Kids' health program faces delay

TAMPA - A Brandon teen has been charged in the crash that killed a 69-year-old Riverview man last month.

Justin Maye turned himself in Friday, a day before his 18th birthday, on a vehicular homicide charge in connection with a fatal Nov. 16 crash on Fishhawk Boulevard near Osprey Ridge Drive.

Detectives say Maye had been driving recklessly at excessive speeds, Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

Investigators say Robert Hardy, of 8450 Fantasia Parkway, died at the scene of the crash after Maye's 2007 Ford Fusion spun out of control and hit Hardy's Ford F-150 pickup truck. Hardy was headed east on Fishhawk Boulevard at 11 p.m. when westbound Maye tried to pass another car and lost control, deputies say. Hardy and his passenger, 16-year-old Andrew Gunnow, were both taken to Tampa General Hospital with injuries.

After turning himself in at 10 a.m. at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse, Maye, of 1907 Lido Drive in Brandon, was released on his own recognizance, which means he was not required to post bail.

A private contractor has notified the agency that runs the state's subsidized health insurance program for children that it won't be able to meet a Feb. 1 target for a new computer enrollment system.

The contractor, Affiliated Computer Services, notified Florida Healthy Kids that it won't be able to complete the work on the system by Feb. 1, said Tara Klimek, spokeswoman for Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Sink is the chairwoman of the board of Healthy Kids Corp., which runs the KidCare program.

Klimek said officials at the agency were working on a resolution.

It's possible the launch of the program - intended to make it easier for families to enroll and pay premiums - could be delayed.

CS told the Web-based Florida Health News for a story Friday that the delay was due to staff turnover and an underestimation of how much work would be needed, and said it could have the new system ready by April.

[Last modified December 22, 2007, 00:18:52]