Florida's public employee pension and hurricane catastrophe funds are benefiting from an upswing in the financial markets. ...more

September 2, 2009

We all know current economic times are stressful; there is a significant lack of funds coming into our state and local government. Our schools are suffering losses in income. I have read reports that Highlands County will need to operate with at least 30 less teachers next year. My basic question is, can we continue to offer quality education to our students with 30 fewer teachers? ...more

March 19, 2009

Unless you had plenty of spare hours to sit at a computer and access hard-to-find Web sites, it could be a daunting task to find out how much money the state of Florida gives out to local government. ...more

March 19, 2009

New Web site tracks how state spends taxpayer dollars. ...more

March 18, 2009

These are transformational times in a nation rooted for a century in a life of lunch buckets, calloused hands and belching smokestacks. That life is being upended and it's on to new, more ephemeral things. ...more

December 28, 2008

Florida's public employee pension plan has lost more than a quarter of its peak value, but Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials Monday said the fund is built for the long haul and there's no need to panic. ...more

November 17, 2008

Mary E. Wilson, 36, the director of compliance and internal audits with the clerk of courts office, was born in Avon Park and raised in Sebring. She led the audits of the Highlands County library system, the 911 system, the three budget office employees fired because of e-mails and gasoline stolen from county pumps. ...more

October 12, 2008

Proposing an amendment to the state Constitution to delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition and real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship. ...more

October 12, 2008

Mayor Rick Baker, who has led the city since 2001, has been chosen America's Mayor of the Year by Governing magazine. ...more

October 9, 2008

Edgar K. Browning, professor of economics at Texas A&M University, has a new book aptly titled "Stealing from Each Other." Its subtitle, "How the Welfare State Robs Americans of Money and Spirit," goes to the heart of what the book is about. The rise of equalitarian ideology has driven Americans to steal from one another. Browning explains that certain kinds of equality have been a cherished value in America. Equality under the law and, within reason, equality of opportunity is consistent with a free society. Equality of results is an anathema to a free society and within it lie the seeds of tyranny. ...more

August 11, 2008