Abuses of prescription painkillers is a hard pill for state lawmakers to swallow. So-called "pill mills" have transformed much of Florida into "the painkiller capital of the United States, the notorious home to a cottage industry of storefront pain clinics selling alarming numbers of narcotics and feeding a brazen black market," state Rep. John Legg said in a press release. ...more

October 24, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods. ...more

January 22, 2009

Although the Florida Legislature slashed budgets for schools, children's health care and living assistance for the elderly in its recent special session, it ignored a couple of easy fixes - loopholes in corporate tax law - that could have produced revenue to avoid some of the worst cuts. ...more

January 22, 2009

While the Florida Legislature slashed budgets for schools, children's health care and living assistance for the elderly in its recent special session, it ignored a couple of easy fixes – loopholes in corporate tax law -- that could have produced revenue to avoid some of the worst cuts. ...more

January 21, 2009

Missing information, loopholes and weak oversight hamper efforts to uncover financial conflicts by researchers who test experimental drugs before companies seek government approval, an internal watchdog finds. ...more

January 12, 2009

TAMPA About 40 people, many retirees, rode a school bus downtown today to oppose a professional soccer stadium planned for a site near their homes in Town 'N Country. They could have skipped the trip and saved the $400 they paid to rent the bus. ...more

December 9, 2008

Lawmakers are poised to close a loophole that led to troubled teens being abandoned at Nebraska hospitals, but they aren't stopping there. Instead, they're vowing to make sure families can get help in a crisis. ...more

November 21, 2008

A long struggle over what kind of milk counts as organic is coming to a head. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently issued draft rules that would require that the cows be on pasture at least half the year and get plenty of fresh grass. The proposals are meant to close a loophole that allows some huge feedlots to sell their milk as organic, even though their cows rarely if ever get to graze on fresh grass. Advocates for family farms and consumers say that's not what shoppers think they're buying when they pay a premium for organic milk. The public comment period on the draft rules runs through Dec. 23. ...more

November 18, 2008

Homebuilders are always trying to sell their homes, but these days they have an extra incentive: beating the clock. ...more

August 27, 2008

After a barrage of consumer complaints, the government is banning phone calls of prerecorded sales messages unless consumers agree to receive the calls. ...more

August 22, 2008