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12/17/2009 03:00 AM | Click to Comment |
Listen for Matt Reed on "Bill Mick Live" |
![]() Tune in from 7-8 a.m. Thursday as FLORIDA TODAY columnist Matt Reed tackles local issues on \"Bill Mick Live,\" on WMMB 1240 AM (1350 in northern Brevard). |
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12/17/2009 03:00 AM Listen for Matt Reed on "Bill Mick Live" |
12/11/2009 04:06 AM | Click to Comment |
Ring-a-ding ka-ching! Scanners work fine, state tests show |
BY JEFF SCHWEERS Worried about spending too much this holiday season? Well, you won\'t have to worry about spending more than you meant. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson practically guarantees it. A pre-holiday scanner survey of 54 stores in 27 cities produced a 98 accuracy rate, Bronson said in a news release. Only 32 errors were detected at checkout lines out of 2,975 items scanned, Bronson said. And most of those errors were in the customer\'s favor. \"Our retailers do a good job keeping up with prices, including sales prices which frequently change, and inputting accurate information into their scanners to reflect the actual price of the merchandise that they\'re selling,\" Bronson said. Two stores -- a Ross and a Winn-Dixie in Miami -- didn\'t meet a 98 percent accuracy rate required during inspection, but those were due to excessive undercharges, the news release said. They\'ll be getting a follow-up inspection. A Kmart in Milton overcharged by $10 a men\'s pajama set, but the store manager corrected the error as soon as he was told about it, Bronson said. The Division of Standards checks out scanners and other devices used in retail sales. Consumers who believe that they have been overcharged, or who detect problems with a store\'s scales, are encouraged to call the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 1-800-HELPFLA (1-800-435-7352). |
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12/11/2009 04:06 AM Ring-a-ding ka-ching! Scanners work fine, state tests show |
12/10/2009 11:29 AM | Click to Comment |
U.S. court ruling offers insight on \'birthers,\' adds context to Rep. Posey\'s bill |
![]() By Matt Reed
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12/10/2009 11:29 AM U.S. court ruling offers insight on \'birthers,\' adds context to Rep. Posey\'s bill |
12/10/2009 02:00 AM | Click to Comment |
\'Climategate\' raises scientific trust issues |
Florida Tech professor Rob Van Woesik is a biologist who has built his own climate record from core samples taken from reefs in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. (Photo courtesy Florida Tech) By Matt Reed A political scandal involving a handful of global-warming experts has cast a pall over some very good climate research by university scientists in Florida and beyond. Even as a Florida Tech biologist documented the \"bleaching\" and changing makeup of coral reefs around the world, scientists building a climate model in England wrote of boycotting a journal that published dissenting views, a batch of recently hacked e-mail show. While a University of Florida professor measured carbon-dioxide on Alaskan tundra, the same climate modelers debated with U.S. partners whether to delete a \"medieval warm period\" in Europe that might have been toastier than today, the e-mail show. And while researchers from the University of Arizona chronicled fatter tree rings caused by warmer temperatures in U.S. mountains, NASA fueled bloggers\' rumors of a cover-up by refusing to release raw climate data under the Freedom of Information Act. On Monday, talk of \"Climategate\" -- referring to the hundreds of e-mails posted last month to a Russian server -- threatened to overshadow discussion at an international summit on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark. Locally, the controversy raises some serious questions: -- How would potential problems with the British global-warming model affect research by scientists here in Florida? -- Whom can we trust on the issue of climate change? \"Climate change is happening -- the real issue is, we need to think about adapting to that change,\" said professor Rob van Woesik, a Florida Tech biologist who has built his own climate record from core samples taken from reefs in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. \"We can track temperatures through time for thousands of years. . . . The rate of change today is 1,000 times faster than before in terms of temperatures and carbon dioxide that has caused acidification of our oceans.\" CLICK HERE for the full report ... |
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12/10/2009 02:00 AM \'Climategate\' raises scientific trust issues |
12/08/2009 04:46 PM | Click to Comment |
REPORT: Crammed animal shelters need fast improvement to staffing, intake, adoptions |
![]() By Matt Reed
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12/08/2009 04:46 PM REPORT: Crammed animal shelters need fast improvement to staffing, intake, adoptions |
12/07/2009 11:17 AM | Click to Comment |
Mango Tree will honor certificates, deposits |
