With state and local budgets in fiscal free-fall, many of Florida's cities are looking at their revenue and expenses to judge how to improve their fiscal responsibility. But when we look at the long-term picture for cities, one issue in particular leaps out as one that could burden city taxpayers terribly in the years ahead. ...more

March 22, 2009

Ivan Seidenberg, the chief executive of Verizon Communications Inc., received $20.2 million in compensation in 2008, essentially the same as in the past two years, according to a regulatory filing. ...more

February 28, 2009

If current projections hold, the city of Tampa will be $35 million in the hole by 2010. Major cuts in service and personnel will be inevitable. ...more

December 22, 2008

It has been a rough 10 days for Michelle Obama. Internet rumors claimed there was a videotape of her criticizing "whitey" from a church pulpit. A Fox News analyst suggested her affectionate on-stage knuckle bump with her husband, on the night he locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, might have been a "terrorist's fist jab." Fox also labeled her a "baby mama," a term some use for unwed mothers. ...more

June 14, 2008

Proponents of Amendment 2 are deliberately misleading the public by calling it the "gay marriage" or "same-sex" marriage amendment. ...more

June 7, 2008

TAMPA - The St. Petersburg Times is offering early retirement incentives to staff members and may have to lay off employees later in the year, the newspaper said Wednesday. Employees older than 50 with five years of service will be offered enhanced pension benefits if they retire by Aug. 31. The newspaper also froze wages for one year for all of its employees, which number less than 1,300, down from 1,500 two years ago. ...more

May 29, 2008

Florida has the nation's best state pension fund. It's one of a very few that is fully funded, meaning if its investments continue to do well, taxpayers won't have to pay more than they're paying now to cover promised benefits. ...more

May 20, 2008

Imagine collecting your full retirement pension while still earning your full paycheck from the same employer. To do that in the private sector, you'd probably have to retire and find a new job. ...more

February 26, 2008

When talks broke down last month between the studios and striking writers, it began to hit home that scribes could be jobless for many months to come. One of those writers finally made the agonizing decision to stop picketing and go back to work. ...more

January 3, 2008

Lucky To Have Gee Regarding "Union's Attack On Sheriff Conceals Financial Motive (Our Opinion, Dec. 6): ...more

December 14, 2007