The debate over health care reform has entered an unreal world where facts can always be shouted down. Several letter writers have said they don't want the government choosing their doctor, but do we have a right to choose our own doctors? When I went to work for the City of Fort Lauderdale years ago, I was given a list of doctors I was allowed to go to if injured on the job. More recently, I worked for an international conglomerate. My health benefits could indirectly be set by a board of directors that met in another hemisphere, whose minutes are circulated in an ideographic language. Actually, that company gave me a free annual checkup, one of the best benefits I've ever had. My employer chose the doctor, of course. On a temporary job, I once collapsed while wearing a maladjusted gas mask. I was taken to a doctor chosen by the employer. A nurse put a thermometer in my mouth and said that I had a temperature of 120 degrees. A few minutes later they figured out that their newfangled electric thermometer wasn't working. ...more

November 2, 2009

Matt Joyce has secured the final spot on the Rays' bench, and the Tampa native could be the Opening Day center fielder. ...more

April 1, 2009

Jamie Joyner was reinstated Monday as head football coach at Nature Coast Technical High School. ...more

December 3, 2008

Continuing its tradition of community service through music, Artists for Humanity will present Benefit Concert for the Samaritan Project on Nov. 8 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wesley Chapel. ...more

October 25, 2008

Zackery Hicks has a new home. At least for now. Hicks got out of prison last month after serving a 14-year term for robbery and for a while couldn't afford a permanent residence. He had limited options on where to stay because he is a convicted sex offender, so he spent time camping in a field under a Selmon Crosstown Expressway bridge. ...more

September 20, 2008

Zackery Hicks just got out of prison last month after serving a 14-year term for robbery, and his new prison is marked by the roar of overhead traffic and the danger of getting snakebit or beat up. The situation is the way it is because Hicks is a registered sex offender, and this situation is not all that uncommon in Florida, where the oppressive stigma of being a sex offender is nearly insurmountable. Some cities across the nation have passed laws that are so restrictive, sex offenders cannot reside there. ...more

September 19, 2008

TAMPA - Two boys hurt in a Pinellas Park car crash that took the life of their mother last week returned home Tuesday to relatives in South Carolina. ...more

July 15, 2008

If the idea of temporary staffing conjures up images of '70s secretaries and steno pools, it's time to update your thinking. ...more

September 24, 2007