Rick E. Rockwell is part of a group who have been out of work for so long that they are depending on a second emergency extension of unemployment insurance.

The $1.34 billion deal to buy nearly 300 square miles of land could reshape both the Everglades and the sugar business.

Fears over the economy added to the criticisms of Florida’s proposed $1.34 billion deal with the United States Sugar Corporation.

As U.S. Sugar considered a bid by the state of Florida to buy it in an Everglades restoration project, a family-owned agricultural concern made a rival offer.

As U.S. Sugar considered a bid by the state of Florida to buy it in an Everglades restoration project, a family-owned agricultural concern made a rival offer.

Federal officials, under pressure to scrutinize possible mortgage fraud by financial companies, have opened 151 criminal cases since last October, most of them in southern Florida.

A decline in home prices in August attracted more buyers in some areas and led to a sizable decline in the number of unsold homes on the market.

Easy money has created enormous problems at Bank United, Florida’s biggest regional bank.

In a plan to save the Everglades, Florida officials and a family-run sugar company are seeking a delicate balance.

Florida sued Countrywide Financial and its chief executive, Angelo R. Mozilo, on Monday, accusing it of engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices in mortgage lending.