SB Friday, September 21, 2012 SunSentinel.com Sun Sentinel | 1D

MoneyCoral Springs extends tax amnesty

Coral Springs extended its amnesty period for first-timeBusinessTaxReceipt Applicants throughDec. 31.

The city is offering the amnesty program to encouragebusinesses that have not received their BusinessTaxRe-

ceipt to applywith the city.The programallows first-time businesses

or independent contractorswhohave beendoing business inCoral Springs prior toOct.1, 2011, the opportunity to applywith thecitywithout a penalty.

For information, call 954-344-5963 orvisit CoralSprings.org.

— Cindy Kent

Talk things over at Lynn UniversityWant to give your two cents about the future of Social Security,

Medicare and other financialmatters affecting the country?AARP andLynnUniversity are planning a series

of “Intergenerational CommunityCon-versations” onOct. 3, starting at11a.m. attheDeHoernle International Center,3601N.MilitaryTrail, in BocaRaton.

The intergenerational communityconversationswill be less than threeweeks before Lynnholds a presidentialdebate. For information, go toaarp.org/YouEarnedIt.

—Donna Gehrke-White

Onlinetoday

@ 8 a.m. Wantto know howyour paycheckranks incomparison toothers acrossSouth Florida?Find out atSunSentinel.com/income

Broward College, working with commu-nity colleges from Ohio and Texas, got $12million from the Department of Labor onWednesday to create an online informationtechnology training program that will focuson giving students the skills they need to getand do jobs, rather than focusing on credithours.

The school is also one of ten collegesnationwideunderconsiderationtowinupto$1million from theAspen Institute, aWash-ing, D.C.-based nonprofit, for its second an-nual College Excellence Program award.Thewinnerof this awardwill be announcedinMarchof2013.

The grant and Aspen’s consideration areboth based in part on Broward College’sability to turn out graduates who get jobs.The college has a knack for it, said JoshWyner, project coordinator for the CollegeExcellentProgram.

Florida schools in general are good atkeepingtheirprogramsuptodatewithwhatthe labormarket needs, in fact, andBrowardCollege has the sixth-highest percentage ofgraduates who have a job within nine

months among the state’s 28 communitycolleges, according toFloridaDepartmentofEducation statistics.

“The state of Florida has had policy for along time that encourages this,”Wyner said.“They have a database that ties studentsfrom higher education to the labor force.Schools can look at the database and see inreal time whether and how students aregetting jobs. It’s hard to get students jobs ifyoudon’thavegooddata.”

Broward College tailors its course anddegree offerings based on what the locallabormarketwillneedwhenstudentsgradu-ate, said Gino Galli, district director for ca-reerandtechnicaleducationatBrowardCol-lege.

Broward, for example, offers degrees andcertificates in tourismmanagementandshipengineering,professionsthatnoteverylocalehas aneed forbutBrowardCountydoes.

Palm Beach State does the same thing,said Grace Truman, a spokeswoman for theschool.

“Our programs are all reviewed a mini-mum of once every three years,” she said.“Weuse that todeterminewhether it’s still a

Among the state’s 28 community colleges, Broward College has the sixth-highest percentage of graduateswho have a job within nine months. One reason is classes like this one taught by Steven Knese that focus onteaching students what they need to know to get hired.

GINNY DIXON/CORRESPONDENT

By Ariel BarkhurstStaff writer

Giving students the skillsthat get them hired

See JOBS, 2D

BrowardCollegeprogramwill focusonpreparingstudentsfor the jobmarket

Maria Trotto-Mark has learned how tobe survive — even thrive — during eco-nomic hard times when banks aren’t lend-ing to small businesses like hers and earn-ings had to be plowed back to ensure herstorewould stay open.

Today,her schooluniformshophasmorecustomers than ever, but she said she stillhas to be careful in taking a paycheck fromher business that started in a warehouseand now has a spot in the Flamingo FallsShoppingCenter in PembrokePines.

“We find a way to make ends meet,” shesays.

