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Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer VALRICO -- By now, the end of summer, the grapes are pretty much falling off the vines. The dark red and shriveled ones tumble [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer RIVERVIEW -- The nonprofit board that runs the Regent events center may face questions over how it spent about $35,000 in county funds, according [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer VALRICO -- On the first day of kindergarten, Sarah O'Toole walked eagerly into a new classroom at Buckhorn Elementary School. But it was all [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; MARISSA LANG; ELISABETH PARKER; Times Staff Writers TAMPA -- Hillsborough County schools opened smoothly Tuesday for more than 180,000 students, stirring increased traffic on the roads and [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer BRANDON -- Sixteen-year-old Savannah Fredrickson slams a volleyball over a net. 'I'm not shy,' her shirt reads. 'I'm just quietly examining my prey.' The [...]

Byline: MARLENE SOKOL; STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writers TAMPA -- David Zink doesn't trust boys around his 12-year-old daughters. 'Being a protective dad, you can keep them away from boys,' [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER RIVERVIEW -- Hillsborough Community College has requested the reimbursement of nearly half its $750,000 payment toward building the Regent, a controversial events center in [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER VALRICO -- The shrill ring of the phone woke Gwen Mickens from a dead sleep early on Dec. 22, 2010. Though drowsy, she somehow [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- The first time they tried to make organic fertilizer, it was a disaster. Hundreds of worms lay limp and smelly in buckets [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; LORRI HELFAND; Times Staff Writers TAMPA -- A security breach at Tampa International Airport allowed a passenger with a knife in his carry-on bag to get on [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; SHELLEY ROSSETTER; Times Staff Writers RIVERVIEW -- Hillsborough Community College said Thursday it is examining the use of public money it contributed to build the Regent community [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER Several local organizations are teaming up this year to give away thousands of backpacks to children who need them. Metropolitan Ministries set a goal [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER Students at four east Hillsborough schools stand to be introduced to more than new classes, subject areas and teachers this fall. They also will [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer Choice is booming across Hillsborough County, where seven new charter schools open in August - the largest number to crop up locally in an [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer ZEPHYRHILLS -- At a small house party early Sunday, a man with anger issues kept clashing with an aspiring 'ultimate fighter.' To diffuse the [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES WIMAUMA -- Jacob Daley had never seen a real lion, he announced with woeful 6-year-old concern. His mom pondered his problem. The Valrico family held a [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- Pat Pybus, 76, worried about her grandson living in a bad part of town. Go back to working for a lawn service, [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Jemima Germain walked into the room, threw her hands in the air and lamented being a teenager. The Tampa 13-year-old bemoaned beauty [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER RIVERVIEW -- The white boards aren't marred by marks that can't be erased. The bulletin boards don't have holes where the cork has been [...]

Byline: STEVE BOUSQUET; STEPHANIE WANG; JAMAL THALJI; KATIE SANDERS TALLAHASSEE -- Millions of Floridians head back to work today after a three-day Fourth of July weekend. But Toni Gugliotta won't [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER LITHIA -- Ten dollars here, $5 there. Revised community development district rules in FishHawk Ranch will lay more fees on nonresidents. Discussed and approved [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER Heavy rains dropped nearly 5 inches of rainfall in parts of the Tampa Bay area Sunday morning, meteorologists say. That's enough to match or [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- In the three years she disputed her home's valuation, Sara Cucchi of Odessa became very familiar with Hillsborough County's property appraisal system. [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer RIVERVIEW -- In its first public meeting, the board of the Regent continued Thursday night to battle controversy surrounding the community center's use of [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- In an order signed this month, a Hillsborough Circuit Court judge upheld a decision by the County Commission to deny rezoning a [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- When Jessie Turner joined the Army, he traded daily conversations with his uncle for weekly phone calls. Sometimes, if Turner was lucky, [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- Facing a $28 million shortfall, Tampa City Council is targeting parking and solid waste fees in the upcoming budget year. At a [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER RIVERVIEW -- A Tampa teen accused in last year's fatal graduation party shooting at the Winthrop Pole Barn may face trial in September. Khayri [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER WIMAUMA -- Before David Kitchen died, mere weeks after his lung cancer diagnosis, he told his wife to sell their tropical fish farm business [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER RIVERVIEW -- A much-criticized community center's invitation to include more public input fell flat Wednesday when no local artists attended its inaugural arts task [...]

Byline: DAN SULLIVAN; STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writers TAMPA -- By all accounts, Kiara Brito, 16, and her brother Jeremi Brito, 13, were good kids. Kiara worked to maintain straight [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival planned for this weekend at Raymond James Stadium has been postponed because of money problems, event organizers [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Zach Karikas was supporting his two children on a college professor's salary when all of a sudden, his car engine blew out. [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Three-year-old Cali Harrison asked her grandpa what was in his hand. 'This represents our country,' he told her, and they counted the [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- A week ago, dirt smudged the new asphalt and bright-white painted lines. Debris lay in mountainous piles. Green spaces weren't green yet, [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Randy Alan White, who helped found the Without Walls International Church that later came under federal scrutiny for its ostentatious spending, was [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER ***** (05/17/2011) CORRECTION: A fire displaced 12 families Sunday at the Charleston Landings Apartments, 934 Delaney Circle in Brandon. A story Monday had an [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER RIVERVIEW -- Nearly five months after it opened, and after questions about just whom it was intended to serve, a community center paid for [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; OF THE TIMES VALRICO -- Ray O'Daniels wakes at 2:45 a.m. for a 6:15 flight. He combs his white hair in the living room with a single [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer BRANDON -- At first, the song made friends and family cry as they remembered Air Force Maj. Raymond G. Estelle II. I smile, even [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer ***** (05/10/2011) CORRECTION: Lee Jenks of New Port Richey was among World War II veterans to receive the French Legion of Honor. A photo [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer At low tide, Len Berkstresser feels his sailboat hitting the bottom of the channels. It scrapes. It bumps. 'It's not a good feeling,' he [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer RIVERVIEW -- Headphones tucked into one ear, Matheus Coura gazes above the camera and sings. Deep voice, long syllables swooping from high to low. [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- Sprinting across Cheney Park, children gleefully scooped up plastic eggs from the grass or out of tree knots. Robert Nixon, 45, stood [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer RIVERVIEW -- You can always come home, Lorene Williams Walls told her children. Home, the little block house on 5 wooded acres with a [...]

Byline: KEYONNA SUMMERS; STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writers One of the first signs of trouble, charter boat Capt. Mitch Coratella said, was the shoe he spotted floating in the choppy [...]

Byline: SHELLEY ROSSETTER; STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writers BRANDON -- Yolanda Molina often hides her son's shoes. She's afraid he'll wander off and get hurt. On Wednesday afternoon, Evelio David [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer RIVERVIEW -- In a one-story house on a quiet street, a family lived with broken bedroom windows, rough concrete floors and a hole through [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; TIMES STAFF WRITER TAMPA -- On a triangular piece of land, developers envisioned a retail and office park with second-floor apartments. No more orange groves, no more [...]

Byline: STEPHANIE WANG; Times Staff Writer APOLLO BEACH -- With summer coming up, Jim Martin planned to hire at least one new employee for his air conditioning repair and replacement [...]