Highlighted by the Vernon Korhn Award, the School District of Hillsborough County honored dozens of players, coaches and schools at a ceremony Thursday at the district's offices in downtown Tampa. ...more

May 23, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I did a column on gangs in the Hillsborough County schools affecting every middle and high school in the district. Last week was one on the growing use of medicine cabinet drugs by young people in a country addicted to prescription medicines. ...more

February 24, 2008

Florida public schools are supposed to begin adhering to strict caps on individual class sizes in August when the state's class-size amendment takes full effect. ...more

February 19, 2008

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs. ...more

February 18, 2008

It's called the Family Justice Center. I'm not sure justice is the appropriate word, but whatever they want to call it, it's about to disappear. The facility, which serves as a gathering place and center for more than 30 services for victims of domestic violence, is scheduled to shut its doors Feb. 8. ...more

January 30, 2008

Middleton High boys varsity basketball coach Derek Smith was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Friday on one count of probable child abuse, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway confirmed Tuesday. ...more

January 23, 2008

A Tampa Bay Tech teacher has been suspended with pay while district officials review allegations that he watched an inappropriate video on a computer at school, Hillsborough County Schools spokesman Steve Hegarty said. ...more

January 11, 2008

If there was any doubt whether the McDonald's Tampa Hoops Classic could thrive in Tampa, an electrifying championship game at Jefferson High School on Saturday should have solidified the tournament's place within the city. ...more

December 30, 2007

Educator. Coach. Pastor. Father and grandfather. Prison evangelist. Community servant. The Rev. Abe Brown is one of Tampa's last surviving icons from the days before people of color had rights. Some of his peers were more vocal in their leadership — the late Rev. Leon Lowry and Bob Gilder, to name two. Brown, meanwhile, quietly influenced thousands of lives and change in this community. It is only fitting that his biblical name means "father of many nations." "He's the property of history. Our history," says Tampa's poet laureate, James Tokley. "He is the coach of men, of the community and of the hopeless." At the end of the year, Brown, now 80, retires from one job so he can plunge into another. Although he has certainly earned the right to enjoy some time off, that's just not his nature. Because wherever there's work that needs to be done, there is Abe Brown. ...more

December 23, 2007

Coach wasn't putting up with anything from Al Barnes. The teenager knew that when he saw Abe Brown on the porch, talking to his mama. ...more

December 23, 2007