BattlingtoughtimesSouth Floridians showtheir survival skills

By Donna Gehrke-WhiteStaff writer

“We find away to makeends meet.”MarieTrotto-Mark,small businessowner

See STRUGGLE, 2D

Hernan Santiesteban installed hurri-cane shutters on his home inWestchester,believing it would reduce the cost of hisproperty insurance.

Instead, his rates under Citizens Prop-erty InsuranceCorp. increased fromabout$1,500 to $3,000.

“At this moment, I have no insurancebecause the cost is going so high,” saidSantiesteban, 83. “I know there are many,manyoldpeople that cannot afford tohaveinsurance for their home because rightnow it’s so high.”

Homeowners and politicians — and atleast one elected official who is insured byCitizens— spokeThursday night at a pub-lic hearing in Miami, held by the FloridaOffice of Insurance Regulation, about pro-posedCitizens insurance rate increases.

Citizens is proposing increases of up to12 percent statewide, though the figuremore common inSouthFlorida is closer to11 percent. The increase still must be ap-proved by the state’s insurance office, adecision due onOct. 1.

The state-run insurer has been pushingfor higher rates in an effort to get morecustomers to seek coverage from privateinsurers—noeasy task.Created tobea last

resort for homeowners who could find noother insurer, Citizens has more than 1.4million policyholders and, it says, insuffi-cientmoney to cover amajor disaster.

“We’ve got to havemoney to pay claimswhen the hurricane comes or series ofhurricanes come,” said Citizens’ chief fi-nancial officer, Sharon Binnun. “The pre-mium that we are collecting is not enoughto pay claims.”

But more than a dozen people whospoke blasted the company for its re-inspection program, which often leads tohigher costs; for its own legal costs; and for

Citizens policies under fire at meetingBy Hannah SampsonTheMiami Herald

See RATES, 2D

Broward County’s lowest regular gas pricesSem. T.P. 3103 N. State Road 7, Hollywood $3.69Citgo 6450 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines $3.75Hess 3241 N. University Drive, Davie $3.77Marathon 3034 Johnson St., Hollywood $3.77Costco 1800 W. Sample Road, Pompano Beach $3.77

Palm Beach County’s lowest regular gas pricesHess 14624 S. Military Trail, Delray Beach $3.74RaceWay 288 N. Haverhill Road, West Palm Beach $3.74Hess 2450 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach $3.75Cumb. Fms 2692 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach $3.75MurphyUSA

1050 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach $3.75

Source: miamigasprices.comNOTE TO READERS: Prices do not include all gas stations in each county and areupdated frequently. Prices shown may only apply to cash purchases. For the mostup-to-date gas prices, visit SunSentinel.com/gasprices.

—SteveCoate

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2D | Sun Sentinel SunSentinel.com Friday, September 21, 2012 SB

Name (ticker) Last Chg %ChgYTD

South Florida stocks of interest

US indexes Last chg %chg %chg Low high %chgNet 1 day 3mo 52-week range 12mo

World indexes

Most Active ($2 or more)Interest rates

Foreign Exchange

Commodity Futures

Source:

YTDName (ticker) Last Chg %Chg

Name Last Vol(1000) Chg

Fuels (Unit/contract month) Last %Chg

Metals (Unit/contract month) Last %Chg

Name 1US$ In Cur.

