FLORIDA'S ECONOMY

Real estate bust cost to Florida: $153B

Florida's tailspinning real estate industry is in a market correction, with all properties declining by an unprecedented 6 percent in total value statewide.

Mini-season lobster hunt is maxi-fatal

Five deaths in two days. If this were bird flu, instead of spiny lobsters, we'd be calling the CDC. We've either got ourselves an annual mini-season or an annual mini-epidemic.

Medicare fraud fugitives evade capture

The Benitez brothers were masters of Medicare fraud, prosecutors say. They spent their Medicare millions on Mediterranean-style homes, apartments, hotels, boats, a helicopter, even a water park -- all in the resort area of Bavaro, Dominican Republic, court records show.

Another local TV duopoly is a bad idea

FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com W ell, Mr. Public, here's the challenge. When WTVJ-NBC 6 gets gobbled up by the corporation that owns WPLG-ABC 10, guess how that's good for you?

Fallen brothers once pillars of the community

The tawdry criminal charges facing the de Céspedes brothers hardly describe the enormity of their downfall. Federal prosecutors spoke of a couple of greedy businessmen who bilked a local hospital out of millions, who finagled their books to dodge $8 million in income taxes.

STREETWISE

North Metrorail plan sure to fail again

Barring a highly unlikely miracle, the Metrorail North Corridor extension along Northwest 27th Avenue through the heart of the black community is as good as dead for at least another year.

IN MY OPINION

Dolphins in need of a superstar

New Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano was driving with his wife recently from a brief holiday in Hilton Head, S.C., back to Miami when he saw for the first time one of those new South Florida billboards promoting his team.

Conspiracy idea floated at war-crimes trial

An al Qaeda 9/11 conspiracy theory and conflicting portrayals of Osama bin Laden's former driver dominated the opening arguments in the first U.S. war-crimes tribunal since World War II.

BALANCING ACT

Direct-sales businesses boom as economy tightens

It's Saturday night and a dozen women are in Carmen Rojas' living room, passing around edible lotions, flavored body powders and adult toys. For Rojas of Miami, this night is about more than getting these women to buy her products.

Housing bust has left plenty of eyesores

FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com I t's as if two hulking stories of raw concrete block were frozen in time -- an unsightly monument to when the boom went bust.

DEMOCRATS

Obama's Latin policies in play

A tug of war is in progress within the Barack Obama campaign to influence the direction of his Hispanic and Latin American agenda.

HEALTH

Boxing gives Parkinson's patients a fighting spirit

A South Florida personal trainer fights Parkinson's with an unconventional treatment -- boxing.

WEIGHT LOSS

Study tips the scales to low-carb dieting

A study conducted over two years compared three weight-loss techniques: the low-carb diet, a low-fat diet and a so-called Mediterranean diet.

Hoax theory pushes limits of believability

A hoax. A scam. ''Grossly exaggerated.'' A conspiracy cooked up by dishonest researchers. ''Public hysteria'' stirred up by a lying media.

WAR ON TERRORISM

Candidates' views differ on detainee policy

Although both John McCain and Barack Obama advocate closing the Guantánamo prison camps, they offer different visions on handling the detainees.

COURTS

Boy's treatment case dealt blow

An appeals court ruled that oxygen treatment given to a brain-damaged Broward boy is unproven, and does not qualify for Medicaid.

CONGRESSIONAL RACES | VOTER POLL

Poll: Diaz-Balarts' rivals close on their heels

Four months out from the November election, a poll suggests South Florida's congressional races could be close contests.

GAMBLING

Pompano casino targets Seminole gaming

A Pompano Beach casino operator is using last week's Florida Supreme Court ruling to bolster its lawsuit to shut down card games at the Seminole Hard Rock.

WOLFSONIAN

America's love-hate affair with freedom

Inspired by famous World War II posters, current artists present their views of democracy in modern times.

MIAMI

Court: Homelessness no excuse to remove child

A Miami appeals court ruled that the state's child-welfare agency cannot take a child away from a parent simply because the parent is homeless.