SEBRING — When Bobby Clark, 23, drowned at 3 p.m. Saturday, he stepped from shallow water into a 12-foot deep dredge hole, diver Preston Colby told city, county and state officials in a meeting Tuesday morning at city hall. Fire Chief Brad Batz, who was asked to investigate the Lake Jackson incident, said the hole used to be in a no-swim zone several hundred feet from City Pier Beach. The lake has lost so much water from two years of drought, however, the hole is now a few dozen feet from the beach. The hole was probably dredged in the 1960s to fill a park area behind the Civic Center park, City Manager Bob Hoffman said. "I think it's a man-made hole." Batz said Clark knew the hole existed. ...more

June 10, 2008

Experts sometimes describe the swishy underwater habitat as a nursery, other times a fish factory. ...more

June 4, 2008

Police dogs are high-performance animals with lightning speed, powerful bites and killer instincts. ...more

May 24, 2008

K-9 breeds lack natural affinity for water. ...more

May 23, 2008

GO FISHING is a daily look at the area fishing scene through the eyes of local charter boat captains and fishing guides. Today: Randy Rochelle. ...more

February 5, 2008

Low water levels in Lake Okeechobee are forcing the closure of a key navigation lock that allows boaters to cross between the lake and the Kissimmee River. ...more

February 4, 2008

TAMPA - A criminal complaint has been filed in federal court against a Lutz man accused of ramming a stolen boat into a Coast Guard vessel and trying to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday as Gasparilla festivities were winding down. ...more

January 30, 2008

A Lutz man in a stolen boat rammed a Coast Guard vessel and tried to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday night as Gasparilla festivities were winding down, Hillsborough County deputies say. ...more

January 27, 2008

A Lutz man in a stolen boat rammed a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and tried to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday night as Gasparilla festivities were winding down, Hillsborough County deputies say. ...more

January 27, 2008

Improper training and bad steering by the ship's second officer caused a Princess Cruises ship to tilt suddenly in 2006, injuring almost 300 people, the National Transportation Safety Board determined Thursday. ...more

January 11, 2008