YTDName (ticker) Last Chg %Chg

YTDName (ticker) Last Chg %Chg

YTDName (ticker) Last Chg %Chg

1st United Bancorp (FUBC) 6.46 +0.02 +16.403M (MMM) 93.58 -0.05 +14.50Abbott Labs (ABT) 69.86 +0.51 +24.24ABInBev (BUD) 87.00 +0.45 +42.65Adobe Systems (ADBE) 34.53 +1.41 +22.14Aerosonic (AIM) 3.35 ... +4.69Aetna (AET) 39.41 -0.02 -6.59Allstate (ALL) 39.87 +0.36 +45.46Amazon.com (AMZN) 260.81 -0.87 +50.67America Movil (AMOV) 25.22 +0.43 +12.19America Movil (AMX) 25.11 -0.53 +11.11American Express (AXP) 58.34 -0.33 +23.68Apple (AAPL) 698.70 -3.40 +72.52Armour Residential (ARR) 7.48 ... +6.10ASA Gold (ASA) 25.44 -0.28 -2.86AstraZeneca (AZN) 47.96 -0.15 +3.61AT&T (T) 37.94 +0.18 +25.46Autonation (AN) 41.54 -0.40 +12.67Avis Budget (CAR) 16.73 +0.06 +56.06Avon Products (AVP) 15.98 -0.02 -8.53B Comm (BCOM) 4.00 +0.05 -72.83Bank of Am (BAC) 9.19 -0.10 +65.29BankAtlantic Ban (BBX) 6.38 +0.13 +88.76Barclays (BCS) 14.48 -0.25 +31.76Barnes Group (B) 25.93 -0.10 +7.55BB&T (BBT) 33.49 -0.12 +33.06BE Aerospace (BEAV) 41.67 -0.29 +7.65Bed Bath Bynd (BBBY) 62.08 -6.71 +7.09Berkshire Hatha (BRKa) 133,816 +516.00 +16.61Berkshire Hatha (BRKb) 89.33 +0.38 +17.08Best BUY (BBY) 18.09 +0.15 -22.59Bhp Billiton (BBL) 63.74 -1.13 +9.16BHP Billiton (BHP) 70.15 -1.03 -0.68Big Lots (BIG) 31.19 -0.25 -17.40Blackstone Group (BX) 15.02 -0.08 +7.21Bluegreen (BXG) 6.29 +0.02 +123.84Boeing (BA) 69.85 -0.05 -4.77BP (BP) 43.29 +0.20 +1.29Brit Am Tobacco (BTI) 104.90 ... +10.56Brown & Brown (BRO) 26.39 -0.14 +16.62

CANON INC. (CAJ) 35.29 -0.75 -19.87Capital One (COF) 58.05 +0.08 +37.27Carnival (CCL) 37.60 -0.11 +15.20Carters (CRI) 55.66 -0.27 +39.81Caterpillar (CAT) 92.54 -1.40 +2.14Cheesecake (CAKE) 35.57 -0.18 +21.19Chesapeake Utils (CPK) 46.46 +0.40 +7.17Chevron (CVX) 117.85 +1.25 +10.76China Life Ins (LFC) 43.43 -0.75 +17.47Chiquita Brands (CQB) 7.74 +0.41 -7.19CIGNA (CI) 46.94 -0.21 +11.76Cisco Systems (CSCO) 19.11 -0.01 +5.70Citigroup (C) 33.81 -0.37 +28.51Citrix Systems (CTXS) 81.23 -0.10 +33.78CNOOC (CEO) 200.78 -3.86 +14.94Coach (COH) 59.01 -0.98 -3.33Coca- Cola (KO) 38.64 +0.12 +10.45Comcast (CMCSA) 35.95 +0.57 +51.62Companhi Bebidas (ABV) 38.06 +0.10 +5.46ConocoPhillips (COP) 57.59 +0.28 -20.97Costco Wholesale (COST) 102.64 +0.76 +23.19Crocs (CROX) 17.32 -0.33 +17.26Cross Country (CCRN) 4.64 -0.02 -16.40Dell (DELL) 10.50 +0.06 -28.23DIRECTV (DTV) 52.35 -1.29 +22.44Discover (DFS) 38.16 -0.35 +59.00Dycom Industries (DY) 14.92 -0.08 -28.68Ecopetrol (EC) 58.67 +0.01 +31.78Elizabeth Arden (RDEN) 45.77 +1.81 +23.57Eni (E) 47.20 -0.86 +14.37Envirostar (EVI) 1.30 -0.12 +5.69Equifax (EFX) 47.32 -0.27 +22.15Equity One (EQY) 21.09 -0.31 +24.20Expedia (EXPE) 57.09 +0.93 +96.73Exxon Mobil (XOM) 91.52 +0.95 +7.98FedEx (FDX) 85.17 -1.73 +1.99Flanigan’s Ent (BDL) 7.40 ... +9.63Ford Motor (F) 10.44 -0.15 -2.97Forward Inds (FORD) 1.24 +0.07 -25.75GameStop (GME) 22.74 -0.09 -5.76

