Hundreds of people are expected to converge on Lowry Park today for the Haitian Heritage Festival, a free event that celebrates the culture and highlights the needs of people from the tiny Carribbean nation. ...more

May 16, 2009

Royal Caribbean International will increase its annual sailings from the Port of Tampa from 28 to 44 beginning in October 2010 and replace the Grandeur of the Seas with the 2,500-passenger Radiance of the Seas on Tampa cruises. ...more

May 15, 2009

A bit of sour news Thursday - in the form of increased jobless claims and higher wholesale prices - suggested the economy is moving in fits and starts even as the recession eases. ...more

May 15, 2009

If you're looking for good news about the economy - and who isn't - look to Pinellas County, where a tourism consultant on Wednesday predicted that the local visitors industry will begin to show signs of recovery by mid- to late September. ...more

May 14, 2009

If you're looking for good news about the economy - and who isn't - look to Pinellas County, where a tourism consultant this morning predicted the local visitors industry will begin to show signs of recovery by mid- to late September. ...more

May 13, 2009

Last Friday the U.S. Labor Department announced that nearly 540,000 Americans lost their jobs in April. As bad as that sounds, last month's jobless total was less than most economists had predicted. In fact, it was the lowest increase in joblessness in 14 months. Of late there have been a few other signs that the economy may not be recovering yet but its rate of decline has begun to slow. ...more

May 13, 2009

Billionaires Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger will spend most of Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting dispensing sage advice on finance, the recession and life, and roughly 35,000 people are expected to pack an arena and overflow rooms at a nearby hotel to listen. ...more

April 30, 2009

Consumer confidence in Florida rose in April thanks to flattening housing prices statewide and news the economy has not gotten worse, a University of Florida report released today said. UF's Survey Research Center at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research reported a six-point gain in its consumer confidence index to 71 in April. ...more

April 28, 2009

Ailing from the recession, many U.S. hospitals have had to begin making painful cuts to patient services and laying off staff, as previous cost-cutting hasn't been enough, an industry survey found. ...more

April 27, 2009

I can't believe how some of the media are comparing our current recession to the Great Depression of the 1930s when there were no Social Security checks, no Supplemental Security Income checks, and no unemployment checks. ...more

April 27, 2009