Pinellas Circuit Judge Thane B. Covert began New Year's Day listening to the sad, strange and sometimes moving stories of 88 men and women who are among the first offenders of 2009. ...more

January 1, 2009

Watch Night services are about as old as black churches in America. ...more

December 31, 2008

The lieutenant governor of Illinois said Sunday he is certain scandal-plagued Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be out of office in less than two months. ...more

December 29, 2008

Next month, Barack Obama will catch a train in Philadelphia and trace the route Abraham Lincoln followed to Washington for his inauguration. ...more

December 28, 2008

Vice President Dick Cheney blamed Congress for failing to bail out the auto industry, saying the White House was forced to step in to save U.S. car companies. ...more

December 21, 2008

"The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy From 1860 to Now," edited by Harold Holzer (Library of America, $40) ...more

December 21, 2008

This is in reference to Richard Nicks' letter entitled "Democracy For Sale" in the Dec. 17 edition of Hernando Today. He expresses his frustration and that of so many other Americans with the direction the leadership of our country has taken. ...more

December 19, 2008

By now President-elect Barack Obama must know how Abraham Lincoln felt after winning that long campaign for election and finding the nation in a political crisis. His mission was to preserve a union of contentious, albeit prosperous, citizens. ...more

December 13, 2008

Last week, I had a chat with my son about his job prospects after graduation from college next May. He was wondering if there were any careers that might be impervious to the ferocious recession gripping our nation by the very throat. So I gave him the same advice I give every young person casting about for a stress-free career. If you are looking for a situation in which you will never have to worry about getting laid off during an economic turndown, get yourself a job in the Abraham Lincoln book publishing business. And stay there for the rest of your life. ...more

December 13, 2008

At moments like this, it's worth remembering that Illinois gave us both Abraham Lincoln and Al Capone. Plainly, some sort of karmic balance controls the destiny of that heartland state. For every inspiring leader that Illinois produces, it must also turn out a scoundrel or two - petty thieves in governmental office, egomaniacal monsters in corporate suites - who share an indifference to the idea of a public trust. ...more

December 11, 2008