The search for a new president at Florida Gulf Coast University moved a step forward this morning.

The university’s ‘Presidential Search & Screen Committee’ has unanimously selected Greenwood & Associates from among 3 finalists to help the 8-year-old university find a new president.

The Miramar Beach-based firm specializes in finding university presidents - most recently at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Chair of the search committee – Dr. Peg Gray-Vickrey – says Greenwood had everything they were looking for.

“Has this executive search firm been successful in presidential searches? What are their references from other institutions that have gone through presidential searches? They look at does the person understand how unique the state of Florida is in regard to our Sunshine Laws?”

Gray-Vickrey says the three people from Greenwood who’ll be working specifically on FGCU’s search are all themselves former university presidents – and so have extensive networks to tap into.

“They know individuals who would be perfect for a position who might be, and are, very content at their current job, but they know that this might be a real gem of a position for them. So they start using their contacts and their networks to let individuals know about the position.”

Greenwood & Associates won’t make recommendations – but will help find people to go into the applicant pool. Gray-Vickrey says they mostly help with marketing – and that they’ll send representatives to campus later this month to help the university determine what exactly it’s looking for in a president. She says the goal is to have a new leader in place by year’s end.

The cost to hire an executive search firm like Greenwood & Associates? Roughly a third of the new president’s first year salary… about 85-thousand dollars.

The tallest building in Immokalee is now complete. The third floor of the Immokalee Community School had been an empty shell but a grant from the Naples Children and Education Foundation paid to put up walls – creating classrooms - office space and even a dance studio. Valerie Alker prepared this report.

Southwest Florida continues to grow in popularity as is apparent by the number of people traveling through Southwest Florida International Airport.

February 2007 will go down as a record breaking month. It is the busiest February in the airports 23-year history with more than 841-thousand passengers. And that follows a record breaking January. As airport officials await March’s numbers, spokeswoman Barbara-Anne Urritia says the recent growth of the terminal is helping Southwest International compete with the other airports across the state.

“Obviously it is Orlando and Miami and then Tampa, but I think we are between the fourth and the fifth spot in the state and we continue to grow and now with our new terminal we really feel like we are in a good position to continue that growth.”

Urritia says March is historically the airport’s busiest month. The passenger count at Southwest Florida International Airport is among the top 50 in the nation.

Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney is spending time in his district talking to Veterans. He says the Bush administration has underserved this deserving group of citizens.

Mahoney says 18 percent of his constituents in District 16 – which spans the state from Punta Gorda to Stuart are Veterans. He says as a member of the democratically controlled congress he’s voted twice now for increases in funding for veterans. He says veteran’s needs were pushed aside when the GOP held the majority.

“What people have to understand is that the federal government has been running major deficits – meaning we’re broke. That we’ve been spending a huge amount of money in places like Iraq, and as a result even though there’s been a lot of talk about veterans and supporting veterans the reality over the last six years is that the money hasn’t been there.”

Mahoney has launched a Veterans Advisory Council – charged with educating him about the issues most important to veterans. He will meet with the council quarterly. Mahoney was elected to congress in November following the resignation of Republican Mark Foley who had sent improper emails to underage congressional pages.

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Congressman Tim Mahoney held the first meeting of his new Veterans Advisory Council Monday. The Democrat from the sprawling 16th Congressional District - which spans the state from Stuart to Punta Gorda - says 18 percent of his constituents are veterans, and that their needs and concerns are his top priorities.

“When I got to DC I realized that there’s lots of different things we could work on. But what we needed to do is make sure my priorities were right so that the needs of veterans in my community were being represented in Washington DC. And the best way to do that is to reach out to Veterans themselves and get their input directly as to what the needs are.”

Mahoney’s stops included the Veterans Clinic in Port Charlotte and the Veterans Nursing home in North Port.

Veterans needs have been spotlighted recently because reports about poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D-C where many soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have been receiving care. Mahoney was elected to the District 16 seat in November – following the resignation of incumbent Republican Mark Foley who was implicated in sending salacious emails to underage Congressional Pages.

NASA will delay the first manned flight of the new spacecraft designed to take humans back to the moon because of budget constraints.

U.S. Senator Democrat Bill Nelson of Melbourne spoke last week at a Senate Commerce committee hearing on the future of human spaceflight at NASA.

The space shuttle program will be retired in 2010 and the next manned phase – called Constellation – won’t start flying until 2015. It’s supposed to eventually go to the moon by 2020. Because Cape Canaveral, Florida is almost completely devoted to launch operations, that gap in human flight is going to hit hard. Senator Nelson says that worries him.

“Obviously there’s going to be some loss of employment because if you’re not launching the vehicle you need less of a work force.”

Aerospace and mechanics’ workers unions are also worried about the potential loss of jobs. Nelson is now talking about trying to boost NASA’s 17 billion dollar budget to try and get the “Constellations” test launches to start earlier.

The Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music held a Holocaust Remembrance Chamber Concert Sunday - connected with FGCU’s goal to promote understanding of human rights issues. WGCU’s Amy Tardif was there and has this report.