A Senate committee has approved opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling within 10 miles to the Florida Panhandle and within 45 miles off the rest of the state's coastline. ...more

June 9, 2009

The father of a young woman murdered in Tallahassee while acting as an undercover informant has pleaded for stricter guidelines for police. ...more

April 6, 2009

A Senate committee unanimously approved a proposed tobacco tax hike Thursday - but only after stripping out a $50 million earmark for Tampa's H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. ...more

April 1, 2009

A Senate committee unanimously approved a proposed tobacco tax hike today – but only after stripping out a $50-million earmark for Tampa's H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. ...more

March 31, 2009

The scary thing, say those who advocate for schools and their leaders, is that a Florida Senate committee came up with a budget that's not so bad, considering the economy. Scary because senators would start making financial decisions advocates say are best left to local school districts. ...more

March 31, 2009

With only a month left in the state legislative session, the going has gotten slow for Central Florida's commuter rail project. ...more

March 31, 2009

The Seminole Indian Tribe would get a monopoly on big-payout slot machines across Florida but would have to give up casino games under legislation unveiled by the state House on Friday. ...more

March 28, 2009

Miss Florida Teen USA Kayla Collier was 15 when she first visited a tanning salon so the stage lights at a local pageant wouldn't make her fair skin look ghostly white. ...more

March 26, 2009

It could soon become harder for teens to get a tan in the Sunshine State. ...more

March 25, 2009

A plan to help disabled veterans created controversy Tuesday when a Senate committee combined it with one to expand term limits for state lawmakers. ...more

March 25, 2009