TAMPA - Five-year-old Jonathan Rivera should be playing with his tiny toy dinosaurs and learning how to sound out words. He should be in his Head Start class surrounded by classmates who sing at the tops of their lungs each and every morning, eager for show-and-tell to start. Jonathan hasn't made it to class the past few weeks. ...more

February 22, 2008

After the birth of her daughter Ryan four years ago, Beth Powell enjoyed dressing her baby girl in style. Reveling in ribbons and bows, Powell thought it could not possibly be as much fun to dress a boy. She changed her tune, though, with the arrival of her son Drew in 2006. ...more

February 20, 2008

The pass fluttered from Brett Favre's right arm and into the teeth of the evil arctic wind that had sliced and diced through Lambeau Field all night. The ball hung in the heavy sub-zero air for agonizing seconds until it was intercepted by Corey Webster of the New York Giants. ...more

January 21, 2008

That's Joey. That's what everyone with Florida football, from head coach Urban Meyer on down, said after the smallest Gator's super-sized heart told him what to do. ...more

December 31, 2007

The youngest Miller boy would watch the oldest through the window behind the front desk at strength coach Rich Lansky's training facility in Sarasota. Occasionally, the little guy - who, even at age 11, wasn't so little - would yell through the window while his big brother lifted. ...more

December 28, 2007

One year ago, my family moved away from Miami to find a better environment to raise our family. On the night of Dec. 17, we discovered how right we were in choosing the Town of Lake Placid. We lost everything in the fire that consumed our house at 367 Carole Road NW, but we gained an overwhelming sense of community. The efforts made by both the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department and the Placid Lakes Volunteer Fire Department, was an act we thought deserved acknowledgment. They disregarded personal safety to retrieve the only item of any value to my family, my little brother's ashes, who had passed away only a year ago. However, they did not stop there. They continued going back into the house despite the fire's refusal to be put out, or the roof collapsing all around them. For hours they fought that Phoenix and the cold weather of that evening's frost, to help a family they did not know, and to try and maintain a home they no longer recognized. Even while we were all aware that all was lost, they did not quit until the last ember was out. They came to us later and handed us pictures they had managed to rescue while dowsing flames. My family and I could not believe that these fire personnel were all volunteers. ...more

December 23, 2007

TAMPA - The family of a 9-year-old boy who died after being struck by a car sought petition signatures for speed bumps on Flora Street while holding another vigil Wednesday. ...more

December 12, 2007

Daniel Azzariti's passion for cars will be able to run free when he retires as New Port Richey's director of fire and emergency services in about a year. He has set Sept. 30, 2008, the end of the city's 2008 budget year, as his tentative retirement date. ...more

November 21, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - Across the street from his family's home, 4-year-old Cayden Hueles clung to his older brother's hand in the neighborhood park while other young boys practiced their pitching skills. Ryan Leonard was up. It was his turn to throw the baseball into the pitchback net Thursday night. About the same time as Ryan released the ball, Cayden released the hand of his 12-year-old brother, Janson Schults, and walked in front of the net, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report. ...more

November 2, 2007

When I was a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I have vivid memories of sprinting from house to house trying to fill my pillowcase with loot before my dad reined me in. Afterward, my siblings and I would dump our candy into piles and begin sorting and trading for favorites. ...more

October 26, 2007