Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita on Wednesday wanted to ask some hard questions of Jim Barnes, the commission's internal performance auditor. ...more

April 2, 2009

Common Cause is shutting its Florida operations at the end of the month. ...more

March 23, 2009

As Florida newspapers call attention to laws that guarantee access to public records and government meetings, lawmakers are considering dozens of bills to block information now available to citizens. ...more

March 15, 2009

The Issue: Limiting Citizen Input And Reducing The Number Of County Commission Meetings Each Month. Our Opinion: Bad Ideas. ...more

February 19, 2009

The investigation by the Highlands County Sheriff's Office into hidden cameras in offices of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court here concludes that there was no wrongdoing on the part of court officials, said Detective Sgt. Darin Hood. ...more

February 18, 2009

Fire State Farm Editor's note: The following letter was written to Jim Thompson, president of State Farm Florida, and forwarded to Sen. Mike Fasano. It is reprinted here at the author's request. ...more

February 5, 2009

Attorney General Bill McCollum has sent the Northwest Florida State College trustees a letter saying it is illegal to advertise government meetings in one town but hold it in another town far away - something the college did when holding a meeting that's linked to the controversy over House Speaker Ray Sansom. ...more

January 28, 2009

Putting into effect a campaign promise to set a new tone in Washington, President Obama moved quickly this week to impose restrictions on lobbying while opening up the processes of governing. ...more

January 23, 2009

Open government in Highlands County has become more open. Every county commission meeting now can be viewed not only on cable television, but also streaming live on the Highlands County Clerk of Court's Web site, www.hcclerk.org. ...more

November 25, 2008

Florida's proposal to acquire 300 square miles of Everglades land from U.S. Sugar Corp. was illegally brokered in closed-door meetings, an attorney claimed in a lawsuit filed Friday. ...more

August 2, 2008