I probably should have paid more attention to the coming Great Depression. Just because the Frau has this unhappy habit of checking our retirement plan every day and announcing loudly how much more money we've lost, I still figured everything would be OK down the road, even at $5 a gallon gas. Maybe that comes from watching too many movies. ...more

June 27, 2008

Sometime just before dawn today, a 56-year-old woman either in a wheelchair or walking behind it on her daily visit to an herbal healer was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Winter Haven. ...more

June 3, 2008

AUTO RACING Dustin Des Champs of Brooksville has jumped right back into racing after a year away from the track.   ...more

May 21, 2008

You don't have a say in setting gas prices. You certainly can't force the real estate market to bounce back. And you cannot control a flagging stock market. ...more

May 18, 2008

Local mom dons deputy badge when she goes to work at Powell Middle School. ...more

May 10, 2008

Most days the mail just sits there in the box until one of us finally goes for the bad news. Weekends are usually worse. For some reason, Saturdays are when we get the bills that are messed up; the ones that some store's accounts have somehow taken a debit instead of a credit. ...more

May 2, 2008

Reid Brignac's numbers were down across the board last season, but the news wasn't all bad. ...more

February 25, 2008

A recent article in The Hunstville Times told of the death of two women who lived together. They were mother and daughter. One was age 63. She was the caregiver for her 89-year-old mother who had Alzheimer's disease. The daughter apparently died from a heart attack in their home - unbeknown to neighbors or friends. Subsequently, her mother starved to death. Like us, you're probably asking, " How could that have happened? Didn't anyone ever check on them?" But think about it. How easily could that happen in your neighborhood? Might we sometimes be confused between what is interfering and what is caring? Either way, interfering or caring could have saved one or perhaps two lives. If the caregiver had had a buddy who called every morning and evening, things may have ended differently. Our mom and a friend had a daily phone system worked out between them. Their agreement and friendship greatly eased our concerns – especially when we were traveling and couldn't always check on her ourselves. ...more

January 25, 2008

The Rev. Brian James' confession of being a porn addict certainly was traumatic for this respected pastor and his congregation at the St. James United Methodist Church in New Tampa. ...more

December 18, 2007

QUESTION: I have a lot of stress in my life and just don't know how to cope with it. Any suggestions? When the roof caves in at your house, when your little girl gets the measles or your teenager flunks a course in school or your spouse gets laid off at work, how do you cope with the stress? ...more

December 17, 2007