What's the best way to save Cockroach Bay?

RUSKIN — It is still and quiet here. The water ripples as mullet pop out of the water. Birds nest in clumps of mangroves. In the distance, a seagull squawks, and a man with a fishing pole sings a "yo-ho" pirate tune as his boat rumbles toward the gulf. This is Little Cockroach Bay, a hidden treasure of south Hillsborough. It is still and quiet here, but trouble lurks beneath the surface. Serious sea grass scarring has turned this peaceful piece of Old Florida into a battleground....

Nurse creates keepsakes for families of stillborn babies

BRANDON

Pastel colors cover the walls. Babies gurgle and cry. Parents coo and cradle them for the first time. Lives begin in the labor and delivery unit at Brandon Regional Hospital. • But in a storage room down the hall, it is quiet. There are bins stuffed with bonnets and booties, plastic bottles with "Holy Water" labels, doll clothes in pale shades of pink and blue. • This is where Laurie Van Damme goes when a baby dies. • Today the baby has a name. He is 15 ounces and 10½ inches. He died after 20 weeks in his mother's womb. Today he will wear blue. He will lie beside a blanket. He will hold a rattle in his hand. • The beeping of Van Damme's digital camera will be the only sound in the room....

What messes they find in foreclosed homes

At the height of the building boom, Mark Brandon crisscrossed the state and closed deals daily. • He helped secure mortgages for eager buyers. He wore suits as he signed off on sales. • Now the 41-year-old Riverview resident — a descendant of Brandon's founders — wears T-shirts and shorts on the job. Banks call him and ask for help. And this is how his days begin: "I walk into a house and think, 'Man, what happened to them?' " Then he gets to work. • The stench of rotten meat hangs in the humid summer air. Brandon stands beside stacks of trash bags covering the garage floor of a three-bedroom stucco house. As a field supervisor for his family's company, Total Clean & Restore, he secures and cleans up foreclosed properties so banks can put them back on the market. ...

HART considers cutting bus routes in south Hillsborough

PLANT CITY — As the evening express bus pulls into a tiny church parking lot, County Commissioner Al Higginbotham sits in the third row.

But when officials decide the future of public transportation in Hillsborough County, Higginbotham will sit at the front of the room. He started occasionally riding local buses when he was running for office.

"I'd done it before on vacation, but never in my hometown," he said. "I had this impression — we don't do it here."...

Rescue on road bought owl nine days of life

BRANDON — Dr. Ali Shreve rushed toward the examination table, cradling the owl in her arms. She pressed a stethoscope gently against its feathers.

"He's gone," she said, shaking her head.

Two hours before, the owl had been sitting on its perch. The night before, it had started to hoot again.

On June 8, Jean Pearce's car struck the owl on a dark stretch of Nichols Road near her Lithia home. When the 68-year-old bird-lover pulled over to check on the owl, a Ford Explorer hit her. She died at the scene. For nine days, the barred owl survived....

Hillsborough opens new regional service center in Brandon

BRANDON — Couples have started to say "I do" daily here, between two potted plants perched on white pedestals.

Just down the hall, they can file for divorce.

"We're a one-stop shop," said Kim Muga-Barnes, director of the Clerk of the Circuit Court's Office in the new Brandon Regional Service Center.

The $4.2-million, 18,000-square-foot building also includes a kiosk for paying water bills and a meeting room that seats more than 300 people....

Fire at the Tampa Bay Hardware 'like a death in the family'

TAMPA — Bright orange flames and dark plumes of smoke engulfed a Seminole Heights landmark Sunday evening, destroying a family-owned hardware store where clerks greeted customers by name and a gray cat often sat on the counter.

Dozens of residents looked on as firefighters pointed streams of water at Tampa Bay Hardware, 5511 N Nebraska Ave. They watched the roof of the building cave in. They saw its charred facade start to crumble....

Tanker fire shuts down I-75 in Manatee

ELLENTON — A fuel tanker plunged off an Interstate 75 overpass and exploded on the highway below Wednesday evening, closing both roads indefinitely.

Flames and black smoke shot into the air, burning the interstate overpass and dropping chunks of the bridge onto U.S. 301 in Manatee County, paralyzing traffic for hours.

The tanker driver, Raymond Neumman, 54, of Brooksville, was flown to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition with severe burns. Two drivers of other vehicles involved in the crash refused medical treatment, authorities said. ...

Dad rides to raise awareness of organ transplants

RIVERVIEW — As her mom talks on the phone, Savannah Anselmo giggles and blurts out one of her favorite words.

To the nearly 18-month-old toddler, "everybody on the phone is Da-da," her mother, Ana Anselmo, says.

Last year, phone conversations held their family together. For weeks, Robert Anselmo remained in Florida, working while his wife and daughter stayed near Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Together they prayed for the only thing that could save Savannah's life: a new liver....