Roy Lidbom will preach his last sermon at Faith Lutheran Church Sunday. ...more

May 10, 2008

AVON PARK — Groundbreaking for Avon Park Executive Airport's new terminal building should begin within 30 days. Airport Manager C.B. Shirey said that he was hoping it would be completed by Sept. 30, the end of the city's fiscal year. The building will be the ...more

May 8, 2008

After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as the boys lost interest. ...more

February 17, 2008

While it is unusual to rethink the need for positions once one is well into the recruiting process, the new director positions certainly warrant deeper study than apparently took place; Kudos to the commissioners for taking a second look. Most likely, when this all shakes out, one of two things will happen: either we will not add the directors or adding them will be greatly delayed. Citizens adeserve more information about justifications for this major move, especially with the smaller-government-cut-expenses environment we live in. Speaking of expenses, the monetary cost of the new director positions has been routinely misrepresented, in print at least, because only salaries are mentioned. Employee benefits, perks, office space, equipment and the inevitable support staff-executive assistants, clerks- makes $1,000,000 a more accurate guesstimate of the annual cost. In addition, there are also significant startup costs associated with recruiting and situating them. Besides monetary costs, adding a layer of management results in a deterioration of communication from the bottom to the top. Information is filtered as it goes up the chain of command and often never reaches the top person. Generally, this means that the county manager will be less aware of negative information. ...more

February 9, 2008

Things are about to get a whole lot sweeter in Apollo Beach, when MiraBay Village is completed at U.S. 41 and Leisey Road. ...more

January 26, 2008

K-BAR RANCH - Mobley Homes has altered its plans for K-Bar Ranch. The developer has dropped its bid to build a 500-unit residential and retail town center complex on the west end of the ranch. Instead, Mobley plans 200,000 square feet of commercial and light office space at the intersection of Kinnan Street and Oak Preserve Boulevard, the back entrance of Live Oak Preserve. ...more

January 26, 2008

For the past 16 months, the Family Justice Center has provided one-stop services for the victims of domestic violence, helping them find the support and direction needed to start their lives anew. ...more

January 25, 2008

Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday authorized county negotiations with a California company to build a massive retail and office development on the site of the old Toytown landfill in St. Petersburg. ...more

January 22, 2008

Pinellas County commissioners Tuesday authorized county negotiations with a California company to build a massive retail and office development on the site of the old Toytown landfill in St. Petersburg. ...more

January 22, 2008

Last Monday we drove past the Kenilworth Lodge road sign. The message for the day read something like, "Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Just toss it all on the floor!" Back home, feeling comfortable at our messy desks, we checked it out on our computers. Sure enough, the second Monday in January is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. It has been since 1982 when Ann Chase Moeller, daughter of the Chases (of Chase Annual Event Calendar fame), wrote it into their record book. According to Organizing Resources, "Desktop management is critically important to our well being - physically, mentally and psychologically." They say, "It is extremely difficult to concentrate on a particular task when bombarded with myriad piles of paper. The only papers that should be on your desk are the ones you are referring to at that particular moment. The only miscellaneous objects should be ones you use all the time, except for a few special mementos and a living plant." ...more

January 18, 2008