Michael Vick declared "I am not the bad person or beast I've been made out to be" and asked for leniency in a letter to the federal judge who sentenced him to 23 months in prison for a dogfighting conspiracy. ...more

December 14, 2007

SEBRING — Oct. 14, 1942, is a day Ted Biever Sr. remembers vividly. On that fateful day, Biever, a retired Air Force master sergeant, who served as a gunner on World War II aircraft, was shot down while conducting a mission over Germany. "To tell you the truth there was so much going on when we were shot down that I had no idea it was happening until we hit the ground," said Biever "I slept all night inside of a haystack," said Biever. "The following day I got up, and I was in the middle of Germany. I didn't speak the language, didn't have a compass and didn't have a map, so all I could do was hope to run into someone friendly on the ground." So, Biever, then 21, approached a group of farmers he thought looked friendly. "I was hoping they'd be friendly but they weren't," said Biever. "They took me into a village and threw me in this one-man jail until some German soldiers came and picked me up." Over the next 21 months, Biever was held captive by Nazi forces. ...more

November 11, 2007

It took 21 months of repairs, but Tampa Bay Water's desalination plant is now producing 25 million gallons of fresh water a day. A key breakthrough occurred weeks ago when engineers tweaked a filtering system that had been shutting down every 12 hours. Now the filters can run 24 hours or more. The plant must undergo more tests before becoming operational early next year. The facility will supply nearly 10 percent of Tampa Bay Water's average daily demand. ...more

October 29, 2007