If you're a regular and somewhat-frequent visitor to Southeast Construction's website, you may have noticed a new feature, labeled as "News from Other Sources." It's an apt title, since that section includes, well, news from other sources. In short, it's our newswire feed from sources such as Associated Press, numerous daily metro papers around the four-state region, industry reports and other sources. It's Southeast Construction's latest effort to ensure that we are providing our readers with as much good information as possible on a timely basis.
The newswire launched in mid-July, and there's been no shortage of interesting items. (The newswire section is updated on a nearly daily basis.) So far, it's been a mix of good news; the regular dose of bad news; some big news; and even some semi-comic news about Florida-Georgia football.
For the record, the first item to hit our newswire was an article from the Tampa Tribune that reported that economists with the state of Florida were once again pushing back the expected timetable for the state's recovery. Until then, they see more of the same: increased unemployment; and housing prices continuing to decline.
But despite the times, we've posted our share of good news. Today, for example, we posted an item about the state of Florida and the federal government coming to terms over funding for the stalled restoration of the Everglades.... The University of North Carolina-Wilmington received $15 million in stimulus funding for construction of a new biotech center.... An agreement between Sarasota County, Fla., and the Baltimore Orioles to move the team's spring-training home to Sarasota included a provision for $31 million in renovations to the existing Ed Smith Stadium.... A utility in Cape Fear, N.C., announced plans for $600 million in renovations and upgrades.... Money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded a $95-million contract won by Skanska that included renovations to Orlando's George C. Young Courthouse and Federal Building.... Down in Broward Co., officials there are hoping to use stimulus funds to fill a $133-million financing gap so they can move forward on a new county courthouse.... And the stimulus funded part of a $30-million freeway project near Macon, Ga....
Of course, there was bad news, too. Broward County slashed its schools construction budget.... The city of Orlando floated the idea of building its future performing-arts center in phases, citing a lack of sufficient funding.... There was the St. Petersburg Times' analysis of Tampa Bay Water's oversight of its now-cracked reservoir. (Being analyzed by the St. Pete Times is a bit like seeing a crew from 60 Minutes on your front doorstep. It's never good.).... And the Panama City, Fla., airport authority was fined $251,000 for pollution from their project.
There was the latest on toxic Chinese drywall, as it's called, and senators calling for disaster aid for its victims.... And then, there was the shot across the bow in the Florida-Georga Water Wars. A Georgia politician called for the University of Georgia to pull out of the annual Florida-Georgia football game in Jacksonville, Fla., because of the recent ruling in federal court that basically said Atlanta developers don't have any rights to use Lake Lanier for drinking-water purposes. (Doesn't seem the politician's suggestion holds much merit. The Bulldogs only show up about half the time anyway. No official response yet from Tim Tebow, but we're sure he's fired up.)
As you can tell, there's quite a bit of new news that's now flowing over the pages of Southeast.Construction.com. We hope it's one more reason you'll tune into our website, so to speak, to keep up-to-date on the latest news and commentary about the regional construction industry.
