After several months of taking donations in a mobile unit, Florida Blood Services recently reopened its Wesley Chapel Donor Center, helping the agency better serve the community and donors. ...more

November 9, 2008

A family finds affordable fun for everyone when they take their vacation underground. Among the stunning sights: the world's tallest subterranean waterfall, left, Ruby Falls at Lookout Mountain, Tenn. ...more

October 27, 2008

Admission to all 161 Florida state parks is free Sunday, July 13. To celebrate July as Recreation and Parks Month, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Recreation & Parks is encouraging family-friendly, outdoor recreation with the launch of its "Family. Friends. Fun." campaign to reconnect children and families with nature. ...more

June 29, 2008

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson is reaching out to growers, distributors and retailers of Florida-grown tomatoes to help restore confidence in the state's tomato crop. In an effort to assist with the sale of Florida tomatoes now that the areas in production have been declared safe, the department will offer "Fresh from Florida" labels and/or point of purchase materials upon request. Anyone involved in the production or sale of Florida tomatoes can call the Division of Marketing and Development at 850-488-9948 or e-mail mailto:fapc@doacs.state.fl.us. The logos are also temporarily being placed on the department's Web site, www.florida-agriculture.com, for distributors and retailers to download. There will be no charge for the requested materials or for shipping. The material will be available for 10 days. For continued use of the "Fresh from Florida" logo, businesses are encouraged to contact the Division of Marketing and Development for information about Florida Agricultural Promotional Campaign (FAPC) membership. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration put the areas of Florida currently in tomato production on the "safe to eat" list indicating they could not be the source of a salmonella outbreak that has impacted predominantly western states. Tomato harvesting is currently under way in the Quincy, Palmetto and Ruskin areas. ...more

June 14, 2008