Welcome to the S2 Report, a daily publication of business news and information covering Sarasota and Manatee Counties. Send us your business news and announcements for inclusion in the S2 Report: press@S2Report.com. We can’t publicize it if we don’t know about it!

TODAY, May 5: YPG After Hours: Join the Sarasota Young Professionals Group the first Thursday of every month for camaraderie and fun. No cover charge or RSVP required. May 5, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, at Michael’s on East, 1212 East Avenue South, Sarasota.

TOMORROW, May 6: EDC Open House: The Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County is hosting a public open house at its new offices tomorrow afternoon. Light refreshments will be served. Friday, May 6, 3:00 to 6:00 pm, at the new EDC office, Live Oak Corporate Center, 2601 Cattlemen Road, Suite 201. For more information, go to www.edcsarasotacounty.com.

Global Signal details public offering: If you’ve been following the business and financial performance of Sarasota-based Global Signal (formerly Pinnacle Towers), you may be interested in its stock. Yesterday, Global Signal announced a public offering of 5,750,000 shares of its common stock at $30.70 per share. Global Signal will issue and sell the shares itself. The company is also granting its underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, an option to purchase 575,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments. The offering is expected to close May 9, 2005. For more information, click here.

Willis A. Smith hires GravityFree: Willis A. Smith Construction, the Sarasota-based firm responsible for the construction on the Ringling Museum grounds, among numerous other local projects, has hired GravityFree to redesign its Web site. GravityFree will update the site to better showcase Willis Smith’s extensive and impressive scope of work. The new site is expected to launch in mid-June.

ResortQuest reports 25% revenue growth: ResortQuest, the property management company that controls a significant number of vacation rentals throughout the Gulf Coast region, reported increases all around for the first quarter of 2005. Compared to the 1Q 2004, company revenue increased by 25%, to $63.8 million, and net income increased 10.5%, to $2.1 million.

Teltronics appoints new Executive VP: Yesterday, Sarasota-based Teltronics, a business communications solutions provider, announced that it has hired Pat Keever as its new executive vice president of sales and marketing for the U.S. and Canada. Keever was most recently with Advanced Telecommunications and Telecom Innovations Group. Read more here: www.teltronics.com.

With Your Own Things launches: Sarasota resident Mary Jeanne Brady, who refers herself as an “Interior Refiner and Decorator,” has launched a new business called “With Your Own Things” decorating service. Brady uses the furniture and accessories her clients already have to make over homes and apartments with a designer look. The company also performs pre-sale “staging” of homes, the rising industry of making a home look as good as possible before it goes on the market. Brady is launching the company in both Sarasota and West Orange, NJ. For more information, click here.

Gevity execs to present at NYC conference: Yesterday, Bradenton-based Gevity announced that its top two executives will deliver a company presentation at the Piper Jaffray Technology Conference in New York City next Friday, May 13, at 11:10 am, at the Palace Hotel. Anyone interested can listen to a live audio web cast of the presentation by logging on here.

Insurer’s rate hike hearing set: Bradenton-based Service Insurance Company requested an average statewide increase on its mobile home customers of 32%. Under Florida law, when an insurer’s requested rate increase exceeds 25% and results in more than $2 million in additional premiums, there must be a public hearing. The hearing on Service Insurance’s rate increase has been schedule from 3:00 to 5:00 pm and from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on May 11 at the Spartan Manor, 6121 Massachusetts Avenue, New Port Richey. The New Port Richey location was selected by state regulators because a significant percentage of the affected policies are in that vicinity.

Diversity award nominations sought: Gov. Jeb Bush and Enterprise Florida are accepting nominations for the Governor’s Business Diversification Awards. All Florida industries can apply, but the program is particularly interested in emerging and high-tech businesses. There are five award categories, recognizing growth of existing businesses, new businesses, entrepreneurship and innovation. Nominations are due by June 24. For more information and to apply, go to www.eflorida.com/govawards.

AirTran and Delta get mixed reports: For the first four months of 2005, AirTran has flown nearly 4.9 million passengers, 18.2% more than it did during that same period of 2004. However, AirTran says that rising fuel costs have hit it where it counts – it took an $8 million loss in the first quarter of 2005, compared with a $4.1 million net income for 1Q 2004. Delta also reported a rise in passenger numbers, having flown about 38 million passengers year-to-date, an increase of 10.6% over last year. However, yesterday, the Department of Transportation released a report showing that for the first quarter of 2005, Delta flights were on-time only 75.2% of the time, ranking it 11th out of the 19 major airline carriers. Even worse, AirTran came in 17th place, with flights on-time only 68.8% of the time. Both carriers fly in and out of SRQ Airport, and both are based in Atlanta.

This is your brain on booze: A Swedish team reports that when they gave mice moderate amounts of alcohol, they actually grew NEW nerve cells in the brain. The resulting theory is that moderate alcohol intake could actually improve learning and memory, but don’t get too excited – it is very much still just a theory. There are plenty of detractors who say this mice study is virtually inapplicable to people, and/or that additional nerve cells simply mean additional chances to develop alcohol addiction. Remember those wild college parties? … Exactly. To read a clever U.K take on the research, click here.

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