FEATURED STORIES
By Craig Pittman
An oil spill from a rig that sank off the coast of Louisiana is threatening marshes and beaches across the Gulf Coast, and unless it's contained it could wind up tainting the Florida Keys and perhaps the state's Atlantic coast, oceanography experts said Monday.
The Associated Press
The Republican-controlled Legislature's answer to a pair of citizen initiatives aimed at curtailing gerrymandering cleared the Florida House by a partisan vote Monday.
By Mary Ellen Klas
As Florida legislators enter their final week of the session Monday, they have only one job they are required to do -- pass a state budget -- but they are consumed by one question that has nothing to do with the session: What will the governor do?
By Josh Hafenbrack
College will get more expensive, state roads might get a little more crowded and hospitals will have their finances squeezed once again, thanks to a budget deal reached Monday in the state Capitol.
By Bill Cotterell
State-government employees, going on five years without a general pay raise, have been spared a salary reduction and won't have to start chipping in to the Florida Retirement System, under budget agreements worked out by House and Senate negotiators.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
By Steve Bousquet and Marc Caputo
State lawmakers labored late into the night Monday to strike a deal on a new budget, bargaining over everything from workers' pay and benefits to more money for the hospital that does the most charity care, Miami's Jackson Memorial.
By Michael C. Bender
State workers won't have to pay for their pensions, but they will go without a raise for the fifth consecutive year and will lose their free health insurance, under a state budget expected to be published today.
By Julie Patel
A House bill to allow property insurers to boost policyholders' premiums by up to 20 percent probably won't fly with the Senate given Gov. Charlie Crist's threat to veto the idea.
By Bill Cotterell
A local businessman who helped organized opposition to a defunct bill that would have ended teacher tenure has asked the Commission on Ethics to investigate allegations of personal financial motives of the legislators who sponsored the big package.
By Julie Patel
A measure to beef up ethics guidelines and require college degrees for the Public Service Commission cleared the Florida House Monday by a vote of 115 to 0.
By Cristina Silva
Florida is ankle-deep in its latest gun-rights battle, but this time the fighting is being waged behind closed doors.
By Richard Mullins
The Florida Legislature has put the brakes on a proposal to ban texting while driving.
By John Frank
Michael Dolce took 20 years to tell his story. And by then it was too late.
POLITICAL RACES
By Anthony Man
Ron Klein was elected to Congress on the crest of an anti-incumbent wave that washed away dozens of congressmen and gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives.
By Bill Thompson
When it comes to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, there seems to be no middle ground: it's either love him or hate him.
By Bill Cotterell
The official starting gun of Florida's 2010 political campaigns sounded, and 16 members of Congress signed up for re-election Monday -- but the two contenders everyone has been talking about for months were biding their time.
The Associated Press
Republican Marco Rubio is taking another step toward officially qualifying in Florida as a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
The Associated Press
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee elaborated today on his recent move to the Florida Panhandle, saying it was related to business and personal matters and "not political at all."
BALLOT INITIATIVES
Editorial
Gall. Shamelessness. Hypocrisy. Self-interest. All were on display Monday as the Florida House approved a constitutional amendment designed to let politicians keep picking voters.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
By Campbell Robertson and Clifford Krauss
Oil continued to pour into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday as the authorities waited to see if the quickest possible method of stopping the leaks would bring an end to what was threatening to become an environmental disaster.
By Marcus Baram
As families mourn the 11 workers thrown overboard in the worst oil rig disaster in decades and as the resulting spill continues to spread through the Gulf of Mexico, new questions are being raised about the training of the drill operators and about the oil company's commitment to safety.
By Kate Bradshaw
Last week, the Obama Administration said the oil leak in the gulf will not sway its support for expanded offshore drilling.
By Bruce Ritchie
Representatives of eleven environmental groups called on the House Monday to adopt legislation reauthorizing the state's land planning agency.
By Mary Ellen Klas
Florida legislators had second thoughts Monday about a plan to let Florida's four largest utility companies bypass the rate-setting process and raise customers' electric rates by $772 million for renewable energy projects by 2013.
By Tom Lyons
Related editorial: It can happen here
Keep oil rigs away from Florida coast
Ft. Myers News-Press
Plan D: Don't drill in Florida waters
Pensacola News Journal
Editorial
Florida Today
LGBT
The Progress Report
Every year, thousands of children in the United States remain in foster care, looking to be adopted into loving families.
EDUCATION
By Megan Downs
Fifty-nine media assistants who do everything from helping students find books to performing puppet shows to make literacy come alive might not be in schools next year.
By Leslie Postal and Dave Weber
Florida school districts soon will have to swallow what foes of the state's class-size rules warned would be "bitter medicine": By this fall, they must shrink all "core" classes to meet required sizes even as they continue to struggle with anemic budgets.
By Ron Word
After seeing its budget slashed 22 percent over the past three years, the University of Florida is expecting a 5.5 percent increase over last year from the Legislature.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
By Gina Jordan
Florida is receiving much more economic stimulus money than Governor Charlie Crist predicted last year.
By Catherine Whittenburg
House lawmakers saved millions of dollars worth of mental health programs; the Senate fought off a pay reduction for state workers.
By Diane C. Lade
Florida once again was rated the top state for mortgage fraud, according to a report released Monday by the LexisNexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
By Scott Powers and Aaron Deslatte
Florida lawmakers have spent much of this year's 60-day legislative session pondering health-care bills that, among other things, would block health-insurance mandates, cut payments to doctors and hospitals, and morph the state's Medicaid program into a $19 billion-a-year industry dominated by health-maintenance organizations.
By Jim Saunders
A $69 billion state budget for next year emerged at 11:58 p.m. Monday with significant cuts to hospitals, nursing homes and child-abuse prevention, but in some cases aren't as deep as was feared and could get lighter still if Congress cooperates.
By Gina Jordan
The Florida Office of Drug Control says the illegal diversion and abuse of prescription drugs is the biggest health problem Florida faces.
By Dave Berman
For Cocoa garden and landscape designer Linda Gombert, one slip on a wet lawn could mean an expensive medical bill that she would have to cover.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Editorial
