Home sales boom seen on the horizon

With 8,000 baby boomers expected to retire daily for the next several years in the U.S., Southwest Florida stands to benefit from a massive influx of home buyers, the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors believes. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

See also:
» Rise in New-Home Sales Bolsters Outlook for U.S. Housing Market

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Businesses won't have to return BP spill payouts

BP wanted its money back - hundreds of millions of dollars of it - but a federal judge said Wednesday that the oil giant must stick by its agreement with the companies it compensated for business losses due to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. [Source: AP]

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Small businesses helping workers buy health plans

Nearly 3 percent of 1,600 small businesses surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management plan to give employees subsidies next year so they can buy their own coverage on private insurance exchanges. [Source: AP]

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A Florida TaxWatch Economic Report

Northwest Florida's opportunities for growth

The Northwest Florida region, commonly known as the Florida Panhandle, is known for its spectacular beaches and resorts. The region has a significant, positive statewide impact thanks to tourism spending related to these natural assets. Read the full report here.

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A perfect storm is forming in the trucking industry

America’s trucking crisis cuts across all business sectors, however, it has hit housing the hardest because of the sheer weight and volume of most of the materials used in home construction. Florida has been hit particularly hard because as a tourism state it ships out much less than it receives. [Source: The Daily Commercial]

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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Latin American healthcare group Sanitas coming to Miami-Dade [Miami Herald]
A familiar face in Latin American healthcare will debut three primary-care clinics in Miami-Dade intended to appeal to Hispanic consumers under a new partnership next year with the parent company of the state’s largest health insurer, Florida Blue.

› Sarasota Police get $1 million grant [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino learned Wednesday morning that the department will receive $1 million for creating and preserving jobs.

› Elaborate Halloween haunts pay off for Florida theme parks [Tampa Bay Times]
Elaborate haunted houses have become a bloody bank of profits for Florida theme parks, with crowds for Halloween-themed special events now dwarfing the spring break hordes.

› How Amazon affects Northeast Florida Businesses [Folio Weekly]
Folio Weekly, Northeast Florida's news and opinion magazine, asked local entrepreneurs how the Internet behemoth has affected them.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Port tunnel traffic grows [Miami Today]
The PortMiami Tunnel was over 30 years in the making. Now finally open, it appears to be delivering on its promise of reduced downtown traffic.

› A look at Florida's charterboat-based recreational shark fishery [PHYS.org]
The challenge and excitement of catching a large fish makes shark fishing very appealing for recreational anglers. However, many species of sharks have experienced population declines due to commercial overfishing.

› AltMed forms Canadian alliance [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
AltMed LLC, with plans to build a marijuana growing and processing plant in Sarasota County, has formed a strategic alliance with Canada’s Vida Cannabis.

› Citizens Property Insurance ending emergency assessments two years early [Tampa Bay Times]
Florida property owners can stop paying a 1 percent emergency assessment on their insurance bills two years earlier than planned under a recommendation approved Wednesday by the board of Citizens Property Insurance.