Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Tuesday, May 29

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New hurricane season starts Friday with 12-day, tax-free holiday on storm items

Florida’s least favorite shopping season — hurricane season — might get off to a slow start this year.

The state’s 12-day hurricane preparation sales-tax holiday goes into effect Friday, kicking off a shopping spree that allows Floridians to save money on batteries, generators and other storm-related supplies.

 

Crist, Rubio agree that Floridians are taxed out

Florida lawmakers are getting ready for one massive political do-over.

After deadlocking earlier this month over lowering property taxes, lawmakers could return to work June 12 staring across a similar divide.

 

Crist’s trip to Israel could pay off now and on the trail

TALLAHASSEE — As Gov. Charlie Crist begins his business in Israel on Tuesday, the publicized reason for the trip is simple: Drum up more business between the nation and Florida.

 

Lawmakers praise outspoken hurricane center director

The new director of the National Hurricane Center earned congressional kudos for his candor Thursday — and a commitment from his bosses that replacement of an aging weather satellite will be a priority.

 

Editorial:  PIP’s death would be dire

Four in 10 Floridians who have been in an automobile crash and are treated in emergency rooms or trauma centers have no health insurance whatever except for the $10,000 Personal Injury Protection that is mandated by the state as part of our auto insurance.

 

Obama Offers Universal Health Care Plan

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would provide every citizen a means to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.

 

Hurricane Q&A: Florida’s most horrific storms

The storms of 2004 and 2005 do not compare with the worst of nature’s fury.

Question: What was Florida’s deadliest hurricane?

Answer: Florida’s deadliest hurricane, and the second deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, was the great Okeechobee hurricane of 1928.

 

Voting Legislation Needs More Work

Much attention has been paid to the election legislation recently signed by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Lost in attention to presidential politics and the date of the presidential primary is that this legislation revolutionizes Florida voting by replacing paperless direct recording electronic machines (DREs) with more reliable paper-based optical scan systems.

 

FSU Is 1st State School To Require Insurance

TALLAHASSEE – A broken bone, cuts and bruises weren’t enough to keep a Florida State University student out of class after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle three years ago.

His $30,000 hospital bill, though, forced him to drop out because neither he nor the driver had insurance, recalled Leslie Sacher, director of the university’s Thagard Student Health Center.

 

Several variables affect possible rate relief

Insurance regulators say it won’t be until early this fall that the full verdict will be in on state’s new homeowner insurance rate plan.

Despite much initial excitement about what changes in Tallahassee will mean for premiums, early indications have been disappointing. Rate reductions, which start on June 1 as policies renew, have not come as close to the average 30 percent cut promised in the new law.

 

With Hurricanes in the Lab, They Can Blow the House Down

Over the years, many people have tried to simulate the winds of hurricanes and measure the effects.

They have set up model wind tunnels. They have used the equivalent of airbags to simulate wind gusts. They have even used jet engines.

 

Can Science Outwit Storms Like Katrina?

Stand atop any levee in the New Orleans area, and one question will offer itself, unbidden, to the mind: Is this pile of dirt tall enough to stand up to the next storm?

 

Bigger Briny, bigger risk

Residents of Briny Breezes cite fear of hurricanes as a reason for selling their town to a developer. But hurricanes also offer a reason to oppose the developer’s plans.

 

Time for an oil change

Drivers who made sure their cars were well-maintained before Memorial Day weekend travel were being more responsible than Big Oil.

 

Taxes lure big-time lobbyists

Groups spend up to $12M for chance to be heard

Big forces are at odds as Florida lawmakers wrestle with the state’s property-tax laws, seeking to pin down a populist solution that also pleases the business community that started the fight a year ago.

 

Ambulance service may be cut back

EVAC says it is running out of money and workers are underpaid

DeLAND — Volusia County’s ambulance service is running out of money and may be forced to pull some ambulances off the streets unless it finds a way to make up its budget shortfall, EVAC officials said.

