According to a News Service of Florida report, a lot of Florida business owners are holding their breath, waiting to see if legislators start cutting sales tax exemptions. We understand the anxiety, but that's exactly where they should look first when trying to figure out how to deal with a $2.3 billion and growing deficit. ...more

December 21, 2008

Don't rule out "Ginny For U.S. Senate" signs just yet. U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, is pondering a potential bid for the seat that Republican Mel Martinez will leave vacant now that he's decided not to run for re-election in 2010, Pete Meachum, Brown-Waite's chief of staff, said Wednesday afternoon. ...more

December 4, 2008

By all the commentaries I have seen, Black Friday two days ago is about to be followed by a darker, tougher and meaner year for millions of Americans, including a lot of us in the Tampa Bay region. ...more

November 30, 2008

The Iraqi Parliament ratified a long-delayed security agreement on Thursday that lays out a three-year timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. ...more

November 28, 2008

The U.S. economy's health has completely deteriorated. Our market activity and that of our major global trade partners has slowed significantly, leading to a decrease in U.S. exports and consumer expenditures. America endured negative growth in GDP down to -.03 percent in the third quarter. The unemployment rate grew at an alarmingly rapid rate in the last quarter. When the fourth quarter statistics emerge, the U.S. economy will likely be in a full blown recession. ...more

November 25, 2008

A heated parliamentary debate on the U.S.-Iraq security treaty was called to an early close Wednesday as lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr scuffled with security guards for the foreign minister and the speaker of the legislature and his two deputies. ...more

November 20, 2008

Nebraska lawmakers got to work Friday in a rare special legislative session designed to repair a unique "safe haven" law that has unintentionally allowed parents to abandon nearly three dozen children as old as 17. ...more

November 15, 2008

The mother was running out of more than patience when she abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital over the weekend under Nebraska's safe-haven law. ...more

November 14, 2008

LINCOLN, Neb. - The mother was running out of more than patience when she abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital over the weekend under Nebraska's safe-haven law. She was also running out of time: She knew that state lawmakers would soon meet in a special session to amend the ill-fated law so that it applies to newborns only. ...more

November 13, 2008

Jamaican pastor Terrence Brown wants killers put to death - he's even offered to trade his collar for a hangman's hood to confront a crime wave that has been terrorizing his parishioners. ...more

November 12, 2008