SARASOTA — No championship is just handed to a team, and the Sebring girls basketball team seemingly tried to rest on its laurels of past tournament wins and almost saw their chance at a third-straight district championship slip away. Hannah Shoop's basket on a beautiful no-look pass by senior Whitney Lee with 1:07 to play ended a Blue-Streak scoring drought — which saw a 15-point lead dwindle to just four points — and lifted the Blue Streaks past the No. 4 seed Palmetto Tigers 52-44 in the semifinals of the Class 4A-District 10 tournament on Friday. ...more

February 3, 2008

Since the start of conference season, Florida's basketball team has had to scrap and battle back in the final minutes to come away with wins. ...more

January 28, 2008

The Gators men's basketball team might have to chalk up its win to a broken clipboard. ...more

January 24, 2008

The cities and arenas change and even the coaches are different, but there remains one constant when the University of South Florida men's basketball team goes on the Big East road: The Bulls don't return home with a win. ...more

January 18, 2008

After the Democrats took control of the Congress in 2007, they tried to limit funding on the war in Iraq. Some voters wanted the Democrats to stop the war. When will that happen? Mahoney didn't see it that way: "I don't think that's the right characterization." Instead, he wants President Bush to refocus on the war on terrorism. Mahoney, D-Palm Beach, who was elected to represent Highlands County and the 16th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, spent Friday talking to television stations and newspaper reporters about his first year in Congress. ...more

January 7, 2008

Kawika Mitchell returns to familiar surroundings Sunday, intent on playing well in front of friends and family while helping the Giants end a seven-year postseason drought. ...more

January 3, 2008

Are we experiencing a drought here or not? The answer is obvious to most of us. So what are people doing selling and using fireworks and why is a new car wash opening on U.S. 27? ...more

January 1, 2008

Going into 2008, Florida is entering its second year of drought with forecasters seeing no end in sight. ...more

December 26, 2007

U.S. Hospital Bill Nearing $1 Trillion America's hospital bill has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to the latest numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. U.S. hospitals charged $873 billion in 2005 - up from the $462 billion charged in 1997. The most recent numbers account for 39 billion hospital stays. ...more

December 24, 2007

Regarding "Desalination Plant OK'd To Join System" (Metro, Dec. 18): Production of 25 million gallons of drinking water is a drop in the bucket for our regional demands. No red Christmas bow to celebrate the fact the desalination plant is online. The article touched on the justifiable criticism of this water plant's costly failures. Now Tampa area residents will face escalating drinking water costs and fouling effluent in their beloved estuary. ...more

December 23, 2007