Superintendent may be finalist for new job; finance director leaves Friday. ...more

January 12, 2009

Polk County Sheriff's Office detectives are asking the public's help in locating an 82-year-old woman whose family has not seen her for six months. Mabel A. Pugliese, of 7993 Oak Run Circle, Lakeland, was reported missing on Sunday by a family member. ...more

December 10, 2008

Bill Stull threw two touchdowns and LeSean McCoy ran for another as Pittsburgh beat Connecticut, 34-10, on Saturday to give the Panthers their first nine-win regular season since 1982 and a bid to the Sun Bowl. ...more

December 7, 2008

University of South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe isn't sure what to expect, but he wants to check just in case. That's why the junior said he will petition the National Football League's draft advisory council after this season to see where he might get drafted. ...more

November 19, 2008

The number of women in state government leadership positions is on the rise, with the percentage nearly mirroring their representation in the general population in six states, a study has found. ...more

August 12, 2008

Lynn Helms and her husband, Richard, moved to Plant City from Connecticut in 1998. They soon discovered First Presbyterian Church of Plant City. ...more

July 16, 2008

Ten new postage stamps featuring the U.S. and state flags go on sale today - on the annual observance of Flag Day. ...more

June 14, 2008

The University of South Florida softball team won the school's first Big East regular-season title Sunday and the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament. ...more

May 5, 2008

Sarah Brown is unusually cautious when it comes to social networking. The college sophomore doesn't have a MySpace page and, while she's on Facebook, she does everything she can to keep her page as private as she can. ...more

May 5, 2008

Last week, North Carolina's LaToya Pringle was honored as the ACC Player of the Week, thanks in part to her performance in the third-ranked Tar Heels' 97-86 double-overtime victory against fourth-ranked Maryland. Pringle scored 12 of her career-high 31 points in the second overtime to cap the victory. The senior from Fayetteville, N.C., talked to The Tampa Tribune about her performance and how she would like her team to end its season in Tampa. With so many dominating players in the ACC, what does it mean to you to get this award? It feels good to finally play well against top competition in the ACC. I really wanted to attack and get into a defensive mode, but also score, so it was nice to be able to do both. Is North Carolina the team to beat in the ACC? I would think so, since we're at the top of the ACC. I think everyone wants to play their best against us. How tough is this conference right now with three teams ranked in the top 10, including two in the top five? I think it's actually the toughest conference. I know Tennessee and Connecticut are the top teams in the nation right now, but I think for a conference to be the best, you can't just have one team. We have so many teams that are ranked and ones that could be ranked. How has your game evolved at the collegiate level? I think I've extended my range. In high school, I was usually only 3 feet away from the basket. Now in college, with my height and size, I really had to extend my game. What's it like playing in the basketball Mecca of the world? I knew North Carolina was a good school and had good basketball teams. You can't really go anywhere without somebody coming up to you and saying, "I saw your game on TV" or "I came to the game." I think it's the Triangle area in general, with us, Duke and N.C. State. I think it's a huge basketball town. As it gets closer to tournament time, do you feel like your team is peaking at the right moment? After our loss to Connecticut, I think we really elevated our game to another level. I think that helped us beat Maryland and hopefully we can keep it going. Katherine Smith ...more

February 4, 2008