By Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Friday, March 2, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — Angry legislators are trying to block a cost-saving move by Florida's prison system to close two centers that help inmates learn skills that help them rejoin society.

Without consulting lawmakers in the final days of the current session, the Department of Corrections is closing faith-based re-entry centers in Bradenton and Pompano Beach, at an estimated savings of $1 million. The agency needs to cut $79 million in total to balance its books, it says.

But lawmakers support re-entry programs, which they say reduce the chance that an inmate will return to prison. Some lawmakers also resent not knowing of the closure plan until they learned of it through news accounts.

Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who was negotiating final details of the prison budget Friday, said her office has been flooded with phone calls of protest about the decision.

"I would ask you at this point to work more closely with the Legislature in understanding the impact to our communities before you do what you do," Bogdanoff told two top prison officials.

Other lawmakers were troubled to hear that the estimated 300 inmates who hold jobs and learn life skills in the re-entry centers would lose those jobs and be shifted back into the general inmate population.

"I cannot stand here and tell you that those individuals that would go back into the institutions would be put into the same types of programs and training that they have in the re-entry centers," Deputy Corrections Secretary Mike Crews told lawmakers.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, blasted the state for axing the centers. "Why would we want to get rid of programs that work?" he said. "It's absolutely crazy."

Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, excoriated prison officials in public. At a televised hearing, he said the decision was "a-- backwards," and quickly added: "I'm sorry I said that word."

Lawmakers demanded a detailed cost analysis showing how closing the centers saves money.

The two doomed re-entry centers have been operated since 2005 by Bridges of America, a not-for-profit company. Bridges CEO Lori Costantino-Brown said her company has spent more than $4 million on furniture, computers and other improvements at the centers, which are owned by the state. "It appears that we were singled out," Costantino-Brown said.

The controversy over closing re-entry centers follows a decision by the agency to scale back visits by probation officers to most probationers, at an estimated savings of more than $400,000.

The flap over closing re-entry centers mirrors one involving the state's efforts to close prisons because of a surplus of empty prison beds. Responding to community protests, lawmakers have tentatively agreed to keep open two of the prisons slated for shutdown, in Hillsborough and Jefferson counties.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White is a popular guy. That's the word from his attorney, Grady Irvin Jr., who filed a motion in federal court this week telling the judge 12 to 15 people wanted to speak on White's behalf when he is sentenced on bribery and corruption charges March 12. In all, Irvin said up to 35 people want to attend the sentencing. Irvin told the judge the half hour set aside for sentencing will not be enough time to let everyone speak. So he asked for an additional 90 minutes. "It is becoming clear ... there are persons who are passionate about Mr. White's life as a whole," Irvin said in his motion.

By Patty Ryan, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 2, 2012

TAMPA

William Trump loved the sea.

He lied about his age at 17 to join the Coast Guard. Three years later, on D-day, he lugged a landing craft's anchor line to Omaha Beach under fire, earning a Silver Star.

"Only a fool and a dead man wouldn't be afraid," he later told a daughter.

Trump sailed all his life, but never had his own boat.

Not as a kid growing up in the Susquehanna River town of Bloomsburg, Pa. Not as a chief petty officer, stationed in Puerto Rico and then St. Petersburg, where he planted his family in 1955. Not as a civilian, taking tankers across the Gulf of Mexico for Belcher Oil.

He died a widower in July 2009 at age 85.

No boat of his own. Not one.

• • •

Lockport, La., gives birth to boats all the time. Large vessels. It's the home base for Bollinger Shipyards.

In 2008, the company won a contract to build a new class of 154-foot Coast Guard fast response cutters, capable of speeds of 28-plus knots (more than 32 mph), each to be armed with a chase boat, a 25mm chain gun and four .50-caliber machine guns.

So far, 12 vessels have been ordered, at an average cost of $50 million each, with options for 22 more. They'll be homeported in South Florida for drug and border patrol.

The first one, the Bernard C. Webber, arrived in Miami last month and will be commissioned this spring. Three others have been launched and the next three are taking shape in the Bollinger erection hall, says Robert Socha, an executive vice president for the company.

The 10th cutter is just 1 percent complete.

The 11th cutter? Soon.

• • •

The Trump children remember the Coast Guard vessel Nemesis.

They used to skip school to sail into Tampa with their father for Gasparilla invasions.

Trump's oldest, Colette Eddy, now 61, thinks that a governor joined them aboard Nemesis. Her brother Frank, now 58, got to see actor Jay North, who played Dennis the Menace on television.

They were two of eight children born to William and Jeanne Trump, including Melissa, Theresa, John and Jerry. Two little boys, Thomas, 2, and Daniel, 4, died of cystic fibrosis. The Trumps grew up on 45th Avenue near Kenneth City, attended Catholic grammar schools and then went to Dixie Hollins High.

Their father, who rose to chief petty officer, would spend a few weeks at sea, then return for a week. Sometimes, Filipino and Russian sailors came home for supper.

After the service, he tried a landscaping job but soon traded it for oil tankers.

"He couldn't get the sea out of him," said daughter Eddy, a Tampa aerial photographer who inherited his sense of adventure.

Near the end of his life, she asked about his war days. He didn't say much. His Silver Star spoke for him. It was a combat award, seldom earned in the Coast Guard.

The official account: On June 6, 1944, Trump was a motor machinist's mate aboard a landing craft off Normandy. The crew's mission was to get troops safely to shore. The waters were mined and boiling with bullets. Someone would need, under fire, to anchor a line for troops to follow. Trump volunteered.

A round grazed his helmet but he hoisted the anchor to shore and set it. Afterward, his daughter said, he spent 45 days picking up remains of the dead.

He never considered himself a hero, she and her brother Frank said.

Nor did he dwell on sorrow.

"He was a happy man," Eddy said. "He died on a quarter moon. There he is, smiling down on me."

• • •

The email from Bollinger Shipyards came around Christmas, first to Frank Trump, a St. Petersburg insurance agent.

He was initially guarded at the invitation from a stranger. He went online and checked out the company. There it was, in Lockport, La., outside New Orleans.

He called his older sister.

Word spread among the Trump children, who learned of a March dedication ceremony to honor Coast Guard heroes.

Phones had been ringing elsewhere, too, as other families got the same news.

In Fort Worth, Larry Flores thought of the last time he saw his brother, who died in the 1980 collision of the cutter Blackthorn and the oil tanker Capricorn. The Blackthorn capsized in Tampa Bay, and 23 Coast Guardsmen perished. But 27 survived, in part because Seaman Apprentice William Flores stayed behind to throw them life jackets. He was 19.

On Friday, in New Orleans, William Trump's kids and William Flores' siblings rode the same bus, all bound for the Bollinger Shipyards at Lockport.

