If you picked up the most recent Time magazine, you probably saw a story captioned: ``A Shrinking Sunshine State.''

And, if you're like many Floridians who are sick of stewing in traffic, you got your hopes up.

The University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, which tracks population trends, recently reported that the state lost 58,294 residents between April 2008 and April 2009.

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

Once-explosive population gains in Lee County have nearly flat-lined, new estimates show, equating to the smallest growth hiccup since the 1970s.

Census Bureau figures released today reveal the population crept up about 1 percent from 588,129 in 2007 to 593,136 in 2008.

A News-Press analysis of state estimates dating to 1970 shows that the last time county growth hit the 1 percent range was from 1975 to 1976, a recession marked by unemployment and double-digit inflation.

Lee County's economic output slowed to a crawl in 2006, sinking what had been one of the nation's fastest growing economies to a middle-of-the-pack performer, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The area ranked 175 out of 363 metropolitan statistical areas for growth, as ranked by the bureau. In 2005, Lee ranked sixth in the nation for growth.

Non-Hispanic whites are leaving Broward and Palm Beach counties in droves. Meanwhile, the dramatic growth of Hispanics and other minority groups has slowed to a trickle.

The latest U.S. census estimates, released today, show that the number of non-Hispanic whites in Broward County went down by more than 24,000 between 2006 and 2007, single-handedly accounting for the county's drop in total population. In Palm Beach County, that number dropped by more than 9,000.