Editorials
The rail message
Perhaps the high-speed rail measure doesn't belong in the state Constitution, but voters made their wishes clear and lawmakers ought to take them seriously.

A promising school plan
With the federal courts sounding retreat on school integration, the time has come for Hillsborough and other school districts still under court supervision to cement the gains black students have made through 30 years of court-ordered busing.

A perilous privatization
Is privatizing vocational rehabilitation really worth $100-million?

Letters
We need to maintain a respect for law
In most elections, our interest in a speedy decision does not come into conflict with our interest in the integrity of the election process and our collective confidence in the outcome.

Bill Maxwell
Youthful indiscretion follows into adulthood
At the outset of the 2000 presidential campaign, Vice President Al Gore told the nation that he had smoked marijuana as a college student. After being exposed by the press, Texas Gov. George W. Bush reluctantly acknowledged that he had been arrested for driving while drunk.

Philip Gailey
Trust in the democratic system, and it will work
I hope I am mistaken, but I think I may be one of those confused Florida voters who cast his presidential ballot for the wrong man.

Martin Dyckman
Dear state leaders,
The elections showed us, once again, that we Floridians are in the political mainstream.

Books
An abundance of the best
I love hanging out with the best.

A heroine in the shadows of 'Moby-Dick'
Credit Sena Jeter Naslund with thinking big.

Thrillers
BLOOD AND GUILE, by William Hoffman (HarperCollins, $24)