo Marketplace faces an uncertain future — and it's not the only mall in trouble.
"I'm not really hopeful going into the holidays," said Prudence Manolov, who runs Glass Slipper Cakery at Oviedo Marketplace. "I think this mall, people will come here as a last resort if they forgot something."
General Growth Properties of Chicago, which owns malls throughout the country, essentially has given up on the Oviedo Marketplace by turning it over to a company called CW Capital.
"I think it tells you what they perceive to be the future of the mall," said Britt Beemer, Orlando-based chairman of retail firm America's Research Group. "I think it will survive as something, but I don't see how it survives as a major shopping mall.''
› Sarasota's IntegraClick Moves into 'Google Ad World'
IntegraClick, which has grown quickly by charging customers for Internet advertisements only when they deliver a result, is expanding from niche to mainstream by selling ads that cost a client money every time a customer points and clicks.
The Sarasota County-based Internet marketing company has long branded itself as ClickBooth. Now it is creating a second business unit based on that same brand name that executives say has the potential to be as large a business segment as the foundation operation, which now employs about 100.
Besides ClickBooth CPA (Cost Per Action), the company is getting into the cost-per-click field now dominated by Google Inc. with ClickBooth CPC (Cost Per Click).
If the new venue is successful, consumers are likely to become more aware of the existence of the local company than before because the ads will run on heavily trafficked sites such as MSNBC.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com, and will be discreetly labeled as being "Powered by ClickBooth."
› Disney Profits Sink 7 Percent
The Walt Disney Co.'s fiscal fourth-quarter profits sank 7 percent, the company announced Thursday afternoon, dragged down by a revenue shift at ESPN and continued softness in its theme parks.
Disney said it made $835 million during the three months that ended Oct. 2, down from $895 million during last year's fourth quarter. Revenue slipped 1 percent to $9.7 billion.
The results, hampered by a quirk in Disney's financial calendar that left its 2010 fourth quarter with one less week than its 2009 fourth quarter, missed analysts' expectations.
But Disney said its full-year profit rose 20 percent, climbing to nearly $4 billion on revenue of $38.1 billion.
› Alleged 'Robo-Signers' Describe Assembly Line Work
Over the past several years, Bryan Bly, Crystal Moore and Dhurata Doko have signed thousands of mortgage assignments as vice presidents of Citi Residential and other major lenders.
Yet when asked in a recent deposition what a mortgage assignment is, Bly replied: "I'm really not sure."
Moore, meanwhile, defined a promissory note as something "that says the interest rate and stuff like that on it.'' And Doko, a native of Albania who speaks shaky English, expressed befuddlement at the whole idea of loaning someone money to buy a house.
"We don't do mortgages in my country,'' she said.
Bly, Moore and Doko work for Nationwide Title Clearing, a Pinellas County company that found itself in an unwelcome spotlight this week when video depositions they gave in a foreclosure case popped up on YouTube and AOL.
› Citrus Industry Could Benefit from UF Soil Analysis Concepts
Many of Florida’s natural conditions are perfect for growing citrus. One that’s imperfect is the state’s patchwork variety of soil types, and University of Florida researchers say the situation comes with a price tag for growers and consumers.
If the soil’s nutrient content or water-holding capacity differs from place to place, it can mean lower fruit yields, lower producer profits and higher consumer prices for fresh citrus and citrus juice, said Arnold Schumann, an associate professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Soil Science.
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› Third-Busiest Hurricane Season Winds to a Close with Little Impact
It was the third-busiest hurricane season in 160 years.
September and October never have produced more tropical storms.
Five storms became major hurricanes, with winds of 111 mph or more.
In a year that could have produced hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage, it appears the United States will escape one of the busiest hurricanes seasons on record with relatively minor damage and a handful of deaths.
"The big word would be lucky," said Bay News 9 meteorologist Mike Clay.
Water temperatures are dropping, wind sheer increasing and the other factors hurricanes need to spawn and intensify are becoming less and less favorable, portending the likely end of this season, which runs through Nov. 30.
› Hospital District Debt May Cost Millions More
The North Broward Hospital District may have to spend millions more to repay its debts if it carries out a controversial proposal to lease its public health system to a nonprofit group, officials said Thursday.
The district expects to avoid the higher debt payments by structuring the lease deal to meet federal law and satisfy banks and investors that lent the money, hospital General Counsel Sam Goren said.
But the district's in-house auditing staff said the strategy might not work. The fix would involve satisfying complicated IRS regulations.
"It's a tricky path. It's a challenging route," Grant Wahlstrom, a hospital district accountant, told the district board.
› Bill Gates Ups Stake in AutoNation, Parent of AutoWay Dealerships
Billionaire Bill Gates apparently loves Fort Lauderdale's AutoNation, the country's biggest auto retailer and the parent of the AutoWay brand dealerships in the Tampa Bay area. Gates upped his stake in the company several times in recent weeks and now owns an estimated quarter-billion dollars worth of the stock. That's a big commitment by any investor, though obviously less of one for someone like Microsoft co-founder Gates, whose fortune Forbes magazine pegs at $54 billion.
› State Puts the Brakes on Barbershop Inspections
The state agency that paired with the Orange County Sheriff's Office for a series of unorthodox inspections of Pine Hills-area barbershops told the Orlando Sentinel Thursday it will halt the practice until an internal review is completed.
The decision by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation came just four days after the Sentinel reported that agency inspectors, accompanied by as many as 14 sheriff's deputies, including narcotics agents, entered at least nine barbershops in the Pine Hills area in two sweeps on Aug. 21 and Sept. 17.
DBPR spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said that the agency — which regulates everything from contractors to nail salons — has suspended all joint inspections with law enforcement officers while it conducts a review of its operations with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
During the two sweeps, and a smaller operation in October, deputies arrested 39 people — 35 on a misdemeanor charge of barbering without an active license.
› Letting Invasive Weed Grow at Lake Could Save Endangered Bird
Osceola County's vast Lake Tohopekaliga has become the setting for a clash between a state wildlife agency trying to save one of Florida's rarest birds and fishermen worried about losing a top bass-tournament site that provides precious jobs in a struggling county.
Effective immediately and for the next two years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will discontinue its decade-long aggressive battle against the invasive weed hydrilla. The agency, with federal permission, is cutting back the lake areas that it treats by more than 60 percent to try to save the snail kite, a native bird on the federal endangered-species list.
Fishermen fear that an uncontrolled hydrilla forest in Lake Toho would block the sunlight and kill aquatic life while inhibiting the growth of some fish. Its vines and leaves choke a boat's engine in minutes.
State officials say they must protect the bird, whose population of 700 is down from 3,000 in the mid-1990s.
› Spirit Airlines Offers $9 One-way Fares Tampa to Fort Lauderdale
No-frills carrier Spirit Airlines is offering $9 one-way fares between Tampa and Fort Lauderdale today and Friday to mark the addition of two daily nonstop flights between the cities. Be aware there are plenty of caveats. Flights must be booked on the airline's website, www.spiritair.com, The bargain fares don't include taxes and fees and are available only to members of the airline's $9 Fare Club, which costs $59.99 a year.
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