By ROBERT TRIGAUX

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 26, 1999

1. Bank of the Globe, still headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., acquires its last competitor and announces new customer fee policy: Give us your money and go away.

2. Environmentalists boast victory in saving remaining 5-acre Everglades by limiting new "River of Grass" airport to 55 runways and new "Glades City" condo towers to 150 stories.

3. Last living holdout in Tampa Bay surrenders to the inevitable and starts work at a call center.

4. Real estate builders rejuvenate home sales in Florida by hawking premium features at their gated communities: armed guards, land mines and razor wire.

5. After 100 years of selling its companies to out-of-state corporations, the Sunshine Statehonors the biggest business still based in Florida: a hot dog stand on St. Pete Beach.