The Office of Insurance Regulation will hold a public hearing next month in Tampa on proposed increases in homeowners and sinkhole insurance rates for the state's largest insurer that have stunned some customers with their magnitude.

The sinkhole coverage increases proposed by state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. range from no increase in some areas of the state to a proposed average increase of 2,226 percent in the Orlando area. Statewide, the proposed sinkhole premium increase is nearly 450 percent.

WASHINGTON -- Fifty years ago, a metaphor became concrete. Beginning on Aug. 13, 1961, along West Berlin's 27-mile border, the Iron Curtain became tangible in a wall of precast slabs of concrete.

Never before has there been a televised presidential candidates debate so short a time before the Iowa Republicans' Ames straw poll.

Florida Republicans reacted to thenewly named members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction this week while that body prepares to take on the task of cutting $1.2 trillion from the federal government over the next decade.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was set up as part of the deal to break up the stalemate in Washington over raising the federal debt ceiling. The new committee consists of six members of each party, divided equally between senators and congressmen.