Archive for February, 2010

The new fees Florida lawmakers slapped on motorists last fall are now threatening to slam the brakes on a host of programs financed by specialty license tags – a voluntary purchase many drivers are ditching to save money. Higher rates for new license...

With former House Speaker Ray Sansom gone, Florida lawmakers now face deciding whether the Destin Republican’s budget-dealing will spark reform in a capitol long defined by power politics. Ten months ago, in issuing criminal charges against Sansom and...

One of the Capitol’s most visible lobbyists – Justice 2 Jesus’ Brian Pitts – has been ordered jailed following a lengthy dispute with the Florida Bar and state Supreme Court, which found him guilty of practicing law without a license. Pitts was...

Government investigators are making an unprecedented push to use “black box” voice recordings to routinely monitor pilots’ conversations and make sure cockpit crews are focusing on their jobs. The move represents the first time that...

State lawmakers and their staff would have to begin paying for part of the cost of their health insurance under legislation that two lawmakers said Tuesday they’d file in hopes of saving the state as much as $56 million a year. While most state...

As one of John Thrasher’s constituents, and one of the three people who nominated him in his successful race for chairman of the RPOF, I want to clarify some of his remarks made on Saturday which were taken out of context and yet are now being widely...

The Census Bureau estimates that the life cycle cost of the 2010 Census will be from $13.7 billion to $14.5 billion, making it the costliest census in the nation’s history. Suppose you suggest to a congressman that given our budget crisis, we could...

President Barack Obama’s budget has added more than $100 billion of federal taxpayers’ money to what is called “education,” so that means it will be spent by alumni of the Saul Alinsky school of radical community organizing and/or...

The crowd roared, flags waved and flash bulbs lit up the arena. It was the summer of 1996 and I was 19 years old. I walked into the Georgia Dome for the Olympic Women’s Gymnastics competition wondering what the next few hours would bring. But I had...

NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock says this is the most uncertain quarterback year he has seen. Adding to the uncertainty is the decision by top-rated quarterbacks not to throw during the NFL scouting combine’s drills Sunday in Indianapolis....