I owe a lot to Elijah. The 17-year-old high school dropout came to the center where I tutor to try and earn his GED. Quiet, respectful and struggling, he was my student and we worked together on reading comprehension. ...more

March 25, 2009

Teenager Ruth Lewis was one of several hundred people at today's Veterans Day ceremony at Bay Pines Veterans Hospital in Pinellas County. She thinks people should remember and honor veterans more than just one or two days a year, though. ...more

November 11, 2008

One of the greatest joys of life is the bond we share with our pets. ...more

October 19, 2008

This thing about every day we get another day older is getting to be a bit bothersome. Aches and weaknesses in our bodies are really a nuisance especially when we try to do what we used to do 20-30 years ago so easily. ...more

October 2, 2008

Casey Anthony tried to give her missing 3-year-old daughter up for adoption before she was born, but her mother wouldn't let her, according to legal documents that paint the 22-year-old Florida woman as a perplexed, scheming and unbalanced person who repeatedly defended obvious lies in police reports. ...more

August 27, 2008

SEBRING — It wasn't like finding a horse's head at the foot of the bed, like in "The Godfather" movie, but finding a dead deer on the hood of your mom's car parked in your driveway could be just as unnerving. "Weird," was how Sebring Police Lt. Bruce Crum put it Monday. Next to the deer's body and held down by a silver dollar was a poem Sunday morning on a torn slip of paper. The lyrics were from the song "Aenima" by an alternative metal rock band called "Tool." The police were called at 10:14 a.m. Sunday to the 1700 block of Myrtle Avenue, in Sebring. The complainant, a 21-year-old woman, told police that she and her boyfriend had returned home at about 3 a.m. Sunday and didn't see any deer then. ...more

June 16, 2008

With her shy and soft-spoken demeanor, 11-year-old Riane Lisnock reminds you of Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz." ...more

June 15, 2008

as millions of inspired souls know - was that time when the Lord picked you up and carried you. It's a metaphor, people: He is there when you need Him most, and so is the ubiquitous poem known as "Footprints in the Sand," shared around the world on posters, plaques, Bible covers and all things decoupage. ...more

June 15, 2008

Dear Abby: On Father's Day, many stepdads are often underappreciated or excluded, so I wrote this poem to honor these unsung heroes. I hope you'll put it in your column, so my husband - and other stepdads everywhere - will know it was written for them. -Lesley Stitt, Ontario ...more

June 15, 2008

A year and a half ago, former Mayor Dick Greco jokingly suggested that if his friends wanted to erect a statue to him, it should depict him sitting on a bench. ...more

May 30, 2008