Dear Abby: A friend was diagnosed with cancer. A single woman living alone, she rallied a group of co-workers, friends and neighbors to donate their time to help her with a variety of tasks. These included driving her back and forth to chemo and doctor appointments, fixing meals, cleaning her house (she has OCD and was superpicky about every detail, including cleaning the cat box), sleeping over to make sure she was OK (we had only a lumpy couch because she refused to set up a bed in one of her two vacant bedrooms!) and handling a variety of other tasks. ...more

January 27, 2008

SEBRING — A 16-year-old student at the Academy at Youth Care Lane was charged Thursday with a felony count of crimes against a person by threat, as well as disturbing the peace, for allegedly saying he was going to shoot his drill instructors with a gun. ...more

January 19, 2008

One of the men mauled in a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo pleaded for help from a 911 dispatcher and asked why it was taking so long to get it, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday. ...more

January 16, 2008

The modern version of "Go west, young man," may very well be, "Go west, aging boomer." Demographers who track retirement trends report increasing numbers of baby boomers are retiring to Wyoming and Montana. This past year, we read articles titled "Forget Florida or Arizona, More Baby Boomers Are Heading West" and "More Boomers Head to Mountain West." We didn't put much stock in such news. We didn't want to believe the "rumors" of a somewhat surprising trend. That was, before we received a call from lifelong friends. They told us they'd sold their home in Dallas, Texas, and were retiring to Saratoga, Wyo. ...more

January 11, 2008

Michael Xipolitas will continue a tradition tomorrow, during the Epiphany Celebration procession, as he leads 61 young men to Spring Bayou, where they will try their best to succeed him as the next successful cross diver. The dive for the cross is one of the highlights of the Greek Orthodox Epiphany Celebration. ...more

January 8, 2008

After 56 years, Dave Melden was ready to quit smoking. He had tried before, and once went an entire year without a drag, but he always returned to the habit he picked up as a 13-year-old farm boy in Bay City, Mich. ...more

January 7, 2008

A Tampa police officer and a teenage member of the police Explorer program were attacked while investigating a possible burglary Monday night. Both were hit over the head with a police baton during a struggle outside a vacant house at 312 Floribraska Ave., according to police reports. ...more

December 26, 2007

TAMPA - A Tampa police officer and a teenage member of the police explorer program were attacked while investigating a possible burglary Monday night. ...more

December 25, 2007

SEBRING — When Howard Jenkins retired from the Air Force, he used his veteran benefits to go back to school and improve himself. From his experience, he saw the shortcomings of the military and wanted to help others. After starting as a veterans representative in Winter Haven, he transferred to Sebring in 1992 as a local veteran employment representative for Heartland Workforce. Jenkins enjoys helping the young, returning troops, showing them how to apply and get their earned benefits under the GI bill. ...more

December 17, 2007

TAMPA Sitting in front of his computer, in the recesses of the Army camp at Fort Irwin, Calif., Gilbert White read a TBO.com news story involving his hometown of Tampa. ...more

December 15, 2007