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About This Report:
Follow along with the stories of the day, a "snapshot" of
what the Bay area was buzzing about in each day's Tampa Tribune.
- 12/01 Historic School Falls But Memories Rise
- 12/02 State's Insurer Taking Over Map
- 12/03 Church Tells Homeless Steps Now Off-Limits
- 12/04 Home Depot Cuts 750 Jobs
- 12/05 Higher Tuition
- 12/06 Recruits In Training Either Make Cut or Ring Out
- 12/07 A Humble Side
- 12/08 Parade Ends Tragically When Float Kills Boy, 9
- 12/09 Reservoir's Flaws Costly To Repair
- 12/10 Arson Suspect In Fire At Art Gallery
- 12/11 It's Outta Here, But What's Next?
- 12/12 Disputes Water Under The Bridge
- 12/13 For New Americans, A Joyous Celebration
- 12/14 Report Blames All Corners of Baseball
- 12/15 A Family Shattered
- 12/16 Unladylike Behavior
- 12/17 Drought Over
- 12/18 Promenade Is A Walk Through History
- 12/19 Tide Turning Against Flood Of Empties
- 12/20 Pipeline Of Seniors To Florida Slows
- 12/21 Ramps To Ease Airport Exit
- 12/22 How Green Are We?
- 12/23 A Man Of Action
- 12/24 Family's Christmas Now In Ashes
- 12/25 Group Takes Birds Under Wing
- 12/26 In Pasco Hamlet, Past Looms Large
- 12/27 Crane, Semi Collide Killing Truck Driver
- 12/28 Death Leaves Nation Crumbling
- 12/29 The Best, To Be Frank
- 12/30 Whatever It Takes To Stay In The Game
- 12/31 It's More Than College Football
Meacham Alternative School, a monument to inner city education, began tumbling into rubble Friday, joining the remains of the neighborhood that had sent many of its young people there.
Taxpayers' growing risk has some leaders saying it isn't worth lower premiums. As Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has grown, so has your financial risk. Every homeowner will have to pay to rebuild after a catastrophic hurricane - even those with private insurance.
About 18 months ago, about 10 homeless men sought refuge on the front steps of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the heart of downtown. They slept there peacefully, church officials said, and everyone got along. In the past few months, though, the crowd sleeping on the steps of the Florida Avenue church swelled to about 70 people. More recently, the problems - fights, cursing, drunkenness, trash - grew, too. Now Sacred Heart officials say the homeless, at least for the time being, are not welcome to sleep on the church's steps.
The Home Depot is laying off 750 people locally and closing its call center in Brandon. The Atlanta-based retail giant, known for its home improvement warehouse stores and bright orange work aprons, said the shutdown is a prudent business decision and part of a wider initiative to bring some customer service functions back into the stores.
Starting in January, Florida's public university students will pay 5 percent more in tuition.
During a new two-week training program at the Walter C. Heinrich Practical Training Center, instructors push the physical and emotional limits of law enforcement recruits. Some will make the cut. Others will ring out. | Photo Gallery
Many people know Tim Tebow as the Florida Gators quarterback with the bruising runs and crisp passes, but off the gridiron you'll find a warm-hearted young man who spends time sharing his faith with inmates and orphans.
A Christmas parade tailored to instill wonder in children took a tragic turn Friday night when a 9-year-old boy was run over and killed by a float. Jordan Hayes of Inverness was walking beside the float of The Greater Heights Family Worship Center handing out beads and tossing candy to the crowds when his foot was caught by a wheel and he was dragged under, Plant City Police Chief Bill McDaniel said.
Initially downplayed by Tampa Bay Water officials, the huge cracks in the walls of the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir have turned into an expensive problem.
12 artists lose years of work in fire at the Imago Art Gallery in Dunedin.
Perhaps the most endearing feature of the Tampa Bay Rays' proposed waterfront ballpark could be watching batters launch home run balls into the Bay. To highlight the importance of this visual, Rays first baseman Carlos Pena hit balls into the Bay when the team unveiled the $450 million plan last month at the proposed site, Al Lang Field at Progress Energy Park in downtown St. Petersburg. But behind the signature amenity are several vexing questions: What will happen to the balls? Who will retrieve them? Do sunken balls pose an environmental risk?
Pinellas, Pasco counties work on deal to preserve Cross Bar Ranch.
447 took the oath of citizenship Wednesday at the Tampa Theater.
Investigation of the national pastime's "steroid era" names some of the game's brightest stars as culprits in culture of permissivieness.
