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By The Tampa Tribune | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2007

STATE

Unemployment Rate Rises

Florida's unemployment rate edged up to 4.2 percent in October, the state's highest unemployment rate since February 2005, according to a monthly state report released Friday.

A continuing decline in construction and manufacturing jobs caused unemployment to rise from 4 percent in September and 3.2 percent in October 2006. By comparison, the United States' overall unemployment was 4.7 percent in October.

Despite the rising unemployment rate, Florida had 111,000 more nonagricultural jobs compared with October 2006.

Hillsborough County's unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in October, compared with 3 percent in October 2006. Pinellas County's unemployment rose to 4.1 percent from 3 percent over the year, while Pasco County's rate rose to 5.1 percent from 3.6 percent.

Canker Rules Changed

Citrus that is not infected with canker will no longer be tainted as unshippable just because other fruit in the grove has the disease under a new federal rule adopted Friday. Florida citrus still won't be shipped to other citrus producing states, though, under the final U.S. Department of Agriculture rule adopted Friday.

Under an interim rule adopted in June 2006, fresh fruit shipped from Florida had to come from groves that had been certified as entirely canker-free. The USDA rule was meant to stop the spread of citrus canker - harmless to humans but destructive to the fruit - from spreading to other states.

The rule adopted Friday said certification of an entire grove as canker free will no longer be required for the shipment of healthy fresh fruit from the grove. Fruit will now be allowed to go from the grove to the packing house, where it will be inspected. Fruit found at the packing house to have canker won't be shipped.

A spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual, a growers group, said the rule could lead to a 25 percent increase in shipments of fresh fruit from Florida.

NATION

US Airways Expects Delays

The holiday travel season will be so hectic this year that US Airways says that even if goals are met, it expects about 1,400 flights to depart late each day. In November's employee newsletter, the carrier says its goal for the holiday season is to have 60 percent of its 3,500 daily flights depart on time. That means about 1,400 would not push off from the gate on time.

"We of course want as many planes to go on time as we can," said US Airways spokesman Morgan Durant. But with possible winter storms delaying flights and a flood of passengers during the holidays, Durant said the airline decided that 60 percent was "a challenging but achievable goal."

A staff and wire report

Watch the Tribune's Business report at 5, 6 and 11 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays on WFLA-TV.

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