Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Thursday, July 1
Jul 1, 2010
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Blog: Florida insurance regulators: state’s catastrophic risk overblown
A recent Government Accountability Office report that Florida’s state insurance programs are the riskiest in the country is dead wrong, according to state insurance regulators.
Florida’s I-95 likely most dangerous U.S. superhighway, but Jacksonville gets a break
The First Coast section is relatively safer than in counties to the south
An Internet report based on national fatality numbers calls Interstate 95 in Florida the most dangerous superhighway in the country.
Florida, 36 other states settle with Conseco
Florida and 36 other states have signed a settlement agreement with Conseco Life Insurance Co. that requires the company to create a $10 million fund for certain owners of its Lifetrend life insurance products.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control: Florida second among states with most uninsured
Florida ranked second in the nation for the number of residents lacking health insurance in 2009, according to a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Oxycodone overdose deaths jump 26% statewide
As cash-and-carry pain clinics spread across Florida in 2009, and state lawmakers haggled over ways to confront pain clinic problems, the number of people who died of oxycodone overdoses statewide leapt by 26 percent, according to a medical examiner’s report made public this morning.
Four Florida women filed a suit against Florida Secretary of State Dawn Roberts and the Department of State on June 24 in Leon County court, seeking an injunction that would strike Amendment 9 from the November ballot.
State probe sought on WellCare
Amid claims of widespread fraud by the state’s largest Medicaid HMO, a state official has called on Attorney General Bill McCollum to prosecute WellCare Health Plan officials involved in trying to “rip off” the taxpayers.
More than 150 state statutes take effect today
Higher graduation standards, ban on pythons among changes
From banning the sale of exotic pythons to raising graduation standards for high school students, more than 150 new state laws take effect today.
Florida condos get new tool for collecting fees
A new law offers a stark choice for South Florida condo renters living in units owned by people who are behind on their maintenance fees: Fork over the rent money to the association, or face eviction.
Gov. Crist asks BP for another $50 million for tourism
Gov. Charlie Crist has asked BP for another $50 million for tourism advertising. In a letter to BP’s chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, Crist says the state has already “deployed” the initial round of $25 million.
Florida businesses call BP’s claims process murky and slick
As hundreds of business owners shuffle through BP’s claims process to recover losses brought on by the oil disaster, the company’s promise that it will “deny no legitimate claim” is taking on a bitter meaning.
State Senator Negron jumps law firms, but says move not related to BP
Attorney and state senator Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has jumped to the Gunster law firm from the Akerman Senterfitt law firm, where he has worked for more than five years.
Wet 2010 puts end to water shortage in Southwest Florida
After a wet winter and the start of a typical rainy season, Southwest Florida’s water shortage is over.
Feds indict Broward cops and lawyers in mortgage-fraud scheme
A network of Broward County attorneys, law enforcement officers and mortgage brokers are accused of falsifying a slew of documents to obtain $16.5 million in loans that they used to buy and flip properties during the real estate boom, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
Residents who went solar won’t get their rebates
In part for the “feel-good factor” of saving energy, Steve Marino equipped his guesthouse with a $35,000 solar electric system.
Blog: Greer pleads not guilty; preliminary trial date set
At an arraignment in Orlando this morning, Jim Greer’s attorney entered a not guilty plea for the former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
Florida ends employees’ double-dipping of pension and salary
Starting Thursday, it becomes a whole lot harder for Florida public employees to double-dip into payroll and retirement funds. Under revisions to retirement rules passed by the Legislature last year, state workers no longer can retire, sign up for pension checks, sit out a month and then come right back to work and a paycheck.
New state law aims to find cheaters among defendants on public tab
A measure designed to keep Bentley-driving drug dealers and mansion-owning murderers from getting taxpayers to pick up the tab for their defense will likely waste limited resources and could slow down an already overburdened court system, public defenders, judges and court clerks said Wednesday.
Blog: Associated Industries of Florida endorses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Primary
The powerful business lobbying group, Associated Industries of Florida, has endorsed Pam Bondi of Tampa in the Republican primary for attorney general.
Call for Arizona-style law in Florida elicits concern
Undocumented immigrants and activists say they are concerned and angry about the possibility that Florida will enact an Arizona-style immigration-control law
Julio Salgado, an undocumented immigrant worker from Nicaragua, has been questioned by the police in the past after business owners called authorities to complain about the presence of day laborers. But Salgado says that until recently none of the police officers had asked him for immigration papers.
Blog: Coffee Party takes stand on redistricting amendments
The fledgling coffee party group, formed largely in response to the better known and louder tea party movement, is taking on the proposed Florida constitutional amendments that would reform legislative and congressional redistricting.
National Flood Insurance Program Back in Business Until Sept. 30
The U.S. Senate last night approved a temporary reauthorization of the federal flood insurance program until Sept. 30. The reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program is retroactive to June 1, the date the program was halted.
New Orleans Habitat for Humanity sets up drywall task force
Habitat for Humanity International has established an internal task force to research Chinese drywall after the Herald-Tribune and ProPublica reported that a New Orleans branch of the nonprofit built more than 200 homes with the drywall and then ignored homeowners’ complaints about it.
Workers’ compensation initiative steps closer to ballot in Washington
A campaign to end the state’s monopoly on workers’ compensation insurance appears to have enough support to qualify for the November ballot, adding to a busy initiative season in Washington politics.
Minnesota Changes Surplus Lines Stamping Fee
The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that a stamping fee of 0.0008 on all premium bearing surplus line placements made on or after Jan. 1, 2011 will need to be paid by the insured to the surplus lines licensee.
Survey: Bermuda captives’ premiums declined in 2009
Bermuda captives wrote $18.8 billion in gross written premiums in 2009, a 4.6% decline from $19.7 billion in 2008, according to a preview of the results of the “2009 Captive Market Survey” by the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Bermuda Insurance Management Assn.
Kingsway announces appointment of new Chief Executive Officer and President
Kingsway Financial Services Inc. is pleased to announce that Mr. Larry G. Swets, Jr., formerly the Company’s Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development, has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer and President effective today.
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