Floridians shouldnt expect the economy to ever revert to how it was built pre-recession, the head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce told small-business owners Thursday.
Not that a full recovery wont happen, but Florida Chamber President Mark Wilson said that the biggest parts of Florida's economic engine must expand from what have been the three dominant pillars for decades: agriculture, tourism and construction.
As Floridas Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater begins a two-day forum in Tampa on the needs of small businesses, among the first complaint hes hearing from business owners is that unemployment benefits in the Sunshine State are too enticing for some people to enter the work force.
Another is that for all the talk about directing students toward science, technology, engineering and math degrees, there is a need to also maintain the basic shop courses.
The Florida Commission on Ethics has started to impose $25-a-day fines on 632 current and former state and local elected officials, government staff and appointed officials for failing to submit financial disclosure forms by July 1.
The individuals named in a report by watchdog Integrity Florida include term-limited state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, judicial nominating commission members Joseph Lopez, John Mariani, Nilda Pedrosa and R. Kyle Gavin , and Amy Graham, a former spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater will host the 2012 Small-Business Leadership Forum, in partnership with The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, at Florida State University on Thursday and Friday in Tampa.
The forum, at the Westin Harbour Island Hotel, brings together business leaders, investors and academic and industry experts.
As two Florida Democratic state representatives contest their recent primary election defeats through the courts, a political consultant from one of the state's major bipartisan consulting firms suggests the Haitian legislators might be the victims of a political "ethnic cleansing" by their own party officials.
Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has spent her time at the Democratic National Convention here much the same way she has since becoming chair of the party last year: with a spirited defense of President Barack Obama, sharp barbs aimed at Republicans and a splash or two of controversy along the way.
Veterans administrators in Florida are expanding their online services as a means to reach out to former active-duty military personnel residing in the Sunshine State that are not taking advantage of benefits they have earned.
Fewer than half the 1.65 million U.S. military veterans living in Florida are currently accessing state and federal benefits, ranging from the GI Bill to health care services, that they are eligible to receive, said retired U.S. Army Col. Mike Prendergast, executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs.
"One question, Mr. President," read the words on the front cover of this week's Economist, behind a silhouette of the back of Barack Obama's head, "just what would you do with another four years?"
