Students at a central Florida high school sit in the gym when their teachers are absent because there's no money to pay substitute teachers. ...more

January 31, 2009

A slate of candidates backed by outgoing Hillsborough County Republican Party Chairman David Storck won all the local party offices Tuesday, led by Deborah Cox Roush, who replaced Storck as chairman. ...more

December 4, 2008

Rusty Smith threw three touchdown passes and Charles Pierre ran for two touchdowns Saturday as Florida Atlantic defeated UAB 49-34. ...more

September 7, 2008

Trucks, tempers, Christmas displays and a gun proved a violent mix Thursday night for one Polk County neighborhood, the sheriff's office said. ...more

December 8, 2007

SEBRING — Sandy Lankford wakes up everyday not knowing what's next. "Sometimes you don't know how your day is going to go," said Sandy, who suffers from fibromyalgia, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. "This morning I felt fine, but now I'm in pain. It happens all the time. It's called a flare." Lankford, a former teacher at Bowling Green Elementary School, was forced out of work when she suffered a stroke a few years ago. ...more

October 22, 2007

My life was going along great. I had a full-time career teaching that I loved, plus two part-time ones that involved teaching music and leading worship at church. My kids were well and my husband was doing what he loved. We were all extremely busy and fulfilled. But, I began to feel sick — fatigue and pain that cannot be described. I had felt it a few times in the past when for months I could not get out of bed without help. No doctor could ever figure it out. Starting in eighth grade, I'd be given round after round of antibiotics and after being deathly ill for weeks, would slowly recover. It would always take a long, long time to feel my energetic, enthusiastic self again but I always would. Then, for years I could go on as if nothing had ever happened to me. This time, I reacted the same way by pushing myself more and more, hoping I could just "will" myself out of it. But, the last time it didn't work and after feeling "sick" for a year, I finally had a stroke. ...more

October 2, 2007

In 1978, the same year that Pavarotti sang the famous duet with his father in Italy, I was privileged to sit in a master's class held for the voice majors of my university and listen to not only his massive and rich voice, but his vocal direction. A small group of us had been asked to sit under him for the day and an even smaller group had been asked to sing for him and let him critique their singing. The few very brave singers in my class that got up and sang for him had my immense awe. I sat in wonder as he answered our questions about himself. He told us about his background and his love of music. He had not had the privileged background that some of the other students in my class had, but he certainly had gone after his dream believing that he could achieve it with enough hard work. ...more

September 14, 2007