All along First Avenue North, campaign signs are plunged into front yards. McCain-Palin signs are here and there, facing the westbound traffic, as are Obama-Biden signs. ...more

November 4, 2008

All along First Avenue North, campaign signs are plunged into front yards. McCain-Palin signs are here and there, facing the westbound traffic and so are Obama-Biden signs. ...more

November 3, 2008

Apartments rented to sex offenders that were at the center of a city zoning debate last year could be headed for foreclosure, court records show. ...more

October 15, 2008

Fifty-four-year-old Katherine Maloney, out of work since May and fresh from a trip to the pawnshop last night to get cash to feed her dogs, took her plight to the street this morning. At the break of dawn, she stood at the corner of Humphrey Street and North Dale Mabry Highway and handed out 100 resumes. Her face-to-face style may have paid off. About an hour after she started, she had gotten three bites. ...more

October 7, 2008

Zackery Hicks has a new home. At least for now. Hicks got out of prison last month after serving a 14-year term for robbery and for a while couldn't afford a permanent residence. He had limited options on where to stay because he is a convicted sex offender, so he spent time camping in a field under a Selmon Crosstown Expressway bridge. ...more

September 20, 2008

Zackery Hicks just got out of prison last month after serving a 14-year term for robbery, and his new prison is marked by the roar of overhead traffic and the danger of getting snakebit or beat up. The situation is the way it is because Hicks is a registered sex offender, and this situation is not all that uncommon in Florida, where the oppressive stigma of being a sex offender is nearly insurmountable. Some cities across the nation have passed laws that are so restrictive, sex offenders cannot reside there. ...more

September 19, 2008

Efforts to force Kiddie Campus University, Inc. to put up a wall to separate its playground from the neighboring Manor Oaks subdivision have failed. ...more

September 17, 2008

A 1-year-old baby who investigators think might have been the victim of shaken-baby syndrome at a Palm Harbor home day care center died over the weekend, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. ...more

September 2, 2008

I'd like to offer my suggestion on one way to help cover the budget shortfall for schools in Hillsborough County. How about laying off a couple of school board members? The savings on the $40,000 salary from each would free up enough money for hiring at least a couple of new classroom teachers. ...more

August 7, 2008

A former school aide who was cleared of charges she molested a 6-year-old is suing the Tampa Police Department, charging that officials violated her rights and cast her in a false light when speaking to the media about the case. ...more

July 26, 2008