Jennifer Davis, 27, and her partner, Andrea Pisanello, 53, were killed in their Largo apartment Friday. Davis' two children, 4-year-old Olivia Bernsdorff and 2-year-old Magnus Bernsdorff, were found dead at the family home in Clearwater. Their father, Pinellas County schoolteacher Oliver Bernsdorff, apparently shot himself to death while driving across the Sunshine Skyway. He is suspected in the four slayings.
Girls are no longer the weaker sex. They play sports. They have butt-kicking role models. Sometimes they kick butt themselves. That has lead many to speculate about an increase in unladylike behavior.
Thirty-two seasons: that's how long it took the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to return a kickoff for a touchdown. The first player to do it: Michael Spurlock, who had never returned a kick for a TD in his life.
For more than a century Bayshore Boulevard has been Tampa's showcase, its jewel, touted as having one of the world's longest uninterrupted sidewalks. It's where the who's who of this city live, run, play and parade.
It used to be simple: Grab a bottle of water and go. Once seen as the hallmark of healthy living, bottled water is facing a backlash from environmentalists who worry about all those discarded plastic containers, more than 80 percent of which end up in landfills and incinerators.
Retirees used to view Florida as the land of sun, golf and the good life. But these days, Florida sometimes gets a different reaction. Florida has been losing ground as a retirement destination since at least 1980, but recent U.S. Census data suggest the state's appeal among retirees is starting to slip further.
Motorists leaving Tampa International Airport will have to wait one more day to get a quicker route to Interstate 275. A nearly half-mile-long bridge designed to funnel drivers toward Kennedy Boulevard and I-275 - and remove the jostling between lanes – was supposed to open early this morning. Officials said the rain forced them to postpone the opening until Saturday. The two-lane bridge, which reaches 75 feet high at its peak, spans the knot of roads where George Bean Parkway, the airport's entrance and exit, intersects with State Road 60 and West Spruce Street.
Nearly a year after Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio pledged to reduce greenhouse gases and conserve energy, little of significance has been done. A "Green Team" the mayor formed has yet to meet, and most of the goals she pledged remain unfulfilled as Tampa lags behind other cities that made the same pledge.
Educator. Coach. Pastor. Father and grandfather. Prison evangelist. Community servant. The Rev. Abe Brown is one of Tampa's last surviving icons from the days before people of color had rights.
Sifting through the scorched ruins of his parents' home, Joe Wakefield didn't know Sunday where his family would gather for Christmas. For 13 years, the cozy Citrus Park home filled with furniture from Germany, his mother's antique clock collection and family gifts piled almost to the ceiling has been the Wakefield family's gathering venue for the holiday. On Sunday morning, though, with Christmas only two days away, a fire destroyed his parents' home at 5825 Bitter Orange Ave.
Bird trainer Jennifer Klosowski remembers what Rebel was like when he first arrived - the 8-year-old green-wing macaw muttered to himself and cowered in the back of his cage. He squawked loudly and paced when anyone came near. His aggressive behavior made it difficult to handle him. Klosowski works with neglected birds such as Rebel through Tampa Bay Parrot Rescue, which fosters and finds homes for surrendered and abandoned birds.
CLAY SINK - This tiny community, dwarfed by the Withlacoochee State Forest that surrounds it, might have been run over by development by now, like many of Florida's rural outposts, except for a quirk of fate. The state Division of Forestry owns all the land in Pasco, Hernando and Sumter counties surrounding Clay Sink, including the 2 acres where the community's old schoolhouse, historic cemetery and Baptist church sit. That dynamic has rendered this remote hamlet in northeast Pasco County useless to developers.
A 50-year-old Riverview man died in a crash Wednesday that closed County Road 39 at State Road 674 for hours. The accident happened at 10:11 a.m., about three miles south of S.R. 674, as a crane was driven across C.R. 39 onto property owned by fertilizer manufacturer Mosaic Co. The crane driver, Jerry Gibson, 58, of 3045 Harney Road, Bowling Green, pulled into the path of a 2000 International tractor-trailer being driven north on C.R. 39 by Julio Combina, 50, of 3514 Cornwall Square Drive, Riverview, the sheriff's office said.
The suicide attack that killed Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday cut short an epic life, one bathed in blood and awash with controversy.
Mel Lohn's humorous interaction with his customers is one of the things that makes his diner different than other fast-food joints.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were having a great season, and nose tackle Brad Culpepper didn't want to miss a minute. An injured right heel had limited his practice time for weeks and even forced him to use crutches. But as the Bucs kept winning and drawing closer to their goal of reaching the Super Bowl, Culpepper understood what it would take to stay on the field.
University of Tennessee sophomore Sierra Gordon pulls hard in a tug-of-war against the University of Wisconsin dance team. She soon ended up in the water pit anyway. Fans of both teams flocked to Outback Bowl Beach Day on Sunday.
