Florida

Brown & Bigelow, the top 50 distributor headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., expanded its presence in the Florida market with the acquisition of Jacksonville Specialty Advertising (JSA Promos) of Jacksonville, Fla.

Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a State of Emergency as Debby continues to drench the Sunshine State. The tropical system continues to sit nearly stationary over the Gulf of Mexico brining inches of rain and threatening to inundate low-lying neighborhoods. Debby has cut power to 35 thousand people across Florida.

Monday morning Debby's winds weakened, causing officials from the Florida-Alabama boarder to Destin, Fla. to cancel tropical storm warnings as the storm parked offshore. Even with the storm's center at least 90 miles offshore, it lashed Florida with heavy rains and spawned isolated tornadoes that killed at least one person.

Pittsburgh-based baked goods supplier Smiley Cookie has finalized an agreement with five new independent regional sales representatives: Jon Wendinger, representing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota; dual team Wayne Burden and Roberta Reiss, representing Northern New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine; Mark Thieleke, representing North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; Penny Hughes, representing Florida; and Vince Bagwell, representing Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

Fresh Beginnings announced the hiring of Cochran and Company to represent their gourmet food gift line in the Southeast, including the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Hurricane Irene threatens to damage about a quarter of the cotton areas in Georgia, the second-largest grower in the U.S., and a large part of South Carolina, when it makes landfall, a weather forecaster said.

Irene was forecast to reach the eastern Florida coast and hit South Carolina on Aug. 27, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It may affect Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, causing about $2.2 billion in losses, according to an initial estimate by Kinetic Analysis Corp., a risk modeling firm in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Constant Contact Inc. announced the schedule for its spring Small Business Summit series, "Helping Small Business Succeed." The company, which recently announced a partnership with ePromos Promotional Products, has partnered with several Florida business organizations to provide expert knowledge to local small businesses.