The night before, at a reception, they heard the Coast Guard's commandant, Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., tell 14 stories of sacrifice on the front lines, scattered over history.

The 14 heroes, chosen by Coast Guard historians and a selection committee, included William Flores and William Trump.

The admiral presented each family a miniature replica of the newest class of cutter.

Friday, they saw one of the real cutters, tied up at Lockport.

It was the third cutter in the fleet, the William Flores, launched in November.

The 11th launch is planned for September 2013.

It will be the William Trump.

News researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Staff writer Patty Ryan can be reached at (813) 226-3382 or pryan@tampabay.com.

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Friday, March 2, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — Two years ago, a powerful business trade group filed a lawsuit against the state's largest county, Miami-Dade, arguing that its program to help workers recover unpaid wages was unconstitutional.

But with the case still being fought in court, the Florida Retail Federation also launched a campaign to pass HB 609, which would change state law to outlaw the county's program.

"We think the Dade County ordinance violates Article 5, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution, where it says 'No municipality, no county can establish a court or a tribunal,' " the FRF's senior vice president, John Rogers, told lawmakers during a recent hearing in this year's legislative session.

It's an argument the FRF has tried to make before a Miami-Dade judge for the last two years, so far without success.

The Legislature appears to be friendlier than the courts. The House of Representatives passed HB 609 last week, and the bill could effectively quash the court battle and kill Miami-Dade's program.

The FRF's strategy is not isolated. Some well-connected litigants struggling to make their case before a Florida judge are choosing what they see as a far better option: Hire high-priced lobbyists and change the law before the judge can rule.

During this year's legislative session in Tallahassee, litigants from large corporations to local governments are pushing changes to state laws that would give them an automatic trump card in pending lawsuits.

Florida's Constitution, which mandates a separation of powers between the judicial and legislative branches, frowns upon using the lawmaking process to pre-empt active legal cases. But lawmakers have ignored several warnings from state analysts pointing out unconstitutional proposals, and the litigation-tinged measures have sailed through the chambers with little debate.

Consider the FRF's experience. During a crucial committee vote on the wage theft bill, the FRF's Rogers made several nonverbal cues to a representative on the committee and pulled him to the side in the middle of the meeting.

In hushed voices, Rogers and the representative, Michael Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, conferred. Weinstein then returned to the committee table, whispered in the ear of another representative, and then both cast votes in favor of HB 609.

"The First Amendment says you can petition the government for redress of grievances," said Rogers, who has built up relationships with lawmakers over three decades in Tallahassee. "We're just pushing every option we have."

As Rogers was getting an unusual one-on-one meeting in the middle of a committee vote, the wage workers who traveled from across the state to testify against HB 609 were given only 60 seconds to speak.

Companies, trade groups and local governments spend millions of dollars in lobbying fees and campaign contributions, and often enjoy up-close access to influential lawmakers at private fundraisers and in the halls of the Capitol. The FRF and its affiliates have spent more than $1 million in campaign contributions and lobbying fees since 2010.

Last year was a record year for lobbying across the state of Florida, with lobbyists raking in $127 million. For litigants ensnared in lengthy and expensive legal fights, bypassing the courts by backing legislative changes could pay off financially.

Consider a bill sponsored by Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, that could save a troubled developer more than $600,000 by trumping a court case currently before Florida's Supreme Court.

Maronda Homes, a developer accused of building defective roads and drainage systems in an Orange County subdivision, is arguing in court that the state's "implied warranty" law applies only to a building structure itself, and nothing else. Homeowners believe they should be compensated for the poorly built roads and drainage pipes in their sinkhole-riddled neighborhood.

In a 2010 case before the 5th District Court of Appeal, a judge sided with the homeowners.

Artiles is backing a bill (HB 1013) that would change state law to overrule that decision, clarifying that the state's implied warranty provision does not extend beyond the physical structure of a home.

With the case before the Supreme Court, House analysts have warned that changing the law to pre-empt a pending legal case is likely a violation of the Constitution's due process clause. The measure passed the House by a 106-10 vote. A similar bill in the Senate appears to have stalled.

"It's not the appropriate venue for the Legislature to be sticking its hand in," said Patrick Howell, a lawyer representing 159 home­owners in the case. "It's unconstitutional … and it's a totally unfair bill on its face."

Artiles defended his bill, stating that lawmakers needed to clamp down on activist judges.

"We're codifying, because the 5th DCA, in its infinite wisdom, decided to bypass the Legislature and, through judicial activism, has basically put it up to the Supreme Court," he said. "We are preventing judicial activism."

Local governments are turning to state lawmakers for judicial relief as well.

The city of Miami could benefit from a change in state law that would shield it from paying $1.2 million in property taxes for parking garages near the new Miami Marlins stadium. County Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia surprised Miami commissioners last year by informing them that, under current law, they were responsible for property taxes on the garages.

While that case has not yet made it to court, South Florida lawmakers are attempting to pre-empt a legal showdown by changing the law in Miami's favor. A late-filed amendment makes the change retroactive, meaning Miami would be off the hook for this year's taxes as well.

Despite warnings from House analysts that the measure is likely unconstitutional, it has sailed through the Legislature with little debate.

The practice extends to the governor's office as well. Gov. Rick Scott was sued last year after issuing an executive order to require random drug tests for some state employees. With that case still pending, state lawmakers are advancing HB 1205, which would authorize random drug testing at state agencies.

In February, a federal judge raised questions about the constitutionality of random drug tests for state workers, stating she had "trouble understanding the circumstances under which the executive order would be valid."

The next day, lawmakers voted in favor of HB 1205, sending it to the floor for a full vote. The bill has not yet made it out of the Senate.

A lawyer representing Scott provided bill sponsor Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Lecanto, with a packet of information to help answer questions about constitutionality and move the bill through. Court cases have found that similar random drug testing programs violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which covers illegal searches and seizures.

When the question came up over whether or not lawmakers should be required to participate in the same random drug testing program as state workers, Smith used a constitutional argument.

"It was found to be unconstitutional to drug-test elected officials," said Smith, "because it prevents us, as citizens, from having that First Amendment right."

By John Woodrow Cox and Will Vragovic, Times Staff Writers
Friday, March 2, 2012

BROOKSVILLE — On Monday, the Brooksville Police Department initiated an internal affairs investigation into one of its patrol officers.

Bryan Drinkard, who formerly worked as a detective with the agency, was suspended and immediately ordered to turn in his badge and gun, according to Chief George Turner. But, Turner said, Drinkard wouldn't obey at first, even avoiding officers when they came to his home.

On Wednesday, Drinkard walked into the department and, without telling anyone, laid his Glock handgun on the reception counter. The magazine was loaded with 14 hollow-point rounds.

