Friday's Daily Pulse
Business educators struggle to put students to work
Paul M. Mason does not give his business students the same exams he gave 10 or 15 years ago. "Not many of them would pass," he says. Mr. Mason, who teaches economics at the University of North Florida, believes his students are just as intelligent as they've always been. But many of them don't read their textbooks, or do much of anything else that their parents would have called studying. "We used to complain that K-12 schools didn't hold students to high standards," he says with a sigh. "And here we are doing the same thing ourselves." That might sound like a kids-these-days lament, but all evidence suggests that student disengagement is at its worst in Mr. Mason's domain: undergraduate business education. Business majors spend less time preparing for class than do students in any other broad field, according to the most recent National Survey of Student Engagement: Nearly half of seniors majoring in business say they spend fewer than 11 hours a week studying outside class. In their new book, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, the sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa report that on a national test of writing and reasoning skills, business majors had the weakest gains during the first two years of college. And when business students take the GMAT, the entry examination for M.B.A. programs, they score lower than do students in every other major. This is not a small corner of academe. The family of majors under the business umbrella—including finance, accounting, marketing, management and "general business"—accounts for just over 20 percent, or more than 325,000, of all bachelor's degrees awarded annually in the United States, making it the most popular field of study. [Source: Chronicle of Higher Education/New York Times]
UCF economist: Gov. Scott's plan to cut taxes isn't the answer
A day after one prominent Florida economist applauded Florida Gov. Rick Scott's tax-cutting strategy, another economist attacked it. University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith warned that cutting corporate and property taxes is not the way to draw more business and jobs to the Sunshine State. "Florida already has one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation and only lags behind South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming and Nevada for the best business tax climate in the country," Snaith said in releasing his latest quarterly statewide forecast Thursday morning. "There is not much room for improvement as far as the tax climate in Florida is concerned, and trying to be the cheapest state in the country is not going to bolster the number of suitors Florida has. "There is very little to win in our race to the tax bottom." Instead of enacting Scott's proposed $1 billion in cuts to corporate income and property taxes, lawmakers should use tax breaks to encourage business behaviors like educating and training employees, Snaith recommended. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Education savings account bill clears first hurdle
A bold plan to allow parents to use state funding to pay for private school tuition, college savings plans, or tutoring cleared its first committee on Thursday. The ambitious plan (SB 1550) would take 40 percent of the state's per-pupil spending on a public school student and deposit it into an account - the bill calls it an "education savings account" - where it may be used to pay private school tuition, for tutors, or for college savings accounts. That would amount to about $3,100 per student under this year's education funding formula. "This is a very innovative program that recognizes that parents should have choices," said Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, the bill sponsor. He added that "I don't believe public schools are going to fold" because of the bill. "Public schools are competing with private schools," Negron said. Any student, whether they currently attend public or private school, would be eligible to open an account. [Source: Palm Beach Post]
Legislative Roundup
» Pinellas bill all but dead; is Rick Kriseman to blame? [St. Petersburg Times]
» Medicaid reform embraces controversial push toward managed care [Times/Herald]
» Scott and lawmakers reverse funding cuts to disabled [Orlando Sentinel]
» Legislators defend privacy of insurers' financial records [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
» Bill takes state review out of development permitting [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
» Controversial Florida election law change moves forward [Florida Times-Union]
Banker Carlos Migoya picked as new Jackson Health CEO
Carlos Migoya, a veteran banker with no healthcare experience, was picked Wednesday night to become the next chief executive of the financially troubled Jackson Health System by a 9-5 vote of the governing board. After negotiating a contract that could pay him up to $975,000, Migoya will likely take over the system on June 1, only a month before Miami-Dade's public hospitals are expected to enter a severe cash crunch that could require drastic cuts. Much of the debate Wednesday among the members of the Public Health Trust, which oversees Jackson, centered on whether the system should be led by a seasoned hospital professional or a banker with strong business experience who has never worked in healthcare. Migoya, 60, was a banker for more than 30 years and spent 10 months last year as the unpaid Miami city manager. The two finalists not chosen: Myles Lash, 64, a veteran hospital administrator and consultant, and Ram Raju, 59, the chief operating officer of New York City's huge public hospital system. Raju received five votes in the final tally, though he lost to Migoya. [Source: Miami Herald]
Despite economy, spring training attendance rises
Despite a troubled economy and a decline in tourism across Florida, Grapefruit League attendance was its highest since 2008. According to the Florida Sports Foundation, 1,571,196 fans attended a spring training game in Florida — an increase of more than 14,000 from a year ago. Again leading the way in attendance this season were the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa with 163,085 and the Philadelphia Phillies at Brighthouse Networks in Clearwater with 153,286.
