So not all the news is bad ...

Yes, we've been in the financial quagmire since about 2007. Especially here in Florida, where the foreclosure rate, the ridiculous homeowners' insurance fees and the ever-growing unemployment population have given newscasters something to rant about other than hurricanes.
Not to mention the businesses closing, the national chains that have gone belly-up, and the 500 or so lay-offs that are announced everyday. Add in the banking bail-out and the picture was looking bleak there for awhile.
There many finally be a smidgen of good news on the forefront: Businesses are starting to come back into Florida. Tampa Bay, even. Brighthouse Networks is hiring about 400 people, says their website. Temp agencies are starting to need applicants again. AT&T will add 3,000 employees this year, some of them locally.
And just this week it was announced that an extended stay hotel is being built in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg. Menna Development will break ground this summer on the 120-room hotel near Fifth Avenue South and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South, in the area near Bayfront Medical Center and Tropicana Field. Planners say that it will have an urban architecture and be about seven stories. They'll turn back the sheets somewhere in early 2010.
Amenities will include shuttle and limousine services, pool and fitness center. Many hope it well help to revitalize the Midtown area, and bring some much-needed foot traffic through the doors of our local independent businesses. Good news for our retailers!
This announcement comes on the heels of a few very good days on Wall Street. The Dow was up by several hundred points each day this week, in response to Citigroup announcing that for the first time in months, they were operating at a profit. Since financial stocks have been at the heart of the market collapse, the news is encouraging.
A few good days don't make a trend, though. This could just be one of those bear market rallies that fizzle out as soon as they start. But it does suggest that the winds of change are coming. If people trust the market more, they funnel more money into businesses, which funnel money right back out.
So we may be on the up and up. Let's hope so. Then we can finally go back to worrying over things we actually have control over. Like hurricane season.