Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Friday, January 15
Jan 15, 2010
To view a complete story, click on a headline below:
Freeze and sinkholes expose need for new water strategy
The growers, who have been struggling to protect their crops from freeze damage for nearly two weeks, are being blamed for drying up hundreds of wells and causing at least 20 sinkholes, including a depression that virtually halted traffic on Interstate 4 near Plant City. County officials say sinkholes affected more than a dozen roads.
Florida Workers’ Comp Insurer SUNZ Buys Tennessee’s Brentwood National
SUNZ Insurance Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., reported it has acquired Brentwood National Insurance Co. of Brentwood, Tenn., a workers’ compensation services and claims firm.
Rates Are Just One Piece of Florida’s Workers’ Comp Puzzle
January brought yet another decrease in Florida’s workers’ compensation rates, further ripples from the 2003 reform package and related events.
Florida’s Uncommon Residual Market
Question: When is a joint underwriting association not a joint underwriter? Answer: When it is the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association.
Waves of evacuees start arriving in South Florida from Haiti
As local agencies find ways to get food and supplies to earthquake victims in Haiti, others are scrambling to help waves of evacuees starting to arrive in South Florida from the island.
House committee votes down Crist’s Seminole compact
Gov. Charlie Crist called Thursday’s decision by a Legislative committee to kill his August gaming agreement with the Seminole Tribe “disappointing.”
FPL won’t build natural gas plant
Florida Power & Light Co. suspended plans to build a $1 billion natural gas plant in Port St. John indefinitely, frustrating environmentalists who fought for decades to clean the nearly half-century-old plant off U.S. 1.
Florida’s budget hole could pass $3 billion
Growing Medicaid caseloads, falling property tax revenue and other budget woes mean the state is now in an even deeper budget hole than experts were predicting last fall.
Florida TaxWatch reports on job creation
Florida TaxWatch is making recommendations to improve Florida’s economy in its new report, Recommendations for Boosting Investment, Economic Growth and Job Creation in Florida.
Editorial: One city discovered pitfalls of growth controls
St. Pete Beach economy suffers under strict rule
When Floridians mark their ballots for Amendment 4 in November 2010, they would do well to remember the experience of St. Pete Beach: Excessive control of development throttles an economy.
New leader takes on Space Florida challenges
In the six years since President George W. Bush announced plans to retire the space-shuttle fleet, federal and state officials have promised much — but delivered little — to the anxious residents of Brevard County, which stands to lose thousands of jobs when the shuttle era ends this year.
State Farm to Drop 1,650 Policies on North Carolina’s Barrier Islands
State Farm will drop as many as 1,650 insurance policies on homes on North Carolina’s coastal barrier islands, according to state officials.
North Carolina Court Hears Challenge to Big Coastal Rate Jump
A North Carolina appeals court is weighing whether to freeze or even reverse homeowners’ insurance premiums that soared by up to almost 30 percent along the coast while sliding by a third in counties farthest from the shore.
Is it time to drain the Texas windstorm pool?
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, facing about 1,000 lawsuits from homeowners over its handling of insurance claims after Hurricane Ike, has begun a flurry of settlements.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to ccochran@cftlaw.com.