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Alvaro Martinez-Fonts, CEO, J.P. Morgan Private Bank Florida
Wealth Management Amid global uncertainties and a slow, frustrating recovery, many are grappling with how to keep their money safe and make it grow at the same time. In this sector portrait, some of Florida's leading financial advisers offer advice and perspective. [View All Sector Portraits] |
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Did agent sell worthless insurance to Sarasota homeowners? [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Scores of area homeowners are scrambling for insurance coverage after learning a Nokomis agent sold them apparently worthless policies. "I hate to say it, but it was too good to be true," said Richard Nuzzo, a Venice Isles resident who for two years paid for homeowners coverage from Lloyd's of London that he says he never actually had.
Nuzzo is among homeowners from two Sarasota County housing communities who bought policies from local agent Debra Kay Wanless only to find out that the policies were not backed by Lloyd's of London. Some homeowners paid premiums for two years.
The Department of Financial Services, which licenses insurance agents in Florida, said it has a number of open complaints against Wanless.
DFS would not confirm it has an open investigation.
› Gilt City hires South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder
[Miami Herald]
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Schrager's Blackberry is packed with contacts for the top U.S. chefs, restaurateurs, wine makers and Food Network personalities.
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› Check out Tiger's new $60 million bachelor pad [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
So what if Tiger Woods can't win a golf tournament these days — he can now retreat to find some solace in his $60 million South Florida home that was completed recently. Take three putts on number 12 at Augusta National to shoot yourself out of contention at The Masters? It's OK, just go home and practice on the 3.5-acre, four-hole golf course in your backyard.
Forked over an estimated $100 million to your ex-wife Elin in a messy divorce? Don't worry, you can work off your frustrations on the indoor running track, a tennis court, a diving pool and Olympic swimming lane at your palace.
And now you can't get a date because the pesky tabloid media are following your every move? No sweat, your 155-foot yacht, "Privacy," is docked with your other boats in in your personal harbor.
According to various news websites, online photos and Tiger's personal website, the Jupiter Island house has 10,000 square feet of space and a view overlooking the Atlantic on one side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other. Surrounded by trees and a high boundary wall, no one should be able to look inside the gigantic master bedroom with his-and-hers bathrooms. The glass elevator should be out of camera range, too.
Friends can stay at the giant guesthouse, pop a bottle from the basement wine cellar, watch a movie in the theater.
› Foreclosure auctions: Are bogus prices hiding profit? [Orlando Sentinel]
Properties purchased through Orange County Clerk of Courts foreclosure sales at one price are appearing in the county Property Appraiser's Office records at a higher price, often tens of thousands of dollars more, according to an Orlando Sentinel review of 16 recent purchases.
The discrepancy illustrates inherent flaws in a system that apparently allows investors buying up distressed properties to inflate the sale price of their real estate by paying a slightly higher state tax on the sale, commonly known as "documentary stamp tax." The disparity in prices has gone unnoticed by the three county government bodies with a role in the sale and recording process — until now.
By having higher sale prices on record with the Orange County Property Appraiser's Office, investors looking to later unload the properties could mask their profits when they sell the real estate to new buyers.
It's not clear how widespread the bogus sale prices are, but the implications are vast in a county that saw nearly 18,000 foreclosure cases last year alone. The phony sales prices could be skewing appraisals being done in those neighborhoods and influencing bank lending practices as well, said Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan.
› March jobs report could be a mood killer or a momentum builder
[Miami Herald]
Florida should gets its monthly employment report card on Friday. Will be a momentum builder or killer?
The February report from the state labor agency contained the kind of good news that had analysts predicting a strong economic rebound this year. But the Japanese nuclear crisis and high gas prices now have some analysts rolling back their growth projections nationwide. So Friday's jobs report will be a key mood check in South Florida.
Among the things to watch for after the 10 a.m. release:
Will unemployment cross any psychological barriers?
Are discouraged workers getting back into the game?
Will the depression facing the building industry finally hit a bottom?
› Online job postings return to pre-recession levels [Gainesville Sun]
Local online job ads topped 4,000 in March for the first time since August 2008 with a steady climb in postings across many industries, another sign the economy is slowly bouncing back from its recessionary doldrums. The difference is that more people are looking for work in 2011 with 2.8 unemployed people per job opening compared with 1.8 in 2008, though filling positions still can be difficult because of a gap in skills, those in hiring professions say. Statewide, there are 4.5 unemployed people per online job ad.
"We're seeing a steady increase month after month," said Kim Tesch-Vaught, vice president of workforce for FloridaWorks, the regional workforce board for Alachua and Bradford counties.
Instead of employers posting one job every couple of months, they are listing two or three jobs at a time, she said.
The agency works with employers to list jobs through the state's website, employflorida.com.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› Couple pleads guilty in massive Medicare fraud case
[Miami Herald]
Dressed in khaki prison garb, Lawrence S. Duran and Marianella Valera chatted and smiled at each other in federal court Thursday before pleading guilty to a massive conspiracy to steal $200 million from the taxpayer-funded Medicare program.
The Miami couple directed the nation's largest mental health racket and could face more than 20 years in prison.
There was only one person in the audience -- Duran's ex-wife, Carmen Duran, the mother of their three children.
"It breaks my heart," the North Miami woman said. "I can only think of my kids. He's a great dad, loving and supportive."
