LEE COUNTY, Fla. – Many Floridians are hoping to get a recently-approved benefits extension; but instead, they find themselves getting disconnected on the state’s unemployment hotline. “It’s been about a week and I call every day and I cannot get through,” said Robert Reese.? He and his wife have been looking for work every day after they both lost their jobs in the past year. ? His wife’s unemployment checks recently ran out, but they can’t get through to the state to get an extension. “It says cannot take your call now because we have high call volume, try back later, and they end your call,” Reese said. It’s not the first time the state hotline has been overwhelmed.? Cliff Gilman of Cape Coral ran into the same problem when he was laid off at the height of the construction industry decline in 2008. “I just couldn’t get through, there would be too many calls going through,” Gilman said. When his wife later lost her job too, he says they went online to apply for benefits. “I think internet was the easiest, because they didn’t have the problem I had with the telephone,” Gilman said. But Robert Reese says his internet messages aren’t getting a response right now either, with the high demand for the expanded benefits.? Now his family is running out of time. “Things are getting really tight right now and I’m getting at the end of the rope,” Reese said.? “I don’t know where to go from here.” In addition to the main claims hotline at 800-204-2418, the state of Florida also has these numbers for checking and filing unemployment claims: 866-778-7356 and 800-732-8204.? The state also operates Florida Unemployment Internet Direct Now at www.fluidnow.com and www.floridajobs.org . Related Articles Unemployment benefits for Floridians…granted Unemployment benefits restored Floridians will wait for unemployment extension Florida’s new unemployment figures released
August 19, 2010 | Posted in
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PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. (AP) – Billionaire Jeff Greene wants to consider lifting Cuban trade and travel restrictions and said the $787 billion stimulus is a failure, points Rep. Kendrick Meek disagreed with Sunday in the final debate before the Democratic Senate primary. ???? ? The candidates also had different responses on whether they support a mosque opening two blocks from where terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City. Greene opposed the idea while Meek didn’t directly answer the question, saying as a senator he would not be involved in New York’s local government zoning issues. ???? ? The discussion Sunday with WPLG-TV’s Michael Putney was more focused on issues and less contentious than the three previous debates between the candidates engaged in a bitter primary. Polls show the race to be tight with little more than a week before the Aug. 24 election. ???? ? Meek said the federal stimulus helped save and create thousands of jobs in Florida, adding that he “absolutely” takes some credit for helping bring money into the Miami district he’s represented since 2003. ???? ? “Teachers’ jobs were saved, law enforcement jobs were saved, firefighters’ jobs were saved,” Meek said. “We’re not talking about consumers helping the economy bounce back, we’re talking about job creation.” ???? ? Greene called the plan a failure. “I can tell you, Kendrick, the stimulus plan did not work. This last month, unemployment claims went up for the first time in five months. We still have an 11.5 percent unemployment rate in Florida. So the stimulus plan has not succeeded because people like you in Congress don’t understand how this stuff works,” Greene said. ???? ? Greene said the money should have been targeted toward helping businesses expand instead of just random projects. ???? ? Greene also said opening trade and travel to Cuba could help bring business to Florida, a shift in position for him. ???? ? “We have to take a close look at opening up Cuba to travel and the trade embargo,” Greene said. “It’s a 50-year plan that’s failed. The whole idea was to bring down the Castros and they’re still there … I’m not saying let’s open the doors tomorrow, but I’m saying when I get to the Senate I want to take a close look at making a revision.” ???? ? Meek chuckled at Greene’s response. “I haven’t had a change of opinion on Cuba in the last two weeks, I don’t know why Mr. Greene would change,” said Meek, who supports the embargo. “It’s important that we keep our eye on Cuba. It’s important that we treat this as chess” and not checkers. ???? ? Meek avoided a question about whether he supports allowing a mosque near ground zero. ???? ? “I’m not running to be a part of the New York City zoning,” Meek said. “It’s important that we as the United States of America do not step in. We are not the radical individuals that went after the twin towers and the Pentagon.” ???? ? Greene said that allowing the mosque is inappropriate. “I don’t think when their families have to go to mourn their losses, that they should be looking at mosque right there,” Greene said. “You know what? It’s insensitive to the victims, it’s insensitive to those that lost people in this tragedy.” ???? ? The winner of the primary will face Republican Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as an independent, in the November election. Related Articles The First Family heads to Panama City, Fla. Kendrick Meek rides better poll numbers on visit to SW Florida Meek and Scott bring campaigns to Fort Myers Thursday WINK News viewers sound off on McCollum’s immigration plan
August 15, 2010 | Posted in
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Unemployment up sharply, Governor Crist seeks to create jobs By WINK News Story Created: Mar 10, 2010 at 8:46 PM EST Story Updated: Mar 10, 2010 at 10:21 PM EST FORT MYERS, Fla. – Getting Floridians back to work brought Governor Charlie Crist to Fort Myers on Wednesday. Crist made a series of stops across the state for a ceremonial signing of a bill that postpones payment of unemployment compensation taxes. His visit came the same day that staggering new unemployment numbers were announced for the state: 11.9% statewide in January 2010. The jobless rate was even higher in Lee County, at 14.1% (up from 13.4% in December); 13.8% in Charlotte County, and 12.7% in Collier County. But Crist says businesses can afford to hire again, after Florida lawmakers unanimously agreed to wait two years to increase the unemployment tax. “To save 474,000 businesses over a billion dollars in money they’d be paying in taxes, affecting 6.1 million people, that’s a great first step,” Crist said. Critics say it delays a big problem, but many of the unemployed in southwest Florida say they just want to work. “We were hiring up until September and all of a sudden the bottom fell out,” said Jeremiah Corbitt, out of work for the last six months after being cut from a job in the construction industry. On top of the difficulty in finding work, now he’s also facing with problems with his unemployment claims. “I’m caught in this system where everything in the future is just a big question mark,” Corbitt said. Corbitt is one of the nearly 70,000 people unemployed in Southwest Florida in the latest numbers that run through January, after holiday jobs ran out. Companies in health and hospitality have been hiring since, but career advisors say its not enough. “A lot of those numbers don’t make a dent in the unemployment rate because so many people are affected,” said Barbara Hartman with the Fort Myers office of the Agency for Workforce Innovation. The delay in the unemployment tax only lasts until 2012, when the planned increase will kick in. Crist says the state is also accepting $200 million new federal dollars to create up to 25,000 additional jobs. He says he’s also like to see additional cuts to help Floridians. “I’m advocating another $100 million dollar tax cut this year and a reduction in the corporate income tax in Florida, but also the back-to-school sales tax holiday, to reignite that so when families are going back to school for their children, they have chance to get the necessities they need without paying any taxes at all,” Crist said. “All of these things will add up.” Crist’s chief rival for the GOP Senate nomination, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, says the high unemployment numbers only show that Crist’s policies and support of the federal stimulus failed. Many of the unemployed, like Jeremiah Corbitt, are willing to take any job, just to get a paycheck again. “Anything right now, its all about survival right now. It’s all about dropping the pride, getting the bills paid,” Corbitt said. Previous article Punta Gorda 9-1-1 Investigation Next article Community comes together to help San Carlos little league
March 11, 2010 | Posted in
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