Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, January 25

Jan 25, 2010

 

 

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Citizens Insurance agrees to seek bids for controversial home reinspection program

Under growing pressure, Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board said Monday that it will seek competitive bids for its controversial home reinspection program following a pilot project now underway.

 

Florida Hurricane Committee Issues Draft Mitigation Report 

The Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, Windstorm Mitigation Committee has issued a draft report of its recommendations for fixing the problematic wind mitigation credit program.

 

Florida State Representative Bill Proctor:  Serious Threat to Economic Recovery

A serious threat to Florida’s economic recovery is the possibility that a major hurricane will strike a large metropolitan area.

 

Tornadoes cause damage across the First Coast

A severe weather system, which may have included two or three tornado touchdowns, caused damage across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia Thursday afternoon.

 

Flooding causes widespread problems throughout Fort Walton Beach

As soon as Carol Csontos stepped out the front door of her home on North Windsor Lane on Thursday morning, she knew she was going to get wet.

 

Plant City sinkhole, watering issues won’t be resolved soon

If nature sends another string of freezing nights our way this winter, pumps in berry fields will again spew millions of gallons of water over the crops and residents of east Hillsborough County would see the same results.

 

Fiesta Auto Insurance Expands Miami Operations

Fiesta Auto Insurance, the nation’s only insurance and tax preparation business, announced that it will be opening five locations in the Miami area within the next two months.  

 

Progressive Insurance issues Miami Beach casting call

Flo, the friendly character in Progressive Insurance’s commercials, is looking for a sidekick.

 

Editorial:  Medicaid draining state’s wallet

Put aside the furor about national health care reform. Florida leaders have a more immediate problem.

 

Report:   Florida could save by axing HMOs

Florida could save more than $118 million if it removed HMOs as one of the health care options offered to state employees, according to a consultant’s report commissioned by the state agency that oversees health insurance for state workers and their families.

 

VERTEX & Blue Frog Solutions Automate the Life Insurance Product Distribution Process

VERTEX, Incorporated, a provider of professional services to the insurance and financial services industries, today announced its  introduction of a Term and Permanent Life product platform and its partnership with Blue Frog Solutions, a leading provider of the Life & Annuity Order Entry System.

 

Tampa Northwestern Mutual office to recruit 50 employees

Teague Financial Group, an office affiliate of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, plans to recruit 50 financial representatives this year.

 

Blog:  U.S. Supreme Court ruling likely ends Florida lobbyist gift ban challenge

This weeks U.S. Supreme Court ruling on corporate political advertising seems to spell the end of the road for a four-year legal battle to invalidate Floridas gift ban.

 

Regulators Shut Florida Bank

Regulators have shut down a Florida bank, bringing to five the number of bank failures so far in 2010, following 140 closures last year in the toughest economic environment since .

 

Amtrak threatens to stop Central Florida service

A game of chicken between Amtrak and the state could jeopardize one of Gov. Charlie Crist’s legacies: Central Florida commuter rail.

 

6 amendments will be on Florida’s 2010 ballot

Six amendments have been certified for Florida’s 2010 ballot, with the first three proposed by the Legislature and the second three through petition drives.

 

Governor Crist Stalls State Tax on Employers

Gov. Charlie Crist says he’ll delay an increase in the state’s unemployment compensation insurance tax until lawmakers can reduce it.

 

Florida unemployment numbers increase in December

The December unemployment number was 1.8 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate.

 

Meandering legislative districts to be redrawn after Census taken

Gators and bass can’t vote. At least not legally.

 

Two senators battle for the Democratic Fla. attorney general nomination

For months, Aronberg and Gelber have criss-crossed the peninsula raising money, collecting endorsements and honing their messages in advance of their showdown, the Aug. 24 primary.

 

Accusations fly in race for District 58 Florida House seat

The mud is flying in the Democratic race for the District 58 state House seat.

 

McCollum’s Campaign War Chest Dwarfs Dockery’s in Fla. GOP Gubernatorial Primary

State Sen. Paula Dockery has said she doesn’t need as much money as her Republican primary opponent for governor, State Attorney General Bill McCollum.

 

Blog:  Florida U.S. Senate Kendrick Meek raises another $1.2-million

Apparently a lot of donors aren’t buying the chatter that either Charlie Crist or Marco Rubio is sure to be the next U.S.senator from Florida.

 

Blog:  Analyst says Fla. Rep. Grayson’s seat favoring Republicans

Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg has a new report out today that rates Florida’s 8th Congressional District as more favorable to Republicans.

 

Budget ax hangs over Florida justice system

Early release for prisoners? Eliminating the Florida Department of Law Enforcement?

 

Florida Senate Panel Expands Waterfront Property Tax Protections

A Senate panel charged with carrying out a state constitutional amendment to protect working waterfronts made last-minute changes Thursday to expand the amendment’s scope and protect it from likely legal challenges from local cash-strapped local governments.

 

Crist, Florida try to reverse spring training exodus

Spring training used to be the nearly exclusive property of Florida, but a quick look around the state shows how much that has changed. One by one, teams have left us for the lure of top-notch new facilities in Arizona.

 

Florida House Panel OKs Gun Question Ban from Adoption Forms

Adoption agencies would be barred from making prospective parents reveal whether they have guns or ammunition at home under a measure that sailed through a Florida House panel Thursday with the backing of the National Rifle Association.

 

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart Licenses World’s First Serial Captive Insurance Company

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart licensed the world’s first serial entity captive.

 

Cities Say New FEMA Flood Maps Are Full of Errors

More than a year and a half after a massive flood left a huge swath of eastern Iowa underwater, the tiny farming community of Oakville is clinging to survival.

 

Execs in New York Meet over Insurance Exchange Plan

Key executives from over 50 companies, state agencies and industry groups met with New York Insurance Department officials yesterday to begin hashing out details for reviving the New York Insurance Exchange.

 

Insurer Steps Up Fight to Control Health Care Costs in New York

A front in the national health care battle has opened in New York City, where a major hospital chain and one of the nations largest insurance companies are locked in a struggle over control of treatment and costs that could have broad ramifications for millions of people with private health insurance.

 

Nationwide Seeks 11.7% Homeowner Insurance Increase in Mississippi

Nationwide Insurance has proposed a 11.7 percent increase in homeowner insurance premiums statewide.

 

Private Crop Insurers Oppose Funding Cuts

The private crop insurance industry is blasting a proposed restructuring in the crop insurance program they say would cut $4 billion — or $800 million a year — over the next five years.

 

IAIS approves development of a Common Framework for the Supervision of

Internationally Active Insurance Groups

The IAIS Executive Committee this week approved the recommendations on the design and workplan regarding a framework to better supervise internationally active insurance groups and their group-wide risks.

 

Scientists Create Model Of Monster ‘Frankenstorm’

Think the recent wild weather that hammered California was bad? Experts are imagining far worse.

  

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