Southwest Fla. & Tampa Bay Business Briefs - October 2010

The stage is set for some space history to be made tonight as two veteran NASA astronauts aim to launch in a spacecraft that has never flown with humans before.

Florida has become increasingly popular with college graduates, with metros in the state seeing some of the highest net gains of college-educated Americans.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairperson Rodney Barreto wants the agency to renew efforts to designate a state bird that is unique to Florida.

Federal environmental officials have pushed back against arguments by Florida that a legal fight over wetlands-related permitting has put more than 1,000 permit applications into "regulatory limbo."

About four million Floridians, or 1 in 5 of Florida’s 20 million people, have property waiting to be claimed. The average return per Floridian is $875.