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| Florida workers' comp rates are pared
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| Workers' compensation insurance rates in Florida will roll back by 6.4 percent on July 1. The rate cut comes five days after Gov. Charlie Crist signed a law restoring a cap on fees for attorneys who represent workers in compensation appeals for on-the-job injuries.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Central Florida's economy to shrink further
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| five measures are expected to once again post year-over-year declines, another sign the recession, while easing in some respects, is still settled over Central Florida. The overall index, a rolling projection of local economic activity, is expected to fall 9.38 percent this month from June 2008. The construction-industry index remains the big loser, with residential building permits projected to decline more than 56 percent from last year at this time. The index projects 682 permits will be issued, fewer than half of the total issued in June 2008.
Hotel-tax collections are projected to come in at $13.5million, a decline of 33.6 percent from last year. Tourist taxes have been declining for a year.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0315 EDST
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| FPL: Municipalities would pay $11,400 less per mile of line
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| After four years of haggling over who should pay for what, a group of cities and towns that wants overhead utility lines buried has come to terms with Florida Power & Light Co. During a Public Service Commission hearing Wednesday in Tallahassee, FPL and the group, the Municipal Underground Utilities Consortium, tentatively agreed to a settlement that would cost local governments $11,400 less per mile of power line.
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| @ Palm Beach Post | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Panama getting set to expand canal
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| The economic downturn has stalled big construction projects across the globe, but in Panama, smoke-belching steam shovels and dredges work around the clock on what people here call simply la ampliación or the expansion.
As soon as this month, officials will award the principal contract for the $5.25-billion expansion of the landmark Panama Canal, a project that will probably alter global shipping patterns and cement this Central American nation's place as a center of global logistics.
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| @ Miami Herald | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Survey: Consumers feeling better, but slow to spend
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| Less than half of consumers surveyed in May, or 49 percent, said they thought the economy and their personal finances were getting worse, according to Discover Financial Services' monthly U.S. spending monitor. It is the first time more consumers were hopeful than pessimistic since the Riverwoods-based credit card company began measuring consumer spending intentions two years ago.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Peoria's unemployment in area was down from March to April
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| However, bad employment news continued in a year-to-year comparison as joblessness was higher by a significant amount — almost double in many counties — than it was in April 2008.
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| @ Peoria Journal Star | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Nonfarm private employment decreased 532,000 from April to May 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
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| Monthly employment losses in April and May averaged 539,000. This is a notable improvement over the first three months of the year, when monthly losses averaged 691,000. Nevertheless, despite some recent indications that economic activity is stabilizing, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, is likely to decline for at least several more months, although perhaps not as rapidly as during the last six months.
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| @ ADP National Employment Report | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0415 EDST
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| FDIC shelves toxic loan plan
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| The agency delays the launch of a program to get bad loans off banks' books, citing their capital-raising success.
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| @ Fortune Magazine | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Pssst - wanna buy a toxic asset?
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| Federal officials are considering ways to open up to retail investors its programs to clean up bad loans. Some investment managers are intrigued by the idea.
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| @ Fortune Magazine | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0646 EDST
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| U.K. House Prices Unexpectedly Jumped in May, Halifax Says
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| U.K. house prices unexpectedly jumped in May by the most since 2002, adding to signs the worst of the recession is over. Home values rose 2.6 percent from the previous month to an average of 158,565 pounds ($260,000).
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0652 EDST
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| UK economy is ‘first in Europe to see a return to growth’
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| A composite of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply's output indices for the UK services, manufacturing, and con- struction sectors, published yesterday, signalled very modest expansion in May after more than a year of contraction. CIPS said yesterday that the UK's dominant service sector recorded growth for the first time in 13 months in May - bolstering hopes that the economy might be on the road to recovery. advertisement Its headline business activity index for services rose from 48.7 in April to 51.7 in May on a seasonally-adjusted basis - exceeding the level of 50 which separates expansion from contraction for the first time since April last year.
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| @ Glasgow Herald | Posted: 06/04/09 at 0655 EDST
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