George Forte intends to mark the bubble next to "no" if a penny sales tax turns up on the November ballot. ...more

December 23, 2009

For Jessica Galarza, the 14-year-old car might not have had a red bow around it, but it did represent not only Christmas present, but Christmas future as well. ...more

December 9, 2009

For Jessica, the 14-year-old car might not have had a red bow around it, but it did represent not only Christmas present, but Christmas future as well. ...more

December 9, 2009

How ironic that Republicans, one of whom I first supported over 20 years ago, and one who pledged never to impose new taxes when he came seeking my assistance in running his first campaign several years ago, would be the leading proponents of a new tax that could siphon as much as $300 million per year from the residents of Hillsborough County. ...more

December 1, 2009

When the sprawling residential-commercial development project that was to be known as Serenova was still on the drawing board, one of the people involved in the project suggested that the center of economic activity in the county was even then shifting from West Pasco to Central and East Pasco. The U.S. 19 corridor would become economically "blighted" and have to be redeveloped, this person suggested. Serenova never got built and the 6,500 acres it would have occupied ended up in the hands of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The U.S. 19 prediction, alas, is still looking viable. ...more

November 14, 2009

Leadership Tampa gives its annual Parke Wright III Award to a leader who has "made a significant difference in the Tampa Bay community." ...more

February 7, 2009

The Hillsborough County School District continues to iron out wrinkles in the bus system that plagued the district at the beginning of this school year. ...more

October 27, 2008

The race for the Pasco County Commission's third district pits veteran incumbent Ann Hildebrand against newcomer Teresa Conroy. ...more

October 19, 2008

When the Legislature voted in May 2007 to create the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, hailed the move as a "tremendous victory" for the Suncoast. TBARTA, he predicted at the time, will "have a huge impact in addressing our transportation needs." Barely 18 months later, getting TBARTA into a state in which it can do anything about the transportation problems in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough and four other counties in west-central Florida is proving a difficult task. ...more

October 18, 2008

Think for a minute about the challenges facing Hillsborough public schools: nearly a dozen high schools labeled as "dropout factories" because as many as 40 percent of students are left behind, a transportation quagmire that's hurt children and families, and spending practices that leave taxpayers wondering where the money goes. ...more

October 14, 2008