Health care reform opt-out, broad abortion restrictions, managed care for 2.8 million Floridians, less care for patients in nursing homes, Healthy Start slashed: Florida redrew the state’s health care map in the 2011 legislative session.
Economy
Loan Modifications: How Banks Require Struggling Homeowners to Waive Rights
Mortgage loan modification scams: Regulators ban the practice, but banks are forcing homeowners struggling to save their home to sign away their right to sue.
Wicked Transition to Stage Magic as FPC Goes Emerald With “Wizard of Oz” This Weekend
“The Wizard of Oz” at the Flagler Auditorium is the biggest FPC stage production to date, with a live orchestra and a cast and crew of 75. The production gelled in a mere six weeks under a new director, after the previous one quit.
1-Year-Old Marketing 2 Go Adds Brandi Fowler As Social Media Manager
Marketing 2 Go, the marketing company Cindy Dalecki founded a little over a year ago with an emphasis on social media, is adding Brandi Fowler to its team.
“For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide”: Blunt Poetry Theater at AACC Saturday
Ntozake Shange’s play for seven women characters, staged at the African American Cultural Center, was a Broadway hit in 1976 and remains a classic of an entirely original style of American stage poetry and oral folk traditions.
Economy Adds 244,000 Jobs, an Unexpected Surge, But Unemployment Back Up to 9%
The 244,000 net new jobs defied economists’ expectations of a much weaker April, but the unemployment rate, obtained from a separate survey, rose for the first time in five months.
County Property Values Fall Another 14%; Palm Coast: -12%; Tax Rates Heading Up
The declines, for the fourth year in a row, will define to what extent local governments must either raise taxes or cut services as they prepare next year’s budgets. Governments have little room to cut anymore, short of vitals services.
Splitting Florida Lawmakers, Arizona-Inspired Immigration-Law Rewrites Won’t Make It
The Florida House proposal would have turned cops into immigration officers and increased penalties on businesses. The Senate proposal would have been less harsh. The two sides couldn’t agree on a joint proposal.
Brahms, Folk and Zeppelin as Youth Orchestra Bows in Season Finale at Flagler Auditorium
The concert, at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening, features some 250 musicians and five orchestras, showcasing students’ various skills. The concert includes a symphonic collaboration with members of the FPC band.
Circulation Still Declining at News-Journal, Rising at Sentinel and St. Augustine Record
The News-Journals losses over the past 12 months were not as steep as in previous years: a 1.2 percent decline on weekdays, 2.5 percent decline on Sundays, though other regional newspapers are seeing increases in circulation.