Old Soviet joke: Moscow, 1953. Stalin calls in Khrushchev. "Niki, I'm dying. Don't have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble." ...more

October 30, 2009

The University of South Florida, always on the cutting edge, has a new plan to improve schools. ...more

March 13, 2009

After a month of personnel appointments and canine selection, last week was the Obama administration's week of revelation. ...more

March 4, 2009

Congressional officials say President Barack Obama has told lawmakers he plans to pull troops out of Iraq by August 2010. ...more

February 26, 2009

Tammy Bracewell juggled phone calls and e-mail messages at the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce last week, where preparations were under way for the organization's annual dinner Friday night. The chamber – established in 1959 – will celebrate its 50th year at the dinner with a video tribute to the past and its annual citizen and leadership awards ceremony before rallying the troops to launch headlong into 2009. ...more

January 22, 2009

Tammy Bracewell juggled phone calls and e-mail messages one busy day last week at the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, where preparations were under way for the organization's annual dinner Friday night. ...more

January 21, 2009

Gang activity in Florida has grown to more than 1,500 active criminal gangs with over 65,000 gang members. In the Tampa Bay area, there are approximately 120 gangs with more than 3,200 members operating within the region. As violent crime associated with gangs has increased, gang members are being recruited younger and younger. A comprehensive plan and coordinated action is essential to halt, and ultimately reverse, the growth of gangs in our state. ...more

September 15, 2008

President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials. ...more

September 11, 2008

I am frankly mystified at the endless palaver concerning the surge, which, according to my recollections, was an infusion of some 25,000 additional troops into Iraq last year. Such a decision was not a change in tactics or certainly not a new strategy, yet it is currently a subject of political debate as if such a decision was a stroke of military genius as to warrant a complete rewrite of the curriculum at West Point. ...more

July 28, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Swimmers will have the option of wearing nothing at all at the Arbors at Branch Creek, a complex of 390 homes that landed on the idea to help move units in a down market. ...more

June 18, 2008