WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants smaller community banks to have greater access to the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund as the administration refocuses the bailout money on small businesses and homeowners and winds down programs aimed at big banks. ...more

October 20, 2009

Cigar-rolling put Tampa on the map, but some cigarmakers say a new federal tax on tobacco could stub it out. ...more

April 2, 2009

President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, rejecting turnaround plans from General Motors and Chrysler and raising the prospect of controlled bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant. ...more

March 30, 2009

A Georgia bank with a branch in Tampa was taken over by regulators Friday, marking the 21st failure this year of a federally insured bank. ...more

March 28, 2009

A Georgia bank with a branch in Tampa was taken over by regulators Friday, marking the 21st failure this year of a federally insured bank. ...more

March 27, 2009

Want government assistance? Just say no to drugs. Lawmakers in at least eight states, including Florida, want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing. ...more

March 27, 2009

Drug-Testing Scheme Regarding "Jobless Benefits Drug Test Proposed," Metro, March 17: ...more

March 19, 2009

The chairman of AIG has told Congress he's asked executives to give back their bonuses. The chief executive officer of the failed insurance conglomerate acknowledged Wednesday that the company's multimillion-dollar bonuses were "distasteful" to many and had provoked a firestorm of wrath. "I share that anger," Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of the American International Group Inc., said in testimony prepared for Congress. ...more

March 18, 2009

Elizabeth Rick of New Port Richey wishes she qualified for a free cell phone, like people on Medicaid or receiving food stamps. ...more

March 14, 2009

You would think that poor people, those who can't afford to make a down payment, would be the first to lose their homes in a housing crisis. ...more

March 9, 2009