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02/06/12--04:40: Raleigh editorial skewers Progress Energy's fumbles with multiple nuclear plants (chan 2091202)



Progess Energy's Brunswick nuclear plant, which is located near Southport, N.C., had to shut down on Nov. 16. Why? Read on... 

Wake up and good morning. The Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer newspaper in the (for the moment) hometown of Progress Energy seems to have had a key if belated epiphany over the weak oversight by the power company (which includes Progress Energy Florida) of its multiple nuclear power plants in Florida (one) and the Carolinas (several). ... Read more




02/08/12--03:48: Gazelle Lab start-up crew puts Tampa Bay program on hold, embraces Orlando this spring (chan 2091202)



"Demo Day" of Gazelle Lab's first "graduating" class of six business start-ups was held at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater last November when founders of six young companies pitched their business vision to potential investors and a supportive and curious Tampa Bay audience. Photo by James Borchuck of the Tampa Bay Times.

Wake up and good morning. Gazelle Lab, one of Tampa Bay's most promising elements of what many hope will be a rising regional "entrepreneurial ecosystem" to mentor and focus new business start-ups here, is putting its business accelerator on hold locally and taking its show to Orlando. ... Read more




02/09/12--05:03: Recovery? Trying to draw meaning from the chaos of new housing news in Florida (chan 2091202)



Mothballed Tampa Bay area subdivision, 2012: A thaw in new home building may be under way. Photo: Bruce Moyer, Tampa Bay Times.


Wake up and good morning. So is the Tampa Bay and Florida housing market at a bottom and really ready to start improving? The crystal ball remains murky but there's no lack of housing activity on both sides of the equation to ponder. For openers: ... Read more




02/10/12--04:23: In a week of big nuclear and solar power news, economics of energy is changing fast (chan 2091202)



At Darden Restaurants' headquarters near Orlando, this week dedicated its rooftop solar panel array, designed to provide 20 percent of the building's energy needs. (Photo courtesy Darden.)

Wake up and good morning. The energy world is changing fast, Floridians, and paying attention to what's happening may save your wallet from being looted. This week, two important events happened. U.S. regulators approved plans to build the country's first nuclear power plant in 30 years in Georgia. And Darden Restaurants, the Orlando company that owns such chains as Red Lobster, The Capital Grille and Olive Garden, dedicated this enormous rooftop solar array, capable of generating 1 megawatt (that's 1 million watts) at its headquarters. ... Read more




02/13/12--04:50: Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock gambling empire beats back competition, going global quickly (chan 2091202)



Some of the 800 Vegas-style slot machines installed at the Hard Rock casino near Tampa last year. Photo by Willie J. Allen Jr., Tampa Bay Times.

Wake up and good morning. Don't look now but the Seminole Indian Tribe and its Hard Rock Casino empire (2009 revenues of $2 billion and growing) is expanding rapidly -- far beyond the I-4 Hard Rock gambling site just east of Tampa (where it plans to add 300 to 500 more rooms to the 250-room Hard Rock Tampa) and way, way beyond the Tribe's home turf in South Florida. ... Read more




02/14/12--04:17: For Tampa Bay business community, a call to arms to aid a USF under severe, petty attack (chan 2091202)

Wake up and good morning. This is a call to arms to the Tampa Bay business community. One of Tampa Bay's most treasured institutions and, frankly, its greatest economic engine is under direct attack right now.

The University of South Florida has been targeted by remarkably petty and vindictive Senate budget writers who want to punish USF for resisting the bullying efforts of lame duck Sen. J.D. Alexander (left) to spin off USF's Lakeland branch campus as Florida Polytechnic and make it an independent university. By not kissing Alexander's ring quickly and often enough in this quest, the Senate now seeks to gut USF's budget from state funding by nearly 60 percent. By contrast, the same budget cuts in state funding mean trims of just 26 percent at the University of Florida and 22 percent at Florida State University. A new Polytechnic would suffer no cuts at all. ... Read more




02/15/12--04:17: 'CitiSINS' Property insurance protest song proves catchy tune on most timely topic (chan 2091202)

Wake up and good morning. The state-run Citizens Property Insurance business has never been a favorite with Floridians, though it came in handy in the early days -- post Hurricane Andrew -- when private insurance essentially fled the state. It's not much better now, though Florida Gov. Rick Scott's solution seems to be the same old plan of old... If Citizens raises the price of its coverage sky high, then other private insurers will be more inclined to enter the Florida property insurance market. (Photo: kevinrothmusic.com)

The trick, of course, is that Florida may end up shooting itself in the foot when people learn (including all those Baby Boomers supposedly coming our way in the coming years) that homeowner insurance payments could rival mortgage payments. Draconian spikes in property insurance are a sure-fire way to destroy the struggling comeback of the Florida housing market. ... Read more




02/15/12--04:31: Tampa Bay Rays execs: Pushing organization's roots deeper into the Tampa Bay community (chan 2091202)



Tampa Bay Rays executives Matt Silverman (right), 35, president, and Mark Fernandez, 46, senior vp of marketing, visited Tuesday to discuss how what the Rays organization does off the ballfield can have a huge effect on the ballfield and in the broader community. Silverman's bullish on the team and improved attendance at the Trop this season. He's still pushing for more corporate support to fill stadium seats. Read my Tampa Bay Times column here. Photo: James Borchuck, Tampa Bay Times.




02/16/12--04:16: Budget farce: This Tally senator's scolding protesting USF students from an ethical sinkhole (chan 2091202)

Wake up and good morning. Kudos to the Tampa Bay business community's rallying -- thus far -- around the University of South Florida in the face of the Neanderthal extortion tactics by lame duck Senate budget chairman JD 'My Way or the Highway' Alexander to gut USF's budget because he isn't getting his independent Polytech University fast enough for his Polk County legacy.

This was only inning one. It is critical for the Tampa Bay business community to sustain its support and pressure on Tallahassee to be fair in how it legislates. Given all of Florida's challenges, it's truly pathetic that all this time and resource must be spent dealing with what is, at its heart, the selfish whims of playground bullies who feel their inflated roles as state lawmakers is to polish their own resumes or pad their own pockets. ... Read more




02/22/12--04:48: Culverhouse Jr., son of former Bucs owner, fights on multiple court fronts to preserve investments (chan 2091202)



Hugh Culverhouse owned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but the team suffered, says son Hugh Culverhouse Jr., because his father was "tightfisted." Now Culverhouse Jr. is in court on multiple fronts to defend his own investments. (Photos: Tampa Bay Times files)

Wake up and good morning. Miami attorney/developer Hugh Culverhouse Jr., whose namesake father once owned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is spending more time in the courts lately trying to get back money he's lost in investments and, separately, claiming he's being discriminated against as a developer. ... Read more