In Florida, Advanced Placement (AP) high school courses are more difficult than traditional classes but can offer college credits in addition to high school credits, if a student passes the AP exam at the end of the year. A recent Bay News 9/St. Petersburg Times poll of Tampa Bay high […]

The fate of a multitude of proposed constitutional amendments, as well as the next state governor and senator, will be determined in next week’s 2010 midterm elections. Among them is Amendment 1, which would repeal the 1998 measure that allowed candidates to receive government funds to compete with the campaign […]

Since the early 20th century, children across the U.S. have celebrated Halloween by attending parties, donning costumes and scoring candy from neighbors. It has now become an enormously popular cultural cash cow that’s estimated to produce $6.2 billion this year in merchandise sales, according to California market-research firm IBISWorld. The […]

Women may have achieved economic equality; they are now earning more than men – sort of. The catch is that this only applies to the median full-time salaries of urban women under the age of the 30 who are both childless and unmarried, according to a market research study. Unfortunately, […]

Reducing the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has become increasingly popular with many politicians and their constituents, which is reflected by the widespread support and imitation of Arizona’s tough new immigration laws. These efforts culminated Tuesday, when Republican lawmakers from 15 states proclaimed their intentions to change the 14th […]

There is often a reason for change, but there doesn’t seem to be a cause or reason for charging students for more school credits than they take. In November, the Florida Board of Governors will vote on whether to approve a proposal that would allow the University of Florida and […]

The Tampa Bay area is home to some of the most dangerous and congested roadways in the U.S. A two-year study by the nonprofit groups Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership determined that in 2007-08 the Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater area was the second most dangerous for pedestrians in the […]

Stem cell research, a topic that welcomes controversies and ethical issues, was brought to the spotlight this August, when U.S District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction to stop federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that he said destroys human embryos. According to the National Institutes of […]

When 20-year-old San Francisco community college student Yasir Afifi’s mechanic found an FBI tracking device underneath his car during a routine oil change earlier this month, controversy ignited over whether such devices require search warrants. While the usefulness of such devices is seemingly obvious, their implementation should require a court […]

In an effort led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to combat obesity, the state of New York is working to ban the use of the food stamps program – now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – to purchase soda and other unhealthy sugared drinks. Despite […]