The following represent city-, county-, and regional-level news stories around the state relating to the BEBR Population Program's recent release of the April 1, 2009 preliminary population estimates.

Brevard's population dipped last year - Florida Today - August 24, 2009
UF: Polk Is Losing People - The Ledger - August 22, 2009

Public school enrollment numbers will continue to dip statewide and in Alachua County during the 2009-10 school year, according to the latest state numbers.

Projections released earlier in June showed Alachua County's enrollment - including charter schools - dropping for the third straight school year.The projected enrollment is 26,900 students - down about 1.5 percent from 27,293 students during the 2008-09 school year. Since the 2006-07 school year, Alachua County's enrollment is down 1,344 students, or almost 5 percent.

Enrollment in public schools is on the decline statewide, and the trend is even more pronounced in Alachua County.

From 2007-08 to this school year, statewide student enrollment numbers dropped by nearly 25,000 to 2,620,801, Florida Department of Education numbers show.

That's the lowest number since 2004.

Stan Smith, director of the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said factors in the statewide enrollment reduction include a decline in the state's birthrate throughout the first half of the 1990s.

A University of Florida economist said the reason many Americans are financially strapped is simple: Prices are rising and wages are not.

David Denslow, who works for UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said that overall, the retail price index has increased in the past five years about 2 percent to 2.5 percent. This index indicates what people pay for food, housing, medical care and other goods and services.

He said that during the 1990s, prices rose about the same, but pay was keeping up. These days, it's a different story.

In a darkened classroom at Gainesville High, nearly 30 students sit at computer screens as teacher Tony Malo explains how to grab a picture from the Internet and post it to a Web page.

This is an introductory Web design class and, after this rudimentary exercise, the students will move on to designing Web pages and creating graphics and logos.

"I want to get these kids marketable," Malo said. "I want to show them skills that they can use to go out and make money."