Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • 1

Learn what shoes the well-heeled are wearing. LIFE, IE Does Disney plan to add a third cruise ship? BUSINESS, 1C Disney's Magic 6 iff I FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007 BREVARD EDITION 1 50 cents FLORIDATODAY.com SPORTS CD umlWiriiM I Hoping for help. Charles Bryant, 74, right, of Palm Bay, talks with Gov. Charlie Crist about homeowners' insurance rates Thursday in Photos by Phil Coale, AP Tallahassee. Bryant was with a group of citizens who came to the Florida Capitol to protest the rising cost of insurance rates.

Oil prices briefly fall below $50 a barrel Large stockpiles drive down cost ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Oil prices briefly fell below $50 per barrel Thursday for the first time since May 25, 2005, after the U.S. government reported larger-than-expected jumps in crude oil and gasoline inventories. Oil has dropped 17 percent since the end of 2006 amid weeks of mild winter weather in the U.S. Northeast, a key consumer of heating fuels, and growing energy stockpiles. "There's no doubt that this is significant," said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading Corp.

"If you're a bull, the only thing you can hold your hat on is they didn't close below $50." The price for a barrel of light, sweet crude for February delivery fell as low as $49.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange but spent only a moment below the $50 threshold. It settled at $50.48, down $1.76 from Wednesday's settlement price. March Brent crude on London's ICE futures exchange fell $1.03 to settle at $5 1.75. Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch Associates, said prices could fall toward $47 in the next two weeks, unless the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries calls for a meeting. "The market is still seeking a bottom," he said, "and we had another bearish element tossed at it in the form of these negative weekly statistics." U.S.

crude oil stocks rose by 6.8 million barrels to 321.5 million, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration. Analysts had been expecting an increase of just 325,000 barrels, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey. The EIA said inventories are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year. Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, rose by 3.5 million barrels to 216.8 million, above analysts' expectations of a 2.6 million barrel rise. Distillate fuel inventories, which include heating oil, rose by 900,000 barrels to 141.9 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 1 .3 million barrel rise.

The EIA said inventories for gasoline and distillate fuels are at or above the upper end of the average range for this time of year. Heating oil fell 2.9 cents to $1.4707 a gallon while natural gas futures rose 9 cents to $6,324 per 1 ,000 cubic feet. Gasoline prices fell 2.3 cents to $1.3553 a gallon. OH insurer coma mm di Governor won't sign legislation if State Farm doesn't buy coverage Petition presentation. Gov.

Charlie Crist greets Bill Shepherd of Satellite Beach as Shepherd presents Crist with a petition containing 3,500 signatures of residents demanding relief from rising homeowners' insurance rates. Brevardians take gripes to Capitol CO Florida Air outlasts Miami's La Salle in OT Florida Air Academy's Rihards Kuksiks celebrates a nice play during the Falcons' game against Miami's La Salle. Gilberto Clavell scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 25 rebounds as Florida Air survived a rare home-court scare in defeating La Salle 103-98 in a battle between ranked Class 3A teams, ID WEATHER Nice, highs near 74 Chance of rain 10 percent. Winds 6-14 mph. Overnight lows near 58, 12A NATIONAVORLD Pulitzer Prize winner Buchwald dies at 81 Art Buchwald, the Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, who made a career out of skewering Washington's elite, then won even wider fame when he chose to let himself die rather than fight for every ounce of life, died of kidney failure at home, 8A SPACE Next rocket launch A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket with five NASA science satellites on Feb.

15 from pad 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch window: 6:07 p.m. to 6:27 p.m. Next shuttle launch Atlantis on an International Space Station construction mission on March 16. Launch time: 6:20 a.m.

COMING UP Avoid artwork hang-ups with the correct frame If you've found the perfect piece of art and want it well-displayed and protected, the proper frame is essential, Saturday In LIFE The latest Space Coast news: floriilat otlay0cotn Gannett Co. Inc. INDEX Classified 1-10F Comics 6E Crosswords 5E 5-Minuteread 12A Help! 3E Lottery 12A.10B Movies TgLF News of record 5B Obituaries 8B Opinions 10-1 1A -V' fV BY PAIGE ST. JOHN FLORIDA TODAY TALLAHASSEE Florida lawmakers on the verge of a radical expansion of state hurricane risk in the name of lowering home insurance rates are vexed by what it won't do: lower premiums at Florida's largest private insurer. Compromise insurance legislation being negotiated by the House and Senate hinges in large part on the savings to policyholders' rates promised by a House provision to sell, cheaply, an added $17 billion in catastrophic hurricane coverage to the private industry.