Video showed that Drinkard was in the room for just 12 seconds before he left, Turner said. The gun sat, unnoticed and unsecured, for more than four minutes.

"It's obviously not safe. It was gross negligence on his part," Turner said. "I terminated him immediately."

The chief said Friday evening he couldn't discuss the internal affairs investigation into Drinkard, or what prompted it, because the inquiry remains open.

Drinkard, 44, who could not be reached for comment, had disciplinary issues with agencies at which he had worked previously, Turner acknowledged, noting that the patrol officer started with the Brooksville department before Turner became chief in 2007.

Since then, he noted, the agency has not hired any officers with "baggage from another agency."

When asked if he felt Drinkard was a good officer, the chief declined to answer.

Brooksville Officer Marc Davidoff, who was also hired before Turner became chief, was fired in May after he allegedly tried to kiss a female inmate from the Hernando County Detention Center.

The inmate, authorities say, reported the incident to Drinkard.

John Woodrow Cox can be reached at jcox@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1432.

By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 2, 2012

Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the office's narcotics division became "too loose an operation," which led him to launch internal investigations of nine employees, including one who might be criminally prosecuted.

In that case, a detective sought reimbursement for $200 paid to a confidential informant, but Gualtieri said "he never paid the informant." The detective resigned but the sheriff said, "we're still going to pursue the criminal case for the theft."

Gualtieri said the allegation would be forwarded to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, which decides whether to file charges in criminal cases.

Of the nine deputies investigated, five were disciplined, complaints against two were ruled unfounded, and complaints against two others are pending.

This is the same unit that has been criticized recently by defense lawyers for tactics in conducting surveillance of customers of a hydroponics store.

Gualtieri became sheriff four months ago, after former Sheriff Jim Coats decided to retire, and he is running for re-election to the position later this year.

In explaining his efforts to correct problems in the narcotics division, he stressed that all of the allegations occurred "prior to me taking office."

Before he became sheriff, Gualtieri was chief deputy, the number two person in charge. He said his concerns about the narcotics division began before he became sheriff.

Overall, he said, it became clear that "quite honestly, we had a captain out there that wasn't taking care of business. … The supervision out there was lacking."

Coats said on Friday that when he left, "I felt that we had some issues, I had some concerns," about the narcotics division as well. "We were going to address some staff changes. Some were made during my tenure, and some were made after I left."

Gualtieri said things have improved since the captain retired in October and a sergeant was reassigned.

He also said he has scheduled an "all hands" meeting in the narcotics division for Tuesday to talk about his expectations, including new constitutional law training.

Gualtieri said the confidential informant case involved a detective named Jeffrey McConaughey, who was assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force.

Gualtieri said the detective filled out paperwork indicating he paid a Miami informant $200 with Pinellas County funds.

When a detective pays a confidential informant, regulations require that another deputy witness it. But the other deputy's name on the paperwork was believed to be forged, Gualtieri said. And the confidential informant later complained to police that he had never been paid, Gualtieri said.

McConaughey could not be reached Friday.

As a result of this case, Gualtieri said he ordered a "top to bottom audit" of confidential informant payments, which led to some other investigations.

Gualtieri said the other narcotics division cases included:

• Deputy Jason Bahret paid a confidential informant money last August without having another deputy witness the transaction as required. He did get another deputy to sign the payment receipt later, as though he had witnessed it, according to the investigation. He was suspended for five days.

• Deputy Michael Papamichael was the deputy who signed Bahret's receipt after the fact. He was suspended for five days.

• Deputy Brian Beery put Sheriff's Office GPS tracking devices on "your personal vehicles used primarily by other family members without having authorization or a need for police action." He was given a letter of reprimand.

• In another case previously reported by the Tampa Bay Times, Sgt. Chris Taylor ordered the erasure of a DVR hard drive seized in a marijuana grow house bust. He had told investigators he gave the order because the hard drive showed the faces of undercover detectives, which he did not want to become public. But an attorney for a defendant in the case has said he believes the hard drive would have showed deputies trespassing onto his client's property. Taylor was given a five-day suspension.

Earlier this week, Gualtieri said he was "appalled" when the Times showed him a court deposition in which a narcotics detective acknowledged wearing a Progress Energy uniform and going onto someone's property without a search warrant. Previous stories described narcotics deputies' extensive surveillance of a hydroponics store in Largo and how the deputies purported to smell marijuana plants from the outside of houses they were investigating.

Gualtieri said he believes marijuana grow houses should not be the main focus of the narcotics division.

"Our most significant priority from a drug enforcement perspective is the prescription drug overdose epidemic," he said.

Times staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at ckrueger@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8232.

Times staff
Friday, March 2, 2012

Part of the weather system that brought severe weather and tornadoes to the midwest this week will move through the Tampa Bay area late Saturday night.

The system will bring a 60 percent chance of rain, though forecasters don't anticipate the system will pack any tornadoes or destructive winds.

"It's the same front, just what's left of it, without its punch," said Bay News 9 meteorologist Diane Kacmarik.

The rain could start sometime overnight Saturday. The rain should push out of the area sometime Sunday morning. Partly cloudy skies and cooler temperatures will follow, with a high Sunday of about 65.

By Kathleen McGrory, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Friday, March 2, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers are backing off a contentious proposal to have school districts share millions of dollars in maintenance funds with charter schools — and instead calling for a task force to study the issue.

School districts had aggressively fought the measure, saying it would cost them $140 million a year statewide and cripple their ability to pay down debt.

The idea stalled in the Senate, and couldn't seem to muster enough support in the House, even from pro-charter-school Republicans.

On Friday, a sweeping charter school bill passed on the House Floor — but the final version made no mention of giving additional tax dollars to charter schools.

"We didn't have consensus on the issue, said the sponsor, Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.

The Senate version still has charter schools getting a cut of local school districts' construction money.

But Sen. Stephen Wise, the sponsor, said he might be okay with a plan being hatched by the committee now overseeing the education budget: a task force that would look into construction and maintenance funding for charter schools.

"That might take care of the issue," he said.

School districts officials on Friday were cautiously optimistic.

"It would be prudent for lawmakers to create a task force and look at charter schools on a whole," said Iraida Mendez-Cartaya, who oversees governmental relations for the Miami-Dade school district.

As initially proposed, the charter school bill had been a lightning rod.

Its backers said it was meant to address inequities in school funding.

Traditional public schools can levy property taxes for construction and maintenance. Charter schools, which receive other types of tax dollars, cannot.

Local school districts all but panicked, saying they needed the dollars for pressing repairs and to pay down debt.

The debates were intense; the procedural maneuverings closely watched.

