Fritz and J.R. the miniature schnauzers are born barkers. But one day this past May, Karen Bond could tell something about these barks meant something was wrong in the side yard, the dogs' domain. ...more

July 9, 2008

SEBRING — While reading a passage from the short story "The Dog Ate My Homework," a student read the word "restriction," after which Karen Smith asked her third-graders if they knew what the word means. Among the four third-graders in her reading circle, Smith saw two hands go up and she called on one of the students to explain the word's meaning. These students at Park Elementary School are among the 103 third-graders in the county who are attending the school district's Summer Reading Camps, which are also being held this week through July 23 at Woodlawn and Lake Placid Elementary schools. The students are increasing their reading skills and an assessment test will be held at the end of the reading camp. ...more

June 26, 2008

River Ridge coach Russ Schenk looked to his right, at the wall in his office on the second level of the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex. ...more

June 18, 2008

Rays first baseman Carlos Pena has a fractured index finger on his left hand and is being placed on the 15-day disabled list today. ...more

June 4, 2008

Cliff Floyd has been down this road before. Minutes after the fourth walk-off home run of his career gave the Rays a 2-1 triumph against the White Sox, Floyd was sitting for a television interview when B.J. Upton attempted a stealthy approach with a towel full of shaving cream. ...more

May 31, 2008

Ambivalence and rhetoric mix then drift here like the peach-tinted smoke from the hookah at our table. The words that rise from Abdel are like the smoke; the 30-year-old man is from the United Arab Emirates, and came to Egypt to study and be with his remaining family. He is drinking coffee in an alley cafe steps from the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, thus so sacred that non-Muslims are not admitted, except when they are admitted through the side door for women, accompanied by someone with the guide skills of Abdel, shoes folded sole-to-sole under an elbow, head covered with a pashmina. Americans are welcomed at all other mosques as long as they abide by certain traditions in this nasty, noisy, niggardly and noisome city of 15 million. ...more

May 19, 2008

Astros pitcher Woody Williams walked into the clubhouse and saw a swarm of reporters gathered around Miguel Tejada. ...more

February 20, 2008

Standing near the retaining wall inside The Lakeland Center, Pasco High's Eric Stroud and Ray Perez hugged. ...more

February 18, 2008

Tom Curran is astonished at the response. The morning anchor at WTVT, Channel 13, had been reading his e-mails. ...more

February 7, 2008

It was late August, 1963. I was 12. I remember my father calling me into his room. The radio was on, and I heard cheering. It was not a baseball game kind of cheer. It seemed louder and longer. It was a sustained roar. ...more

January 21, 2008