In exchange, Florida consumers would bail out the fund when it is emptied by hurricane losses. However, State Farm Florida Insurance Co. has announced it has no interest in buying the coverage, because it already purchases reinsurance at cheap rates from its national parent. If the Legislature can't lower rates for the company that writes one out of every five home insurance policies in Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist said he won't sign the bill.

"You're talking about one of the things that concerns me, and I don't use that word lightly," Crist said Thursday as 1NSIHUNTE STORM Legislative Special Session net room. Vurro immigrated from Italy years ago and has since become an American citizen. He was invited by the governor to speak. "We're with you," Crist said. "Please remain vigilant.

You and your activism is why this is moving the way it is." About 100 Brevard residents See CAPITOL, 3A INSIDE TODAY Brevard protesters toll of bigger bills, 3A ONLINE ftoriclilTt WATCH VIDEOS Of Sen. Bill Posey discussing the crisis in an exclusive interview. LISTEN AS Reporter Paige St. John discusses proposals. Reporter Aaron Des-latte discusses how Gov.

Charlie Crist is approaching the session. Political Editor Bill Cotterell discusses recent special sessions. VIEW A photo gallery of Brevard protesters in Tallahassee. The House, Senate insurance reform proposals. lawmakers began to negotiate House and Senate proposals.

If companies can opt out of the rate reform the Legislature offers, Crist said, "where is the relief? So that would not be See INSURER, 3A "She was a great person and a great mother," friend Brandy Gorman said Thursday afternoon, a few hours after the Brevard County Sheriff's Office announced the slaying, the first in Brevard in 2007. Carman's aunt, Lisa Baisden of Clermont, said she just wanted answers about what See SLAIN, 6A ONLINE. To view photos or to listen to the 9-1-1 call, see (lor uf a to a 'crom Speedy spacecraft closes in on Jupiter Mother of three found slain in Titusville home Brevard records year's 1st killing BY KIMBERLYC. MOORE FLORIDA TODAY TALLAHASSEE In a daylong blitz of the state Capitol, Brevard County protesters urged Gov. Charlie Crist, his cabinet and local legislators to halt skyrocketing insurance premiums.

"Stop everybody from ripping people off!" Melbourne Beach hairdresser Vincent Vurro told the governor to the applause of people in the cabi- The body of Sherri Carman, 29, was found beneath a pile of clothes In the laundry room of her home. Woman found slain Harrry T. 4 Harrietts V. Moore Memorial Park Parrish Rd. Westwood Dr.

A Country Place Assisted Living Center 18 MILE T. Standish. FLORIDA TODAY Voted INFLATION SLOWS. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.5 percent in 2006, the best showing in three years, BUSINESS, 1C Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. "This is a very, very interesting scientific opportunity." Added John Spencer, a scientist who also works at Southwest: "We want to cram in as much science as possible." Launched aboard an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station a year ago today, See JUPITER, 6A 04 ONLINE.

For NASA video of the New Horizons mission, visit ft or icla Uul a oiu com BY TODD HALVORSON FLORIDA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL The fastest spacecraft ever launched will swing by Jupiter next month, using the planet's gravity to slingshot itself toward Pluto at a mind-boggling speed that will exceed 52,000 mph. But mission managers said Thursday the close encounter also will provide a unique opportunity to carry out serendipitous science at the solar system's largest planet. "It's not every day that you get to fly by the Zeus of the planets," said principal investigator Alan BY SUSANNE CERVENKA FLORIDA TODAY TITUSVILLE People who knew Sherri Carman described her as an outgoing woman and a fine mother to her three children. Now, those same family members, friends and neighbors are struggling to understand what happened to the 29-year-old North Brevard woman, found dead in her home in the 3300 block of Virginia Drive late Wednesday morning. Breaking News Photo Galleries Multi-media Features and more Florida's Best newspaper Web site.