Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, Sept. 17

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Buckle up: Confusion ahead for motorists

The biggest problem in Florida’s auto-insurance stalemate is a lack of leadership. Legislators haven’t fixed or replaced the existing no-fault law in the four years since they approved sunsetting the law on Oct. 1.

 

Florida drivers must check coverage as no-fault ends

Oh, fun. Now is the time to review your auto insurance coverage.  Starting next month, unless something happens in Tallahassee, the requirement that all Florida licensed drivers carry $10,000 in personal injury protection — called PIP — will expire. The no-fault system will end.

 

Editorial:  Corps of Engineers springs more leaks

The folks responsible for the levies that collapsed in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have brought their act to Florida. Lucky us.

 

Florida Supreme Court to hear anti-slots case

A lawsuit with the potential to overturn the statewide vote in 2004 that gave Broward and Miami-Dade counties the right to have slot machines at parimutuels by voter approval heads to the Florida Supreme Court Monday for a showdown three years in the making.

 

Legislature could hold wild card

If lawmakers sit in on a tribal gambling deal, the tracks would display their political clout.

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Charlie Crist’s willingness to let legislators vote on a possible casino gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe has aroused a powerful force: the tribe’s competitors who own horse and dog tracks and have lots of clout in the state Capitol.

 

Michael Peltier: Democrat deal may help property tax amendment

Backers of a proposed amendment to expand Florida’s homestead exemption and phase out Save Our Homes may be getting a boost from the most unlikely of sources: The Florida Democratic Party.

 

Editorial:  Expanded Citizens coverage makes sense, for now

ISSUE: Law gives windstorm-only policyholders an option.

Roughly 140,000 policyholders in Broward and Palm Beach counties have a decision to make. And it’s one that ultimately could cost, or save, money for millions of other Floridians.

 

Editorial:  Reforming Title Insurance Industry Should Be State Priority

Floridians pay among the highest premiums in the nation for title insurance, a unique line of insurance that protects homeowners from people laying claim to their property.

 

Some FEMA payments questionable

Three years after hurricanes battered Florida and the government distributed $1.2 billion in disaster aid, reports of fraud continue to surface.

 

Cancer society ads push health reform

The American Cancer Society this week will take its biggest step ever into the politics of health care reform, spending $15 million in advertising on behalf of Americans with too little health insurance or none at all.

 

Crist’s office working with Collier, Broward elections offices on setting date for special election to fill Davis House seat

With the death of state Rep. Mike Davis last week from cancer, District 101 residents, including some who live in Collier County, have no representation in the Florida House of Representatives.

 

Another Way for Wind to Put Holes in Homeowners’ Pockets

CALL me an innocent, but I had never heard the term “windstorm deductible,” until my neighbor, Lisa, told me she and her husband were shopping for new homeowners insurance.

 

5 questions with South Broward Hospital District’s Frank Sacco

While other public hospital districts around the United States are struggling, South Broward Hospital District has prospered — enjoying a net surplus of $130 million last year.

 

State Blocks Insurer’s Plan to Return $68 Million

Less Money Should Go to Doctors and More to Maryland, Commissioner Says

Less than three years after Maryland began subsidizing medical malpractice insurance premiums for doctors, the state’s leading malpractice insurer is reducing rates and offering doctors a rebate.

 

Kroger Expands Personal Finance Business

CINCINNATI — Weekend grocery shopping list: _ Milk, on sale at four half-gallons for $5._ Cookies, two packages-for-one at $3.99. _ New $200,000 fixed-rate mortgage, 30 years at 6.2 percent.

 

Claims Corner: Does policy cover damage from neighbor’s tree roots?

Question: The roots of my neighbor’s tree are separating the exterior wall of my house from the foundation. Water seeps in every time it rains, damaging the carpets. The tree roots have also cracked the exterior wall of my home.

 

Car crash + hospital bill = lien

Q:I was at South Miami Hospital for some X-rays after a car crash. I haven’t received a bill yet, but I did get a lien on my house. When I called, the hospital said that’s its policy.