AVON PARK — Andy Bonjokian was so excited, he just had to stand up. "I'm sorry," he said to a group of reporters gathered in Avon Park principal Stu Guthrie's office. "I'm a wreck here." The Avon Park alumnus (Class of 1986) was introduced as the Red Devils' new head football coach on Tuesday, standing tall among the candidates after a two-month search brought on by the firing of former skipper Earnest Perkins. ...more

January 29, 2008

Or Ben Said stood anxiously beside his father inside Temple David, a blue and white prayer shawl draped around his slight shoulders, a black leather box bound upon his head. ...more

January 15, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands Little Theatre patrons will have a chance to decide for themselves whether bread should be buttered from the bottom or top in its latest production. Performances of "Suessical the Musical" at the intimate local venue will run from Jan. 18 to Feb. 2. A cast of almost 40 actors will examine the buttering question, along with several intriguing other issues from the mischievous and playful slant of children's book author Dr. Suess. The book is by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and the music is by Flaherty. Play director Mike McMillian said before Thursday's dress rehearsal that the two-hour musical (including intermission) isn't just for kids. Adult themes concerning the environment, racism, war and non-traditional families might fly over the heads of the younger crowd, said McMillian, though kids and their parents will both be wowed by seeing more than 20 Suess books colorfully interpreted through 30 songs. ...more

January 12, 2008

Paper recycling has come to town, thanks to a group of students at St. Anthony School. ...more

December 30, 2007

A Tampa Bay area legal expert says charges of child pornography may not stick to a Lakeland school principal. ...more

December 25, 2007

BARTOW - A Polk County principal was arrested today after deputies found pictures of a childlike naked woman with the head of a girl superimposed on the image, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. ...more

December 21, 2007

Attention Quinton Johns' family: Don't read until Dec. 25. Two days after an appendectomy, 12-year-old Quinton dragged an IV tube behind his gown as he combed tables inside St. Joseph's Children's Hospital stacked with pink nail polish, measuring tapes, ponytail holders and stuffed rhinoceroses. ...more

December 6, 2007

SEBRING — As students use computers more and more at school, 12-year-old Matthew Juve is using a computer for all his classes, but they are online courses and he no longer attends school this year. Matthew was already taking algebra II online through Stanford University and three other online classes through Florida Virtual School, so it didn't make sense for him to go to Sebring Middle School for one class, his mother, Diane Juve, said. ...more

December 3, 2007

Thomas Hafer, a sixth-grader at Coleman Middle School in South Tampa, has been named the Florida winner of the Nicholas Green Distinguished Student Award. ...more

December 1, 2007

HUDSON - A gunshot from a .22-caliber rifle penetrated a Hudson mobile home Saturday, wounding an 11-year-old girl, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office reports. ...more

November 18, 2007