Leaders at the Byrd Alzheimer's center, freshly battered from a volatile spring in Tallahassee, didn't wind up with a dollar in state money, and they're planning for the next few years as if they'll receive nothing more. ...more

May 8, 2008

James Coley had ample reason to stay in South Florida. He grew up a block from the Orange Bowl and returned home to become an offensive assistant with the Miami Dolphins in 2005. His wife, Kenia, is also expecting the couple's first child next month. ...more

February 22, 2008

The 2008 elections are crucial for all, particularly so for the young and the frail elderly. It's time for both parties to get specific about poverty, education and health care. Both Bill Clinton and the Bush's endorsed welfare cuts, giving the choice of "work or no welfare" to many needy. What choices do they have ? The young and old cannot work, yet if they have no wage earner or political support, they are dropped from the safety net. In education, "No Child Left Behind" failed in Bush's Texas. Middle class Americans can pay high school property taxes which ensure good school with facilities for young minds and bodies, but these are not the needy families with deprived and undernourished children. They and the poor elderly desperately need our attention. It's a common sense investment to offer disadvantaged kids a chance to learn a living wage skill. Discrimination and second class schools do not a well adjusted adult make. It only reinforces the old cycle that "we are not good enough or worthy enough for your best efforts." We are not mean people, nor unfeeling politicians seeking profit. We are generally kind to the less fortunate, but we need to be reminded that our immigrant forefathers were given opportunities that we now deny some citizens. ...more

February 21, 2008

The goal of science is not to prove or disprove the existence of God. Science is not a religious belief. Just as psychology is a discipline that explores the workings of the human brain, science is a discipline that seeks to understand and explain the processes of the physical world. Evolution explains, in very specific physical terms, how living things change through time (for example, how does bacteria become resistant to antibiotics? How did jungle fowl become domesticated chickens?) Thousands of sophisticated scientific tests have been used to study evolution and the evidence is overwhelming. When preeminent biologists disagree, it's not the existence of evolution they question. They simply disagree about the specifics of how certain adaptations occurred. These questions are an integral part of the scientific process. ...more

February 16, 2008

In response to Janet Allwood's letter concerning misuse of county money and equipment, I submit the following: No, Janet, I have not had the desire to know the specifics of reputed pornography on county computers. I was subjected to much more details in the Clinton/Monica Lewinski scandal than I would have preferred. I just find it strange that a public servant in the highest office in America was found guilty of sexual misconduct during government paid time and on government owned property, was guilty of perjury before all of the nation yet remained in his publicly paid job. ...more

February 10, 2008

The inside of the Lightning locker room is a living, breathing, evolving entity. It's a 20-headed being that sometimes pulls in 20 different directions, particularly during times of strife. ...more

January 24, 2008

TAMPA - Alexis Lopez was charged with trafficking nearly 18 grams of heroin when Hillsborough County deputies arrested him Saturday. ...more

January 15, 2008

Pasco County deputies Tuesday continued looking into the threat of a shooting at Hudson High School. ...more

January 9, 2008

HUDSON - Pasco County deputies are investigating the threat of a shooting at Hudson High School. ...more

January 8, 2008

The sperm whale that washed up on Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County was emaciated and chronically ill, according to a necropsy on the 15-ton mammal. ...more

January 2, 2008