Dolly Cummings, John Smith and Mary Ann Wilhelm all share the same goal: They want to be the honorary mayor of Ruskin. ...more

July 5, 2008

On June 20, there was an airplane crash at Placid Lakes Airport involving Mason Smoak and his passenger David Maehr. In December 1941, Pilot officer John G. Magee, Jr., a 19-year-old American serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force in England, was killed when his Spitfire collided with another aircraft inside a cloud. Several months before his death, he composed his immortal sonnet, "High Flight," a copy of which he fortunately mailed to his parents in the United States. This is the poem quoted in President Ronald Reagan's speech after the Challenger disaster. Here is John Gillespie Magee Jr.'s sonnet in hopes that it will be of some small comfort to the Smoak family and the entire community during this time of grief. ...more

June 23, 2008

Hillsborough County commissioners voted 6-1 Tuesday to allow a 24-hour gym to open on land not designated for all-night businesses. ...more

June 14, 2008

There's a little-known saying among fire chiefs: Two of the biggest challenges of the job are having to close a fire station or build one. ...more

June 13, 2008

Before actor Wesley Snipes' trial for tax evasion began in Ocala last month, his attorney tried three times to have it moved from the Central Florida city, claiming the black actor couldn't get a fair hearing because of racial prejudice. ...more

February 6, 2008

SPRING LAKE — When is a sinkhole a blessing in disguise? When it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but saves millions. That's what happened at the Spring Lake pump station, when 19 feet of foundation eroded over 24 years. "The sinkhole actually became a blessing for the (Spring Lake Improvement District)," said Joe DeCerbo, district manager, "because if any more land under the pipes was lost, water would have gone under the pilings and caused the entire structure to collapse, with incredible damage." ...more

February 6, 2008

AVON PARK — Given the chance both confidentially and in a public meeting to critique Norman Stephens' performance as president of South Florida Community College, no one on the Board of Trustees had anything negative to say. As part of Stephens' contract, he is subject to annual performance reviews by the board members, which are completed confidentially, as per Florida law. ...more

February 1, 2008

To do it right, major marketing groups agree that it takes months of research, surveys, cold calls and focus groups to come up with a successful branding campaign. ...more

January 10, 2008

State officials on Friday gave South Bay Hospital permission to move out of this retirement community to a site eight miles north along Big Bend Road in Riverview. ...more

December 15, 2007

SEBRING — Maybe it was because he was in great shape. Maybe it was Darrel Smith's helmet that made the difference and saved his life after a car struck his bike in August. Perhaps, Smith thought, it was the thousands of prayers given for him from other park rangers, his fellow bicyclists and the entire community. In a little more than three months, Smith came out of a month-long medically induced coma, regained 20 pounds of lost muscle and just last Thursday took a two-mile ride on his tricycle for the first time since the accident. "Yes, it hurt like hell... I got nine pieces of stainless steel (in me) right now. Two of them are cables," he said, showing his right hip. His smile and his beaming optimism goes against the grain of the aches he described. Smith's trainer, Keith A. Bowyer Jr., thinks it was Smith's drive that got him where he is now. Smith's hoping by Friday that he will get back on his job at Highlands Hammock State Park. By Christmas, Smith's hoping he can try out a bicycle. ...more

December 11, 2007