John HillEditorial Writer
I grew up in Tampa, a fourth-generation Hillsborough resident, and did everything from bag groceries and mow yards to work in a funeral home. After college, I covered state and local government for The Ledger in Lakeland, and came to the then-St. Petersburg Times in 1996 after five years as a projects reporter at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Covering the city where I was raised is like watching a split screen; big wins still require connections and respect for local traditions. My wife, Sue, and I live in Riverside Heights with our Lab, Finnegan.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/582cd3e4-0852-43bc-993d-55858a48118d.png "John Hill - Editorial Writer")
![Voters come and go Tuesday morning at the Coliseum Ballroom in St. Petersburg.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 562 316"/%3E "Voters come and go Tuesday morning at the Coliseum Ballroom in St. Petersburg.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3BDY3TMSTJGMFP3GKA5LTOU4U4.JPG "Addison Davis makes his pitch to become Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent in January 2020.")
:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FIZD2QWIREI6TIRQPAY4DVT77I.gif "Models walk the runway at the Alfred Angelo Spring 2017 Bridal Show with Disney Weddings at EZ Studios on Oct. 5, 2016, in New York City.")
![Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, center, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, take their seats during the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in New York. [Associated Press]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//Io69LqCWQmhgrpxjvmafnsQT6P4=/320x180/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FWV4KRGGRYI6TCHRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, center, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, take their seats during the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in New York. [Associated Press]")
![Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally on Wednesday in Pueblo, Colorado.This was Clinton's first campaign visit to Colorado since August. [Photo by Theo Stroomer | Getty Images]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//yk3yNcTYzSvCSS_TygOBtXKrZGs=/320x180/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/SXUKI6GGFMI6TCHRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally on Wednesday in Pueblo, Colorado.This was Clinton's first campaign visit to Colorado since August. [Photo by Theo Stroomer | Getty Images]")
![Hillary Clinton takes the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with former President Bill Clinton for a victory speech after winning Nevada's Democratic caucuses on Saturday. Buoyed by the support of enthusiastic workers in the city's big casinos, Clinton carried the state after many polls had her in a statistical dead head with Sen. Bernie Sanders. [New York Times]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//BOZYpBs-p_DrCBy6fcb_qom00gs=/320x180/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HYXKYLWGEUI6TCHRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Hillary Clinton takes the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with former President Bill Clinton for a victory speech after winning Nevada's Democratic caucuses on Saturday. Buoyed by the support of enthusiastic workers in the city's big casinos, Clinton carried the state after many polls had her in a statistical dead head with Sen. Bernie Sanders. [New York Times]")
![A young foal rests in a sunbeam at the Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio, earlier in May. Orphaned, unwanted and only weeks old, the fragile foals are given the opportunity to live and grow without their mother at the non-profit horse rescue in southeastern Ohio. [John Minchillo | Associated Press]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//W2Z_0RUdNCJ1IZO3arTWLeks76Y=/320x180/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/QPLOMOGHIII6TBKNIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "A young foal rests in a sunbeam at the Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio, earlier in May. Orphaned, unwanted and only weeks old, the fragile foals are given the opportunity to live and grow without their mother at the non-profit horse rescue in southeastern Ohio. [John Minchillo | Associated Press]")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/V6PG3SWHVUI6TJTLIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Sunday’s crash on Interstate 275 killed two sisters and a male passenger when their car went the wrong way and hit a truck.")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ADNP67WKNYI6TODGIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Voters come and go Tuesday morning at the Coliseum Ballroom in St. Petersburg.")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/7U6ZXMGKNUI6TODGIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "DON MORRIS | Times")