At 17, Travis Varnadore is a veteran racer. ...more

May 22, 2008

From today until Tuesday night, fishing and angling is about as good as it gets. If I had to pick a day and time to spend my angling money wisely, it is going to be Tuesday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. If the weather is changing — barometric drop and calming wind — I'm staying out until sundown. The major daytime feeding migration starts about mid-morning and builds in intensity and duration throughout the entire day. Factor in an approaching weather front for Wednesday and that spells "s-u-c-c-e-s-s." The additional good news is the morning bite is still excellent from the effects of the new moon and the nighttime rains the day after. ...more

February 10, 2008

Earl L. Butz, who orchestrated a major change in federal farm policy as secretary of agriculture in the 1970s but came to be remembered more for a vulgar racial comment that brought about his resignation during the 1976 presidential election race, died Saturday in Kensington, Md. Butz, who lived in West Lafayette, Ind., was 98. ...more

February 4, 2008

It's understandable that environmental activists would worry that an agricultural exemption to Hillsborough County's wetlands rule will create a loophole that allows widespread abuse. ...more

January 19, 2008

PREPARATION HELPS SAVE STRAWBERRIES Strawberry farms in the Tampa Bay area worked for days to pick as much fruit as possible before the cold front set in and industry experts estimate that overall crop losses were limited to 10 percent to 15 percent. That should not affect market pricing. ...more

January 4, 2008

SEBRING — The National Weather Service in Ruskin predicted temperatures to dip into the high 20s by Wednesday night, with temperatures expected to drop down rapidly New Year's Day. ...more

December 31, 2007

The conservationists tend to get a little tense when they approach Egg 54, which sits alone on a metal tray inside an incubator, absorbing warm air like some sort of fragile, slow-baked potato. ...more

December 30, 2007

The U.S. Senate passed the much debated farm bill, with just about everything everyone has been begging them to toss out of it. It's just one more example of our elected officials ignoring what we're saying. Let's hope it gets changed while working out compromises with the House and, if necessary, President Bush vetoes it. ...more

December 16, 2007

Thousands of people used shovels and buckets in a massive operation Sunday to clean up the South Korea's largest oil spill, which blackened beaches along the country's western coast. ...more

December 10, 2007

The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials. But one look at Mohammad Alam's fields uncovers an emerging drug problem. ...more

November 28, 2007