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Florida’s Property Taxes Go Wacky in Housing Slump

In Palm Beach County, Fla., buyers who find fire-sale bargains at foreclosed home auctions — picking up, say, $400,000 houses for $100,000 or less — are also realizing they’re required in many cases to pay the same property taxes, as if the homes were still valued at $400,000. In Miami-Dade County to the south, where one in four homeowners are 30 days or more behind in their mortgage payments, residents are bracing for what Mayor Carlos Alvarez says could be an imminent property tax hike to fill an almost $400 million budget hole — a move that veteran Miami realtors like Alex Shay insist would set recovery back.

‘Gayby boom’: Children of gay couples speak out

Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers’ right to marry. Levey is part of the “gayby boom” generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination

Billy Mays, OxiClean pitchman, found dead

Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died at his Tampa, Florida, home Sunday morning, authorities told CNN.

South Carolina’s Sanford faces uncertain future

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s office is in damage-control mode Thursday, a day after the Republican governor tearfully admitted he’s been having an extramarital affair

Straying Governor Mark Sanford

It’s become something of a club, and not a particularly exclusive one at that: promising political figures with presidential aspirations knocked dramatically off course by marital infidelity. The latest member is Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina. In a bracing news conference June 24, the 49-year-old confessed to an affair with an Argentine woman following a bizarre six-day disappearance that grabbed national headlines when his own staff and family claimed ignorance about his whereabouts

Immigration and Marriage: Will Congress End the ‘Widow Penalty’?

It was bad enough that Natalia Goukassian, then 21, had to spend her honeymoon in June 2006 in West Palm Beach, Fla., helping her husband Tigran find alternative treatments for connective tissue sarcoma, an aggressive cancer, or that six months later, the Air Force–enlisted man, 21, succumbed to the disease. But as it turned out, her painful ordeal had only just begun.

Sexual assaults on the high seas come under scrutiny

It’s the midst of peak cruising season, and millions of travelers are eagerly embarking on exotic vacations without thinking they could ever fall victim to a crime at sea. But sexual and physical assaults were the leading crimes committed onboard cruise ships in recent years, the FBI says. In March, a 42-year-old female passenger aboard the Coral Princess says a Portuguese crew member sexually assaulted her during a cruise, according to an FBI affidavit

What Comes After the Recession: A Fun Free Recovery

Even as Congress belatedly tackles legislation that would cut U.S. carbon emissions and international negotiators bickered over a global climate deal in Bonn, Germany, a new report by several federal agencies underscores the truths that too often risk getting lost in politics: global warming is real, it’s happening now, and if we don’t act soon, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

NASA orbiter on way to explore the moon

Humans are a step closer to returning to the moon after NASA launched a lunar orbiter Thursday to provide a comprehensive survey of our nearest celestial neighbor.

NFL suspends Stallworth indefinitely

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth has been suspended indefinitely by the National Football League, days after he pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving under the influence of alcohol, the NFL said. Stallworth, 28, pleaded guilty in a Florida court Tuesday to DUI manslaughter charges in the March death of construction worker Mario Reyes. Under terms of a plea agreement, he will serve 30 days