Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Thursday, Feb. 28

 

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ALEX SINK: Reducing Floridians’ risk

Avoid hidden taxes by sharing insurance burden

Part of my job as Chief Financial Officer is identifying opportunities to reduce financial risks on the people of our state, and that is exactly the intent of my proposal to reduce the risk of hurricane insurance assessments.

COMMENTARY: Storm-risk models impact rates

Insuring hurricane losses in Florida is a high-risk business. Most of the insured property – worth nearly $2 trillion – is vulnerable to storm losses since Florida has more major hurricanes than any other place in the world.

COMMENTARY: Florida’s regressive tax structure backfires in distant boom

Florida is in the bust phase of our boom-bust state budget cycle.

Crist wants to raid $740 million from trust funds to balance budget

Money paid into trust funds for specific purposes ranging from enforcing condo laws to providing affordable housing would be diverted to routine government expenses under terms of Gov. Charlie Crist’s proposed $70 billion state budget.

BB&T Insurance Services to acquire Orlando agency

BB&T Insurance Services, the nation’s seventh largest insurance broker, today said it plans to expand its Florida operation with the acquisition of Burkey Risk Services of metro Orlando.

False storm-claim charges filed

Six Orlando-area residents indicted last week by a federal grand jury were arrested Wednesday and charged with filing false hurricane-damage claims with the federal government in 2005.

OPINION: The real skinny on how to cut the state budget

State legislators — as they slice and dice the budgets of school districts, courts, health departments, colleges, prosecutors, public defenders — repeatedly warn these beleaguered institutions they must “cut the fat.”

Dania Jai-Alai slots plan is put on hold

A slot-machine casino approved but unbuilt at Dania Jai-Alai is too risky a bet — for now.

COMMENTARY: Association, owner responsible for damage from leak

Question: I have a question which relates to the experience of friends of ours, who recently purchased a condominium in Sarasota.

Florida Bust Spawns Vulture Culture

Miami has a new vice: bottom-fishing for condo bargains.

Home buyers from around the U.S. and abroad are descending on Florida to buy condominiums that have suffered sharp price drops amid the housing glut, subprime-mortgage crisis and credit crunch.

Crist moves up State of the State

Gov. Charlie Crist wants to raise the TV ratings for his State of the State speech, so he’s moving the traditional high-noon report on Florida government to an evening hour next Tuesday.

Election set for state House seat

For the first time in eight years, someone other than state Rep. Frank Peterman will fill the House District 55 seat, which represents some of the most densely concentrated minority areas of Manatee, Sarasota, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Size of Florida outage may spark probe by federal energy agency

The federal government wants to know why the failure of a single switch in a substation west of Miami led to a power outage that rolled across the state Tuesday afternoon and cut off electricity for more than 2 million people.

Florida primary suit has new life

A federal appeals court agrees to hear arguments on a bid to make votes count.

Optional Federal Chartering Likely To Benefit State Economies, Study Finds

Optional federal chartering of insurance companies would have little or no impact on state economies and any effects are more likely to be positive than negative, says a new study.

FBI: Scruggs Paid 2 Men to Persuade Miss. A.G. not to Indict State Farm

A lawyer accused of trying to bribe a judge also paid two associates $500,000 to convince Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood not to file criminal charges against an insurance company over its handling of Hurricane Katrina claims, according to an FBI report in court records.

Miss. Homeowners in Flood Zone May Qualify for Katrina Home Help

Mississippi officials said Tuesday that homeowners with elevated structures who lived inside the federally designated flood zone when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 may still qualify for housing assistance.