Panama City

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - President Barack Obama and his family cruised the waters off their Florida Panhandle hotel on Sunday, offering a portrait of a family on vacation to boost a region struggling with the economic damage wrought by the nation's worst oil spill.

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - Catching a glimpse of porpoises, President Barack Obama and his family went boating Sunday as part of a weekend trip to the Gulf of Mexico that was designed to showcase the region's attractions as well as the president's concern for those affected by the BP oil spill.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is heeding his own advice to American vacationers, taking his family to the Gulf Coast this weekend to help the sagging tourism industry.

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - The few beach walkers, surfers and sidewalk shoppers who ventured out on a recent chilly afternoon created a very different scene from the craziness that will soon crank up here as temperatures climb and students descend on this spring break paradise.