In the face of state budgets cuts and a faltering economy, the School Board of Highlands County is boosting its usual annual presence at the legislative session in Tallahassee. ...more

March 20, 2009

Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith will share a stage today with the person who must decide whether Florida will qualify for as much as $2.2 billion in education-related stimulus funds. ...more

March 10, 2009

'User' Tax A Remedy Jump-starting the economy should not be as difficult as it seems. Most economists agree that the mortgage crisis is one cause, if not the main one. A one-cent increase in the state or county sales tax could be a sure remedy. ...more

January 9, 2009

When state budgets take a beating, college students and their families seem to be first to feel the pain. ...more

January 3, 2009

That day in July was one that Tammy Morse won't soon forget. Five months earlier, her husband had lost his job as a recruiter for the financial services industry. Now it was the summer and the family savings were gone. She saw no way to get health insurance coverage for her family other than to apply for Medicaid. ...more

December 22, 2008

When Can We Expect Relief? Just a few months ago oil was at $145 a barrel. Yesterday it closed at $46. Effectively a 68 percent drop. Gasoline was $4 a gallon and is now about $1.83 - a 54 percent drop. ...more

December 6, 2008

With a timely endorsement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, there's new life to the idea of Congress returning to Washington next month to pass a second round of measures aimed at injecting life into the economy. ...more

October 21, 2008

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have offered similar campaign pronouncements: A college education should be affordable to anyone, and the process of getting federal aid is more complicated than it should be. ...more

October 6, 2008

Barack Obama used a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday to outline a new economic stimulus plan he wants Congress to enact even before he takes office, to be paid for with a windfall tax on oil company profits. ...more

August 2, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG In a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg Friday, Barack Obama used a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg Friday to outlined a new economic stimulus plan he wants Congress to enact even before he takes office, to be paid for with a windfall profits tax on oil company profits. ...more

August 1, 2008