US Airways begins new Ft Lauderdale-Montego Bay nonstop

US Airways will begin new nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay on January 1st. Us Airways also will continue to suspend operations between Fort Lauderdale and Cancun until at least March. The service was suspended due to Hurricane Wilma and has not beeen resumed.

Floridas Tallest Buildings

Florida’s 10 Tallest Buildings   (Height in Feet)  (Includes buildings under construction)

1. Four Seasons Hotel and Tower (Miami)   789


2. Wachovia Financial Center    (Miami)      764


3. 900 Biscayne Bay  (Miami)                      712


4. Bank of America (Miami)                         625


5. Bank of America (Jacksonville)                617


6. Marinablue (Miami)                                  615


7. Plaza on Brickell Tower I   (Miami)         610


8. Ten Museum Park (Miami)                      585


9. Am South Building (Tampa)                    579


10. Bank of America  (Tampa)                       577

Former Abramoff partner involved in Sun Cruz fraud case

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051123/APN/511230774

Republicans gain in Florida

Lakeland Ledger article. This is yet another indication that voter registration by party is largely meaningless in forecasting political trends. Between 2001 and 2004 Democrats gained voters on the GOP statewide every year and yet lost every statewide election. Now, the GOP is at its lowest point in Florida polls since the mid 1990s despite gaining new voters.

Vern Buchanan claims he's the only abortion opponent in Congressional Race

Sparks fly in the District 13 debate, from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Tampa Tribune: Bob Graham' s Skyway

http://tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGBCPI106GE.html

Aaronson goes after FPL

Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson feels residents should pay FPL what they feel they owe the utility power rather than what is on their bill. Here is the Sun Sentinel article.

Davis leads GOP in new poll

Nelson leads Harris by 24 points


A new poll conducted by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute finds that Bill Nelson leads Katherine Harris 55-31 and that Democratic frontrunner Jim Davis holds a slight statistical edge over Either Charlie Crist or Tom Gallagher in a potential head to head matchup. Davis' primary opponent State Senator Rod Smith trailed either Republican in a potential matchup by 5 percentage points. However, Smith has trimmed Davis lead for the Democratic nomination which was 17 points in the same poll over the summer to just 10 points.

UCF Stadium approved

Check out the discussion on our sister blog site www.floridacollegesports.blogspot.com

Coming Friday

On Florida College Sports, we'll have a look at all seven division one programs in the state of Florida and where they are headed. Right now four Florida schools (Florida, Miami, Central Florida, and Florida State) are bowl eligible and South Florida has an excellent chance to m ake a BCS bowl game if they win their remaining four regular season games.

On Kartik's World we'll have a full breakdown on the Virginia Governor's election and what it may mean for Decision 2006.

I-4 commuter trains part of Bush's transportation allocation

Here is the Orlando Sentinel article.

Here is a full breakdown of projects by region:

South Florida

• Palmetto Expressway from Sunset Drive to SW 32 Street: Advancing construction of two new lanes and improve three interchanges.
• Port of Miami-Dade: Down payment on the construction of a multi-laned tunnel under the port’s main channel.
• Miami International Airport: Widening and realignment of internal access roads for circulation and MIA Central Boulevard, the main access to the passenger terminal.
  Southeast Florida
• I-595 from SW 136 Avenue to Florida’s Turnpike: Acquiring the right of way for the future widening of I-595 and interchange improvements.
• SR 710 from I-95 to Allapattah Road, Congress Avenue to Australian Avenue, Bridge replacement over the Okeechobee Waterway, SR 70 to CR 609: Completing a Project Development and Environmental study for future improvements including replacing the existing two-lane bridge over the Okeechobee Waterway with a four-lane bridge.
  Palm Beach International Airport: Constructing a taxiway and designing a runway extension.
  

