I sat at a traffic light at State Road 60 and 22nd Street in Tampa on Thursday as law enforcement agencies escorted a hearse bearing the body of a soldier who had died in service to our country. He was home for burial. I arrived home a short time later and turned on the news to see that numerous brave souls awaiting deployment overseas were killed in Texas. ...more

November 7, 2009

A Tampa man was arrested Saturday in connection with a beating in June in which he allegedly used a brick to beat someone he knew unconscious, police records show. ...more

July 25, 2009

Being honked off doesn't give you a right to honk on, a judge told a woman who vented at a neighbor by leaning on her car horn at 6 a.m. ...more

June 9, 2009

NATO said Monday that Georgia eventually will become a member, reaffirming its support for the country with which it is hosting joint military exercises to Russia's dismay. ...more

May 26, 2009

The mother of Joshua Lee Altersberger described to jurors a family history of abuse and drugs, as the defense presented testimony in day two of the defendant's penalty trial. Altersberger pleaded guilty March 13 to shooting and killing Florida Highway Patrol trooper Nicholas Sottile during a Jan. 12, 2007 traffic stop in Highlands County. A jury was selected last week to hear testimony to help them make a sentencing recommendation. ...more

March 31, 2009

John Chase of Palm Harbor urges Congress to approve President Barack Obama's economic plan and beat up on bankers later. ...more

March 28, 2009

"Populist anger in America is the anger of dispossession," writes Newsweek's Rick Perlstein. "The delinking of effort and reward has become all too manifest. That always makes Americans angry. We do not like to reward those who do not produce." ...more

March 26, 2009

The attorney general of Connecticut said Saturday that he is asking American International Group Inc. why documents appear to show the company paid $53 million more in bonuses to its financial products division than previously reported. ...more

March 21, 2009

Friday's Highlands Today editorial "Obama must stand up to his own party on budget," I believe, misrepresents the entire budget process and wrongly leaves the impression that it is the Democrats who did most of the wasteful spending. ...more

March 19, 2009

Pain needs a voice. We describe what hurts to the doctor and he gives us a prescription to fix it, or tells us what to do. Saying what hurts us makes it possible to get well, and we're all good at describing the symptoms. "I have a sharp pain on the left side of my stomach." "I see bright wavy lines that dance around for a few minutes and then my head throbs." ...more

March 18, 2009