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Talk of the bay: State fills up online map with biofuel locales

By Times Staff
Published October 24, 2007

Finding ethanol and biodiesel in Florida just got easier. Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services unveiled a Web site for those in search of biobased fuels. Look for a nearby biofuel station at http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/standard/petro/AltSiteMap.html. A reminder: E10 (a gasoline blend with 10 percent ethanol) can run in just about any gasoline engine, while E85 (an 85 percent blend) requires a special engine. Biodiesel can be used in virtually any diesel engine. Tampa has three locations offering E10, and one offering E85 and a biodiesel blend. Hess and Hess Express stations offer E10 throughout the area, as do Murphy Oil stations, a fuel supplier at Wal-Mart parking lot stations.

Workers' comp rates face scrutiny

It looks as though Florida's property insurers aren't the only ones feeling the wrath of regulators. On Tuesday, state insurance commissioner Kevin McCarty disapproved the National Council on Compensation Insurance's latest filing for workers' compensation insurance rates, set to become effective next year. NCCI was ordered to make an amended filing to reduce rates in Florida by 18.4 percent. The order to amend the filing means a further rate reduction from the NCCI's originally requested 16.5 percent decrease and would produce a savings of over $700-million for Florida employers. Regulators also announced Friday's public hearing looking into the underwriting policies of Auto-Owners Insurance has been postponed. No new hearing date has been set.

Banker's star rises out of Crist shadow

Katie Pemble is doing just fine without Charlie Crist, her onetime flame. On Tuesday, Pemble was named CEO and president of the Bank of St. Petersburg, where she has worked since 2003. The appointment is a promotion from her previous position as chief operating officer and head of retail banking. Bank of St. Petersburg has seven branches in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, and assets of $525-million. It is the largest subsidiary of the Florida Bank Group, a bank holding company in Tampa. Pemble dated Crist during his campaign for the governor's mansion and appeared at many of his local campaign stops, but maybe it was bound to fail: She's a Gator, he's a Seminole.

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 23:25:04]