BY JEFF SCHWEERS The Mango Tree Restaurant may have shut its doors for good, but its owner plans to honor any outstanding gift certificates and return deposits made on dinner party reservations. So says Kent Cooper of Capstone Properties, the man managing the sale of the restaurant for owner Eric Jacboy. \"If somebody presents something to (Jacoby), he will pay it back,\" Cooper said. \"He\'s not trying to get out of anything.\" That ought to please Fred Schwecke, who put down a $250 deposit to reserve a room at Mango Tree for his company\'s party Dec. 12. He learned of the restaurant closing from a story in FLORIDA TODAY. \"I never received a call from the Mango Tree letting me know that the restaurant was closed,\" Schwecke wrote FLORIDA TODAY. Cooper said anyone who put down a deposit or bought a gift certificate can call him at (321) 784-4222. \"Anyone can call me, there’s no problem,\" he said. Jacoby said he thought he had contacted all the customers who\'d made deposits, and would get in touch with Schwecke personally. \"I\'ll handle it immediately,\" Jacoby said. Cooper claims to have sold more restaurants than anyone in the county, including Bernard\'s Surf. Cooper says it\'s a standard part of a sales contract that the new owners will honor outstanding gift certificates, which the previous owner would reimburse the new owner for. \"The sales contract will have how to handle that liability,\" he said. Jacoby said the new owner would assume any outstanding gift certificates. That should relieve a lot of customers given the number of restaurants that have closed their doors this past year. \"It’s been a tough market,\" Cooper said. \"Revenues are down 30-40 percent across the board.\" |
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12/07/2009 11:17 AM Mango Tree will honor certificates, deposits |
12/04/2009 09:40 AM | Click to Comment |
Florida Congress members beg EPA to move slowly on water regs |
Florida\'s Congressional delegates, led by Sen. Bill Nelson, have fired a letter over the EPA\'s bow about mandatory rules proposed for Florida\'s waterways. Signed by 25 Republicans and Democrats alike, the bipartisan letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson urges that \"all concerned parties should be heard.\" The EPA is considering rules that would make Florida the first state under mandatory water rules. A federal judge last month upheld a concsent agreement between the EPA and environmental groups to set limits for nutrients blamed for algae blooms. That agreement settles a lawsuit filed by environmentalists in 2008 over the EPA not enforcing existing pollution regulations. While not going as far as State Agriculture Chief Charlie Bronson would have liked, the congressional letter does ask the EPA to listen to those most affected by the regulations -- agriculture and business interests. \"While we all value the health of our waterways, this regulatory change will also have economic impacts on the state, and thus it is important that the standards are based on the best available science,\" the letter said. The Florida Water Environment Association Utility Council estimated the cost of upgrading the state\'s water systems to meet the proposed EPA levels would cost between $24.4 billion to $50.7 billion. Florida TaxWatch said it would harm the economy, and State Agriculture Chief Charlie Bronson is against the regulations. But the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has ranked more than half of Florida\'s waterways as poor. To read the letter, click here. |
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12/04/2009 09:40 AM Florida Congress members beg EPA to move slowly on water regs |
12/03/2009 11:18 AM | Click to Comment |
Website: Posey again appeals to \'birthers\' |
![]() By Matt Reed WorldNetDaily, the tabloidy, right-wing political website, has this report today on U.S. Rep. Bill Posey\'s newest effort to reach its readers for support:
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12/03/2009 11:18 AM Website: Posey again appeals to \'birthers\' |
12/03/2009 04:43 AM | Click to Comment |
Brevard attorney weighs in on Supreme Court beach renourishment case |
![]() Beach renourishment in Satellite Beach By Jeff Schweers Brevard County has a potential stake in a property rights case being argued now before the U.S. Supreme Court. County Attorney Scott Knox has filed an amicus brief in the case, which pits five Panhandle property owners against a state government beach renourishment project. The property owners argued that by putting sand between their homes and the Gulf of Mexico the government basically took away their ability to enjoy their property rights, and want to be compensated for that taking. The Florida Supreme Court ruled otherwise, saying the new 75-foot strip of beach is public land and could be used by the public. Now the U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether the state high court illegally took the private owners\' land. If the U.S. Supreme court invalidates the taking, it could lead to higher costs, making state and federal governments think twice about funding any future beach renourishment projects. \"We want to avoid a precedent where the state would be reluctant to participate in a (beach renourishment) program,\" Knox said by way of explaining the county commission\'s decision. \"We don\'t want those funds to dry up.\" Brevard County has benefitted greatly from federal and state beach renourishment projects, with millions of dollars spent to restore miles of shoreline and dunes. An unfavorable decision from the Supreme Court could stop the flow of those dollars, Knox warned. To read the brief Knox filed, click here. |
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12/03/2009 04:43 AM Brevard attorney weighs in on Supreme Court beach renourishment case |
12/02/2009 02:09 PM | Click to Comment |
Grand Jury to investigate Fla. corruption |
![]() By Matt Reed
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12/02/2009 02:09 PM Grand Jury to investigate Fla. corruption |