On a recent sunny afternoon, a dozen youngsters played in a circle with a rainbow-colored parachute in the playground outside Witter Elementary school in Tampa. A few yards away stood a new 200-foot cell phone tower. ...more

February 17, 2009

Across Hillsborough County, school principals are lining up to put cell phone towers on their campuses to produce badly needed cash for teacher salaries and classroom supplies, even shoes for children who lack them. By summer, 14 new towers could be up at local schools. Some school officials are ready to jump at the new revenue, but they might be jumping into a hornet's nest. ...more

February 17, 2009

Dawn Firestine patiently waited as cameras clicked, hairdressers teased and a tailor stitched. A few feet away stood a photo set with a seamless white background, plastic props, including a silver globe, and a couple of sparkling vases filled with red delicious and green Granny Smith apples. ...more

September 9, 2008

Dawn Firestine patiently waited as cameras clicked, hairdressers teased and a tailor stitched. A few feet away stood a photo set with a seamless white background, plastic props, including a silver globe, and a couple of sparkling vases filled with red delicious and green Granny Smith apples. She and two other Hillsborough County teachers, Katie Bullock of Lowry Elementary and Catherine Davis from Shaw Elementary, were nominated by peers, students, family and parents for the special pampering. ...more

September 8, 2008

Emily Burton doesn't know where she might go in this world, but she knows what she wants to do once she gets there. ...more

May 19, 2008

Thank you to the residents of Lake Haven Estates who contributed to my daughter's trick-or-treat for her UNICEF effort. We were able to raise almost $20. That may not seem like too much, however, when it is added to the approximately $4.5 million that will be raised across the country, it will save or improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children all over the world. As little as $20 can immunize a child against diphtheria, measles, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. As little as $3 can provide a child with classroom supplies for a month. In this case a little bit goes a long way. ...more

October 30, 2007