Purchasing fireworks that are supposed to be illegal in Florida is as easy as flicking a lighter. Just sign a form stating you're using them for agricultural or aquicultural purposes, and you can light the fuse on all kinds of explosives. ...more

January 28, 2008

PLANT CITY - The flier on the door of the new pet store on Wheeler Street seemed innocuous enough: Anyone younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Few people in the community realized the true nature of the prohibition, or that it was required by law. ...more

January 25, 2008

It's understandable that environmental activists would worry that an agricultural exemption to Hillsborough County's wetlands rule will create a loophole that allows widespread abuse. ...more

January 19, 2008

The Bush administration is going ahead with a controversial pilot program giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways despite a new law by Congress against it. ...more

January 5, 2008

At their final meeting of the year, county commissioners talked trash, approved the purchase of a large tract of land for preservation and honored a fallen deputy. ...more

December 6, 2007

Laura Swain served for four years on the Hillsborough County Planning Commission, helping write the language for rural design standards. ...more

November 17, 2007

County commissioners gave independent trash haulers what they wanted Wednesday evening, voting 4-3 to reject amendments to a trash hauling ordinance that a judge ruled is flawed. ...more

November 8, 2007

The city expects to move ahead with a plan to install red light cameras near several intersections, which will thrust this small west Pasco municipality into the statewide debate over use of the traffic control devices. ...more

October 27, 2007

In July 2002, a new Florida law made lying about visiting children in state care a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. ...more

October 21, 2007

President Bush's nominee for attorney general, Michael Mukasey, declined Thursday to say whether he considered harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, to constitute torture or to be illegal if used on terrorism suspects. ...more

October 19, 2007