GE (GE) 22.43 ... +25.24General Motors (GM) 24.42 -0.33 +20.47Geo Group (GEO) 27.82 -0.04 +66.09GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 46.58 -0.14 +2.08Goldman Sachs Gp (GS) 117.63 -1.39 +30.08Google (GOOG) 728.12 +0.62 +12.73Hackett Group (HCKT) 4.22 +0.22 +12.83Hanesbrands (HBI) 32.73 -0.42 +49.73Heico (HEI) 38.26 +0.01 -34.58Hess (HES) 55.44 +0.34 -2.39Hewlett Packard (HPQ) 17.76 -0.34 -31.06HJ Hein (HNZ) 56.47 -0.02 +4.50Home Depot (HD) 59.28 -0.19 +41.01HONDA MOTOR (HMC) 33.48 -0.43 +9.59HSBC (HBC) 47.65 ... +25.07IBM (IBM) 206.18 -0.25 +12.13Inergy (NRGY) 19.13 +0.44 -21.66Intel (INTC) 23.18 +0.03 -4.42Isle of Capri (ISLE) 6.97 -0.16 +49.25Itau Unibanco (ITUB) 16.72 -0.13 -9.91JM Smucker (SJM) 87.06 +0.48 +11.37Johnson Johnson (JNJ) 68.90 +0.30 +5.06JPMorgan Chase (JPM) 41.25 -0.09 +24.06KB Home (KBH) 13.11 -0.05 +95.09Lennar (LEN) 36.60 +0.34 +86.26Macys (M) 38.65 -0.39 +20.11Mastec (MTZ) 20.42 +0.23 +17.56Mcclatchy (MNI) 2.32 +0.01 -2.93McDonalds (MCD) 93.15 +0.32 -7.16MEDNAX (MD) 75.50 -0.13 +4.85Merck (MRK) 44.89 +0.38 +19.07Microsoft (MSFT) 31.45 +0.40 +21.15Motorola (MSI) 49.81 -0.53 +7.60MUFG (MTU) 4.81 -0.07 +14.80Nabi Biopharma (NABI) 1.76 -0.03 -6.38National (FIZZ) 15.07 -0.21 -6.22Netflix (NFLX) 58.74 +1.70 -15.23NextEra Ener (NEE) 68.05 +0.54 +11.78Novartis (NVS) 60.57 +0.24 +5.95Novo Nordisk (NVO) 157.02 +1.66 +36.23

NTT DoCoMo (DCM) 16.60 +0.10 -9.54Nutrisystem (NTRI) 10.58 -0.10 -18.17Occidental (OXY) 87.60 +0.13 -6.51Ocean Bio (OBCI) 2.00 -0.03 -7.21Ocwen Financial (OCN) 27.87 +0.32 +92.47Office Depot (ODP) 2.61 -0.08 +21.40Officemax (OMX) 8.03 +0.06 +76.87Omnicom Group (OMC) 53.20 -1.03 +19.34Onstream Media (ONSM) 0.54 -0.02 -22.75Oracle (ORCL) 32.26 -0.52 +25.77P&G (PG) 69.56 +0.30 +4.27Pepsico (PEP) 71.24 +0.39 +7.37Perry Ellis (PERY) 22.83 +0.37 +60.55Petmed Express (PETS) 9.84 +0.13 -5.20PETROBRAS (PBR) 23.42 +0.21 -5.75PetroChina (PTR) 129.36 -1.22 +4.06Pfizer (PFE) 24.41 +0.25 +12.80Philip Morris (PM) 92.13 +0.49 +17.39Pultegroup (PHM) 16.72 +0.29 +164.98Qualcomm (QCOM) 64.35 -0.73 +17.64Radioshack (RSH) 2.82 +0.02 -70.96RBC (RY) 58.08 -0.08 +13.97Republic Svcs (RSG) 28.22 -0.30 +2.43Rio Tinto (RIO) 50.33 -1.09 +2.88Royal Caribbean (RCL) 30.95 -0.30 +24.95Ryder System (R) 40.52 -1.24 -23.75Sano (SNY) 44.11 -0.11 +20.72SAP (SAP) 72.42 -0.48 +36.77SBA Comms (SBAC) 60.94 -0.08 +41.85SBS (SBSA) 3.13 +0.11 +4.33Schlumberger (SLB) 75.23 +0.52 +10.13Scotiabank (BNS) 54.77 -0.15 +9.96SEACOR Holdings (CKH) 85.65 -0.63 -3.72Shell (RDSb) 73.50 -1.02 -3.30Shell (RDSa) 71.42 -0.73 -2.28Siemens (SI) 103.14 -0.26 +7.88Sinopec Corp (SNP) 91.80 -0.74 -12.61SMFG (SMFG) 6.49 -0.09 +17.79Sony (SNE) 12.87 -0.42 -28.66Staples (SPLS) 12.34 +0.19 -11.16

