Sony Corp. is slashing 4 percent of its worldwide work force, reining in spending and shutting plants as it tries to ride out a looming worldwide recession that is battering Japan's export-reliant manufacturers. ...more

December 10, 2008

The bad economic news just keeps getting worse. Last year, Florida legislators learned the state would lose about $1 billion in revenue. Before they could act on that news, it turned out the state had actually lost $2 billion. ...more

December 5, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist says he still may propose borrowing from the state's tobacco settlement trust fund to help avoid a budget deficit even though the fund has lost nearly half its value. ...more

November 20, 2008

Florida's public employee pension plan has lost more than a quarter of its peak value, but Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials Monday said the fund is built for the long haul and there's no need to panic. ...more

November 17, 2008

Barack Obama and John McCain uncorked massive get-out-the-vote operations in more than a dozen battleground states Sunday, with millions of telephone calls, mailings and door-knockings in a frenzied, fitting climax to a record-shattering $1 billion campaign. ...more

November 3, 2008

It's looking like a good year for big oil - again. ConocoPhillips, the first of the major oil companies to report earnings for the third quarter, said profits soared 41 percent as crude prices soared to record highs over the summer. The numbers posted by the third-largest U.S. oil company easily topped Wall Street forecasts. ...more

October 23, 2008

More than three-fourths of the 7,500 developmentally disabled people scheduled to lose benefits this month have appealed the cuts, said a spokeswoman with the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities. ...more

October 13, 2008

Relief is on the way for some financially strapped homeowners. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, which took control of Countrywide Financial Corp. early this year, said Monday it will modify bad mortgages with up to $8.4 billion in interest rate and principal reductions for 400,000 Countrywide customers. ...more

October 7, 2008

PLANT CITY The nation's largest wireless provider last week activated a new cell site in the Plant City area. ...more

October 4, 2008

A battle broke out Friday for control of Wachovia as Wells Fargo agreed to pay $14.8 billion for the struggling bank, while Citigroup and federal regulators insisted that Citi's earlier and lower-priced takeover offer go forward. ...more

October 4, 2008