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| Drilling plans gaining ground in Florida
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| The proposal, led by Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, would allow drilling 45 miles from most of the Gulf Coast, and as close as 13 miles in the Panhandle. The surprise amendment passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 13-10 vote last Tuesday. Though a 2006 law passed by Congress prohibits drilling within 234 miles of Tampa Bay, the new proposal would supercede that legislation.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Top unemployed areas in Fla.
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| A look at Florida counties with the highest unemployment rates
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Regulator gives Sarasota County bank three options
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| Federal regulators have ordered Community National Bank of Sarasota County to find fresh capital, merge into a healthy partner or sell the bank. The Venice-based bank faced a Friday deadline to execute a binding agreement to act, or to file with regulators a plan to restore capital by July 17.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0320 EDST
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| What can you get for $125,000?
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| A spacious pool home, direct Gulf of Mexico access or an address in a ritzy, established Ft. Myers community.
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| @ Ft. Myers News Press | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Condos squeeze deadbeat residents
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| It's a mad, mad world in condo land, where those who pay their maintenance fees and those who don't live cheek to jowl, harboring bitter resentment.
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| @ Miami Herald | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Realtors urging hike in conventional loan limits
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| Three years ago, anyone with a pulse, a dismal credit score and an optimistic view of his financial future could score a mortgage for half a million dollars or more. Today, even borrowers with hefty down payments, stellar credit scores and big personal balance sheets find it nearly impossible to land so-called "jumbo" mortgages, as loans of more than $417,000 are known. In another symptom of how drastically the real estate market has changed in the past three years, lenders have all but stopped making jumbo loans. The credit crunch is one reason the housing recovery of recent months has skewed heavily toward low-cost homes, while properties priced for more than $500,000 can languish on the market for months or years.
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| @ Palm Beach Post | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Making a Good Deal for Retirement Even Better
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New tax rules are about to give more people access to a Roth IRA, one of the best savings plans for later life. Here’s how the changes work—and how to get ready.
Editor's Comment: This is a mandatory read.
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| @ Wall Street Journal
| Posted: 06/22/09 at 0415 EDST
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| The Oregon Travail
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| Driving business away with billions in tax hikes.
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| @ Wall Street Journal | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Demand for Arctic gas dries up
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| Abundant cheap supplies of natural gas from new shale deposits, plus growing imports of liquefied natural gas flowing into the United States, push back by 15 years the need for Arctic gas and make it difficult for higher-cost gas from Western Canada to compete.
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| @ Financial Post - CA | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0646 EDST
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| How Hugo Chavez has helped Canada's oil sands
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| The reason lies in a little-noticed – but vitally important – measure: the “light-heavy differential,” which is the gap in price between how much producers receive for a barrel of light crude and a barrel of heavy oil – the thick stuff that largely flows from in and around Alberta's oil sands. Since heavy oil must face additional upgrading steps before it can be refined into products like gasoline and jet fuel, it sells at a discount. In recent years, that discount has been significant: last year, for example, it averaged 22 per cent. So far this year, the average differential has dropped to 17 per cent; the most recent trades have been around 10 per cent.
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| @ Globe and Mail - CA | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0652 EDST
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| We'll recover soon, world's most opmisitic economist vows
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| James Smith points to one of his favourite books when asked to explain his unusual optimism about the prospects for the U.S. economy. Smith, chief economist at a North Carolina wealth management firm, holds the distinction of being the most optimistic forecaster in a survey of 77 U.S. economists conducted by Bloomberg News. He's predicting the recession-bound American economy could actually enjoy a recovery before the end of the year and will definitely be rebounding strongly by February or March. Although he's recently shaved a point off his sunny forecast, he's still looking for a relatively healthy 2.3-per-cent economic growth next year.
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| @ Montreal Gazette | Posted: 06/22/09 at 0655 EDST
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