 

Lake Okeechobee nears lowest level ever

With Lake Okeechobee losing about a half-inch each rainless day, South Florida’s massive water-supply reservoir is expected to bust the all-time low mark by Wednesday.

 

Law means teachers won’t be paid for month

Teachers in Palm Beach County will go a month without a paycheck this summer, a sacrifice that could force educators to miss payments, incur late charges and do without, they say.

The school district has usually paid teachers every two weeks, but a new law that forces districts to delay the start of school prompted officials to push back its pay dates.

 

S.E.C. Wins Verdict on Insurance Abuse

The Securities and Exchange Commission has won its first case over whether companies abused a certain type of insurance to hide earnings losses, the agency said yesterday.

The agency had accused an executive at the cellphone distributor Brightpoint Inc. of overstating the company’s actual earnings through improper use of an insurance policy.

 

Lobbyists to play key role in tax session

TALLAHASSEE — Big forces are at work in an attempt to influence the fight over Florida’s property tax laws.

Actual lobbying expenses in the statewide debate won’t be available for months, but financial reports show just how important the issue is.

 

Businesses that won cuts in property tax get sued by Palm Beach County appraiser

What do Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, JFK Medical Center and Palm Beach Yacht Center have in common? Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits is suing them and about 15 more county property owners.

 

Study Highlights Industry’s Potential Climate Change Liabilities

Liabilities follow the insurance industry as the night follows the day. So, it’s not terribly surprising to learn that a new study – “Limiting Liability in the Greenhouse: Insurance Risk-management Strategies in the Context of Global Climate Change” highlights just what those potential liabilities might be, and discusses the various risk mitigation strategies the industry should adopt to limit its exposures.

 

One-Stop Car Insurance Service, Body Work Included

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Several insurance companies have decided their old strategy for handling car-damage claims is in need of repair.

Rather than putting the onus on customers to find a body shop, get an estimate and arrange a rental car, Progressive, Geico and others are setting up one-stop service centers to handle every aspect of the claim.

 

Aflac Looks Smart on Pay

When the public face of your company is a duck, you can’t afford to foul up your reputation. (Yes, you can groan now.) Take Aflac Insurance, best known for its ubiquitous quacking commercials.

Something funny happened at the company’s recent shareholder meeting: nothing. That’s because, unlike any other U.S. company with publicly traded stock, Aflac has been smart enough to voluntarily offer its shareholders a “say on pay.” Giving in to social-activist shareholders, as Aflac did, doesn’t make you popular among the CEO set. But boy, was it the smart thing to do.

 

Companies Gear Up for Greenhouse Gas Limits

Congress hasn’t come up with a plan for limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, but U.S. companies are wagering billions of dollars that it will.

 

Japan PM under fire over suicide, pension mess

TOKYO (Reuters) – Fallout from a scandal-tainted minister’s suicide and mismanaged pensions swirled on Tuesday, threatening the chances that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling camp can win a July upper house election.

 

J-Power to tie with MFC unit to lift power assets

TOKYO (Reuters) – Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power) (9513.T) will form a joint venture in the United States with a life insurer to help raise its power-generation assets there by up to 2,000 megawatts by 2010 from the current 600 MW.

 

Report: Wildfire Brings Policy Questions

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A blaze that killed five federal firefighters last year has emboldened those who question the cost of saving the ever expanding number of homes on the fringe of wilderness.

The five perished last fall while protecting an empty mountain vacation home from the Southern California fire, which authorities say was started by a 36-year-old auto mechanic now charged with murder.

 

Lawmakers Push for Big Subsidies for Coal Process

WASHINGTON, May 28 — Even as Congressional leaders draft legislation to reduce greenhouse gases linked to global warming, a powerful roster of Democrats and Republicans is pushing to subsidize coal as the king of alternative fuels.

 

China Sentences Former Drug Regulator to Death

SHANGHAI, May 29 — The former head of China’s top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death today after pleading guilty to corruption and accepting bribes, according to the state-controlled news media.