Dateline Florida

By Times Wires
Published March 11, 2008

State sales tax income estimates keep shrinking

Just how bad is the economy? State economists will sit down today to discuss just that. They are tasked with predicting how much money the state will take in next fiscal year from sales tax. Their answer, which is expected to be about $1-billion less than it was just three months ago, will determine how much lawmakers will need to cut the state's budget for 2008-09. Three times in the past year, under the state's estimating system, they've made a guess. But each time they've had to ratchet it downward as Florida's economy continues to sour. A look back on the estimates for 2008-09:

March 2007: $29.21-billion

August 2007: $27.9-billion

November 2007: $26.51-billion

If you were up real late, that streak in the sky was no UFO

By the time you read this, the space shuttle Endeavor is likely already well on its way to the international space station. NASA had planned a rare nighttime launch at 2:28 this morning and forecasts called for good weather. The 16-day mission will be NASA's longest ever and the first shuttle launch in darkness since 2006, the Associated Press reports. The shuttle's seven-man crew will deliver a new Japanese compartment to the space station, along with a Canadian robot designed to help with maintenance. Go to news.tampabay.com for more details.

Fla. medical records turn up for sale in Utah surplus store

Central Florida Regional Hospital is taking some heat this week over a lost box of private medical records. The Sanford hospital sent three boxes of records to a Las Vegas company for a Medicare audit last month. One never arrived. Instead, it turned up at a Salt Lake City surplus store, where it was sold for about $20 to a teacher looking for scrap paper for her fourth-grade class, the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City reports. The mixup is being blamed on a UPS shipping problem, a fact that hasn't reassured victims. "I find it inexcusable," said Lake Mary resident Susan Mezzoni, whose husband's records were among those sold.

Sierra may go to Calif. soon

A solution may have been found to get Jessica Sierra back to a Calif. rehab center.

[Last modified March 10, 2008, 23:17:59]