President Bush lifted nearly two decades of executive orders banning drilling for oil and natural gas off the country's shoreline on Monday while challenging Congress to open more areas for exploration to address soaring energy prices. ...more

July 15, 2008

We have taken Charlie Crist to task for successfully campaigning for the governor's mansion on a pledge to continue the policies of his predecessor, Jeb Bush, and then breaking that promise more than once. We have no problem with Crist having his own ideas on how to address the state's problems. We just thought he should have been a bit more forthcoming when he was running for governor about the various ways he was planning to tack away from the course Bush followed. ...more

June 21, 2008

People taking out home mortgages may gain new protections soon against shady lending practices as the Federal Reserve seeks to back even the riskiest borrowers, already hit hardest by the housing and credit crunches. ...more

December 16, 2007

In September this year, the IUCN World Conservation Union (IUCN) officially declared the Florida manatee endangered using exactly the same criteria state officials are attempting to use to justify downgrading the manatee's status from Endangered to Threatened. After a scientific status review at the international level, the Florida manatee was declared Endangered on the Red List, which is recognized as the most reliable evaluation of the world's species. The manatee's status evaluation was conducted and also reviewed by some of the world's most qualified sirenian scientists who based their recommendation for listing as Endangered on the most recent scientific data. ...more

November 23, 2007

A group of neighborhood associations in west Pasco is urging county officials to crack down on portable toilets, storage containers and trash receptacles they say are being left at construction sites long after work is done. ...more

November 18, 2007

City leaders are considering getting into the cellular tower business. ...more

September 21, 2007

Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout last weekend, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives. ...more

September 21, 2007

SEBRING — Paving companies did not, as county officials had hoped, lock in lower prices on asphalt for three years to lower the cost of road resurfacing. ...more

September 7, 2007