Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission workers are holding an amnesty event today where unwanted nonnative pets can be handed over with no questions asked. ...more

November 7, 2009

Florida Voices for Animals would like to praise Tampa police officer Paul Smalley for rescuing a 3-month-old puppy from a baking vehicle in East Tampa ("Police: Woman left dog in hot car at IKEA grand opening," May 7). We would also like to thank the passerby for alerting the police. ...more

May 18, 2009

Florida is flat as a pancake with minimal elevation and is all but surrounded by water. The farthest point inland from the Gulf or Atlantic is just 70 miles, while most of the population lives within 25 miles of the coast on land no more than 20 feet above sea level. We are 18 million people living on a sand bar with more at risk and more to lose from sea level rise than anywhere in the world. ...more

March 29, 2009

Florida is long overdue to increase the tax/user fee on tobacco products. Florida is currently 46th in the country in cigarette tax at 33.9 cents per pack. Florida ranks second in cancer incidents and sells the most packs of cigarettes in the country, with 1.3 billion sold each year. ...more

March 23, 2009

Florida has turned its back on major problems for years, which has helped make this year's budget crisis harder to manage. ...more

March 1, 2009

Florida growers know how difficult it is to keep optimum soil moisture levels throughout the day, let alone throughout a week between permitted watering during dry times. ...more

January 14, 2009

Florida's speaker of the House, Ray Sansom, has bowed out of the cushy, $110,000-a-year job he was offered after steering millions of dollars to a Panhandle college. ...more

January 6, 2009

Florida has outgrown the concept of the casual lawmaker. If the job is to be done right, that is, as righteously as humanly practical, serving in the Legislature should be a full-time job with one boss: the public. ...more

January 4, 2009

Florida lawmakers have an amazingly difficult task before them as they go to work in 2009. They must find drastic cuts to balance the state budget, or find revenue elsewhere. Most importantly, they must keep vital services while finding ways to cut the budget. One of the most important areas they have to trim involves our institutions of higher education, and so far they aren't doing so well. ...more

January 4, 2009

Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole and District Director Deborah Getzoff have some explaining to do. ...more

December 19, 2008