Employees at Beef O' Brady's restaurant on State Road 60 in Valrico will be flipping flapjacks today to raise funds for the 7-month-old daughter of one of their co-workers. ...more

March 28, 2009

The baby is starting treatment in Gainesville for a genetic disorder without a cure. ...more

March 26, 2009

She was such an easygoing baby, always smiling and giggling. So when Olivia Salinas suddenly became fussy at 6 months old, her parents, Ryan Salinas, 24, and Michelle Burruezo, 20, of Brandon, knew something was amiss. ...more

March 25, 2009

The state of Florida is facing an unprecedented budget crisis. Our lawmakers will be meeting in special session in early January, where they will need to make difficult decisions to address the pressing needs of our state. One area of the budget under consideration is the Medicaid hospice benefit. Because of that, I am writing on behalf of some of our most vulnerable citizens, the terminally ill and their families that receive dedicated end of life care from hospice organizations across the state. The demographics of hospice patients might surprise you. Along with our aging population and cancer patients, hospice organizations also care for children, teens, young and middle-aged adults, heart disease patients, Alzheimer's patients and kidney disease patients. Anyone of any age diagnosed with a terminal illness is able to receive hospice care, where healthcare professionals and trained volunteers address all medical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. ...more

December 30, 2008

Rabbi Mendel Rubashkin held vigil at his computer for the better part of two days last week. Eager for Internet updates about terrorist attacks unfolding in India, he trolled frantically for evidence that his friend, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, had survived the violent siege at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center in Mumbai. "It was a roller coaster of emotions," said Rubashkin, leader of Chabad of Brandon, a sector of the Chabad movement, a network of Orthodox Jews with thousands of groups around the world. News finally came the day after Thanksgiving. Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, were among those found brutally slain at the center in Mumbai, where they had served the Jewish community since 2003. ...more

December 5, 2008

An Offensive Remark ...more

September 11, 2008

Dear Abby: Please help me - I am in pieces. My sister is dying of cancer. She has shut me out of her life and has become very hostile toward me. This is breaking my heart, and I don't know how to deal with it. I have done nothing to offend her, and I don't understand why she is acting this way. ...more

July 20, 2008

Bettina Schardt knew that the combination of drugs she drank in the living room of her home in Wuerzburg, Germany, last week would kill her, and she died alone. ...more

July 4, 2008

Facing terminal illness, we all should get to experience a no-costs-barred world tour to do everything we ever wanted. ...more

January 10, 2008