Al Noto started the fundraiser for Tampa's MacDonald Training Center 34 years ago. It has grown to an event that attracts people from all walks of life, who come to eat spaghetti and reconnect with old friends. This year an estimated 1,200 people attended the March 19 lunch in West Tampa. More than $19,000 was raised. The money helps the center, a nonprofit effort that helps developmentally disabled adults. ...more

April 1, 2009

Bill Brown had a story to tell. So did Fanni Green. Brown, 58, a radio engineer, recalled a time in Naples when he was hired to be a "prisoner" at the local jail. Green, 48, a theater professor at the University of South Florida, told of how her life has changed since her 78-year-old mother fell, injured her shoulder and was diagnosed with dementia. ...more

December 13, 2008

TAMPA -- Bill Brown had a story to tell. So did Fanni Green. Brown and Green today became the first two Tampa area residents to record 40-minute personal accounts for the StoryCorps project. This nonprofit effort to collect personal oral history has set up a mobile recording studio in Ybor City. ...more

December 11, 2008

Connecticut is tops. Mississippi is at the bottom. And Florida is about in the middle. Where does your state and community fit in terms of standard of living? A new study modeled on the United Nations Human Development Report provides what it calls a "snapshot" of Americans' well-being, ranked by state and congressional district. ...more

July 16, 2008