Tampa Bay's seagrass destruction by boaters is inexcusable and irresponsible. There are two thoughts about stopping this destruction. The majority side says do nothing and leave the responsibility for changing boater behavior to law enforcement. The other side says take action with a management plan that's positive and meaningful. Cost associated with enforcement in today's financial climate is a "pie in the sky attitude," not reality. To those guides and sport fishermen who support enforcement over management, policies stopping outboard destruction of seagrasses amounts to saying, "We care little about the bay's underwater habitat, the nurseries for juvenile fish." ...more

February 4, 2009

Rhett Hopkins refused to pay his $4 bar tab at O'Malley's bar in Sarasota because, he said, he was an undercover officer with the Tampa Police Department and worked on homeland security. ...more

February 2, 2009

A 60-year-old man riding a bicycle in the 2700 block of Fowler Avenue today was struck by a car, police spokesman Jim Contento said. ...more

February 2, 2009

Tampa police are responding to a reported hit-and-run involving a crash in the area of 22nd Street and Fowler Avenue, near University Mall, police spokesman Jim Contento said. ...more

February 2, 2009

Maybe Trey Mathew Palmer was channeling Mongo, the bean-swilling cowpoke played by former NFL great Alex Karas in the movie Blazing Saddles. ...more

January 31, 2009

A man who sat in his car at the gas pumps for two hours was arrested Saturday night on suspicion of DUI. ...more

January 26, 2009

A local man remained in jail Monday under no bond following his weekend arrest for reportedly shooting an uninvited wedding reception guest. ...more

January 26, 2009

Hillsborough County deputies say heroin sales have picked up near 15th Street, south of 131st Avenue. ...more

January 22, 2009

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says the FBI made a big mistake when it reported to Homeland Security that 500 uniforms had gone missing from the agency last year. ...more

January 15, 2009

David Earley is a family man. He lives on an acre-sized lot with his wife, two young daughters, a dog and a horse. But one thing about Earley, 42, sets him apart from other dads in the neighborhood. He's a fugitive hiding in plain sight, wanted by the law since 2007 on felony charges of failure to pay child support. A list of Florida's deadbeat parents, administered by the state Department of Revenue, is the best measure of the growing problem that Earley represents: The list of cases has increased more than 100,000 during the past five years, to 792,000. ...more

January 14, 2009