In what might be a moot point, Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson has withdrawn his request for $2.3 million to cover cost overruns in his office. ...more

December 20, 2008

Outgoing elections supervisor Buddy Johnson has changed his mind about asking the county commission to give his office more money. ...more

December 19, 2008

Hard-line opponents of an auto industry bailout branded the industry a "dinosaur" whose "day of reckoning" is near, while Democrats pledged Sunday to do their best to get Detroit a slice of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue in this week's lame-duck session of Congress. ...more

November 17, 2008

Tampa General Hospital CEO Ron Hytoff says he's embarrassed by a federal agency's findings that the hospital's psychiatric ward poses a threat to patient safety. He should be. ...more

August 25, 2008

Just because Wall Street is terrible at learning from its mistakes, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be. ...more

June 12, 2008

There's no fish - ever - that you can go out and catch for sure. But for the past several years, Spanish mackerel have been edging closer to the sure-thing category along Florida's west coast. Thanks to years of protection from gill nets, as well as modest recreational limits, there are now more and bigger mackerel than at any time in the past 30 years. ...more

June 6, 2008

It seems odd that Avon Park doesn't do annual evaluations of department heads. That's the case, though, and we don't believe it's fair to department heads and it's certainly not good management of people by business standards. Good managers understand that employees need to know where they stand on a regular basis, which means regular communication. Along with that, they should have an accurate evaluation every year. The key word here is "accurate." Glowing annual evaluations sure make everyone feel warm and fuzzy, but they don't begin to identify weaknesses, strengths and areas where improvement is necessary. Sitting down with a good employee and telling them that along with all their positives, they also have weaknesses is one of the toughest things a manager has to do. It's also, perhaps, the most important thing they do. ...more

September 23, 2007