Gibbons says MacDill is safe

A young Florida legislator named Sam Gibbons first spoke to Tampa's Rotary Club in 1952. He was back in front of the group Tuesday, but his new stature as acting chairman of the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee didn't have much effect on the questions.

Gibbons, 74, was asked about roads. About the future of MacDill Air Force Base. And about the issue that has everyone in the country getting to know Gibbons these days, health care.

Gibbons, who has worked to expand the national security duties of MacDill Air Force Base, told the Rotary Club audience of 150 at the Holiday Inn Downtown that the future of MacDill is "as safe as anything can be in the military."

"If you think the Pentagon is the most important military installation in the United States," Gibbons said, "MacDill is the second."

The Tampa native also said he wants to introduce an experimental program, dividing Interstate 4 into two sections: one for automobiles and a separate one for trucks _ something Gibbons said should make roads safer and less congested. Gibbons wasn't as optimistic about any short-term plans to improve the intersection of Interstate 4 and Interstate 275, noting that it would cost a half-billion dollars "to fix the spaghetti bowl."

In terms of health care, one Rotarian wanted to know if the new national health care proposals include dental coverage. Gibbons said the House Ways and Means Committee recently released its proposals, which include pediatric dental and emergency dental care.

_ PHUONG NGUYEN

PSC raises profit cap for utility

An upturn in Tampa Electric Co.'s profits has prompted the Florida Public Service Commission to raise the cap on the amount of profit the utility can keep, TECO officials said Tuesday.

In February, the PSC authorized TECO profits _ or "rate of return" _ within a range of 10.35 to 12.35 percent, with a midpoint of 11.35 percent. But in recent months, TECO's revenues have been greater than expected.

"The increase in energy sales as a result of the weather has pushed our profits above the top of the range," said Mitch Lubitz, a TECO spokesman. "So the PSC has just adjusted the top of the range to reflect that."

Profits in excess of the new cap, 12.45 percent, will go to a storm damage reserve fund. The fund, which was created as a result of the unwillingness of private insurance companies to offer utilities insurance in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, would be used to repair damage sustained by TECO's transmission and distribution facilities during storms, Lubitz said.

Lubitz said the PSC will decide later this year how much should go to the fund each year. Anything in excess of that amount would be refunded to consumers.

_ JEN PILLA

Pregnant pause at hospital

Nine patients, three in active labor, were evacuated from the delivery ward of Brandon Hospital Tuesday night after an overheated transformer spread smoke throughout the third floor, hospital officials say.

The five Hillsborough County fire units that arrived at the hospital at 119 Oakfield Drive about 6:30 p.m had the fire under control within minutes, fire officials said.

No one was injured, and the soon-to-be and new mothers were returned to their rooms within a few hours, said Debra McKell, a hospital spokeswoman.

None of the women gave birth until after they were back on the ward, she said.

Damage was confined to a small area in the hospital's third-floor ceiling, she said.

_ JEN PILLA and JOHN WARD