Profits from government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, instead of taxpayers, would back up a home loan rescue for up to 500,000 strapped borrowers under a plan approved by a key Senate committee Tuesday to pull the nation out of a housing crisis. ...more

May 21, 2008

At the center of the housing crisis, we're told, is someone called the "predatory lender." Such is the myth driving the housing debate in Washington, where both Democrats and Republicans are rushing toward a mortgage bailout. ...more

May 3, 2008

Though this country has made great strides in overcoming racial prejudice and stereotyping groups of people, those things still exist, especially amongst the poor, uneducated and rural Americans. Sebring is rural America and it exists right here in our home town, like it or not. ...more

February 21, 2008

How many trailers are involved? The Federal Emergency Management Agency says 25,162 trailers are occupied in Louisiana, 10,362 in Mississippi. The trailers were made by several companies. Some were made specially for FEMA. ...more

February 15, 2008

WASHINGTON Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee kept a tight grip on their contradictory accounts of illegal drug use in a dramatic showdown Wednesday before a congressional panel whose 40 Democrats and Republicans seemed to line up and take sides on a partisan basis. ...more

February 14, 2008

"Just Do It," one of Nike's ad slogans, might also be something the government should use to encourage consumers to spend their expected tax rebates. ...more

February 6, 2008

While the mud thickens as the Democrats and Republicans go at each other to try to win the presidency, the Bush administration is moving in its last 11 months toward addressing one of the greatest of all domestic problems: the cold but savage slaughter and the enormous expense imposed upon this society by the street gangs that terrorize urban communities from coast to coast. ...more

February 5, 2008

Democrat Barack Obama told young voters Saturday his multicultural background lets him "see through the eyes of other people" abroad in ways another president could not. Closer to home - and student pocketbooks - Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke of aggressive steps to make college affordable. ...more

February 3, 2008

From a reading of or listening to our traditional media, one gets the impression that European governments are models to be emulated, and their citizens are thrilled; whereas the U.S. is hopelessly flawed. Perhaps a more accurate view is that we all have shortcomings, but the preferred media attitude - as well as that of the United Nations, a hopeless failure itself - is to find fault with the U.S. ...more

February 2, 2008

SEBRING — With the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries going off today, partisan voters in Highlands County and all of Florida have two questions to answer: u Who do they want to become their party's nominee, and u Do they want to approve a constitutional amendment that makes Save Our Homes portable while doubling the homestead exemption for homeowners whose house's assessed value is at least $75,000? The Supervisor of Elections Office reported that 6,672 voted early, while 898 absentee ballots were received by Saturday, well above what supervisor Joe Campbell said he predicted. Campbell declined to provide an estimate for today's turnout. As far as presidential candidates go, former Massachusetts governor and Republican candidate Mitt Romney is Sebring builder James Matthews' pick. ...more

January 29, 2008