Critics of the bill pointed out that much of the money would go to charter schools run by large management companies — many of which are flush with cash reserves. Charter school supporters countered by saying financially healthy charter schools shouldn't be penalized.

Adkins, the House sponsor, stripped the funding provision from the House version of the bill before it went to its first committee.

The bill Adkins brought to the House floor exempted charter schools from some reporting requirements. But it also made it more challenging for charter schools to earn a "high-performing" designation and incorporated a bill by Rep. Luis Garcia, D-Miami Beach, that calls for charter schools to publish information about their finances and management companies online.

Garcia and handful of other Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill, 86-30.

"If it had included that language about sharing the capital money," Garcia said, "my vote would have been different."

By Dan Sullivan, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 2, 2012

ST. PETERSBURG — A man was arrested Friday on charges of trafficking in heroin after what St. Petersburg police described as a lengthy investigation that began with tips from the community.

Curtis Graham, 45, who police said is known as "Block" and "Old Man," is accused of selling drugs in the Patton Park neighborhood. Officers with the St. Petersburg police Street Crimes unit arrested Graham Friday after they saw him selling drugs in the area of 18th Avenue S and 28th Street, police said.

The officers found 148 packets totaling 29.5 grams of heroin and $2,395 in cash on Graham when they arrested him, police said. Police then executed a search warrant on Graham's home at 445 38th Ave. N, where they found 5 grams of heroin, 12 hydrocodone pills, a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol, drug paraphernalia and $8,350 in cash.

Graham was charged with trafficking in heroin, trafficking in hydrocodone, sale and possession of heroin and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Sheila B. Chavous, who police described as Graham's live-in girlfriend, was also arrested during the execution of the warrant on a charge of marijuana possession and obstruction.

Times staff
Friday, March 2, 2012

TAMPA — Police charged a shooting victim with attempted murder Friday night, two days after he was found wounded.

German Clausell Martinez, 38, was engaged in a fight with his neighbor, Shawn Creszenzi, 18, and Arthur Miller, 19, when he pulled out a gun and shot both teens Wednesday night, Tampa Police said.

Creszenzi retaliated by pulling his own gun and shooting Martinez, who ran to the next block, police said.

Officers found all three men wounded near the 2500 block of W Palmetto Street at 7:35 p.m. Wednesday. They were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Martinez was charged with two counts of attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to arrest records.

He was booked in the Hillsborough County jail still wearing a hospital gown Friday night. No bail has been set.

Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 2, 2012

TAMPA — The University of South Florida is already home to centers for Alzheimer's disease and diabetes research, as well as training in medical procedures using high-tech simulators.

Now the school is pushing to create a new institute specializing in personalized treatment and prevention of heart disease that is based on patients' individual genetic code.

Officials with the USF Morsani College of Medicine will appear before Hillsborough County Commissioners Thursday to seek their conceptual — and financial — support. Commissioner Mark Sharpe said the school is looking for roughly $2 million in county taxpayer seed money.

Sharpe, who is promoting the idea, said it will further boost the region's image as a burgeoning center for innovation and will serve as a powerful economic development recruiting tool.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for Tampa Bay to take the lead in this kind of research," Sharpe said.

County officials say they are still awaiting details on what precisely is being proposed and how specifically they would be asked to assist. Terms of any taxpayer subsidy — such as how many jobs USF would pledge to create in return for money — also are still being hashed out.

Medical school leaders say the proposal is part of a larger emphasis they are placing on teaching and researching personalized health care that is propelled by genetic discovery. They plan to make the institute the No. 1 priority in future requests for state financial support.

(They say current legislative plans to cut higher education spending make a request for state assistance now impractical.)

"We believe that the mission of personalized medicine is going to be the biggest transformation in health care, probably since antibiotics," said Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the College of Medicine.

He and other school leaders laid out a concept Friday that appears to borrow from existing research centers in Tampa.

The school would want to build a repository of blood samples from heart patients that would get genetically mapped. Researchers would then work to identify genetic markers that predict different forms of heart disease and identify what forms of treatment would work best for each patient.

By studying large groups of patients, "we can begin to screen and treat people younger and earlier in their disease to try to head off their (disease's) progression," said Dr. Les Miller, chair of cardiovascular sciences at USF.

"By virtue of having someone's DNA profile, or genetic map, we will be able to not only select what drug they are most likely to respond to, but … to have a very clear insight into the doses that are best for that individual."

That is similar to what H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute is attempting at its M2Gen collaborative with pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. In fact, USF Heart Institute anticipates housing its blood sample collection with M2Gen.

M2Gen is Moffitt's 5-year- old for-profit startup venture to develop a huge database of cancer treatments proven to work on collected tumor samples frozen in storage. The idea is based on selling database time to pharmaceutical companies and other researchers to shorten expensive and lengthy clinical trials.

M2Gen is now trying to raise money from investors to accelerate its growth. Its freezers hold only 20 percent of their design capacity of 2.5 million samples.

Attention to the future of M2Gen has heightened since Dr. Bill Dalton recently traded his $1.1 million job as Moffitt chief executive to take over as chief executive of M2Gen.

After generating about $10 million in revenues in 2011, the venture, propelled by a $90 million exclusive-rights deal with Merck, is still unprofitable. Merck in December renewed for another year, but for less money and gave up its exclusive deal. M2Gen also signed deals with two other unidentified pharmaceutical companies and a partnership to store vascular samples in a venture with Sanford-Burnham Lab and Florida Hospital, the state's largest hospital operator.

"We're going gangbusters," Dalton said. "We got Merck to re-up before their deal expired and signed up three other partners in two months."

USF also may repeat the path it used for its Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, which recently opened in downtown Tampa. The training center got its start in space at Tampa General Hospital.

Work on the Heart Institute could similarly start in pilot fashion in collaboration with partners such as the American College of Cardiology, a medical society for cardiologists, which the school is courting.

USF hopes to begin applying what it learns to patients as quickly as possible. It has focused recent faculty recruiting on people with demonstrated ability to convert research into treatment.

Across the country, economic recruiters are seeking to attract biotechnology investment in their communities to spur job growth. Within that arena, universities are latching on to applications for genomics research.

"The difference here in Tampa," said Jennifer Hall, director of cardiovascular genomics at the University of Minnesota and faculty member of the USF cardiovascular program, "is the direct line to patient treatment."

Bill Varian can be reached at (813) 226-3387 or varian@tampabay.com.

By Damian Cristodero, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 2, 2012

TAMPA — Ryan Malone sat in the locker room at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, dried blood clotting at the corner of his left eye, the bruise underneath turning vivid shades of yellow and black.

Nothing, though, was brighter than his smile after he scored the winner in the Lightning's 4-3 overtime victory over the Rangers on Friday night.

