Updated: 6:04 PM Fewer businesses are taking checks nowadays. Owners say it's just too hard to catch up with people who write bad ones, but the new state attorney is trying to change that in our area.

Updated: 4:56 PM The check to pay for growth is ending up on the Panama City Commission's agenda Tuesday afternoon. The mayor wants to pass the buck to help cushion the financial impact new residents will have on the city.

Updated: 3:42 PM The Bush administration in Tallahassee wants to launch a new crackdown on deadbeat dads.

Updated: 12:38 PM Many Panama City Beach residents spent much of the day Sunday without power.

Updated: 12:36 PM Imagine visiting Panama City only to be kicked out of your motel room for several hours because two devices that may be bombs have been found in the building.

Updated: 12:33 PM Is the mid-winter weather wearing you down? Are you sinking in debt after the holidays? Angry with yourself for already breaking your New Year's resolutions? Wish you could crawl back under the covers and not have to face another day of rain, sleet, snow and paperwork?

Updated: 12:44 PM Free tax preparation service is available at Chipola College in Marianna.

Updated: 12:40 PM A community in Washington County is seeing a boom in land development.

Updated: 8:19 PM The nurse who was shot in last September's jail hostage standoff says the Sheriff's Office could have handled the incident differently.

Updated: 7:42 PM Three dogs are locked up after attacking two people in Panama City Beach.

Updated: 5:00 PM The Destin City Council plans to level the playing field.

Updated: 3:30 PM In spite of warnings last fall of a critical flu shot shortage, it now appears Florida may end up with a surplus of the lifesaving vaccine.

Updated: 12:37 PM People go to airport to catch planes going somewhere else. Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies are going to the airport to catch rides "around" the airport.

Updated: 12:33 PM Florida’s agriculture commissioner is trying to spread the word that there are plenty of tomatoes to be had. It’s just a matter of getting them to market.

Updated: 9:16 PM A Panama City gun shop owner is facing federal grand theft charges for an alleged gun scam.

Updated: 8:55 PM A tiger farm in Walton County preserves the lives of endangered animals.

Updated: 8:51 PM Those who are dependent on the state's Medicaid program are facing possible cuts to their health care, but many say a cut to preventative health care is more affordable than someone ending up at the emergency room when they're severely ill.

Updated: 9:00 PM There’s good news for Bay County travelers!

Updated: 4:17 PM Keeping a forest healthy is a tough job. Doing prescribed burns is one way to help, according to forest rangers.

Updated: 3:54 PM Escambia County sheriff's deputies in Pensacola are looking for the suspects that tied up a restaurant worker that used his nose to dial 9-1-1 after the thieves left.

Updated: 12:33 PM Another local man is arrested for allegedly setting up a sexual encounter with an underage girl.

Updated: 12:29 PM When a hurricane hits, it's the Emergency Operations Center that stays open to ensure important information gets out to the public, but they've outgrown the current facility and they also are threatened with evacuation if we're hit by a category four hurricane.

Updated: 6:25 PM Washington County Board of Commissioners consider gas tax as a way to improve roads.

Updated: 5:27 PM The state Board of Education is pushing to end what they call social promotion and leaning towards more mandatory retentions.

Updated: 4:45 PM Railroad crews are trying to clean up after a train derailment in Holmes County between Chipley and Bonifay near the Washington-Holmes County line.