Donald Simmons, code enforcement director, is trying to make the city look even better, and his job is getting easier every day. ...more

November 11, 2008

Highlands County Commissioner Guy Maxcy won a fifth consecutive four-year term in Tuesday's general election as voters also elected Jeff Carlson to the county commission. Maxcy and Carlson, both Republicans, won by resounding margins. ...more

November 5, 2008

Pasco County voters returned incumbent County Commissioners Ann Hildebrand and Jack Mariano to their seats on the five-member board Tuesday. ...more

November 5, 2008

A whopping 29 percent of Florida's homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. And 1.4 million others in the state may soon join them if property values keep falling, according to a report from First American CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based company that analyzes loan data for lenders. ...more

November 4, 2008

The number of homeowners ensnared in the foreclosure crisis grew by more than 70 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2007, according to data released Thursday. ...more

October 23, 2008

Ten hours a day, every day, Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes confines herself to a steel-and-porcelain shed outside her house. The place is as austere as a prison cell - but it's also her sanctuary from an outside world that she says makes her violently ill. ...more

October 21, 2008

Two weeks ago, real estate agent Steve Fruit was examining the value of a Lake Placid house for the owners, who are thinking of selling. For tax purposes, the Highlands County Property Appraiser had valued the property at $254,769. ...more

October 19, 2008

The people behind the 2000 referendum on amending the Florida constitution to place limits on the number of students in public school thought they had a clever way to force the Legislature to spend more money on public education. We've always thought changing the constitution is a bad way to make public policy, but eight years ago voters approved the class size limits. ...more

October 15, 2008

Zane Thomas, running as an independent, has 25 years as a Navy officer, traveling around the world and serving in both diplomatic and combat roles. ...more

October 12, 2008

The attorney for two bikini bars in Hillsborough County has asked a federal appeals court to rehear arguments that a county law restricting such businesses is unconstitutional. ...more

October 10, 2008