State regulators say Florida's insurance market can absorb most, if not all, of the 1.2 million policies State Farm plans to drop over two years beginning in November. About 470,000 policies, including all boat-owner policies, will be dropped during the first year. But many insurers won't sell policies for older homes and homes in high-risk coastal areas. ...more

February 27, 2009

In about 30 minutes, more than 200 Jesuit High students received a sobering yet hopeful speech on the economy and its future. ...more

February 18, 2009

A former state representative fired from his job at the Department of Juvenile Justice had more than 350 images of adult pornography on his state laptop, according to a report. The 13-page report said the laptop belonging to former state Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Republican from Miami Beach, was used to view 42 Web pages containing "sexually explicit, sexually provocative and other content." ...more

February 12, 2009

PLANT CITY Writer, performer and professional speaker Ersula Knox Odom this month will portray Mary McLeod Bethune, widely known in the 1950s as a civil rights activist, as well as founder of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona. ...more

January 16, 2009

Please tell me about my doll that still has the original clothes and box. It is in excellent condition. It is marked "Debteen" and was made by Uneeda. It has been in the family for years. ...more

January 11, 2009

Protecting Our Children As one who participated in the politics of getting permission from the state of Florida to establish local children's services councils such as the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, it was a pleasure to read Luanne Panacek's op-ed piece ("Hillsborough's Wise Investment In Children," Jan. 4). Congratulations to Dr. Panacek and her colleagues who do things so well in Hillsborough. ...more

January 8, 2009

Despite the nation's reputation as a rootless society, only about one in 10 Americans moved in the last year - roughly half the proportion that changed residences as recently as four decades ago, census data show. ...more

January 7, 2009

Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup model who helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, has died. She was 85. ...more

December 12, 2008

Some prison inmates in Florida - which locked up more new ones last year than any other state, according to a federal report released Thursday - soon could be living in tents. ...more

December 11, 2008

Most people are thankful to have their parents and children in the same house for Thanksgiving, but one local family has a five-generation Turkey Day tradition that started in the 1950s and is still going strong. ...more

November 27, 2008