Duran, 49, and Valera, 40, owned a chain of seven mental health clinics operated by a Miami-based company called American Therapeutic Corp. The couple, along with their company and subsidiaries, were indicted last October with conspiring to defraud Medicare in a major Justice Department case that includes 22 other defendants, from senior company employees to psychiatrists to patient recruiters. In February, more charges were added to the couple's initial indictment.
› COLUMN: Utilities power big pay for top executives [Orlando Sentinel]
The cost of electricity isn't going down; in fact, there are efforts right now in Tallahassee to have utility customers pay even more.
But Florida's big utility executives are still being compensated handsomely.
NextEra Energy, which owns Florida Power & Light, and Progress Energy, Central Florida's largest power provider, recently filed their annual disclosures with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
While FPL is pushing hard in Tallahassee for lawmakers to give it and the other investor-owned utilities control of the solar market in Florida by taxing customers to pay for new solar plants, the company's executives aren't hurting for cash.
NextEra's proxy noted that the company achieved its highest ever earnings in 2010. Though the company kept base salaries frozen from the year before, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lewis Hay saw his total compensation rise by 6 percent to $11.5 million, buoyed mostly by higher incentive pay of $2.3 million.
FPL Chief Executive Officer Armando Olivera's total pay grew by 10 percent to $3.5 million and also saw his incentive pay increase to $733,921.
Both received perks included in their pay such a company car and gas, club memberships and travel on the company jet.
› Don't be limited by beliefs, investment chief stresses [Florida Today]
In his Chicago office, Andy Smith, president and co-founder of the global investment company Houlihan Capital, keeps a photo of an elephant that has its foot chained to stake in the ground. There's an important lesson behind that photo.
Baby elephants that perform in the circus are chained to the stake soon after birth, when they're not strong enough to pull the stake out. By the time they're adults, possessing enough might to rip out the stake like a matchstick, they don't even bother. That's because they've been taught since childhood to think it's an impossible task.
Smith's point?
"Don't be chained to your beliefs," he told about 250 people who attended his morning lecture Thursday as part of the B.W. Simpkins Business Seminar for Entrepreneurial Development. Smith spoke first at the Cocoa campus and then at BCC's Melbourne campus Thursday afternoon.
The title of his talk was
"Entrepreneurs Make America Great."
› Business still waits to be paid by Jacksonville Job Corps
[Florida Times-Union]
Through his company, Pug Promotions, Jacksonville businessman Alan Kagan works with area companies to design and produce promotional items such as shirts, hats, pens, memo pads and other items branded with logos and other messages for distribution to customers or for advertising.
He said he's been paid slowly for products he's delivered before, but he never expected to be stiffed by the federal government. But thanks to a company to which the U.S. Department of Labor "out-sourced" management of Jacksonville Job Corps, that's exactly what's happened, he said.
Kagan runs his company out of his home office, and Jacksonville Job Corps has been one of his clients for about 10 years, he said. He produces requested Job Corps promotional items before he gets paid, and for years, that arrangement has worked fine, he said.
But about eight months ago, Job Corps began paying his invoices more and more slowly, he said. By October, when he received the last payment, it was about 60 days after goods were delivered.
And when the payments stopped altogether, Kagan said Job Corps owed him more than $6,000 for custom cafeteria and custodial uniforms, printed binders to be given to Job Corps graduates, memo pads with pens and 400 baseball caps - all imprinted with the Job Corps logo. Job Corps continues to use the items, although he has not been paid.
› SeaWorld OSHA hearings postponed until September [Orlando Sentinel]
Court hearings in SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment's appeal of workplace-safety violations stemming from the February 2010 death of a killer-whale trainer have been pushed off for another five months.
An administrative judge with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission this week granted an order postponing the start of the hearings until Sept. 19. They had been scheduled to begin April 25.
SeaWorld is contesting a citation issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which last year cited the company with a willful safety violation — its most severe category — following a six-month investigation of the Feb. 24, 2010, death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by a six-ton killer whale.
› Arizona drywall suit is dismissed, moved to Florida [ProPublica]
A lawsuit filed by an Arizona homeowner against one of the nation's largest drywall manufacturers was voluntarily dismissed, National Gypsum said this week. In a statement, the company said the dismissal was evidence that National Gypsum drywall is safe and does not share the same problems as its Chinese counterpart, which has been linked to respiratory problems and to corroded wiring in thousands of homes across the southeastern U.S.
But nearly 100 claims are still pending against the Charlotte, N.C., company in a Florida court, and the Arizona homeowner whose lawsuit was dismissed on Tuesday is among them.
"The decision to dismiss the case without prejudice is not a reflection of the merits of Mr. Yee's case," said William Anderson, an attorney representing Raymond Yee, the Arizona homeowner.
"The dismissal in no way exonerates National Gypsum and any assertion to the contrary is irresponsible and false. Mr. Yee is a member of the proposed class in litigation in Florida, and we will watch with great interest how that case proceeds."