Here’s the latest from the Q105 Newsroom: Job cuts could be coming to MacDill Air Force Base. Tampa police are searching for a missing man. And, get ready for deep fried fun: The Florida State Fair opens today.

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The Florida State Fair kicks off today at the fairgrounds outside downtown Tampa. From now through February 21st, midway rides, games, and lots of food will be available at the sprawling fairgrounds along I-4. Admission runs up to 12-dollars per adult, but cheaper tickets can be purchased during the week. There are concerts daily, along with fireworks on Friday and Saturday nights.

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Significant job cuts could be coming to MacDill Air Force Base after the Pentagon decided to eliminate the U.S. Joint Forces Command and save 400-million dollars a year. A MacDill spokesman couldn’t tell the “St. Petersburg Times” how many positions would be cut, but did say that about 30-percent of the command’s Tampa-based workforce could be let go. An estimated 23-hundred workers at the command’s headquarters in Virginia will lose their jobs. U.S. Central Command, which is also based at MacDill, could also be facing significant job cuts, as the Pentagon tries to rein in spending.

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Tampa police are searching for a 25-year-old man who was reported missing by his mother, yesterday afternoon. Police say Jermaine Earl Robinson is a mentally handicapped man. He has a thin build, weighs about 190 lbs., and has short brown hair. The Tampa Police Department is asking anyone with information to contact them immediately.

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Two men, Robert Williams and Lance Jones, are in custody, after a shoot-out in St. Petersburg, yesterday morning. 17-year-old Cody Walters was taken to the hospital. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says the boy was shot twice in the arm, just before 9 a.m., on 50th Avenue North, in the vicinity of two schools. His injuries are non-life threatening. Dixie Hollins High was placed on lockdown and Blanton Elementary was under lockout, while authorities investigated the incident. Things are back to normal today.

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It’s been almost three years since Pamela Taylor was found dead in the swimming pool of her family home in Sarasota, but detectives are convinced that her death was no accident. Taylor’s husband, Robert, was recently arrested at his new home in Missouri and charged with his late wife’s murder. Forensic evidence suggests Taylor died from blunt force trauma and was not the victim of a tragic drowning accident. Robert Taylor was working as a county corrections deputy at the time of his wife’s death, and had taken out a life insurance policy on her, two weeks before her murder.

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The Florida Chamber of Commerce is releasing its legislative agenda and the focus is no surprise. Job creation is the main theme of the business group’s goals. The Chamber wants to create jobs by lowering taxes on businesses, improving the state’s education system and by other means. Chamber President Mark Wilson says if the legislature follows their recommendations, thousands of jobs will be created. The Chamber also praised Governor Rick Scott’s freeze on state regulations and his new budget.

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Plans to name a new elementary school in Mulberry after former Polk school superintendent Gail McKinzie will likely be tossed out. A school board official apologized to local residents and said that when they voted to name the new school for McKinzie, it was meant to be a surprise and it was never their intention to ignore what the people in the town wanted. Since then, a push has been underway to name the school for Marine Corporal Ron Payne, Junior, a Mulberry native killed in Afghanistan in 2004. 

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A new RealtyTrac report shows foreclosure filings rose one-percent from December to January. But there is some good news. Filings for January were also down 17-percent compared with the same month a year ago.

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A House committee is set to take up the issue of job creation today. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a hearing this morning on regulatory policy. At issue is whether current regulations are impeding the creation of new jobs.

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Injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is well enough to ask for toast for breakfast. The Tucson lawmaker spoke her first words on Monday, since suffering a gunshot wound to the head last month. Giffords is undergoing vigorous rehab at a medical center in Houston. 

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The nationwide worker strike that began in Egypt, yesterday, is intensifying. Thousands of workers went on strike today. They’re demanding higher wages, transparency in executive pay and better working conditions. Al Jazeera is reporting that about five-thousand doctors and medical students are joining the protest.

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