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Editorials
The steps Colombia needs to take
Colombian President Andres Pastrana can't be faulted for breaking off peace talks with leftist rebels. Despite a concerted effort by the United Nations, the talks stalled. The rebels have become increasingly violent, and the Colombian public has lost patience with 40 years of bloody war.

DCF under stress
Blasted in an internal audit, the Department of Children and Families should focus on keeping children out of foster care and recommit itself to preventing abuse from the outset.

Break up the Devil Rays
Going into the 2002 season, the objectives of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays appeared to be: 1. Cut player payroll. 2. Cut other expenses, too. 3. Alienate the small but hardy fan base that preferred Tropicana Field's cheap seats. 4. Win some games.

Letters
State effort at child protection is much improved
The March 28 St. Petersburg Times editorial Adding to the abuse was misleading.

Diane Roberts
Free speech zone shouldn't be limited
TALLAHASSEE -- On the evening of March 25, 12 students tried to demonstrate in front of Westcott, the administration building at Florida State. The university promptly had them arrested.  

Columns today
Howard Troxler
Under cloak of decency, there's a rip in free speech
Let's all drop whatever we're doing and come out against indecency.

Jan Glidewell
Obnoxious, aging rocker reaps what he has sown
I usually don't listen to my younger colleagues' entertainment suggestions.

Gary Shelton
You gotta believe (hurry, before losing starts)
ST. PETERSBURG -- Hey, Brent. How many g's in "juggernaut"?

Robert Trigaux
In one swoop, utility's image brightens
So maybe Bill Cavanaugh can't offer federal tax rebates, as President Bush did last year. But the chief executive of Progress Energy just delivered the next best economic stimulus to more than a million central Florida residents: More than $10 a month off the typical homeowner's electric bill. 

Perspective
Taking jobs, alienating customers
For weeks Americans have been told that the outsourcing of high-tech jobs is good for our economy. So said Greg Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a recent report signed by President Bush. So, too, writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in articles praising the rise of call centers in India used for everything from making airline reservations and reading medical X-ray films to providing tech support for American computer firms.

Philip Gailey: Democrats fall off campaign finance reform wagon
Well, what do you know. Soft money is back, and it's making hypocrites of all those Democrats who fervently championed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, not to mention those Republicans who objected to the law's restrictions on issue advocacy.

Bill Maxwell: Who is for the farm worker?
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is touting legislation to improve the lives of Florida's 300,000-plus farm workers, who endure institutional and systemic injustices each day in our fields and groves and their personal lives.

Robyn E. Blumner: For some defendants, an American gulag
In Bernard Malamud's masterpiece The Fixer, inmate Yakov Bok was subjected to psychological torture in a Soviet gulag through the humiliations of constant shackling and repeated strip searches.