• Verdant greens
  The golf course at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club is renovated, leaving club members a plush playing place.
• Murder remains unsolved
  Albert Lima was shot twice in the head and found on a mountainside in Honduras after he had gone there in February on business.
• Patrols successful at taming speeders
  The Northdale Special Tax District hires off-duty sheriff's deputies at a cost of $2,800 month.
• Expert's job is to enhance drug enforcement
  A sheriff's deputy completes a course to become a drug recognition expert and says his knowledge will increase arrests and help people who may need medical help.
• He's driving force behind gift-giving project
  A FedEx driver buys and delivers hundreds of remote-controlled cars and other toys to needy children.
• Once again driving in style
  A 77-year-old woman gets a new Lincoln Town Car after her old one is totaled by a car wash employee.
• Horse's death like losing 'a best friend'
  An ailing 18-year-old horse must be put down, devastating her devoted owner.
• Location sought for new library
  The Friends of the Upper Tampa Bay Library have the cash to build -- $3.6-million -- but now the group needs property.
• Explosion lawsuit is at a standstill
  Meanwhile, the owner of Ruben's Auto Repair has returned to work after the April explosion but will need a series of skin-graft operations.
• Ambitious projects grow along with club
  Membership is increasing steadily in the club, which has pulled off a July 4th parade, Trash Bash and Christmas Card Lane. Now it has big plans for a spring festival.

Christmas exposes us-them realities
LUTZ -- Six days from now my child will go back to school.

Success with a sax
Eric Darius has played the alto sax since he was 10 and hopes to attend the Julliard School of Music in New York next year.

A Tampa Palms flirtation
Mayor Dick Greco takes up residency in the exclusive Reserve, only to move back downtown after less than a year.

Let cold snap weed out weak plants
We had our first spell of cold weather, which was cold enough in some areas of Tampa Bay to cause damage to plants. I practice a "no protection" policy during our cold weather. I no longer try and protect any plants in my landscape. If it can't survive, it gets replaced in the early spring.

Chill greets school's zoning request
A hearing officer says that Independent Day School's plan for a new administration building would contravene zoning patterns.