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Florida’s recession

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 | 50¢

If you are considering a menu for St. Patrick’s Day festivities, don’t forget
the cheese. There are plenty of quality choices from the Emerald Isle. Taste,1E •
The United States has more people claiming Irish ancestry than Ireland has people.
Daily Briefing, 6A • Find holiday events at tampabay.com/things-to-do

The bay area ranks among the weakest economies.
BY JEFF HARRINGTON

Recovery won’t arrive here soon
The Tampa-St. PetersburgClearwater region ranks toward the bottom in several key
measures: 89th in drop in employment from its pre-recession peak; 89th in drop in
economic output from its peak; 89th in drop in housing prices over one year; 93rd
in rise in unemployment over the past year. Brookings didn’t rate metro areas overall
from 1 to 100.

Eight of the 19 weakest metro economies in the country are in Florida, according
to a new Brookings Institution analysis.

Tampa Bay gives up two goals in a span of two minutes in the first period and goes
on to lose to visiting Phoenix, 2-1. Todd Fedoruk scores for the Lightning, which
has lost nine of its past11 games. Sports,1C

Lightning continues skid vs. Coyotes

Times Staff Writer

No matter how you slice it, the Tampa Bay area is having a tougher time slogging
through the Great Recession than most of the country. Exhibit A comes courtesy of
a Brookings Institution analysis being released today that compares economic indicators
for the top 100 U.S. metro areas.

But Tampa Bay, along with seven other Florida metro areas, made its cluster of 19
weakest performing economies. On the flip side, Texas accounts for five spots among
the 20 strongestperforming metros. David Denslow of the University of Florida’s
Bureau of Economic and Business Research found the report disheartening,
See ECONOMY, 9A

Strongest 20 metro areas Second-strongest 20 metro areas Middle 20 metro areas
Source: Brookings Institution

Second weakest 21* metro areas Weakest 19* metro areas
* Due to ties even numbered groupings are not possible
Times

Evidence suggests Mexican drug cartels were not actually targeting the U.S. victims
in a recent ambush, but that it was a mistake on the part of the hit men. World,
3A

Hit men may have been at wrong party

The closely guarded tournament provides a controlled atmosphere for what will be
Tiger Woods’ high-profile return, other golfers say. “They can control what they
want to control there,” says Trevor Immelman. Sports,1C Pinellas and Pasco counties
have offered optional foreclosure mediation for years, but mortgage borrowers couldn’t
automatically compel lenders to participate, unlike a compulsory mediation program
recently mandated by the Florida Supreme Court. A story Tuesday was unclear on that
point.

Masters strategic pick for Woods

Frantic Green, gold . . . and blue time for health care bill
Opponents unleash ads while Democrats consider a little-used legislative procedure.
Associated Press

Clarification


TODAY’S WEATHER

Scattered showers
8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m. 40% rain chance. More, back page of Sports






tampabay.com

Going green

ho needs shirts? Freshman Patrick Thorn, 18, and junior Juan Gonzalez, 19, cheer
on South Florida with sophomore Brittany Willard, 20, left, and freshman Sam Brizzolari,
18, right, as the team battles North Carolina State during the first half of the
NIT game at the Sun Dome on Tuesday night. Gus Gilchrist’s last-second shot for
USF was blocked as the Wolfpack pulled out a 58-57 win, ending the Bulls’ season.
Story, 1C


DIRK SHADD | Times

You don’t have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Show us your best
shots celebrating and we’ll post at pics. tampabay.com. E-mail to submit@tampabay.com.

INDEX
Astrology Business Classified Comics Crosswords Editorials 4F 4B F 3F 4F 10A Etc
Lottery Movies Puzzles Television Weather 2B 2A 10F 4F 2F 10C

Crippled plane kills jogger on beach
A Dunedin native listening to his iPod is hit by a plane making an emergency beach
landing in South Carolina.
BY RITA FARLOW

Vol. 126 No. 236 © Times Publishing Co.

