At his first official meeting as Tarpon Springs city manager, Tuesday night, Mark LeCouris agreed this is most likely one of the toughest times to assume the post as a city's top administrative official. In these, the direst economic times in memory, the city faces a $2 million revenue shortfall in its next fiscal year, LeCouris noted. It may, however, also be the best of times because an economic crisis gives a good manager a chance to really prove his worth, Commissioner Chris Alahouzos declared. ...more

February 28, 2009

Charlie Lairsey had more than 20 guests for lunch Thursday - and they all carried badges. ...more

February 27, 2009

Law enforcement agencies suspended today the liquor license of a Bradenton bar where two slayings, 29 assaults and 25 drug complaints have occurred over the past 3 1/2 years. ...more

February 22, 2009

A 24-year-old Bradenton man was charged this week with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of promoting the sexual performance of a child. ...more

February 20, 2009

A teenager said she had sex with a Tarpon Springs police officer she worked with while she was a student at Tarpon Springs High School, but she was 18 at the time and had already graduated, according to a criminal case file released this morning by the police department. ...more

February 18, 2009

One person was shot at a Publix warehouse in Lakeland today, and the shooter appears to have committed suicide, Lakeland police spokesman Jack Gillen said. ...more

February 17, 2009

SEBRING A Sebring resident charged in connection with the November hit-and-run death of an Avon Park man will next appear in court Wednesday. ...more

February 17, 2009

A 57-year-old man has been extradited from Illinois to face charges that he was drunk when he was involved in a wreck last year in Largo that left a motorcyclist dead and led to the motorcyclist's passenger losing a leg. James Laier was booked into the Pinellas County Jail this morning on charges of driving under the influence-manslaughter and DUI-serious bodily injury. Bail was set at $55,000. ...more

February 16, 2009

Trash blanketed Seventh Avenue early Sunday morning, the last vestiges of a party that drew thousands of people to Ybor City for the annual Sant' Yago Illuminated Knight Parade. ...more

February 16, 2009

Alakhir Daniels saw some of himself when looking at a black and white video surveillance photo of a bank robbery suspect that ran in the Jan. 6 edition of Highlands Today. ...more

February 15, 2009