"I'll take a lot more," Malone said of the high stick that caused the damage, "if they keep going in."

Malone's goal 1:58 into extra time finished Tampa Bay's comeback from a 2-0 second-period deficit against the Eastern Conference's top team and gave it its third straight win and fifth straight at home.

And the Lightning (30-28-6) continued its improbable surge in which it is 13-5-2 in its past 20 games and moved into 10th in the East, four points behind the Jets for the eighth and final playoff spot with two games in hand.

It also is six points behind the first-place Panthers in the Southeast Division, with another big game tonight at Carolina.

"We still got a long road," Malone said. "We know we're in a hole here, so we take it one game at a time. We don't have time to take a five-minute lull. We have to be ready from the drop of the puck."

Tampa Bay was that against New York and ended with a 30-19 shot advantage.

Steven Stamkos scored his league-best 45th goal. Teddy Purcell had a goal and three points, and has five goals, 12 assists in a career-best eight-game points streak.

Tom Pyatt scored. Mathieu Garon made 16 saves. The team blocked 23 shots, with Eric Brewer getting seven, and defenseman Brian Lee, in his second game since being acquired from the Senators, made what coach Guy Boucher called two "terrific" passes for two assists and his first Lightning points.

"The better team won," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

The Lightning was better because it disrupted the puck cycling New York uses so well to grind teams down. Helping were Lee, Mike Commodore and Keith Aulie, bigger defensemen acquired Monday in trades.

Still, the Rangers were up 2-0 in the second thanks to sharp goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist.

But Pyatt scored 7:09 into the second. Purcell scored his career-high 18th goal to make it 2-2 3:37 into the third after Marty St. Louis captured a loose puck after a faceoff and passed cross-ice. Stamkos' sizzling snap shot from the slot gave the Lightning the lead with 9:43 left.

Brandon Dubinsky tied it with 3:27 left after he turned St. Louis around and beat Garon cleanly. But all that did was set up Malone, whose 11th goal of the season capped a productive game in which he played 20:27 with four shots and three hits.

"It's one of the hardest shots he can do, right above the pad, inside the post," Boucher said of the winner. "You couldn't get a better shot than what he did. This is what beats any goaltender."

No wonder Malone was smiling.

First Period—1, NYR, Anisimov 13 (McDonagh), 10:09. Penalties—Girardi, NYR (high-sticking), :33; Boyle, NYR (roughing), 11:48; Connolly, TB (roughing), 11:48; McDonagh, NYR (roughing), 19:42.

Second Period—2, NYR, Gaborik 31 (Stepan, Richards), 2:43 (pp). 3, TB, Pyatt 7 (Connolly, Lee), 7:09. Penalties—Malone, TB (hooking), :57; Aulie, TB (delay of game), 1:00.

Third Period—4, TB, Purcell 18 (St. Louis, Stamkos), 3:37. 5, TB, Stamkos 45 (Lee, Purcell), 10:17. 6, NYR, Dubinsky 7 (Gaborik, Stralman), 16:33. Penalties—Hagelin, NYR, double minor (high-sticking), 10:33.

Overtime—7, TB, Malone 11 (Purcell, Brewer), 1:58. Penalties—None. Shots on Goal—NYR 3-8-7-1—19. TB 13-11-6-1—31. Power-play opportunities—NYR 1 of 2; TB 0 of 4. Goalies—NYR, Lundqvist 30-12-5 (31 shots-27 saves). TB, Garon 22-16-4 (19-16).

By Shelley Rossetter, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2012

SEFFNER — Sheriff's deputies charged a Checkers restaurant manager with sexual battery Friday night after they say he attacked an employee twice.

On March 1, Vongkoth Vorasane, general manager of the Checkers located at 603 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Seffner, followed a female employee into the bathroom and sexually assaulted her, Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said.

Vorasane, 30, stopped the attack when a knock at the door interrupted him, McKinnon said.

The following day, Vorasane followed the employee into the bathroom again, sexually assaulting her a second time, McKinnon said. The employee used her cell phone to record the attack and could be heard telling Vorasane "no" while he threatened her, according to McKinnon.

The employee fled the scene and contacted the authorities. Deputies arrested Vorasane at work and charged him with two counts of sexual battery. During an interview with detectives, Vorasane admitted to sexually assaulting the employee, McKinnon said.

Vorasane, of Lithia, is being held in the Hillsborough County jail without bail.

By Kameel Stanley, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2012

ST. PETERSBURG — Nikitha Chandran's mastery of spelling is well known at her school.

People at Brandon Academy know her as the girl who has a knack for phonetics. The girl who aces vocabulary and English lessons. The voracious reader.

And the girl who, for the past two years, has come in second place at the Tampa Bay regional spelling bee.

That changed Saturday.

When Nikitha, 12, goes back to school on Monday, she'll be known for one more thing: C-H-A-M-P.

"It's like, I don't know, shocking!" she said, beaming while accepting hugs and handshakes after the contest Saturday at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg.

As the region's top speller, Nikitha has earned a trip to Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is broadcast on television.

This year's local bee began with 25 students from four Tampa Bay counties. Many had competed last year or the year before, just like Nikitha.

"This is the fourth year I've coordinated this," said Heather Ewing, an English teacher at Admiral Farragut. "I've never seen a level of competition like this."

One by one, judges threw out complex words for the students. After a half hour, eight had been knocked out of the competition.

An hour and a half in, there were three.

And then, two: Nikitha and Tommy Foster, a Tampa boy who is homeschooled.

It was a familiar scene for both students, who've gone head to head twice before. Tommy came out ahead the last two years.

But when he got to the podium in round 14 on Saturday, he wavered.

The judge tossed out his word: hobbledehoy.

Several people in the audience exchanged puzzled glances. Tommy asked for the history behind the word.

"The word is of unknown origin," the announcer said.

"H-O-B-B-L-E—D-Y—H-O-Y," Tommy said.

A bell rang, signaling that the speller had missed.

It was now round 15 — the championship round.

Nikitha knew that if she got the next word wrong, Tommy would have another chance. If she got it right, she'd win the whole thing.

"When I'm sitting in the seat, I'm nervous," she said later. "But when I go to the podium, it all goes away."

She stepped up to the microphone. The judge called out her word.

Nikitha took a deep breath. Then she asked for the origin of the word. Then she asked to hear the word again.

Finally, she began to spell.

"Idiosyncratically. I-D-I-O-S-Y-N-C-R-A-T-I-C-A-L-L-Y. Idiosyncratically."

It took a few seconds for the judge to respond.

"Correct."

The crowd erupted. In the back of the room, a woman with blonde hair began to cry silently.

It was Betina Simon, Nikitha's seventh-grade English teacher.

"They were happy tears," she said later.

