The Florida Senate appears to have come to consensus on a $1 a pack cigarette tax increase, plus comparable taxes on other tobacco products including cigars - news that raised an alarm for Tampa's cigar industry Monday. ...more

March 31, 2009

The state Senate appears to have consensus on increasing taxes on tobacco products. ...more

March 30, 2009

As painful as it may be for state workers to contemplate, lawmakers are right to consider salary cuts this year. ...more

March 26, 2009

For three weeks, they've listened. Now comes the hard part. Lawmakers spent the first weeks of their spring session listening as state agencies rolled out the stark options for shrinking the $65 billion state budget. ...more

March 24, 2009

President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday. ...more

March 20, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist signed authorization Tuesday for federal stimulus dollars to start flowing into the state by the end of the month. ...more

March 18, 2009

Fire commissioners recently agreed not to get involved in the district's hiring process. ...more

February 12, 2009

The state still faces a deficit of up to $700 million this fiscal year - and $5 billion next year - despite last month's budget-cutting session, the Senate's top budget chief said Monday. ...more

February 10, 2009

The state still faces a deficit of up to $700 million this fiscal year - and $5 billion next year _ despite last month's budget-cutting session, the Senate's top budget chief said today. On top of that, said JD Alexander, head of the Senate's Ways and Means committee, property taxes are expected to yield $1 billion less than the state needs just to maintain the status quo for K-12 public school funding. ...more

February 9, 2009

A grand jury in Leon County decided Monday to investigate complaints about House Speaker Ray Sansom and his dealings with Northwest Florida State College. ...more

January 27, 2009