The Legislature this week cut spending by roughly $2.8 billion to bring the state budget in balance. Then Gov. Charlie Crist threatened to veto the portion of the spending-cut plan that would take money from public education. We have a much better target for him if the governor is looking to wield his veto pen. ...more

January 17, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - As model airplanes buzzed overhead, a hundred or so people braved the blustery wind blowing from the north Friday afternoon to celebrate the opening of Conner Preserve, the newest addition to Pasco County's roster of public lands. ...more

January 17, 2009

Pasco County officials say they will move forward with efforts to preserve environmentally valuable land now in private hands, despite the loss of help from the state's Florida Forever program. ...more

January 17, 2009

When people were successfully making the case for approving the Penny for Pasco one-cent special sales tax during the March 2004 referendum, voters were told the Pasco School District badly needed its 45 percent share of the tax's annual revenue - more than $400 million over 10 years - because it was swamped by a huge annual influx of students. ...more

January 14, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist, who hinted at vetoing some education cuts intended to help balance the state budget, said Tuesday he's looking mainly at one comparatively small item: an $11 million cut in a teacher certification program. ...more

January 14, 2009

About $400,000 for conservation land purchases in Highlands County this year will be lost if, as expected, the state legislature suspends the state's Florida Forever land conservation program. ...more

January 13, 2009

Florida lawmakers made some of the final decisions Saturday on cutting $2.4 billion from the state budget, making painful and politically controversial cuts in programs that range from preserving environmental land to providing elderly people in-home living assistance. ...more

January 11, 2009

The state Senate wants to suspend the Florida Forever land conservation program six months, effectively abandoning dozens of land purchases already in the works, including several in the Tampa Bay area. ...more

January 9, 2009

The son of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and a prominent Tampa lawyer pleaded with Democratic legislators Thursday to prevent Florida's anti-tobacco trust fund from being raided to balance the state budget. ...more

January 9, 2009

Beleaguered House Speaker Ray Sansom could find himself before a grand jury soon. ...more

January 9, 2009