LAND O' LAKES - Janine Gordon hopes to open a bakery some day, so she admits she's a bit envious of future Land O' Lakes High students who will be able to take full advantage of a culinary arts academy planned for the school. ...more

December 19, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's passenger rail bill into law Wednesday in ceremonies in Tampa and three other cities while delivering the message that new rail equals thousands of new jobs. More than 150 Tampa Bay area elected officials, business people and transportation advocates turned out at a vacant lot just south of the intersection of Interstate 275 and Interstate 4, where a high-speed rail station is planned for a proposed Tampa-to-Orlando route. The bill will improve the state's chances at winning federal stimulus money for the high-speed rail line that could be built by 2014. It also will jump-start the $1.2 billion SunRail project planned for Central Florida, create a new statewide rail authority and dedicate additional state money to Tri-Rail, South Florida's faltering commuter line. The high-speed project could provide as many as 15,000 construction jobs beginning in 2011 if the Obama administration approves the state's $2.5 billion high-speed rail bid, state officials said in its federal stimulus application. "Jobs, jobs, jobs is what it's really all about," Crist said. ...more

December 17, 2009

Pasco County officials will seek $4.5 million in federal help this week in hopes of filling nearly three dozen firefighting jobs, the majority of them cut from the county budget Oct. 1. ...more

December 16, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist is scheduled to sign Florida's rail legislation bill, which won legislative approval last week, at events Wednesday in Tampa, Tallahassee, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. ...more

December 15, 2009

Trillion-dollar debacle As a federal employee I'm familiar with how the system works. We can choose from various health care companies and plans, and the government pays a portion of the premiums as a benefit. ...more

December 14, 2009

Walls are cracking, a building has sunk 2 inches, and the plumbing is old, but help could be on the way for Richey Elementary. ...more

December 13, 2009

An injection of federal stimulus money could reverse some of the cuts Pasco County made this fall to its firefighting force in response to falling tax revenue. ...more

December 12, 2009

China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest market for automobiles, the first time any other country has bought more vehicles than the nation that produced Henry Ford, the Cadillac and minivan. ...more

December 11, 2009

Anyone setting odds on Florida's chances next month to get as much as $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money to build a Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail line might consider this: ...more

December 10, 2009

The White House didn't invite the firms that will create new jobs to last week's "job summit" - dominated by the CEOs of big firms, Ivy League economists and union officials - because they weren't available. Many of them don't even exist yet. ...more

December 9, 2009