OK, relax. There will be no bats thrown in showers after losses, no trail of broken wine bottles leading from the manager's office. Joe vs. The Volcano is nearly always a walkover for Joe Maddon's sunshiny optimism. ...more

February 15, 2008

When you walk towards your polling place on Jan. 29, you may see someone with a clipboard or card table. This person will be a volunteer, a fellow Hillsborough County citizen, who wants your signature on a petition to change the structure of our county commission. ...more

January 27, 2008

Clockwise from top left, Commissioners Jim Norman, District 5; Brian Blair, District 6; and Mark Sharpe, District 7, represent voters in all of Hillsborough County. ...more

January 27, 2008

The existing structure of the Board of County Commissioners for Hillsborough County was adopted in the 1980s to improve accountability after several commissioners were arrested and convicted of taking bribes from developers. ...more

January 26, 2008

My family and I are new to Florida. As with many newcomers, we were dismayed by local property tax rates and hoped the Legislature would address the issue. ...more

January 25, 2008

The police are just as out of control and inefficient as the rest of our government. It took me three separate visits to recover some stolen property from the sheriff's office. My attempts were made during normal posted working hours and as instructed by our finest. ...more

January 4, 2008

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has announced plans to introduce federal legislation to better regulate embedded giving, the fast-growing fundraising practice that involves building a gift to charity into everyday purchases. "We need to ensure that charity is not being used solely as a sales pitch," Menendez said in a statement. ...more

December 16, 2007

Brooksville resident Nina Mock vividly remembers the night she and others pulled an all-nighter at the Hernando County School District. ...more

November 20, 2007

When talk show host Oprah Winfrey opened a $40 million school in South Africa earlier this year, People magazine called it "Her Proudest Day," as well it was. ...more

November 18, 2007

Regarding "Put School District On A Consultant Diet" (Our Opinion, Nov. 5): Pretty funny that the school board attorney, Tom Gonzalez, says, "In effect, the district could hire a consultant for any amount of money without seeking bids." ...more

November 8, 2007