Southwest Florida

• I-75 in Collier and Lee counties: Advancing construction of the six laning of I-75 from Golden Gate Parkway to SR 80. This design-build project will improve the movement of people and goods in the major north-south corridor.
• SR 70 from 34th Street to Berman Road - Expanding to four lanes to support mobility and economic growth in this Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern.
• Southwest Florida International Airport – Designing a parallel runway and constructing commercial aviation aprons to allow the airport to operate more efficiently.
  

Central Florida

• I-4 from Osceola County line to Volusia County Line: Advance acquisition of right of way for the widening of I-4.
• Railroad Construction: Infrastructure for the rail main line in Central Florida.
  I-4 Maintenance of Traffic: Maintenance of Traffic during construction of the I-4 improvements and support for the operations and maintenance of the future Central Florida Commuter Rail.
  

West Central Florida

• I-4/Crosstown Connector: – Constructing the I-4/Crosstown Connector project including direct access to the Port of Tampa.
• US 19: Advancing construction of two additional lanes on US 19 from West Cornflower Drive to West Foss Grove Path, including the bridge over the Florida Barge Canal.
• SR 50 from US 19 to Mariner Boulevard: Constructing two additional lanes to provide six lanes along SR 50 from US 19 to Mariner Boulevard.
  

Northeast Florida

• I-95 from Heckscher Drive to I-295: Advancing construction of two lanes to complete a six-lane facility on I-95 through Duval County.
• I-10/Marietta Interchange: Constructing the relocated interchange at I-10/Marietta interchange just west of I-295 to improve safety, operations and capacity.
• US 17 from Creighton Rd to Milwaukee Avenue: Advancing construction of two lanes on an existing four-lane bridge to complete six laning of section.

Northwest Florida

• SR 263 Capital Circle from Orange Avenue to Tennessee Street: Advance purchase of right of way for six laning of the SIS connector facility consistent with Blueprint 2000.
• New Panama City airport/SR 79: Additional funds to support the relocation of a new Panama City airport, design and right-of-way acquisition for future improvements to SR 79. This funding will be provided subject to federal environmental approval.
  US 331 from Choctawhatchee Bridge to SR 20: Advance acquisition of right of way for future construction of a four-lane facility.

Recovery slow in Broward

With well over 150,000 homes still without power in Broward County, schools closed until next week and the roads still a mess, the following boil water alert was issued.

The Broward County Health Department has announced that a boil water order is still in effect for the following areas of Broward County:
- A portion of Coral Springs to any customer who pays their water bills to the City of Coral Springs and who live in the area bordered by Wiles Road North, Royal Palm Boulevard South, Sawgrass Expressway West, and State Road 7/U.S. 441 East;- City of Fort Lauderdale;- Hillsboro Beach;- Lauderdale-by-the-Sea;- North Lauderdale;- Oakland Park;- Sea Ranch Lakes;- Tamarac – east of 31st Avenue only;- Wilton Manors;- Port Everglades;- and the community of Hacienda Village in Davie.


The question is whether or not local lawmakers will take thenecessaryy steps to create theinfrastructuree to prevent such widespread disruption of business and personal lives after the next minimal hurricane that blows through South Florida. Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs deserves praise for her willingness to work with officials from different entities to speed up the recovery, but more preemptive measures must be taken by local government before the next storm season.

Players Championship likely moving to May

Orlando Sentinel Article. I believe this is a good move for the Ponte Vedre based TPC and PGA Tour because the Championship has for years been more of a tune up for the Masters than anything else. And since the event coincides with the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, even a pro golf aficionado like myself usually forgets about the event and starts paying attention to Golf when the Masters rolls around two weeks later. This will also give NBC a more balanced pro golf schedule as they have a hole in their coverage between March and US Open in mid/late June. CBS and ABC split the tournaments currently between the TPC and the US Open leaving NBC with a huge gap in programming which has been filed by among other things Arena Football! This will also give the Jacksonville area economy a boost during the offseason for tourists in the early summer.