It was the first time Simon had attended the regional spelling bee. She's new to Brandon Academy.

"I was just blown away. So many schools don't teach spelling anymore," she said. "This is her thing, though. She's extremely self motivated."

Nikitha spent the past couple months preparing for the bee by studying about 100 words a day.

She said she'll likely do something similar to get ready for the national contest, which is May 27 to June 1.

For now, her father said, it's time to relax and enjoy the victory.

Kameel Stanley can be reached at kstanley@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8643.

By Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TAMPA — As expected, it was a defensive brawl between two Big East bubble teams, but West Virginia's defense stepped up late, handing USF just its second home loss of the season, 50-44 before a season-high 9,737 fans at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

USF had tied the score at 44 on a Toarlyn Fitzpatrick 3-pointer and had a chance to take the lead when Bulls senior Augustus Gilchrist, under the basket, had his shot swatted away by West Virginia's Kevin Jones. Jones hit two free throws, then West Virginia drew a charge on USF's Jawanza Poland, setting up more free throws with 13 seconds left to seal the win in the regular-season finale.

"We let one get away," said Bulls coach Stan Heath, whose team finished 14-2 in home games. "We're disappointed. We wanted the game bad. I don't think we channeled our mental approach the right way. We didn't do a lot of little things. … I don't know if the magnitude of the game got to us, if we were just a little antsy, but we played what I'd call out of character."

USF (19-12, 12-6) has the comfort of knowing that 69 Big East teams have won 12 conference games and all 69 have made the NCAA Tournament, but the loss sends them back squarely on the NCAA bubble, perhaps needing a win in the conference tournament to solidify their first NCAA bid in 20 years.

Adding to the sting, Georgetown lost at Marquette, meaning the Bulls would have gotten the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and a double bye to the quarterfinals had they won. Instead, thanks to Cincinnati's win at Villanova, USF has the No. 6 seed, playing Wednesday night at 9 against the Rutgers-Villanova winner on Tuesday.

After Poland's charge, the Mountaineers had the ball up two, with a three-second differential between the game clock and shot clock, but USF let the clock run down to 13 seconds before fouling Bryant, West Virginia's best free-throw shooter. Heath said he didn't want his players to foul Bryant or Jones, but they should have fouled earlier to give his team more time to score in response.

"That was my fault," he said. " … We should have fouled them a lot sooner, even if it had to be Bryant."

Jones led the Big East in scoring and rebounding and, in Heath's opinion, should be the league's player of the year. He was big Saturday, with the "WVU" logo shaved into the top of his head. Jones had game highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds, and fellow senior Darryl "Truck" Bryant went 12-for-12 on free throws en route to 16 points.

USF was led by freshman Anthony Collins' 11 points, though his four assists were offset by four turnovers. After only three turnovers in the first half, the Bulls had 10 in the second, including three after they'd taken a four-point lead with a 10-1 run out of halftime.

USF's defense held West Virginia to 22 points below its season average — the eighth straight game the Bulls held a team to 56 or fewer and at least 19 below its average — but in the end, the Mountaineers' defense came up more down the stretch. It held USF to 39.5 percent shooting from the field in the game, including 7-for-24 (29.2) in the first half.

"We haven't been near as good defensively as we have been in the past, but I thought we were pretty good" Saturday, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "It's hard to win shooting 28 percent (WVU was 15-of-52). … We made plays when we had to make plays."

By Kathleen McGrory, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — One of this year's most hotly debated education bills has become even more contentious.

At an unusual Saturday morning meeting, the Senate Budget Committee gave the green light to the so-called parent trigger bill.

The proposal, a priority for former Gov. Jeb Bush, would allow parents at low-performing schools to demand sweeping changes, including having the school converted into a charter school.

Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, the sponsor, said the 13-7 vote in favor of the bill represented an important step toward reforming the state's long struggling public schools.

But Senate Democrats left fuming.

For one, lawmakers weren't given a chance to debate the proposal. And members of the public weren't able to provide testimony until after the votes had been counted.

"This is not in the best interest of children," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, vowing to fight the bill on the Senate Floor. "This is about for-profit charter school companies coming in and trying to make a large footprint in Florida."

The parent trigger bill has been among the most controversial education proposals this year.

Supporters say it has the potential to help chronically struggling schools by harnessing the power of parents. They point to provisions that would require low-performing schools to inform parents when their children are assigned to low-performing or out-of-field teachers.

But opponents contend the bill was written to benefit for-profit charter school management companies by giving them access to public schools. They worry Florida's more rigorous school grading formula, expected to kick in later this year, will result in hundreds more failing schools — and more opportunities for charter school companies to win contracts.

The bill passed last week in the House. But it had stalled in the Senate, and had one final committee stop before reaching the Senate floor.

On Friday, backers of the bill attempted to fast track the proposal in the Senate. But a bipartisan coalition blocked the move in a tense 21-19 vote.

The Senate Budget Committee was called to hear the bill early Saturday morning.

At the meeting, Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, gave the committee only an hour to tackle 14 amendments to the already controversial bill.

The move drew criticism from several Democrats and Republican Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.

"This is an important bill," said Lynn. "We are putting a time certain on something that is going to affect our children's' lives forever? Horrendous."

There was no time for debate. Only one parent was able to provide testimony.

Lynn joined six Democrats in opposition.

Alexander did allow more than an hour of public testimony after the meeting, and many of the Senators stuck around.

Democrats cried foul, noting that parents and other members of the public had been unable to speak last week when the proposal was heard in the Senate PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee.

"We're going to work very hard to get the votes needed to defeat this bill," said Rich, who is planning a press conference on the issue for 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Benacquisto, the sponsor, was also gearing up for a battle. "Our kids deserve the very best," she said.

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — The state of Democratic politics in Florida is so incongruous it borders on surreal.

On any given week, thousands of Barack Obama volunteers in every corner of America's biggest battleground state are working phone banks, attending training sessions and reaching out to deliver Florida's 29 electoral votes to the president. In Tampa, Mitt Romney's Florida campaign headquarters is shuttered.

But step inside Florida's Capitol, where the levers of power are housed to shape statewide policies. There, Democrats are more invisible and irrelevant than ever: Not a single statewide office-holder and such small minorities in both chambers that Democrats can't even use procedural moves to slow the Republican agenda.

"It can be very frustrating, it can be depressing, and it certainly is very challenging," said state Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg.

How far has the Democratic Party fallen in Florida?

So far that it's hard to name strong prospects to challenge Gov. Rick Scott, the country's most unpopular governor, in 2014.

And when you ask veteran Florida political observers to name the state's most influential Democrats, they're apt to mention Bob Graham, who is 75 and has been out of office for seven years. Or Charlie Crist, who isn't even a Democrat but could run for governor in 2014 as a lifelong Republican-turned independent-turned-Democrat.

