Population growth has slowed in the prior housing boom states of Arizona, Florida and Nevada, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday [subscription required], citing U.S. Census Bureau data for the 12 months ended July 1, 2007.

Further, the U.S. Census Bureau's report continued to confirm a decades-long trend of U.S. population shift from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and South.

Florida, arguably the state that's been hardest hit by the housing slump, experienced the largest decline in population growth, The Journal reported. Florida's population increased by 35,301, or 1%, during the 12-month period, compared to an increase of 134,798 during the previous 12-month period.

Constantly on the lookout for those things that subtly show potential, my keen eye has spied a possible giant upcoming in the kingdom of the minerals. Enter the humble player tellurium, a mineral byproduct of copper production. This relatively unknown mineral currently is not mined in any commercial sense. It's primarily derived through a recovery process applied to the sludge from copper refining. What is the interest in tellurium and why should you care about it? Well, here's what the State Geologist of Arizona has revealed to me.

According to Jack Lifton at Resource Investor, this fall Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Samsung "will introduce flash memory replacements ... that can be used, erased, and used again indefinitely, but, rather than being crystalline silicon technology based, are made from tellurium based glasses composed of germanium, antimony, and tellurium." What could this possibly mean to a sharp-minded investor? It means that there quite possibly resides an untapped multi-mega fortune in copper refining sludge. In 2000, tellurium marketed for just under $4.00 a pound. Last year, the mineral had reached $96 and is currently around $100 a pound.

Additionally, First Solar Inc., (NASDAQ: FSLR) of Phoenix, which went public last fall, is using cadmium tellurium in the production of photovoltaic cells. Its public statement regarding the use of the material is as follows: "Cadmium tellurium ... has the potential to deliver competitive conversion efficiencies with approximately 1% of the semiconductor material used by traditional crystalline silicon solar modules." That's one percent of the current weight and one percent of the current volume. Imagine the solar conversion capacity currently available reduced in size by 10%. Yeah baby, now that's potential!

Some stick-in-the-mud people may still want to turn their noses up at the realities of solar conversion and its future. That's fine with me. I'll just watch someone else get rich while I'm sitting in the sunshine.

NextPhase Wireless (OTCBB: NXPW) has really caught my attention. At just $0.10 a share it looks to me like a stupendous bargain -- or at least a real cheap entry point for those of you looking to establish a tech footprint for yourselves. Although running a bit under the radar from mainstream, this company has been anything but quiet within the wireless tech news circles. I agreed with you late last year that consumer trends were continuing to bring wireless technologies into screaming full-steam-ahead status. NextPhase is one of the companies making full use of this relentless trend.

NextPhase presents itself as a "next generation" connectivity company, which becomes obvious as you read about it -- NextPhase truly is on the cutting edge in its field. NextPhase is in the business of building its own wireless networks and is very close to an infrastructural breakout nationwide. The company announced yesterday that it is right on target for completion of plans to migrate to licensed spectrum for network back-haul by the end of Q3 2007. Simply put, the company is growing rapidly to meet solid customer demands.

Tom Hemingway, Chairman and COO of NextPhase, indicates that small- to medium-sized companies find significant benefits by subscribing to its newest IT services because customers now have access to security, disaster recovery and network performance solutions of a quality that would not be cost effectively available to them otherwise. These new "managed IT" services are a value-added adjunct to NextPhase's already well-established broadband services. The company has been rapidly expanding its nationwide footprint with moves into Arizona, Oregon and California. I also found mention of an intended purchase by the company into New Jersey, but I have not yet been able to confirm that. Next Phase appears to me to be an aggressive, focused and driven company. If any of our readers can provide some hardcore financial research on the company, please do share!

Gary E. Sattler holds no financial interest in NextPhase Wireless.

Even people who don't plan to either buy or sell a home are going to be hurt by the decline in the real estate market.

As the New York Times notes, growth in state tax revenues has slowed and in some cases dropped below projections this year. That's bad news in areas where property tax reform is a big political issue such as my homestate of New Jersey, which has the highest property taxes in the country.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) chairman, has said that the state could face a $2.5 billion deficit by 2008. Among the ideas being considered to close the gap is a sale or lease of the Turnpike and the Lottery.

We New Jerseyeans are getting some property tax relief. A recently passed law will cut proprty taxes by 20 percent and cap tax increases at 4 percent. Still, the Associated Press points out that New Jersey taxes average $6,390, twice the national average.

I'm not expecting more relief from Trenton any time soon.

In fact, housing sales fell in February to their lowest rate in seven years, so people in other parts of the country shouldn't expect big tax cuts either.

States such as Arizona, Nevada, Florida and California, which especially benefited from the real estate boom, are expected to be hit especially hard by the slowdown in the real estate market, the Times said.

Remember, any short fall in the money that the states collect is going to have to come somewhere. Think about that when you file your taxes this year.