A U.S. Marine died Thursday in Hardee County after his parachute failed to deploy during a training exercise. ...more

September 13, 2009

A student at Skydive City in Zephyrhills landed on a hangar roof this afternoon but was not hurt, instructors at the school say. ...more

March 30, 2009

Boat flares or other signaling devices are used to attract the attention of rescuers when a boater is stranded. Pyrotechnic flares can be hand-held or fired from a flare gun. Some emit a bright flame or smoke; the best can be fired from a gun and float back on a miniature parachute. Other devices are battery-operated and use a strobe light to send out the international distress signal. Ideally, all should be stored in a waterproof container. ...more

March 6, 2009

The Special Operations paratrooper died who died Thursday afternoon after landing in a lake at Gadsden Park has been identified as Col. James L. Merchant III, 46. ...more

January 30, 2009

More than two miles above the flat east Pasco landscape, a twin-turbo Otter airplane disgorges two dozen spores. At least that's what they look like from the ground. ...more

December 30, 2008

McKitrick Elementary held its annual field days with a baseball twist. Physical education teachers Luanne Lockwood and Sabrina Lucas design and implement the schoolwide event each year. This time they decided to make it a tribute to the Tampa Bay Rays, with baseball-themed activity stations. ...more

December 24, 2008

Mary Epperson's feet were back on the ground but her head was still up in the clouds as she stood before her students Monday at Hudson Middle School. Less than 24 hours earlier she had experienced something that until just a few years ago had only been known to astronauts and few others, the feeling of floating virtually weightless in the air, and she did it without having to go into orbit. ...more

December 17, 2008

Grasping his mother's leg, 2-year-old Christoph Pierre nervously scanned the classroom. ...more

October 8, 2008

Grasping his mother's leg, 2-year-old Christoph Pierre nervously scanned the classroom. ...more

October 8, 2008

After suffering two fatalities in 15 months, the NHRA is set to get serious about improving safety in its dangerous Funny Car class. The sanctioning body has completed a preliminary investigation into the crash at Englishtown, N.J., that killed Palmetto's Scott Kalitta on June 21 and has promised to do the following: ...more

July 2, 2008