Barack Obama said he's as hopeful as ever about the future of the U.S. as thousands of Americans converged on Washington's Lincoln Memorial for a free concert to celebrate his inauguration as the first black president. ...more

January 18, 2009

During the election some compared Barack Obama to a rock star. They were wrong. He's bigger than a rock star if TV coverage is any measure of fame. ...more

January 18, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama stepped onto a train car built in 1939, a time when his presidency would not have been possible in America, and set off for Washington on Saturday in a three-day prelude to his inauguration as the country's 44th president. ...more

January 18, 2009

Updates By Cell Phone; A Pitch For Ideas Barack Obama's high-tech bandwagon is rolling on, combining information on inauguration events with a pitch for cash to pay for them. The president-elect's aides told supporters this week that they could learn by e-mail about community service projects across the country tied to his swearing-in Tuesday; that they could receive updates by cell phone on traffic and events in the nation's capital; that the best of their ideas on how to govern, submitted on his Web site, would get his attention; and that they could contribute money. ...more

January 17, 2009

Except for Richard Nixon, no president since Harry Truman leaves office more unloved than George W. Bush. Truman's rehabilitation took decades. Bush's will come sooner. Indeed, it already has begun. The chief revisionist? Barack Obama. ...more

January 17, 2009

Ozzwald, a Belgian Malinois from Holland who served as a member of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, has died. The dog, known as "Ozzi," was 8 years old. ...more

January 16, 2009

In the past week, I've twice been close enough to Dick Cheney to kick him in the shins. ...more

January 13, 2009

Tampa leads Amtrak's passenger growth in Florida, with a 33.5 percent gain in ridership to 100,119 passengers from fiscal 2007-08. ...more

January 12, 2009

Sgt. Derrick Brooks puts his left hand on the book and raises his right, ready to take the oath of office. Dozens of cameras capture this moment in history, even though Brooks is wearing a name card reading "Pres.-elect Obama." ...more

January 12, 2009

One day after the nation's unemployment rate jumped to a 16-year high, President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday again raised the estimate of how many jobs would result from his economic recovery plan, saying it would create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs, nearly 90 percent in the private sector, by the end of 2010. ...more

January 11, 2009