With the number of citations at 1,223 and counting, the County Commission voted Tuesday to raise the fine from $30 to $130 for the first violation of the county's watering regulations. ...more

March 24, 2009

According to Gary Ritter, director of South Florida Water Management District, SLID is responsible for the water management system for Spring Lake, including the golf course. So if that is the case, there is no reason for SLID to buy the golf course. The current owner has stated SLID has every legal right to clear the water ways. They have an easement, he stated, at the meeting last Wednesday. If SLID buys the golf course for $3.4 million, how much more is it going to cost to clean out the ponds, canals and lakes? All the SLID board members have talked about is buying the golf course. How is this going to fix the problem without dredging the water ways? ...more

March 24, 2009

Smoke shut down 10 miles of Interstate 75 in Sarasota County for six hours Saturday night into Sunday morning as a brush fire tore across more than 700 acres. ...more

March 23, 2009

As Tampa takes the hose by the nozzle by banning lawn watering with sprinklers, other municipalities are holding off on adopting similarly severe restrictions, at least for now. ...more

March 21, 2009

The emotional rhetoric offered historically and in recent editorials to continue the Environmental Protection Commission's wetlands permitting program is missing one important thing: facts that document that Hillsborough County is more successful in protecting wetlands with EPC than other counties that don't have such a group. ...more

March 21, 2009

As Tampa takes the hose by the nozzle by banning lawn watering with sprinklers, other municipalities are holding off adopting similarly severe restrictions, at least for now. ...more

March 20, 2009

Moving water across county lines has always been a point of contention in Florida. ...more

March 20, 2009

The question was asked by several of the 200 audience members in several different ways: Why should the Spring Lake Improvement District buy the golf resort? ...more

March 20, 2009

With the region's monster reservoir reduced to a puddle, the drought is hitting home, especially for many who have collected watering citations. ...more

March 19, 2009

For the fifth year in a row, the Florida Legislature is attacking local government control of wetlands permitting, especially aiming at Hillsborough County's Environmental Protection Commission (EPC). In the name of streamlining, legislators maintain that local wetland review duplicates that of other state agencies and is a reason for the state's economic crisis. Ha! ...more

March 19, 2009