Troubled borrowers with home loans from IndyMac Federal Bank will be able to switch to fixed-rate mortgages under a new plan from federal regulators, who seized the bank last month after it became the largest regulated thrift to fail. ...more

August 21, 2008

State Farm Florida wants to raise home insurance rates nearly 50 percent statewide, but its proposal is loaded with excessive costs and profits, Florida's consumer advocate said Tuesday. ...more

August 13, 2008

Day after day for the past two years, trucks full of chopped up yard waste dumped their loads on a piece of land that included a sensitive wildlife habitat in south Hillsborough County. ...more

August 11, 2008

The collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine one year ago was so extensive, federal officials found no other mining disaster in the past 50 years to compare to it. ...more

August 7, 2008

The money we keep in the bank is supposed to help us sleep at night, not cause nightmares. ...more

August 7, 2008

Crippled by millions of dollars in bad loans, First Priority Bank was seized and closed Friday by banking regulators. ...more

August 2, 2008

We criticize Tampa Bay Water, the Clearwater-based regional drinking water utility to which Pasco County and New Port Richey belong, when it has problems. So we thought we'd point out an area in which it is headed in the right direction. ...more

July 30, 2008

In recent days, considerable attention has been given to the licensing of mortgage brokers in the state of Florida. This was prompted by an article appearing in the Miami Herald which implied that the Office of Financial Regulation has been lax in its issuance of mortgage brokers' licenses. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our office takes licensing very seriously. In fact, nearly 30 percent of all mortgage broker applications are not approved. Our office has procedures in place that allow for checks and balances which require each application to undergo a thorough review, insuring that all state requirements are adhered to in the issuance of the license. ...more

July 29, 2008

Customers of two banks closed by federal regulators were assured that every penny of their money was protected, preventing lines of angry accountholders from forming Saturday. ...more

July 27, 2008

Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street. ...more

July 26, 2008