TALLAHASSEE — A Senate panel has cleared a bill aimed at cutting down the massive fraud plaguing the state's personal injury protection coverage. The Senate committee on banking and insurance passed the PIP fraud-fighting bill (SB 1860) by a vote...

  WEST BAY — Snowball, a 120-pound white English bulldog, was always perfectly hospitable to humans and other dogs. Cats made him irritable though, Amanda Vinson said. So when a bobcat wondered into Vinson’s yard in West Bay Saturday afternoon,...

EBRO — The owner of Ebro Greyhound Park won the support of Washington County voters for the addition of slot machines at the pari-mutuel wagering facility, but now they must receive approval from the state, and it likely will be a tougher sell....

The Washington Times reports: "the most futile Congress legislative year on record." Total bills passed: 80. Of these, 13 considered are fluff (naming post offices and government buildings and projects). The output of the Senate is so far below the...

PANAMA CITY — For the last 36 years, February has been Black History Month, and this year’s focus is Black Women in American Culture and History. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History designates the theme each year,...

PANAMA CITY — Inside the Bay County Government Center, supporters of Mitt Romney let out a restrained — but forceful — “yes” as the final numbers came in, giving the former Massachusetts governor a 7,701 to 7,645 win in Bay County over...

NEW ORLEANS — With a trial over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill looming, BP PLC is asking a federal judge to block two plaintiffs' experts from testifying about an alleged disregard for safety throughout the energy company that those experts say...

TALLAHASSEE — U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland says he will file a bill in Congress that would put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt state rather than federal water pollution rules for Florida. The Panama City Republican...

PANAMA CITY — Bay County Republicans will go to more than 50 polling places today to cast their ballot in Florida’s Republican Presidential Preference Primary. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the county. Though the field has been...

NEW ORLEANS — On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million...

PENSACOLA — Newt Gingrich's personal and political baggage is giving even the most hard-core Republicans pause in a conservative swath of the state. "Not Gingrich" is how Annette Purvis says she plans to vote. "I've never liked Gingrich. Never....

WEWAHITCHKA — Ed Doyle received a letter earlier this month that, in his own words, shook him up pretty badly. Doyle, a World War II Veteran who recently turned 90, received a bill for more than $1,000 for a medical episode for which he was treated...

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Florida is on the upswing, the state’s chief financial officer (CFO) said here Thursday. CFO Jeff Atwater was the speaker at the quarterly Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce D.I.N.E. luncheon. Just before he took the...

PANAMA CITY — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will have a rally at Eastern Shipbuilding on Nelson Street on Saturday at 2 p.m. The event is open to the public. Romney is the first of the Republican presidential contenders to visit Bay...

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has ruled that the rig owner involved in drilling the ill-fated well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico was shielded by its contract with BP for having to pay many pollution claims in the nation's largest offshore...