It didn't occur to Lisa Marie Gritzinger that she might be cut out to be an athlete. ...more

February 9, 2008

Nine people were killed and four were injured in an errant U.S. airstrike southeast of Baghdad, the military said Sunday. ...more

February 4, 2008

Hundreds of students chanting, "Death to America!" protested Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led fight against terrorism, as the government said Tuesday that security forces would show "no leniency" in the conflict with Islamic militants. ...more

January 30, 2008

Murray Steger of Port Richey says biblical story of creation not at odds with science. ...more

January 29, 2008

The smell of gun smoke downtown means it's Gasparilla time. On Tuesday, about 20 mock pirates kicked off the prelude to Saturday's main events when they arrived aboard a parade float - with guns echoing - to "abduct" the mayor and demand the city's surrender. There was tough talk from Mayor Pam Iorio: "We will put up a fight," she vowed, surrounded by the costumed sea wolves. Maybe, but no mayor has been able to resist the make-believe pirate invasion that comes Saturday. In fact, the mayor and marauders soon gave up even the pretense of conflict and went off together for lunch. ...more

January 23, 2008

This is in response to a letter dated Dec. 31, titled "Combat Veterans." It never fails. Let something good come along and some liberal with his hand out will foul it up. This war is different from the others we have known in our time, with the exception of the Kamikazes of World War II. They, too, were driven by religion. The other wars have always been on other shores. This one began on our lands, or have we forgotten Sept. 11, 2001? During World War II, the press was on our side. In Vietnam, the politicians took over and turned that war over to the enemy, who now admits that we had them defeated, but for the bad press. ...more

January 5, 2008

Bad Choices Have Bad Consequences At the risk of being called an apologist for Domenick Maglio, I must again defend his principles for raising children. ...more

December 20, 2007

When Bishop McLaughlin athletic director Mike Zelenka suddenly had to assume girls soccer coaching duties again just before the start of the season, he envisioned a whole host of problems. ...more

December 11, 2007

NEWS AND NOTES Hillsborough County's 2008 track schedule has a major scheduling conflict. The annual Nash Higgins Relays at Leto - a meet all of the county's public schools are required to attend - is slated for March 1, the same day as the Steak n Shake Invitational at USF. According to Wharton track coach Wes Newton, who has spearheaded hosting the Steak n Shake meet the past several years, March 1 was the only date available for the event. For any number of reasons - none the least of which is that Leto features an unforgiving asphalt track measured in yards - Newton says he would prefer sending his team to the USF meet. He also would prefer the competition at Steak n Shake, which would come from across the state. ...more

December 6, 2007

How about those kids today? All they care about is music, having friends, dating and irritating us older folks. Right? Well, no, actually. And if you need proof of that, look no further than Sebring High School's Freshman Foundation. They blow those stereotypes out of the water. Spearheaded by a group of students in the Freshman Foundation, the school has taken on the task of raising $10,000 to help Ugandan children caught in a savage war that gets little media attention. They will partner with the Schools for Schools program and try to bring about change for young people thousands of miles away. After watching videos of Ugandan children caught in a conflict between government forces and a rebel group called Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Sebring students decided to do something about it. The LRA kidnaps children to make them soldiers and sex slaves. It has totally disrupted any semblance of normal life for young people there. But most of us have never heard of such a problem because it's lost in coverage of Iraq and Darfur. ...more

November 9, 2007