Fort Lauderdale postmark soon to be history as postal centers close
Say goodbye to that smudgy black postmark reading “Fort Lauderdale.” Bid farewell also to speedier delivery of mail, at least outside South Florida. In an effort to address budget woes from a severe decline in mail volume, the U.S. Postal Service is closing Broward County’s two massive mail processing centers and shifting operations to a […]
New Citizens insurance customers could face 56 percent rate increase
Broward County homeowners who sign up for windstorm insurance from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. next year could pay up to 56 percent more than a neighbor with an existing policy, if a cap is removed on rate increases for new customers. Some new wind-only condominium customers would pay more than twice what existing policyholders pay […]
Pet Supermarket CEO makes stores fashionable
A South Florida businesswoman has landed on top of an annual ranking of Florida’s women-owned companies. Diane Holtz, president of Pet Supermarket, said she redesigned the stores in the Sunrise-based pet store chain to be “what women want in shopping:” clean, colorful and featuring new products each week. When judged by its $213 million in […]
Florida tops in delinquent mortgage loans
Florida has more delinquent mortgage loans backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae than any other state, according to a new report. The Sunshine State had 292,000 delinquent loans by the government-sponsored agencies as of Dec. 31. Of those,166,000 have been late on payments for at least a year. California, the largest state, in contrast, […]
Affordable fares keep Fort Lauderdale a top Spring Break destination
Fort Lauderdale may no longer be the Spring Break mecca for college students it was in the 1980s, but the destination is still wooing travelers during the peak March-to-April travel season. Fort Lauderdale recently ranked No. 4 among the 10 most desired Spring Break destinations, behind Orlando, Las Vegas and New York, in a review […]
Florida’s tribal casinos grew revenue by 1% in 2010, report says
An annual industry report shows that Indian gaming in Florida had slow growth in 2010 after two years of double-digit increases — but still raked in $2.06 billion. After years of dramatic growth, Florida’s eight tribal casinos — all but one operated by the Seminole Tribe — came back down to earth in 2010, growing […]
Indicted Fort Lauderdale brothers facing new federal fraud charges
Already charged with running one of Florida’s biggest investment scams, Fort Lauderdale brothers Joel Steinger and Steven Steiner were arrested again Wednesday in connection with a new fraud conspiracy. A federal prosecutor known as Steinger a “serial” prison for allegedly conspiring along with his brother to create dummy companies that bilked $three million from health […]
How South Florida’s top 1 percent live
The top 1 percent have a household income north of $400,000 a year — $401,600 in Broward County, $456,206 in Palm Beach County and $413,372 in Miami-Dade, according to a national survey of household incomes by Washington-based Sentier Research. In the membership are some big names like LeBron James, who makes $44 million a year; […]