A bill to protect seagrasses by levying fines on boaters who carelessly run over the flats, House Bill 7059 is drawing fire from some environmental groups because Rep. Will Kendrick tacked on a provision that says developers may cut channels through some grass beds if they agree to "mitigate" the damage by restoring an equivalent amount of seagrass elsewhere. ...more

June 8, 2008

Circuit Clerk Pat Frank opens a satellite office in new regional service center on Pauls Drive, the first for the $4.2-million facility. ...more

May 22, 2008

TAMPA - In an age-old conflict between the pursuit of happiness and the right to remain undisturbed, the Sarasota City Commission last night sided with the undisturbed. The commission stiffened penalties for drivers of vehicles with loud sound systems that can cause alarms to go off in nearby parked cars, dogs to bark and older drivers to cringe. ...more

May 20, 2008

It Would Never Happen The recent passing of a new sign ordinance and the latest rash of "public control" citations issued by our code enforcement storm troopers have me thinking of times gone by. ...more

February 23, 2008

A few Sickles High School students received an expensive lesson last week, courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. ...more

February 9, 2008

Although blame for the Interstate 4 pileup has widely been placed on smoke and fog, the Florida Highway Patrol says at least part of the fault lies with drivers. ...more

February 2, 2008

TAMPA - The Florida Highway Patrol has ticketed nine drivers in the pileup on Interstate 4 in January, but troopers say many more citations likely will be issued as they reconstruct the chaos that unfolded in the smoke and fog. ...more

February 1, 2008

For years, city residents and even city officials have been frustrated by the slow code enforcement process, which can take months or years to resolve some cases. ...more

January 20, 2008

The company that flew the first privately funded manned rocket into space has been cited in connection with an explosion last summer that killed three workers, the state said Friday. ...more

January 19, 2008

TAMPA - Cameras at red lights, which police say save lives and drastically cut the number of light-jumpers, may be coming to Hillsborough County in the near future. Hillsborough County commissioners today gave the sheriff's office a green light to further investigate installing the cameras at 10 of the county's most dangerous intersections. The intersections were not identified. ...more

January 16, 2008