Statoil (STO) 26.42 -0.17 +3.16Suncor Energy (SU) 33.89 +0.18 +17.55SunTrust Banks (STI) 28.77 -0.26 +62.54Swisher Hygiene (SWSH) 1.70 -0.03 -54.55Tenet Healthcare (THC) 6.21 +0.02 +21.05The Clorox (CLX) 71.75 +0.30 +7.80TiVo (TIVO) 9.72 +0.03 +8.36Toronto Dominion (TD) 83.96 +0.13 +12.23Total (TOT) 52.16 -1.03 +2.05Toyota Motor (TM) 81.94 -0.24 +23.91Tyco Intl (TYC) 55.32 +0.16 +18.43UBS AG (UBS) 12.80 -0.13 +8.20Ultimate Softwr (ULTI) 100.06 -0.19 +53.65Unilever (UL) 37.19 -0.10 +10.95United Tech (UTX) 80.92 -0.80 +10.71VALE SA (VALEp) 18.53 -0.27 -10.05VALE SA (VALE) 19.10 -0.22 -10.96Vector Group (VGR) 16.82 +0.32 -5.29Verizon (VZ) 45.49 +0.22 +13.38Vodafone Group (VOD) 28.53 +0.13 +1.78Wal-Mart (WMT) 74.75 +0.38 +25.08Walt Disney (DIS) 52.66 -0.04 +40.43Watsco (WSO) 78.23 -0.64 +19.14Watson (WPI) 84.22 +0.49 +39.58Wells Fargo (WFC) 35.20 -0.05 +27.72Westpac Banking (WBK) 126.58 -1.52 +23.61World Fuel (INT) 36.25 -0.62 -13.65Yahoo (YHOO) 15.79 -0.07 -2.11

Dow Jones indus. 13596.93 +18.97 +0.14% +8.14% 10404 13653 +22.22%Dow Jones Transport 4961.69 –141.39 –2.77% –3.20% 3951 5390 +15.90%Dow Jones Utility 471.02 +2.43 +0.52% –0.12% 412 500 +8.10%NYSE composite 8372.91 –27.58 –0.33% +10.66% 6415 8516 +19.93%Nasdaq composite 3175.96 –6.66 –0.21% +11.08% 2299 3196 +25.13%S&P 500 1460.26 –0.79 –0.05% +10.17% 1075 1475 +25.16%S&P Mid cap 400 1006.06 –6.64 –0.66% +10.44% 732 1030 +23.55%Wilshire 5000 15256.94 –27.60 –0.18% +10.11% 11208 15433 +24.61%Russell 2000 851.51 –4.57 –0.53% +11.33% 602 868 +28.13%Reuters US 60 13840.86 –11.68 –0.08% +12.48% 9771 13889 +29.80%NYSE AMEX composite 2484.34 –4.56 –0.18% +9.57% 1942 2502 +14.96%Nasdaq 100 2861.70 –2.33 –0.08% +11.92% 2043 2871 +26.72%S&P SmallCap 600 476.53 –2.52 –0.53% +11.91% 334 488 +31.27%Russell 1000 804.68 –0.99 –0.12% +10.18% 591 814 +24.83%

