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TIA could soon see month of million fliers

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 13, 2007

Anybody have a shoehorn? After a lackluster summer that saw passenger counts fall by more than 6 percent in July, Tampa International Airport set records in the final quarter of 2006. Passenger numbers eclipsed previous records by nearly 20,000 in October and December and by more than 7,000 in November. Nearly 805,000 passengers used TIA in December, higher than any December ever but short of the numbers posted the past three years in March and April, traditionally the busiest. In March, TIA recorded nearly 950,000 passengers. Could the first 1-million month be coming? "Oh, yeah," said executive director Louis Miller. "It wouldn't surprise me at all if we had our first million-passenger month this spring."

'Flamethrower' gets bees, house

A Cape Coral man who tried to get rid of thousands of bees accidentally set fire to his house. Franklyn Pigott Jr. set his home ablaze Wednesday when he tried to kill the bees living between the drywall and vinyl siding on the outside of his home, the Fort Myers News-Press reports. Real Kill Indoor Fogger, a little WD-40 and some dry mulch was all it took to create a "flamethrower" that melted the home's vinyl siding. The good news: He killed all the bees.

Robbery wasn't quite a video game

Who says video games don't provoke violence? Police say a young man wearing a white baggy T-shirt and baggy jogging pants drew a gun on a woman in the parking lot of Tyrone Square Mall on Thursday evening. He then forced her and her boyfriend to drive him around to several ATMs to steal money. But he wasn't after just cash, police said. At the end of the night, he forced the man and woman to take him to a Circuit City to buy a PlayStation 3. Police are still searching for the man, who they say may have been involved in other robberies.

And among our grads are ...

Florida State University didn't waste time bragging about its powerful alumni. The FSU Web site already includes a photo of new Gov. Charlie Crist and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, noting this is the first time both posts are held by FSU grads.

Katrina dogs

An April 16 trial date has been set to resolve the dogs' ownership.

MLK events

Church services and community gatherings will honor the late civil rights leader.

Union has clout

The Police Benevolent Association is a force to reckon with in politics.

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[Last modified January 13, 2007, 01:20:36]