Times Staff Writer

Robert “Bobby’’ Jones never heard nor saw the plane. The 38-year-old Dunedin
native was listening to his iPod as he jogged Monday eve-

ning along the beach on Hilton Head Island, S.C. The single-engine plane, which had
lost its propeller and was trying to glide in for an emergency landing, hit Jones
from behind, killing him instantly. “There’s no noise,” said aviation expert
Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the National Transportation Safety Board.
“So the jogger, with his ear buds in, and the plane without an engine, you’re
basically a stealth aircraft. Who would expect to look up?”


Jones’ mother, Pauline Jones of Clearwater, said in an interview Tuesday, “If
they had told me he had a car accident, I think I could’ve handled it. But they
told me about this airplane … that is such a fluky thing. I was just out of my
mind.” Robert Jones was at the South Carolina resort island for a business trip.
He was scheduled to return to his home in Woodstock, Ga., on Tuesday, his daughter’s
third birthday, his mother said. “He was a great father, a great husband,
See JOGGER, 9A


WASHINGTON — With time and tempers short, everyone’s playing hardball in the
drive to pass — or stop — President Barack Obama’s massive health care legislation
by the weekend. Business groups are spending $1 million a day to depict the bill
as a job killer in television ads in the home districts of 26 wavering House Democrats.
A new ad barrage from supporters of the legislation went up Tuesday in 11 districts,
some overlapping. And unions are threatening some of those lawmakers to come through
for Obama — or pay the price in the fall elections. Obama has summoned members
to the White House one by one for private, face-to-face persuasion, and also met
larger groups. White House aides said he plans at least one more public health care
event this week, with remarks in Fairfax, Va., on Friday. Diverse administration
resources are being employed: Even the Navy secretary is in the game. At stake is
a bill that would cover some 30 million uninsured, end insurance practices such as
denying coverage to those with a pre-existing condition, require almost all Americans
to get coverage by law and try to slow the cost of medical care nationwide. Activists
on both ends of the
See HEALTH CARE, 4A

Is that really true?

A new TV ad from a group opposing the health reform bill gets a Pants on Fire. For
this ruling and others related to health care, go to politifact.com.

A leap from 23 miles up
“Fearless Felix” plans to go supersonic — without a plane.
The original daredevil
Ordinarily, Felix Baumgartner would not need a lot of practice in the science of
falling. He has jumped off two of the tallest buildings in the world, as well as
the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (a 95-foot leap for which he claimed
a lowaltitude record for parachuting). He has sky-dived across the English Channel.
He once plunged into the black void of a 623foot-deep cave, which he formerly considered
the most difficult jump of his career. But now Fearless Felix, as his fans call him,
has something more difficult on the agenda: jumping from a helium balloon
New York Times

Senate leader oversees effort to boost CFO role
Oh, and that’s the job he’s campaigning for.
BY MARC CAPUTO

Joe Kittinger talks about leaping from a balloon at100,000 feet high at links.tampabay.com.

Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau


in the stratosphere at least 120,000 feet above Earth. Within about half a minute,
he figures, he would be going 690 mph and become the first skydiver to break the
speed of sound. After a free fall lasting 5½ minutes, his parachute would open and
land him about 23 miles below the balloon. At least, that’s the plan, although
no one really knows what the shock wave will do to his body as it exceeds the speed
of
See LEAP, 8A

Felix Baumgartner tries to maneuver during a test in a wind tunnel in Perris, Calif.,
for the jump he plans to make from the stratosphere.

New York Times

TALLAHASSEE — If Jeff Atwater’s Senate has its way, the higher office he seeks
will have unprecedented power over privatized prisons, billions of dollars in purchasing
authority and the power to investigate Medicaid and food-stamp fraud. The bills to
expand the post of Florida chief financial officer all come from Senate President


Atwater’s chamber — but that’s just a coincidence, say Atwater and the senators
sponsoring the legislation. Atwater said he would have supported the proposals even
if he were not running for CFO, a Cabinet-level post. “I certainly did not suggest
(to senators), ‘Hey, anything you’ve got that might fit under the CFO’s role,
I have a particSee ATWATER, 8A