If buying a home is the biggest purchase a family makes, choosing the right real estate agent must be pretty important, too. ...more

November 29, 2008

If buying a home is the biggest purchase a family makes, choosing the right real estate agent must be pretty important, too. Most homebuyers pick an agent based on referrals from friends or family. But there's a new method emerging: Web sites that rank agents. But can these rankings be trusted? The Web site approaches vary and so do the results. ...more

November 28, 2008

The Polk County School District has placed four people on leave while it investigates activities in the school board's facilities division, the district superintendent announced today. ...more

November 18, 2008

The number of foreign children adopted by Americans fell 12 percent in the past year, reaching the lowest level since 1999 as some countries clamped down on the process and others battled with allegations of adoption fraud. ...more

November 18, 2008

In reference to the allegations of impropriety concerning Luke Brooker-fill dirt and Bob Germaine-election issues. ...more

November 13, 2008

Cory Lake Isles homeowners have chosen three resident-representatives to serve on the Community Development District board, closing a contentious chapter in the taxing authority's brief history. ...more

November 12, 2008

A federal inmate at the county jail claims staff deprived him of legal services and beat him when he made a formal complaint about it. ...more

November 11, 2008

A local man was free Monday on a $4,000 bond following his Saturday arrest on allegations of battery against a female victim and a police officer. Ulysses Taylor, 36, of Sebring, is charged with battery, resisting an officer with violence and battery of an officer. ...more

November 10, 2008

TALLAHASEE - The Florida Supreme Court rejected the latest round of appeals for Wayne Tompkins, sentenced to die for killing an East Tampa teenager and burying under her home in 1983. ...more

November 7, 2008

A St. Petersburg police officer resigned amid allegations she falsified her application for a job with the department. Had Elisha Perkins not resigned, she would have been fired, according to a police memorandum released Monday. ...more

November 4, 2008