Sherman Chester has spent nearly half his life inside prison walls, praying for a second chance. A product of mandatory minimum sentences, Chester received a life sentence at the age of 27 for dealing drugs. The St. Petersburg native who once excelled in football and had a bright future never gave up hope. The years […]
Crossing Hillsborough County roads in 2015 was more dangerous for pedestrians than ever before. For 51 pedestrians, the task proved fatal. That’s a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths from 34 in 2014, and it was the most deaths since the state began tracking the data in 1998. Transportation officials […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision this month to approve the narcotic painkiller OxyContin for use in children as young as 11 has raised a host of questions for parents, doctors and those who help treat addiction in juveniles. Among them: Will the stamp of approval from the FDA lead to better research and […]
ST. PETERSBURG — Paula Potts remembers growing up in a rough neighborhood in the south part of this city and the tales of blue-clad boogeymen. When black children misbehaved, she said, they often were told a police officer was coming to get them. At age 13, she followed her older brother and sister […]
INDIAN SHORES — “Do Not Enter” signs and a rope marking an oval perimeter separate more than 500 black skimmers and their nests from beach-goers in this coastal Pinellas County community. The black-and-white, orange-beaked birds will hatch their young here by mid-June — if the Audubon Society successfully protects the nesting area as part […]
Inside the yellow-and-white house, Maria Saraceno and nine friends weave needle and thread through a 70-pound, pearl-covered tablecloth. The work began over a decade ago. Today, they are sewing some of the 45 names that will grace the tablecloth’s edge. The names represent everyone who has worked to complete the one-of-a-kind piece of decorative art. […]
ST. PETERSBURG – For decades, the sprawling warehouse district on the northern edge of Midtown was as lifeless as the dried-out, wheat-colored grass that surrounded the mostly abandoned buildings. The district sprang up after the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad built a freight depot at 420 22nd St. S. in 1926. Forty-one years later, the depot […]
CLEARWATER – Sitting at a table in the cafeteria of the Pinellas County Justice Center, courts reporter Curtis Krueger organizes notes as he prepares for Monday morning pre-trial hearings. Like the attorneys who pass by, Krueger is dressed for the occasion – white dress shirt, blue necktie, dark gray dress pants. A casual demeanor […]