IPC (Mexico) 40500.35 –440.96 –1.08% +5.15% 32078 41601 +19.05%S&P/TSX (Canada) 12409.25 –26.91 –0.22% +8.77% 10848 12789 +3.80%Nikkei 225 (Japan) 9086.98 –145.23 –1.57% +2.98% 8136 10255 +3.96%FTSE 100 (UK) 5854.64 –33.84 –0.57% +5.18% 4869 5989 +10.71%Hang Seng (Hong Kong)20590.92 –250.99 –1.20% +6.88% 16170 21760 +9.39%Bovespa (Brazil) 61687.97 +36.14 +0.06% +11.14% 49433 68970 +10.19%All Ord (Australia) 4419.79 –20.57 –0.46% +6.92% 3905 4515 +6.41%TLV TA-25 Index (Israel) 1136.23 –2.10 –0.18% +5.85% 993 1175 +4.64%

Sirius XM 2.57 117,191 +0.08Bank of America 9.19 108,437 -0.10Sprint Nextel 5.44 71,717 -0.12Facebook 22.59 56,958 -0.70Microsoft 31.45 44,728 +0.40General El 22.43 42,848 unch.Micron 6.45 37,353 -0.20Oracle 32.26 36,865 -0.52Questcor Pharm 30.33 37,072 +3.98Kraft Foods 41.60 35,378 +0.76Skyworks 24.03 33,844 -5.45Intel 23.18 32,944 +0.03

Crude oil ($/b/Oct) 91.87 –0.12Ethanol (GalOct) 2.25 –1.53Heating oil (Gal/Oct) 3.10 +1.76Natural gas (Mil.BTU/Oct) 2.80 +1.27Gasoline (Gal/Oct) 2.90 +2.67

HG Copper (¢/25K Lb/Sep) 3.77 –1.48Gold ($/100 oz/Sep) 1767.70 –0.07Platinum ($/50 oz/Oct) 1623.90 –1.01Silver (¢/5000 oz/Sep) 34.62 +0.29Palladium ($/100 oz/Sep) 659.60 –1.70

British Pound 0.6170 $1.6207Canadian Dollar 0.9770 $1.0235Euro 0.7710 $1.2970Israeli Shekel 3.9040 $0.2561Japanese Yen 78.2800 $0.0128Mexican Peso 12.8660 $0.0777

TREASURIES YEST PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO

BONDS YEST PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO

RATE YEST AGO AGO

NET 1YR

NET 1YR

6 MO 1YR

3-month T-bill 0.11 0.11 0.00 # # # 0.01

6-month T-bill 0.14 0.14 0.01 # # " 0.02

52-wk T-bill 0.18 0.18 0.00 # " # 0.10

2-year T-note 0.26 0.26 0.00 # " " 0.19

5-year T-note 0.69 0.69 0.00 # " " 0.85

10-year T-note 1.76 1.77 -0.01 # " # 1.85

30-year T-bond 2.95 2.96 -0.02 # # # 3.00

Bond Buyer Muni inx 4.24 4.24 0.00 " " " 4.92

Barclays USAggreagte 6.16 6.15 0.02 " " # 2.35

Barclays US High Yield1.74 1.77 -0.03 " " " 7.19

Barclays Long T-BdIdx 2.87 2.90 -0.03 " " # 3.23

Barclays US Treasury 0.90 0.90 -0.01 # " " 1.31

Barclays US Corporate 2.70 2.74 -0.03 # # " 3.51

Prime Rate 3.25 3.25 3.25

Fed Funds Rate 0.15 0.14 0.08

Fed Funds Target 0.00-0.25

BANK RATES (BANKRATE.COM AVERAGE)

Source: Bankrates.com

Mortgages wk Last15y fixed mtg # 2.94%30y fixed mtg " 3.54%

Home Equity Loans$30K HELOC FICO " 4.57%$50K HELOC FICO " 4.21%

Auto Loans wk Last36m new car loan $ 3.15%60m new car loan " 2.95%

Certificate of Deposit6 month CD " 0.47%1 year CD $ 0.73%

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M T W TJuly August

0%2,930

+5%3,076

M T W TJuly August

0%1,358

+5%1,426

S&P 500Change: -0.79 or -0.05%3 months: +10.17% 1 week: +0.02%

Change: -6.66 or -0.21%3 months: +11.08% 1 week: +0.64%

1,460 3,176NASDAQ

Layout production: Custom Flow Solutions

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Visit SunSentinel.com/stocks to look up current prices.

