New postal rates take effect today, raising the cost of a first-class letter a penny, to 34 cents. Other Postal Service rates will increase, but 20-cent postcards will remain the same.

Postal authorities expect to collect about $1-billion more in extra income just from the sales of the new 34-cent stamps.

The 34-cent stamps went on sale Dec. 15. At post offices in the Tampa Bay area, there are more than 70-million 1-cent stamps.

The price of stamps has jumped two other times in the past five years.

Wreck injures several, shuts U.S. 19 for hours

CLEARWATER -- A southbound car on U.S. 19 veered across the median into the northbound lanes Saturday, hitting another car and severely injuring several people.

Police shut down both sides of U.S. 19 north of Drew Street for several hours.

Two Bayflite helicopters landed on the highway and flew two or three critically injured people to Bayfront Medical Center, according to Pinellas County emergency services. Ambulances carried two other victims to Bayfront in St. Petersburg.

The car that crossed the median, a black Oldsmobile Cutlass, was crushed by the impact of the crash.

Police were investigating the cause of the 4:45 p.m. wreck. The injured people's names and medical conditions weren't immediately available.

Man arrested on charges of sexually abusing boy, 14

ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg man was arrested Friday on a charge that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy, police said.

Kenneth Feister, 20, of 441 33rd St. N, is accused of abusing the boy at his home, according to arrest reports.

The abuse occurred several times during a weeklong period in October, arrest reports state.

Feister was being held at the Pinellas County jail Saturday in lieu of $100,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.

Mother faces charge of leaving son home alone

ST. PETERSBURG -- A mother was arrested Friday and accused of leaving her 5-year-old son home alone for more than seven hours, police reported.

Phyllis Elaine Fooks, 25, of 4820 11th Ave. S, was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Friday on a child neglect charge. St. Petersburg police said she left her 5-year-old son alone from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Friday.

Fooks also left a 7-year-old child at the home alone for about an hour. The relationship of Fooks and that child could not be learned Saturday. Fooks could not be reached for comment. No one answered the door at her St. Petersburg home.

She was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on Saturday in lieu of $1,500 bail, a jail spokeswoman said. The arrest affidavit in the case did not say what happened to the children involved, but usually in such cases the Department of Children and Families takes children into state custody.

Smoking air conditioner forces evacuation at hotel

ST. PETE BEACH -- Smoke from a malfunctioning air conditioning unit forced an evacuation Saturday afternoon of some employees and guests from the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Beach Front Resort and Conference Center.

Firefighters were called to the complex, 5250 Gulf Blvd., about 12:15 p.m. Saturday and found smoke in the lobby and in the stairwell up to the third floor of the hotel, which is 12 stories tall.

From 15 to 20 people, mostly employees, were evacuated from the lobby area, said Tammy Witeck, the hotel's assistant general manager. No guests staying in rooms had to be evacuated, she said.

No smoke made it to any rooms, and no damage was reported. Firefighters ventilated smoke from the lobby and disassembled the air conditioning unit, said Lt. Jay Tiehaara of the St. Pete Beach Fire Department. Tiehaara said everyone was allowed back inside within a half-hour. No injuries were reported.

One person dies in mobile home fire

LARGO -- A person died in a fire Saturday night in a mobile home, and Pinellas County sheriff's deputies are investigating.

The fire was reported about 9:30 p.m. in Lot 7 of the Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park at 512 Braginton St., off Clearwater-Largo Road. The park is in a part of unincorporated Pinellas County that is surrounded by the city of Largo.

No further details about the fire were available Saturday night.

Cyclist injured after being struck by car on U.S. 19

A bicyclist was seriously injured Saturday afternoon after he was hit by a vehicle in Palm Harbor.

Dimitri N. Sokolow, 46, of 120 Lifestyle Blvd., No. 304, Palm Harbor, was riding his bike north on U.S. 19 at Alderman Road at about 1 p.m. Saturday. A 1995 Ford driven by Barbara J. Demetriov, 66, of 415 Windrush Bay Drive, Tarpon Springs, was westbound on Alderman Road, according to Florida Highway Patrol troopers.

Sokolow crossed Alderman Road in front of Demetriov's Ford and was hit, troopers reported.

Sokolow was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Neither Demetriov nor a 74-year-old passenger, Milton Demetriov, was injured. No charges had been filed Saturday, though the accident was still under investigation, troopers reported.

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