Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed the $66 billion budget for 2008-2009, which includes money for creating jobs, promoting tourism and providing economic incentives.
The budget includes $20 million for employment and re-employment services and $7.1 million for unemployment services, according to a release.
Mayor John Peyton praised Crist's $5.85 million appropriation to safeguard the St. Johns River.
The funding will help pay for drainage improvement, a septic tank elimination project in Jacksonville and water quality improvements in the river's lower basin.
"While restoring and protecting this tremendous natural resource will not happen overnight, with the support of local and state officials, we are making substantial progress," Peyton said in a news release.
Economic development programs include $19 million to support aerospace development, $11.6 million to support military base protection, $35.5 million to support tourism marketing and $95 million for incentives to lure businesses, industry and film productions to the state.
The budget also provides $50 million for strengthening emergency operations centers and installation of generators at special needs shelters.
Retailer combines store sales with online efforts.
Real estate investor grows business through mentor program, second company.
Her network of translators make web pages useful across the globe.
She uses online tools to match the right people with jobs.
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bizjournals.com

In the lukewarm of the night appears Norman Jewison, ready to air-kiss a Kennedy.
“I was inspired by your father, and now we are all inspired by you,” says he to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The latter is standing on a staircase, the director sounds like a romantic lead and the whole thing twinkles and seems right out of a ? Norman Jewison film!
The scene unravelled last week at the celebrated Budman residence, in the quieter reaches above Eglinton. The younger Kennedy, in town then for the Green Living Show, was the man of the party. Burning almost the same fire as his dad — the ambient, cut-short hope of liberals everywhere — this RFK arrived, as he often does, in a Camelot-evoking skinny tie. Indeed, as the famous enviro-booster, known for taking on fat cats, said last year to New York mag, “I like to wear thin ties” and “I’m very happy to see that they’re finally coming into style ?”
But back to Jewison, who elicited applause that was anything but thin when he flattered the younggen Kennedy just so. In the process, he stitched together a nice bit of symmetry. As the Canadian director noted to moi that night, the elder Kennedy had been a huge supporter — a fan, in particular, of his seminal, race relations-stirring 1967 movie, In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier.
Actually, looking it up later, I learned that when the New York Film Critics gave Jewison the best picture award for that flick, the ceremony was held at Sardi’s –and there to present him with it was none other than Senator Robert Kennedy, from New York. As he presented it to the young lensman, he apparently whispered, “See, I told you the timing was right, Norman.”
Fast-forward to Toronto, 2008, when the timing was right for a party baked in nostalgia. Don’tcha just love a dinner that comes with institutional memory? Those salonistas — Michael Budman and Diane Bald — really do think of everything.

nationalpost.com

Nintendo has added two more Virtual Console titles to its mountain of games already available. 
One’s a classic from the original NES, and the other comes by way of Sega Genesis.
The details from the gang at Nintendo’s PR:
River City Ransom™ (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Suggestive Themes and Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points): River City Ransom takes place in River City, where our heroes, Alex and Ryan, find a letter on Ryan’s locker from a guy named Slick. The letter says that Ryan’s girlfriend, Cyndi, has been kidnapped, and Slick has taken River City hostage with the help of countless gangs and evil bosses. It’s up to our heroes to save poor Cyndi and free River City from the clutches of Slick and his underlings. You can play as Alex and take on the challenge alone or battle with two players simultaneously as Alex and Ryan. Kick and punch to fight your way through gang members, evil bosses and other goons, or use a variety of weapons including a chain whip, brass knuckles and a tire, to name a few. Raise your stats by eating right, and gain new techniques by reading books. With your fighting prowess and never-ending spirit, the bad guys won’t know what hit them.
Phantasy Star™ III Generations of Doom (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): As Rhys, the crown prince of the Orakian kingdom of Landen, you are engaged to be married to Maia, a woman from a rival kingdom. But Maia is kidnapped on your wedding day, setting you on a quest filled with twists and turns that will reintroduce you to people and places from previous Phantasy Star games. This epic spans several generations of characters, and your choices will dramatically impact the way the story unfolds, which makes it a great game to play all the way through more than once. In Phantasy Star III, things aren’t always what they seem-check it out and watch the mysteries unfold.

revolutionportal.com

| PR Charts — A cleanup Thursday along Percival Creek to improve fish habitat ended up showing the extent of the homelessness problem, too.
A day crew from Olympia Probation Services scrambled up and down the corridor, bagging garbage and debris that is mostly the result of encampments of homeless people drawn to the secluded canyon between Percival Cove and the Olympia Auto Mall.
About 250 bags of junk have been collected by several work parties involving the city, Tacoma Rail and Wild Fish Conservancy. Tacoma Rail operates a line through the canyon that connects to Mottman Industrial Park in Tumwater. Wild Fish Conservancy is a nonprofit group that works to protect and restore wild salmon populations and their habitat.
The conservancy got involved because the stream, also known as Black Lake Ditch and connecting Capitol Lake and Budd Inlet to the Black River, is prime spawning and rearing habitat for chum and coho salmon, sea-run cutthroat trout and strays from the Deschutes River chinook run, project manager Ted Labbe said.
The one-mile stretch of Percival Creek Canyon also has become a haven for the homeless, even though it’s illegal for people to walk up the railroad line.
Piles of trash were picked up beneath the Cooper Point Road bridge, much of it linked to people who camp in the canyon during warmer weather.
“We know they don’t have anywhere to go,” said work crew supervisor Michael Arch of Olympia Probation Services. “We just want them to keep the place clean.”
Lappe added: “We’re not breaking up active encampments. That’s why we’re doing the cleanup this time of year.”
It also is an opportunity to pick up trash washed into the canyon during December floods, he said.
Homeless advocate Rob Richards said the canyon is used by homeless people year-round, much like the city’s Grass Lake Park area, which also was cleaned by city crews in recent weeks.

tradingmarkets.com

This past Saturday the Chicago River once again went green for St. Patrick’s Day. Yes, Chicago folks have been doing this since 1962.
This year new evidence has come to our attention from both CNN and blog scientists. CNN says that Chicago uses a “secret orange dye,” which sounds downright sinister and makes us half expect to see a giant red M&M dumping the dye into the river. However, those at scienceblogs.com suggest the dye is nothing more than fluorescein. Either way, some in Chicago claim the river looks green without the “dye” or the fluorescein.
Photo of this weekend’s dye job above, while after the jump there is a Google map of the dye free river.
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