In a recent column, you mention a partnership program between Medicaid and long-term care insurance. ...more

January 13, 2009

Protecting Our Children As one who participated in the politics of getting permission from the state of Florida to establish local children's services councils such as the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, it was a pleasure to read Luanne Panacek's op-ed piece ("Hillsborough's Wise Investment In Children," Jan. 4). Congratulations to Dr. Panacek and her colleagues who do things so well in Hillsborough. ...more

January 8, 2009

State officials found that an inadequate and poorly trained staff at the Tampa Bay Academy in Riverview led to abuse complaints, patient escapes and at least one alleged sexual assault. Three years ago. ...more

December 29, 2008

Police have arrested a 39-year-old homeless man they say raped a woman in a bathroom in the psychiatric ward of St. Joseph's Hospital on Thursday afternoon. ...more

December 5, 2008

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities in southwest Florida say an intoxicated man had his 9-year-old son take him on a beer run. ...more

December 3, 2008

John Joseph Edwards is using a 2007 appeals court decision as the basis for a lawsuit that claims the Department of Children and Families violated his civil rights. ...more

November 26, 2008

TAMPA Former Department of Children and Families spokesman Al Zimmerman is set to go on trial Jan. 26 on child pornography charges. U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew scheduled a trial this morning after Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Murphy-Davis said she would like to tell the seven victims in the case a definitive trial date. ...more

November 12, 2008

An Okeechobee man remained in Highlands County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond Tuesday after he was arrested by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer and charged with domestic violence battery by strangulation. ...more

October 21, 2008

Lee Edward Cook Jr. severely beat a 6-year-old relative with a belt because the boy didn't do his homework, Tampa police say. A 2-year-old child also was left unattended by Cook, according to police. Police arrested Cook on Wednesday afternoon at 4109 W. Gandy Blvd., charging him with child abuse and child neglect. ...more

October 16, 2008

After returning home from the hospital this morning, Renaldo Duncan was approached by his ex-girlfriend and two other people he knows, including one who placed a gun against the back of his neck, Tampa police say. The trio took Duncan's chain, diamond watch and diamond ring about 1 a.m. today, a criminal arrest affidavit states. Police arrested Julia Evans, 23, of Tampa; Johnny L. Jenkins, 43, of Tampa; and Karlos Brown, 23, of Tampa. ...more

October 15, 2008