Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, Oct. 8

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State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff champion of personal injury protection (with video)

Legislator fought to secure personal injury protection

Politics is like tennis, at least to Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff.  You have to be aggressive, she says. You can’t get rattled if your opponent calls you names. And you never, ever give up.

 

PIP Issue Becomes Lobbyist Paradise

For all of Gov. Charlie Crist’s talk about how “the people” run the Capitol, it was clear that last week’s debate over auto insurance was being run by groups of lobbyists with gang-like nicknames such as “the trials” and “the chiros” and “the PIP clinics.”

 

Lean years loom for property insurers

There’s more bad news for property casualty insurers.  Although 2007 might well be the seventh-best year on record since 1920 for the industry, profitability likely will continue to fall in the coming years, according to an analysis of industry financial results by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based industry group.

 

Ensuring fairness

Our position: The federal government should add wind coverage to its flood policies.

A major reform of the way homeowners get reimbursed after destructive storms is making its way through Congress, and guess what?  The insurance industry opposes it.

 

Political events are like night and day

Florida’s Democratic and Republican parties will have major events this month in Orlando, designed to rev up their bases heading into the state’s presidential primary election just three months away.

 

Vote Tuesday in District 34 GOP primary

Tuesday is Election Day for the state House District 34 Republican primary. Developer Chris Dorworth is squaring off against beverage-industry manager Allen Roosa.

 

No-fault law gives licenses back

But some worry about 3-month PIP purgatory

Florida’s here-yesterday, gone-today and back-tomorrow no-fault auto law has left behind a gift to almost half a million unsuspecting residents.

 

The Unfortunate Revival Of PIP

It once appeared dead, but now it’s alive – or at least it will be Jan. 1.  The Florida Legislature voted Friday to revive the state’s no-fault auto insurance law, making it mandatory that drivers buy personal injury insurance coverage. Required PIP coverage expired on Oct. 1.

 

Slammed by Hurricane Charley, then their insurer

When Hurricane Charley roared through town on Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, it peeled the roof off the stucco house at 514 Bond St. and shifted the structure off its foundation. But it was just the start of trouble.

 

Self-insurance may need more than lower premiums to gain popular support

Joining a self-insurance trust could save condo and homeowner associations up to 30 percent in property insurance premiums.

 

Companies increasing healthy living assistance for employees to curb costs

Spiraling health-care costs are forcing companies to expand their worker wellness programs

FPL’s Mike Bryce lost 100 pounds with coaching from a nutritionist and doctor at work. AutoNation’s Betty Polaski is eating healthy snacks and going to Curves to exercise now that her employer pays for it.

 

Students’ big gamble

Laying odds that disaster won’t strike? Could be bad bet

David Alvarez works 17 hours a week and pounds out plenty of essays for his classes as an English major at California State University, Sacramento. But shopping for insurance hasn’t been a big priority.

 

Century Village executive directors deny special meeting request

Executive directors at Century Village in Deerfield Beach handily rejected a petition to have a special meeting on Tuesday, causing ire among members who accuse the top officers of holding back information from residents.

 

Florida Democrats make federal case out of presidential primary

ISSUE: Democrats fight in federal court.

Democrats can be a feisty, and at times self-defeating, bunch. Still, the idea of a national political party forcing its members from an influential state to sue them on the eve of a presidential election is another “only in Florida” moment.

 

Slim tax base intensifies budget woes

The Senate president is now forced to fix a problem that he tried to warn was coming.

TALLAHASSEE – Five years ago, state Sen. Ken Pruitt sounded a dire and prophetic warning about Florida’s future.

 

Florida faces a primary problem

If either side was bluffing as state and national Democrats fought over the Jan. 29 election date, no one ever called them on it.

 

Despite ‘lightweight’ image, Crist adept at flexing power

In one week, Gov. Charlie Crist demonstrated the power the chief executive holds over state lawmakers when they are gathered under his pulpit in Tallahassee.

 

Why Is This GOP Strategist Smiling?

The day had been full of ominous warnings. Polls showed the Republicans on the losing side of almost every issue and the 2008 presidential race — and now they’re forced to defend a controversial veto of a popular children’s health bill.

 

Why Renters Need Insurance

ACCORDING to the Insurance Information Institute in Manhattan, renters are 50 percent more likely than homeowners to be victims of burglars.