Odessa News

Outside the little white church with lilac painted doors, balloons were bursting in the heat, popping like gunfire.

The Rev. Betty Batey is looking forward to having more joy in her ministry. After 19 years as a hospice chaplain in South Florida, Batey is on the brink of becoming a pastor again.

When reality-TV star Jon Gosselin said he was throwing in the towel without marriage counseling, his wife Kate and their 10.6 million television viewers were not the only ones aghast.

One of the four men seriously injured in a Saturday motorcycle crash on Bayside Bridge remains unconscious at Bayfront Medical Center, according to family member.

Five people were injured when four motorcycles traveling at high speed across the Bayside Bridge got into a chain-reaction crash late Saturday night.

As a committee began the process this week of redrawing attendance boundaries for middle schools in west Pasco County, the school district's planning director quickly put to rest any thoughts that the task would be a snap.

LAND O' LAKES - The Pasco County School Board is scheduled to vote this morning on a $13.7 million contract for construction of a new elementary school.

Tattooed on her forearm is her motto: "What can't be cured must be endured." Nineteen-year-old Angela Hegge of Odessa, Fla., is philosophical for her age, she said, and she has a message -- how we look in life is unimportant compared to what we do with it.

The owners of a sports bar and grill near Lutz were arrested Wednesday night for hosting what appears to be illegal poker tournaments at the establishment, the state's Division of Alcohol Beverages and Tobacco said.

May 1: No school for students and teachers. Class notes Calusa Elementary: Book fair, through Friday.

May 1: No school for students and teachers. Class notes Denham Oaks Elementary: Kindergarten roundup/open house, 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Thursday.

I'll put the disclosure right up front: I worked with Rich Reidy in my political consulting firm before returning to journalism in 2004.

Rich Reidy, chief aide to Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, announced today he will run for the Florida House in a district that includes much of the northern and northwest areas of the county.

Billy Mays films a segment for A A'Pitchmen,A A' a reality show featuring Mays and fellow TV yell-and-seller Anthony Sullivan.

This sticker sums up the feelings Keystone residents have about efforts to amend the area's community land use plan.

When he was 30 and living in Reno, William Pennypacker stabbed his roommate five times in front of a 10-year-old boy.

Uncertain times often dictate moving into uncharted waters. After 12 years of selling lighting fixtures at three locations on the west coast of Florida, Terry Richards was forced to close Keystone Lighting and ...

Odessa, Florida - Pasco deputies have re-opened Gunn Highway and State Road 54 they had ordered closed earlier tonight because of a pipebomb investigation/ A Hess gas station there remains closed but a nearby ...

The top executives of a former New Hampshire trust company have been charged with running a Ponzi-esque scheme that used $780,000 in funds from new clients to cover 12 percent returns for clients whose ...

BY ALEXANDRA ZAYAS, BRAND JAMES and JOHN FRANK The St. Petersburg Times Originally published 07:21 a.m., March 5, 2009 Updated 07:21 a.m., March 5, 2009 TAMPA - As Coast Guard rescuers closed in on Nick ...