Standing amid the assortment of new and old buildings in downtown Toronto, Rami Tabello clearly relishes his role as crusader: "Take a look at my handiwork," he boasts, pointing to a rectangle of discolored brick several stories high on the side of a building.

Call them signs of the times: “Rent Me” messages have popped up on many of the billboards around the state, advertising tough times in yet another old-line industry.

Seen from the Long Island Expressway, the Manhattan skyline glows on the evening horizon. The Empire State and Chrysler Buildings rise above the rest, their art deco spires lit up like lighthouses marking the way.

Then the highway dips, and the view changes.

Billboards have come a long way since the shaving cream signs erected one after another on the roadsides, or the Mail Pouch entreaties painted on the sides of yesteryear's barns.

Judge rules that city law does indeed ban new signs from going up, but Planning Commission might change ordinance to allow them

Throughout Texas, as many as 45,000 billboards line roadways -- an increase of 10,000 from a decade ago, Scenic Texas estimates. El Paso has about 1,200 billboards.

A federal judge has thrown out challenges to the constitutionality of the city’s regulation of billboards and other outdoor advertising on arterial highways and in certain zoning districts.

Billboard opponents won a surprising victory Wednesday against a well-financed effort to allow clear-cutting in front of highway advertisements.

A City Council panel that found billboards to be a type of pollution plans to clean it up.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, losing money and beset with complaints about high fares and poor service, has decided that a winning strategy is to start irritating the communities it serves.