Declarations

Floridians Fret

“More than a third of Floridians say they have suffered a personal financial crisis in the past year. Adequate insurance can help prevent a crisis.”

—Bill Gunter, chairman of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, which sponsored Money Wise Florida, a program to help Floridians make good financial decisions. According to a Money Wise survey, more than 83 percent of Floridians are concerned about their money challenges and 43 percent don’t expect to be financially stronger a year from now. The project will air a TV special in 2010.

Ponzi ‘Epicenter’

“TD Bank was the financial epicenter of the Ponzi scheme. Among other things, TD Bank conspired, induced, and facilitated the principal conspirators’ deceptive practices, allowing principal conspirators to divert hundreds of millions of investor dollars through TD Bank accounts.”

—Part of the complaint in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in Florida against TD Bank for its apparent role in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein. The bank has denied any wrongdoing.

Chinese Drywall Link

“We now can show a strong association between homes with the problem drywall and the levels of hydrogen sulfide in those homes and corrosion of metals in those homes. Ongoing studies will examine health and safety effects, but we are now ready to get to work fixing this problem.”

—U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum announcing results from air quality tests in homes built using Chinese drywall. The report came just weeks after the CPSC said further study was needed. The agency said it could now develop remediation methods for homeowners and further investigate the health effects.

South Carolina Coast

“We are reflecting on the past 20 years and looking at how we will be for the next 20 years and beyond. The committee has recommended a number of steps the state should consider that may put us in a better position to reduce risks from storms, sea-level rise and chronic erosion.”

—Braxton Davis, a staff member with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control who worked on a report that says South Carolina needs to take a tougher stand to keep new beachfront development from moving closer to the ocean. The report by scientists, business and government officials calls for lawmakers to tighten a 1988 law that was intended to slow construction near the beach by saying new houses and hotels should be built farther back.

Topics Florida