Others are adapting acan-do attitude in SouthFlorida that is still sufferingfrom financially stressedtimes. Median householdincome fell last year inSouth Florida — as it hassince the Great Recessionbegan nearly five years ago.It ’s now $48,880 inBroward, $40,552 in Mi-ami-Dade and $48,953 inPalmBeachCounty, theU.S.Census Bureau found indata releasedThursday.

In fact, the Washington-based Economic Policy In-stitute predictedmanymid-dle-class families in highunemployment states likeFlorida likely will have tostruggle years longer to re-gain the income they en-joyed more than a decadeago.

Many South Floridianshave been resilient in theeconomic turbulence. Somehave opened new business-eswhile othershave trainedfor new careers. The num-ber of full-time studentsstudyinghealth informationtechnology at Palm BeachStateCollege hasmore thanquadrupled in a year, for ex-ample.

“They pick up newknowledge. It makes themmore marketable,” saidNancy Zinser, associatedean of health sciences atthe college.

Since the Great Reces-sion,manySouthFloridianshave also acquired a morerealistic — and less materi-alistic — view. Noemi Mc-Gregor ofDelrayBeach saidshe has learned to livemoresimply after losing her joband starting a fruit importbusinesswith a colleague.

“Honestly, I don’t need50 pair of shoes — I am liv-ing perfectly fine,” said Mc-Gregor.

Someolder SouthFlorid-ians who are jobless havetaken early retirement andare pursuing loanmodifica-tions so their retirementsavingswon’t be drained. InOakland Park, Karen Sut-liffe and her husband, Dan-ielO’Brien, havecopedwithher layoff and the subse-quent revenue drop inO’Brien’s business. Sutliffeopted to get early Social Se-curity payments to ensure asteady income. The couplealso has asked — repeatedly— for a loan modificationfor theirhomethat is valuedless than theirmortgage.

Finally, their lender of-fered them this summer atrial modification thatwould lowertheirpaymentsby about $300 a month.“That will really help,” Sut-liffe said. It will help ensurethat their retirement sav-ings won’t be drained, sheadded.

Others are trying to stayafloat with government aidsuch as food stamps. AmyDelgado of Davie has been

feeding her two small sonsand a stepson with $250 amonth in food stamps. Butthat benefit just got cut to$186 a month. “I need to gothere to find out what is go-ing on,” she said. Delgadosaid she doesn’t know howshe will feed her familywith $64 less in aid eachmonth.

Some stretch their foodbudgets — including fami-lies copingwith layoffs—byeating a free hotmeal at thenonprofit soup kitchen, theJubilee Center of SouthFlorida inHollywood.

“We’re seeingmore fami-lies now,” including a momwith triplets, said Jubliee’sdirector JoyceCurtis.

In Pembroke Pines, Trot-to-Mark has seen her shareof challenges — and she’smet them. When banksweren’t lending to smallbusinesses, she dipped intoher remaining retirementsavings to fund her store’sexpansion.

Trotto-Mark has en-dured some yearswhen shedidn’t pay herself a salary.“Itwas scary,” she said.

Now, though, she’s think-ing of expanding — andeven hiring her first em-ployee.

“There have been rockytimes but we’ve survived,”Trotto-Mark said.

dssgehrke@tribune.com,954-356-4404 or Twitter@donnagehrke

Maria Trotto-Mark, who owns a school uniform shop in Pembroke Pines, has struggledthrough years when she didn’t pay herself a salary. Today, she’s thinking about expansion.

TAIMY ALVAREZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

STRUGGLEContinued from Page 1D

viable program for oureconomy and also we re-view the numbers to seewhat new programs weneed.”

