For years, retailers could afford to be sloppy about running their businesses because customers kept buying. No more. Stung by the worry that shoppers - who cut spending by the most dramatic amount in at least 39 years this holiday season - may not start spending again for a long time, stores are making drastic changes. They are cutting out marginal suppliers, hiring outside experts to keep inventory lean, holding special events for those who are still buying and making extraordinary efforts to gauge customer satisfaction. ...more

January 19, 2009

The city will hold a special budget meeting in January to address an anticipated $157,000 shortfall in revenues. ...more

December 9, 2008

Paul Smokov doesn't need radar or other high-tech equipment to forecast a major snowstorm on the prairie. He consults pig spleens. ...more

December 28, 2007

A long-awaited report on steroid and performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball, which is expected to be released today, will lay blame at all levels of the sport for a widespread drug problem and call for drastic changes in the league's drug-testing program, according to sources briefed on the investigation. ...more

December 13, 2007

Trying to counter claims about the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an environmental group presented a study Wednesday hoping to show that it could be more expensive if Florida doesn't try to stop global warming. ...more

November 29, 2007

FSU coach Bobby Bowden said TB Antone Smith got in another day's work Tuesday, and was optimistic that his junior starter would be ready in time for Saturday's rivalry matchup. ...more

November 20, 2007

When things appear to be heading south and there's no screaming sign of things turning back northward, the outside world tends to start calling for a change. ...more

November 12, 2007

President Bush on Tuesday nominated retired Army Lt. Gen. James Peake to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is struggling to make the drastic changes needed to care for the large number of wounded troops returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ...more

October 31, 2007

The default rate on U.S. mortgages is stabilizing, an American housing official said Monday, adding she didn't expect last week's cut in U.S. interest rates to significantly affect the number of defaults. ...more

September 25, 2007