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BAY AREA LEADS STATE IN JOBS: The Tampa Bay area led the state in job creation in May as Florida's unemployment rate dipped from 4.7 to 4.5 percent. The metro area produced a gain of 22,000 jobs for the month, largely in professional and business services, followed by Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The Tampa Bay area's unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for May. Unemployment is lowest in southwest Florida, Gainesville and Fort Walton Beach and highest in southeast Florida, with the Miami metro area hitting 6.3 percent.
WORKERS' COMP COMPLIANCE CHECKED: State investigators issued more than 75 stop-work orders to construction sites around Florida this week in a sweep checking into compliance with workers' compensation insurance laws. "Employers who avoid paying workers' compensation premiums contribute to the rise in workers' compensation rates and gain an unfair advantage over competitors," said Florida CFO Tom Gallagher, whose office coordinated the spot-checks. Investigators made random visits to more than 900 businesses in the Panhandle and southwest and central Florida. A team in Pasco and Manatee counties made 260 contacts and issued 29 stop-work orders. The sweep did not include Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
SPORTS COMMISSION OF THE YEAR: The St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Sports Commission has been named 2003 Florida Sports Commission of the Year by the Florida Sports Foundation. The area commission, a two-person group within the area's convention and visitors bureau, was chosen over 16 other groups statewide. The foundation said it based its decision on criteria such as number of events hosted, the room nights and related economic impact of hosted events, support for youth and amateur sports and the development of the sports industry in the community. The local commission is headed by John Giantonio. Sports sales manager is Kevin Smith.
MATTHEWS GETS COLLEGE CONTRACT: Hillsborough Community College has selected Matthews Construction of Tampa to oversee construction of a $7.2-million building at its Plant City campus. The 47,000-square-foot John R. Trinkle Multi-Purpose Facility will include space for special events, physical fitness activities and meetings. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and be completed in August 2005.
FARMWORKERS REJECT TACO BELL: A farmworker advocacy group has returned a $110,000 check sent by Taco Bell's parent company, and is refusing to end a boycott against the restaurant chain. In a letter dated June 1, Yum! Brands Inc. spokesman Jonathan Blum asked the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to accept the check as "a demonstration of our sincere and real attempt" to resolve disputed issues and distribute the money "directly to the farmworkers who are picking tomatoes in Florida on behalf of Taco Bell." The letter also urged farmworkers to end the boycott against Taco Bell, which began more than two years ago. The coalition has been trying to prod Yum! into using its leverage with farm owners to give laborers better living conditions and higher wages.
NEWSPAPERS INFLATED FIGURES: Newsday inflated its own circulation figures by about 40,000 daily and 60,000 on Sunday and those of its Spanish-language daily, Hoy, for the six months ending in March, according to the newspaper's internal audit. The paper's longtime circulation executive, Robert Brennan, has been placed on administrative leave, Newsday said Thursday. Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon said Friday that his office had opened an investigation. Tuesday, Hollinger International revealed that it had overstated circulation figures for the Chicago Sun-Times for several years. In response, advertisers filed suits Thursday against the newspaper and Hollinger, its parent company. Advertising rates are commonly set according to newspaper circulation.
TARIFF ON CHINESE FURNITURE PROPOSED: The Bush administration proposed new tariffs Friday on wooden bedroom furniture from China as it decided that companies there are dumping beds, dressers, armoires and desks worth millions of dollars into the United States at artificially low prices. But U.S. retailers warned that American consumers will pay higher prices for furniture as a result of the preliminary decision by the Commerce Department. The proposed tariffs ranged from 5 percent to 198 percent, and could take effect next week. China is the largest exporter of furniture to the United States. The United States recorded a $124-billion trade deficit with China last year - an all-time high with any country.
"CURRENT ACCOUNT' DEFICIT SWELLS: The deficit in the broadest measure of trade swelled to an all-time high of $144.9-billion in the first quarter of this year, reflecting Americans' insatiable appetite for foreign-made goods. The latest snapshot of trade activity, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, showed that the "current account" deficit was 14.1 percent larger than the $127-billion shortfall registered in the fourth quarter of 2003. The first quarter's deficit figure was bigger than the $139.6-billion trade gap that some economists were forecasting and exceeded the old record of $138.2-billion set in the first quarter of 2003.
GLAXO TO PUBLISH ALL RESEARCH: GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which was sued by the New York attorney general for fraud for withholding critical clinical information, said Friday it will post the results of all of its drug trials on the Web. The move comes amid mounting pressure on drug companies to make all trial results more widely available. Glaxo was sued over the issue two weeks ago, and the American Medical Association passed a resolution this week calling for a comprehensive, government-run registry for all drug study results so that unfavorable results aren't buried.
VIACOM SPINS OFF BLOCKBUSTER: Blockbuster Inc. said Friday it would pay stockholders $5 per share, or $905-million, as part of the movie rental chain's separation from parent company Viacom Inc. Viacom, the entertainment giant whose holdings include CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon, expects to complete the divestiture of its 81.5 percent stake in Blockbuster during the third quarter. Viacom expects to get a tax-free cash payment of $738-million as part of Blockbuster's distribution to shareholders. Blockbuster detailed terms of the split in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
HALLIBURTON FIRES CONSULTANTS: Halliburton Co. fired two consultants Friday for behavior it called unethical, including the former chairman of a subsidiary under investigation in an alleged $180-million bribery scandal involving a natural gas project contract in Nigeria. The oil services conglomerate said it was "terminating all relationships" with A. Jack Stanley, who retired in December 2003 as chairman of the subsidiary KBR for "the receipt by these persons of improper personal benefits," and a consultant identified only as a former employee of M.W. Kellogg Ltd.
EARNINGSGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co.: The tiremaker released its delayed first-quarter results Friday, reporting a sharply narrower loss of nearly $77-million and record sales. The company said earnings were helped by higher prices, cost cutting and strong volume.