The school recently be-gan offering a four-year de-gree, a bachelors of scienceinnursing.PalmBeachStatewasalreadyanursingschoolbut the “field of nursingwaschanging so that peoplewere realizing they neededthat four year degree to takeleadership positions,” Tru-mansaid.

For the College Excel-lence Project award,

Broward College and nineother schools includingGainsville’s SanteFeCollegewere chosen as finalistsfrom 96 schools around thenation that applied.

The 96 applicants camefrom a pool of 120 collegesthat the Aspen Institute in-vited to apply, basing the in-vitations on statistics pro-vided by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education. The sta-tisticsshowhowthenation’smore-than 1,000 communi-ty colleges do in terms ofstudent performance, im-provement and labor mar-ket success, and about theschools’ minority and low-income students’ improve-ment andgraduation rates.

But little extras, like thejob skills retraining certifi-cates Broward College of-fers and will improve withthe $12 million nationalgrant it recently received,are part of what got theschool into Aspen’s top tenin thenation,Wyner said.

“If you need to get yournational license in nursingrenewed or you need con-tinuing education coursesyou can take them atBroward,” he said. “Theymake sure people are stillwell trained for the job theyhave now, and that goes toshow you how interestedthe college is inmaking surelocal people can do theirjobs anddo themwell.”

JOBSContinued from Page 1D

a controversy over travelspending by its executives.

“This is a company thathas strayed from its mis-sion of serving policyhold-ers to one of indulgenceand putting its own needsfirst,” said state Sen. MikeFasano, R-New Port Rich-ey, who called the pro-posed rate hike “the epito-me of arrogance.”

State Rep. Frank Artiles,R-Miami, a critic of Citi-zens whose own home iscoveredby the insurer, saidFloridians are already pay-ing toomuch.Heurged theinsurance office not to ap-prove any increase until

the company’s costs aremanaged better.

“Their costs are out ofcontrol,” he said. “I, as alegislator, cannot get theinformation as to howmuch money Citizens isspending on attorney’sfees.”

EduardoGomez,aCoralGables attorney who rep-resents homeowners inlawsuits against Citizens,said thecompany’spoliciesresult ina longanddifficultprocess to get money forhis clients, even after thecases are settled.

“You cannot continue tosay that litigation costs aredriving the premiums upbecause it is the company’spolicies that are drivingthepremiumsup,” saidGo-

mez, who is himself facinga rate increase from Citi-zens.

Florida Insurance Con-sumer Advocate RobinSmith Westcott, whospoke against the rate in-crease, said homeownersshould try to find othercoverage, even if it meanspaying higher rates.

“Consumersshould takeaway from this: When it’stime for my policy to re-new with Citizens, shop,”she said. “Make sure youunderstand and see thebenefit thatmight be in theprivatemarketplace.”

MiamiHerald StaffWriterToluseOlorunnipacontributed to this report.

RATESContinued from Page 1D

An appeals court onThursday ordered a newtrial in the case of a BocaRaton condominium thatsued its insurer over theprocessing of a claim fromHurricaneWilma in 2005.

In 2007, a jury orderedQBE Insurance Corp. topay Chalfonte Condomini-umApartmentAssociation$7.8 million in damagesand an additional

$272,000 for breach ofgood faith and fair dealing.

But the 11th CircuitCourt of Appeal in Atlantaset aside the judgment,adopting a Florida Su-preme Court opinion onMay 31 that the good faithissue should have beentried separately.

“We would hope a sec-ond jury would come tothe same conclusion thefirst jury came to,” saidBruce Rogow, a Chalfonteattorney who also ex-

pressed hope that QBEwould agree to settle.

An attorney for the in-surance company couldnot be reachedThursday.

In May, Florida’s highcourt also ruled that cus-tomers still must pay theirdeductibles even if the in-surance policies violate astate law that requires no-tice of deductibles be inlarge, boldface type.

TheAssociated Presscontributed to this report.

New trial ordered in disputebetween condo, insurerBy Paul OwersStaff writer