Federal COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers covered 65 percent of premium costs for 15 months, as part of the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus package. GOP lawmakers blocked an extension.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Snooping Security: “If You See Something, Say Something” Campaign Comes to Florida
Gov. Rick Scott is welcoming the “If You See Something, Say Something Campaign,” which encourages callers to use a statewide toll-free telephone number to report suspicious activity. The program raises spying, profiling and other civil liberties concerns.
Zero Job Creation in August as Economy, Recession-Bound, Posts Year’s Worst Showing
Even as the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, job creation stalled in August, and was revised downward in June and July, signaling a recession.
Texas-Size Holes in Gov. Rick Scott’s Boast Of Florida Job Creation as 2nd to Texas
Rick Scott called the rest of the nation’s job numbers “pathetic” compared to Florida’s, yet Florida ranks near the bottom in the nation on Gallup’s index of job creation, while its 70,000 new jobs in the past year proportionally rank the state below the national average.
Florida Gun Nuts, Evils of Going Green, Blacks and Marriage, Allen West’s Idiocy: The Live Wire
Florida law as a gun to local governments’ heads, when GIs executed children in Iraq, a sickness beyond Fox, Is Marriage for White People?, homeland security sex, Allen West’s stupid comments on the Arab Spring, and more.
Banning Near-Shore Oil Drilling for Good in Florida: Proposed Constitutional Amendment Is Filed
The proposed amendment, filed Tuesday by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, matches a House version filed earlier this year by Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg. It would ask voters to put into the constitution a ban on exploration, drilling, extraction or production of oil in Florida waters.
So You Think You Can Dance in Orlando, Wild Art in Sanford: Culture Worth the Miles
Robert Mier’s wild Florida at Gallery First, So You Think You Can Dance comes to the Amway Center in Orlando, Disney on Ice, the Musical of Musicals at the Winter Park Playhouse, and more.
Pointing to Recession, Floridians’ Consumer Confidence Crashes Again to Near-Record Low
The dramatic decline in consumer confidence is just three points shy of 59, the mark set in June 2008, when the nation was in the midst of the Great Recession. Figures released by the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
A 6% Tax on Bottled Water in Florida: Ormond Beach’s Sen. Lynn Revives Proposal
The bottled-water tax in Florida would pay for repairing environmental damage from trashed plastic. The water industry is opposing Ormond Beach Sen. Evelyn Lynn’s proposal.
Child and Animal Abuse Charges Land a 35-Year-Old Woman in Jail
Three children–ages 5, 8 and 14– more than two dozen animals were living in the Reid Place house in Palm Coast. The house was overrun with garbage, animal food and feces.