Florida

The financially ailing Jackson Health System in South Florida could become the latest public nonprofit entity to be taken private despite an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry believed to be related to bond disclosure issues.

A statewide grand jury on public corruption said the "squandering of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for a mediocre product" saddled the Broward County School District with debt while leaving some areas of the county with overcrowded schools and others with vacancies.

WASHINGTON — Supporters of the Florida high-speed rail project are scrambling to come up with options to preserve it after Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion of federal funding last week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Wednesday rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding toward the state’s $2.6 billion high-speed rail project from Orlando to Tampa before reviewing the most recent ridership and revenue study.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A new study of pension and health care liabilities confronting Florida’s cities and counties found that those annual combined costs made up an average of 8.1% of the spending by the state’s 67 counties and 8.3% of spending by 50 cities.

Despite rising gas prices and fewer airlines seats due to consolidation, the central Florida home to the state’s mega-theme parks saw continued gains in the number of visitors in December to Orlando and surrounding Orange County.

Two Miami-Dade County elected officials facing recall petitions have now filed suits in an attempt to stop their recall elections.

BRADENTON, Fla. — As the Miami Dolphins continue to seek $225 million in public funding to upgrade their privately financed stadium, a Florida senator has filed a bill that would prohibit public funds from being spent on professional sports facilities without a local referendum.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott rolled out his first budget Monday, proposing to slash state government spending by more than $5 billion over two years, reduce corporate income and school property taxes by $2 billion, and spend significantly less in new bond financing.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $60 million of hospital revenue bonds that were issued by Lakeland, Fla., in 2002 for Lakeland Regional Health Systems.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $51 million of auction-rate securities that were issued in a conduit deal in 2005 by the Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority to current-refund bonds and finance a hospital project.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Flush with cash, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has increased the number of outside managers it uses to invest bond proceeds and other funds.

As part of an ongoing initiative to examine developer-driven deals, the Internal Revenue Service is auditing $48.47 million of defaulted bonds issued by the Stoneybrook South Community Development District in Florida in 2007 for infrastructure improvements.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Baker Correctional Development Corp. in Florida’s panhandle notified bondholders Monday that it entered a forbearance agreement for principal payments due to start next month on $45 million of unrated bonds sold in 2008.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A convergence of factors is pushing bond issuance costs up this year — including fallout from the “headline risk” associated with predictions of increased municipal bankruptcy, local officials from across Florida learned Friday.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida school districts and local governments should brace for impacts from state budget cuts that could be more than $3.5 billion, according to elected and financial officials at a seminar Friday in Orlando.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The first team in the National Football League to play in a privately financed stadium now wants as much as $225 million of public funds to bring its 24-year-old facility up to “world-class” ­standards.

BRADENTON, Fla. — North Florida’s Mid-Bay Bridge Authority expects to price $170 million of new and refunding springing-lien revenue bonds Thursday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority in the Florida Panhandle made its January debt-service payment, but its July payment is in doubt and most board members overseeing the credit have now resigned.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority in Florida will use the proceeds from $750 million of short-term, tax-exempt revenue bonds to provide initial financing for one of the first state-of-the-art waste-to-energy facilities to be built in the U.S. in many years.