The lack of Democratic influence in Tallahassee is all the more striking because the state remains as much a competitive battleground as ever. In the past five presidential elections Democrats won twice, Republicans twice, and one election ended in a virtual tie.

This year, Obama appears to have an even chance of winning Florida (the average of recent Florida polls shows Obama leading Romney by less than half a percentage point), Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is well-positioned to win a third term, and Democrats won two big prizes in 2011: mayoral offices in Jacksonville and Tampa.

"In the last 20 years more people in Florida have voted for a Democrat for president than a Republican for president. But you sure wouldn't know that looking at Tallahassee," said Florida Democratic chairman Rod Smith, a centrist former state senator whose Gainesville-area district is now represented by a Republican.

• • •

Even with a nearly 500,000-voter registration advantage, Florida Democrats have hit rock bottom, and the path back to relevance looks anything but swift.

"The long-term demographics of Florida if you're a Democrat are very bright. The state's getting younger, more diverse, more urban,'' said Democratic strategist Steve Schale of Tallahassee. "But the difference between us and other swing states is that they have long-term political infrastructure in place. The challenge continues to be building that long-term infrastructure, and I think we're going to struggle with that until we elect a governor."

The roots of the Democrats' woes go back decades. Complacent party leaders long accustomed to dominating state government focused on their own political campaigns and did little or nothing to build a bench of future leaders or a lasting political operation for groomed political newcomers to plug into. Meanwhile, the Florida GOP methodically recruited talented candidates and built a formidable, data-driven political machine.

"Ultimately Cabinet offices and the Governor's Mansion are critically important in giving us something to organize our party around long term. But we would be making a mistake if we say let's just focus all on this, because it's not that simple. You've got to build a lot of other places, too. We ought to be out there and identifying the person we think could be running for office in 2016 and 2018, 2020. That's what Tom Slade did," said Smith, referring to the former GOP chairman who ushered his state party into majority status during the early 1990s.

Redistricting in 1992 sealed the Florida Democrats' fate as a minority party in the Legislature and Congress. African-American leaders determined to see more representation teamed up with Republicans to draw new legislative and congressional maps. The result produced more African-American representatives, but also diluted Democratic strength across the state.

• • •

Today, the Democrats in the Legislature are dominated by liberals serving in overwhelmingly Democratic South Florida districts — rather than centrists who tend to have more statewide appeal. Strong candidate recruiting helped Democrats gain ground in the Florida House in 2006, but the 2010 Republican tidal wave across the country took a heavy toll on the Democratic bench.

Not only did some of the party's brightest stars — Chief Financial Officer and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, and attorney general candidates and former state Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach — lose their statewide elections, but Republicans also swept into the handful of competitive districts. Moderate Democratic House members including Bill Heller and Janet Long of Pinellas County, and Keith Fitzgerald of Sarasota lost their seats, most replaced by staunch conservatives.

"The way the districts were drawn really doomed us to be in the minority, but it's more than that,'' said state Rep. Kriseman. "A lot of elected Democrats, especially in this last election, did an absolutely horrible job identifying who we are, what we stand for, what we believe in and differentiating ourselves not only from the Republicans, but also from Washington."

In this 50/50 political battleground state, only 12 of 40 Florida senators are Democrats and only 38 of 120 Florida House members. (The House Democratic caucus is down one after the resignation of Rep. Richard Steinberg amid a stalking investigation.)

The pool of all-star Democrats in the Legislature who look like credible future statewide candidates is lower than ever before.

"I feel better when I'm out of Tallahassee, than when I'm in Tallahassee," said Florida Democratic Party executive director Scott Arceneaux, noting that the party has had some important successes in local races, most notably with Democrat Alvin Brown winning the Jacksonville mayor's race in 2011. "The easier path for us to win right now is statewide, rather than districtwide."

The list of prospective gubernatorial candidates in 2014 is dominated by Democratic mayors with little statewide name recognition: Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. Others include Sink, Crist, state Sens. Jeremy Ring of Margate and Nan Rich of Weston, former state Sen. Gelber, and party chairman Smith.

But the lack of presence in Tallahassee has created a vicious circle: Democrats struggle to get their message out, because they have such a small voice in the Capitol; special interests don't give to Democrats because they have so little influence; state government and the lobbying corps are teeming with experienced Republican political professionals, but savvy Democratic operatives often have to leave the state to make a living. Or they gravitate to the GOP.

• • •

Florida voters in 2010 approved reforming the way legislative lines are drawn with an eye toward making more competitive and less gerrymandered districts. Democrats are optimistic they will gain seats in November, perhaps winning as many as 55 Florida House seats, but recruiting strong candidates is a challenge when nobody knows where the lines will end up after court fights.

"If we could become more relevant in the Senate and House and we could capture some statewide races, I do believe there would be a comfort zone and people returning," said Smith, referring both to voters and political talent.

Smith assumed the chairmanship after the Democrats' 2010 drubbing, and his priorities have included rebuilding morale, putting in place a strong legal team for redistricting and targeting local races.

As anemic as the state Democrats look, Smith is optimistic looking ahead. Florida remains a centrist state, he argued, and the Florida GOP has become so extreme that it's turning off mainstream voters.

"The tea party iteration of the Republican Party has moved so far to the right that we have the opportunity to identify ourselves as a broader tent and more inclusive than the Republicans," he said. "It's happening right down to county commission level, this moving so far to the right. I mean Pinellas County stopping fluoride? Are you kidding me? I thought that went out with the John Birch Society."

Practically every other year, Florida Democrats ask themselves if they can sink any lower. Then they do. The slow climb back may or may not begin in November.

"Democrats have lost confidence that we can win,'' Smith said. "What this president represents for us, and what this election represents for us is an opportunity to prove that we have found our way to win again in Florida."

Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@tampabay.com.

By Terry Tomalin, Times Outdoors-Fitness Editor
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TAMPA — Jeremy Criscione hoped to win his second straight Gasparilla Distance Classic on Saturday and beat last year's time.

The former University of Florida runner scored an easy victory, but a stiff headwind and stifling heat (high 80s) kept him from his second goal.

"It was rough out there," said Criscione, who covered the 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) in 46 minutes, 55 seconds, 33 seconds slower than 2011. "But what can you do? Every race is different."

Criscione, 24, stayed with the pack for the first mile then established a lead.

"I am just coming off the Olympic marathon trials, and I really didn't know how I would do," said Criscione, who finished 59th in Houston on Jan. 14. "But I realized pretty quickly that everybody else was going a little too slow, so I decided to take off on my own."

