Digest

Dateline Florida

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 12, 2007

RARE GHOST ORCHID BLOOMS IN HAVEN HIGH ABOVE HEADS

A rare ghost orchid has been found growing high in an old cypress tree at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples. The flower, about 150 feet from the sanctuary's boardwalk, can be seen only with binoculars, the Naples Daily News reported. Two visitors looking for owls spotted the endangered flower Saturday. It has nine flowers, triple the usual number. Park manager Ed Carlson said the orchid could have been there for decades. "It's got a big, old root mass on it," he said. "We've just never seen it before. I'm sure it's been blooming, but they bloom in June and July, and that's when cypress are leafed out. So, it's possible a cypress branch covered it up all those years and fell off in Hurricane Wilma. Who knows?"

So far, La Raza to hear from Democrats

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama will headline the National Council of La Raza's conference in Miami next week. The event will help kick off a national campaign with television station Univision to register Hispanics to vote in advance of the 2008 election. Council leaders stressed that it was not solely a Democratic event. They simply want to urge Hispanics to make their voices heard. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain were invited to the event, but the council said they've yet to respond.

Radar software brings TIA to hard stop

A computer glitch prompted Tampa International Airport's control tower to shut down its radar scopes for five minutes at 8:13 a.m. Tuesday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. Departures were halted, but inbound flights were unaffected because there weren't any in Tampa airspace at the time. The problem? A technician "prematurely" installed new radar approach maps that were supposed to be added later this month. Controllers temporarily handled both departures and arrivals on radar screens usually devoted to departures, Bergen said. Then the tower shut down its radar altogether to uninstall the software. Oops.

Epilogue, obituaries

Bill Mills loved her and left with her. He took up motorcycle riding and flying before taking his wife on the road in a motor home. When he had to use an oxygen tank, he rode a scooter. 6B-7B

[Last modified July 12, 2007, 00:02:15]