Mildred Ballard, a retiree from Sun City Center, got a measure of assurance Monday that the drywall in her home is causing her thermostat to go haywire and the temperature to swing wildly. ...more

November 24, 2009

Facing fierce resistance, the Obama administration today backed off a plan to ban sales of raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico during warm weather. ...more

November 14, 2009

Letters to the editor from Nov. 14 editions. ...more

November 14, 2009

Lenders are owners In your cover article on pending foreclosed properties Nov. 4, the manager of Hillsborough County Code Enforcement was quoted: "The lender doesn't own the property, so we can't legally make them maintain it." Excuse me? ...more

November 6, 2009

Our troops and their generals have to contend with our president and many in Congress who have deliberately diverted billions of dollars from the defense budget. Critical funds for our defense have been siphoned off for President Obama's government stimulus packages, bailout programs and many pork-barrel projects. ...more

November 4, 2009

Regarding your recent article, "Nobody's Problem," like Mr. Turberville's, our neighborhood -- just a few blocks away -- is at the start of the same kind of vacant home mess. Great neighbors were more or less forced out of their meticulously-tended home due to the financial debacle of a number of banks. Sadly, this small showplace now looks exactly like nobody cares because it has joined the ranks of "Nobody's Problem." This is a very false, though catchy name. This is everybody's problem. When the undesirables pass by these homes, it is an open invitation to vandalism at the least. ...more

October 28, 2009

For a truly spooky Halloween costume, dress up as a nosy reporter. Scares the dickens out of some folks. ...more

October 24, 2009

Shockingly poor financial management at General Motors and Chrysler weakened their case for a federal bailout, but officials feared letting them collapse, the former head of a government auto task force said Wednesday. ...more

October 21, 2009

The man who watches over the $700 billion in government money given to banks and other institutions to avert a financial collapse said Wednesday he thinks it's too early to say how much will be repaid to the taxpayers. ...more

October 21, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants smaller community banks to have greater access to the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund as the administration refocuses the bailout money on small businesses and homeowners and winds down programs aimed at big banks. ...more

October 20, 2009