Criscione averaged about 5 minutes per mile but at one point dropped to 4:55, which gave him at least 100 yards on his nearest competitor.

"You are always worrying about somebody catching you," the Bartow resident said. "But I was feeling pretty good, so I just kept on pushing it. I knew I had a good lead. I knew I just had to hold it."

Criscione's training partner Jay Lumpkins kept him in his sights for most of the race.

"I knew he was running without a watch," said Lumpkins, 26, also from Polk County. "I wasn't sure he could keep up the pace. But he did it."

Lumpkins, who ran for Clemson, finished second, 31 seconds behind.

Criscione's victory netted $2,000 because he lives in one of the seven counties eligible for the local prize purse. Lumpkins earned $1,500.

"I'm really happy for him," Lumpkins said. "We run together a lot, and it makes us both better. He helps keep me motivated."

Criscione and Lumpkins were followed by three other Polk County residents. Austin Richmond, 26, of Babson Park finished third (1:16 behind Criscione) followed by another Babson Park resident, Jonathan Mott, 25, (1:49) and Lakeland's Scott Mackley, 25, (1:59).

Many of the Polk County runners have worked with the same coach over the years. Rick Moody, who once coached at Florida Southern, now runs the Hansons-Brooks South Olympic Development Program in Lakeland, which allows former collegiate athletes to train in a team setting.

"We were pretty lucky out there," said Moody, also an elementary school physical education teacher. "I think Jeremy was a little disappointed with his time, but he did what he had to do. It is hard to run fast when you are running alone."

Other top bay area runners included Tampa's Elias Gonzalez, 35, sixth in 49:22, and Tampa's Ryan Ripley, 27, seventh in 49:42. Pinellas County's top finishers included St. Petersburg's Nicholas Chase, 25, 15th in 55:51; Treasure Island's Hunter McCann, 15, 16th in 55:55; and Gulfport's Doug Carlan, 38, 18th in 57:07.

In the women's race, Sara Petrick, 25, of Apollo Beach took home the $2,000 first-place prize, finishing in 54:59.

"Mile 7 is always tough," said Petrick, who battled second-place finisher Briana Whaley of Clearwater. "But I am really familiar with this course. We used to run it pretty regularly."

Petrick, who ran at Florida, went to high school at Academy of the Holy Names, located on Bayshore Boulevard.

"It is great to finally win this race," she said.

"I have been thinking about it for years."

Whaley, 33, finished in 55:10 followed by Heather Butcher, 39, of North Port in 57:20.

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Michael Van Sickler and Kathleen McGrory, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — State lawmakers made significant headway on the budget Saturday, reaching consensus on economic incentives and transportation, prison and law enforcement spending.

But they had yet to find a compromise in the two most controversial parts of the spending plan: education and health and human services.

"We just opted not to go through that first," said House budget Chairwoman Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring. "We'll get to it, hopefully, tomorrow."

The chambers must align their budgets by Tuesday in order to finish the session on time. The Senate had proposed a $71 billion budget. The House version was $69 billion.

On Saturday, lawmakers agreed on an $86 million package of economic incentives aimed at bringing companies to Florida.

After initially disagreeing on how much power Gov. Rick Scott should have over incentive money, the Senate and House agreed to give the governor $61 million to use as he sees fit. An additional $25 million in incentives — grants, tax cuts and the like — would have to be approved by legislators.

Scott originally asked for about $230 million in incentives.

The House and Senate also agreed to find savings in the Department of Corrections, opting to close prisons, eliminate vacant positions and reduce contracts with private contractors.

Pleas from workers pushed lawmakers to save Jefferson Correctional Institute from closure, but legislators opted to push ahead with a plan to close the Hillsborough Correctional Institution.

Of the unresolved issues, preK-12 education spending will likely be the easiest to sort out. Both chambers agreed to add more than $1 billion to schools.

Higher education will be the bigger problem. How to spread $300 million in proposed budget cuts among the state's 11 universities is an issue yet to be addressed.

In the House's original spending plan, a formula was used to disperse the cuts evenly among all the universities. But Senate budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, frustrated with University of South Florida officials in his effort to turn USF's Lakeland campus into an independent university, came up with a new method that aimed the largest cuts at USF. Alexander said the cuts were commensurate in size to a school's reserves, but USF officials were quick to point out they didn't have the largest reserves.

Because of the USF situation, which also remains unresolved, many Tampa Bay lawmakers said the distribution of the cuts remains the most vexing issue left outstanding.

"That's what I'm concerned about right now," said Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg. "We need the cuts to be proportionate."

Reaching a deal on Medicaid could be equally challenging. The Senate and House have proposed different rate cuts.

In addition, the Senate has proposed spending millions more on adult mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment.

Times/Herald staff writer Tia Mitchell contributed to this report.

By Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2012

TAMPA — Two officers fatally shot in Miami. Three in Tampa. Three more in St. Petersburg.

Tampa police union president Greg Stout was disgusted.

So a year ago, he took his concerns to his friend Rep. Jim Boyd, a Bradenton Republican.

Together, they worked on a bill that's sailing through the Florida Legislature. It increases the minimum sentence for a violent felon caught with a firearm from three to 10 years.

Three years, Stout said, "seemed a little bit skimpy."

Stout, a detective with the Tampa Police Department, hopes the increase will persuade those who have used guns during a crime not to try it again.

If it doesn't, at least these offenders will be off the streets for seven more years, he said.

"You'll be yanked away from society," Stout said. "We won't have to deal with you."

Stout and Boyd's initial purpose was to look out for law enforcement.

Many of the people accused of shooting Florida officers, they noticed, had previous felony convictions.

By law, they shouldn't have even had guns.

That includes both Hydra Lacy, who shot and killed two St. Petersburg police officers in 2011, and Dontae Morris, who's accused of killing two Tampa police officers in 2010.

"These officers were killed in the line of duty by what I'd consider thugs — felons with guns," Boyd said.

The bill would impact the Florida Department of Corrections' budget, so to save money, lawmakers added a requirement that the previous felony conviction must have included the use of a firearm.

On Wednesday, Stout watched the votes come in on the House floor. It passed unanimously.

Now it's in the Senate's budget and will likely be heard this week.

Though Stout regularly travels to Tallahassee on union matters, this was his first venture into bill-writing. It felt good to get the backing from lawmakers and state law enforcement groups, he said.

And though Boyd doesn't have a vote on the Senate's budget, because the bill has fared so well this far, he can't imagine it not passing.

"With the tragedies we've seen in the Tampa Bay area, hopefully this will be a sign that we're serious about taking a firm stand," he said, "and protecting those who protect us."

Times staff writers Jamal Thalji and Steve Bousquet contributed to this report. Jessica Vander Velde can be reached at jvandervelde@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3433.