TEMPLE TERRACE - In the four years since retiring as a University of South Florida biology professor, Al Latina, 71, has not let the grass grow under his feet. Instead, the master gardener dug right in with both heels as a member of the Temple Terrace Garden Club. He is chairman of its Woodmont Park Committee, in which he was instrumental in designing new flower beds for the park and establishing a memorial garden to honor deceased club members. ...more

January 2, 2008

Tampa Poet Laureate James Tokley chooses his words carefully and this is how he describes the Rev. Abe Brown: "the coach of men, of the community and of the hopeless." ...more

December 23, 2007

An open letter to the School Board and superintendent of Highlands County: I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction in regard to the school board's offer to raise the Educational Support Professionals salary by 2 percent. Due to circumstances beyond our association's control, we have been working under last year's contract until Nov. 9, when the school board/superintendent presented this "offer," and I use that term loosely. I understand that the district has the authority and responsibility to set aside a certain percent of monies for employee's salaries (raises). What I don't understand is the reasoning behind their only offering us a 2 percent raise especially considering that the teacher's got at least an 8 percent raise over 2 years, and administrators received 3 percent raise for the current year. ...more

November 30, 2007

This will probably kill his career, but I rise to praise Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut. ...more

November 13, 2007

more or less - day in the life of Florida State Seminoles graduate assistant Jason Woodman ...more

October 22, 2007

Joe Maddon's devotion to the work of rocker Bruce Springsteen runs deep, to the point that the Devil Rays manager's favorite Springsteen album ('The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle') is listed in his biography in the team's media guide. ...more

October 16, 2007

Here I was at an exciting new school, meeting exciting new people, with an exciting new pile of homework sitting on my desk. ...more

October 3, 2007