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Former WTSP anchor Jennifer Howe charged with DUI

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TBO.com

Published: May 11, 2009

Jennifer Howe

Former WTSP, Channel 10, news anchor Jennifer Howe was arrested Sunday morning on a drunken driving charge after she drove her 2002 Nissan Pathfinder over a curb and struck a school crossing sign, according to an arrest affidavit. She then continued driving and didn't report the collision, the affidavit said.

Her blood-alcohol percent was 0.152 – almost twice the 0.08 threshold at which a driver in Florida is presumed drunk, the affidavit said.

Howe, 43, struck the school crossing sign near 54th Avenue North and Fourth Street at 11 a.m., the affidavit said.

Officers found her at a nearby CVS pharmacy, sitting inside the Nissan, said Midge Walsh, a St. Petersburg police spokeswoman. When an officer tried to get her attention, she seemed confused, Walsh said. When Howe handed over her driver's license, the officer detected the smell of alcohol, Walsh said.

About the same time, someone came up and identified the Nissan as matching the description of a sport utility vehicle that had struck a school crossing sign, Walsh said.

Howe was arrested on a charge of drunken driving and released Sunday evening after posting $500 bail, the affidavit said.

Howe was let go from WTSP, Channel 10, last year, after working there for 12 years. According to the arrest affidavit, she is unemployed.

Howe was married to former WTSP anchor Pat Minarcin, who sued the station for age discrimination after he was fired in 1998. Minarcin also worked as an editor at The Tampa Tribune from 1999 to 2005.

Their marriage ended in 2006. They have one daughter together.

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