TAMPA -- Two Sickles High School students were charged Wednesday with making a bomb threat against their school after their conversation was overheard by a citizen with a police scanner, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

The students, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, were talking on the phone late Tuesday when Maureen Norbury, 41, of 6802 Swain Ave., heard the conversation on her new scanner and notified the Sheriff's Office.

Police scanners can often pick up cell phone and cordless phone transmissions.

The students, who are not being identified because of their ages, said they were going to blow up their school and mentioned bomb-making materials, sheriff's officials said.

Deputies could identify the suspects through the school because one student's name was mentioned in the conversation.

One was arrested at school and the other was arrested at a Wilsky Avenue apartment complex Wednesday. When questioned, both suspects admitted having the conversation, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder.

The two were taken to a juvenile detention center.

It was the 10th bomb threat at Sickles High School this year.

Pedestrian killed crossing street

TAMPA -- A Tampa man was struck by a car and killed while crossing the street early Wednesday, police said.

Officials said Andrew K. Taylor, 31, of 3015 W Asbury Place was crossing Kennedy Boulevard east of N Himes Avenue at 2:30 a.m. when he was struck by a 1992 Nissan Pathfinder driven by 42-year-old William M. Gaskin.

Taylor died at the scene. Police said Gaskin continued to drive from the scene, but returned a few minutes later.

An investigation has revealed Taylor had been drinking, police said. No charges have been filed.

Car stolen with 5-year-old inside

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 5-year-old boy was taken on a frightening ride Tuesday night on Coquina Key when some teenagers stole the car he was sitting in.

After a brief joy ride, the teens abandoned the stolen car at Coquina Key Park with 5-year-old Malcolm McGruder still inside. He was unhurt. He ran home, police said.

No one has been charged in the crime.

"My baby was kidnapped," his mother, Gloria McGruder, said Wednesday.

The incident took place about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the McGruders' home on Marlin Drive SE.

Police say Gloria McGruder, her 15-year-old cousin and her 5-year-old son arrived home in a car and found youths playing in the driveway. McGruder parked in the street and went into the house.

Later, she asked the 15-year-old to move the car into the driveway. The 5-year-old went with him. The 15-year-old moved the car but then couldn't get the key out of the ignition. When he went inside to get McGruder, some juveniles took the car -- with Malcolm in it.

Malcolm appeared to be fine afterward. He went to school Wednesday.

Wednesday evening, his mother was complaining to police that the youths who stole her car had been coming by her house, trying to smooth things over and offering to do chores for her if she wouldn't press charges.

Jury to review fatal accident

TAMPA -- Two weeks of technical and sometimes emotional testimony in a civil trial about an accident that killed a girl and permanently injured another ended Wednesday with both sides pleading with jurors to assign the correct blame.

Debra and Tom Jackson say the developer and community association of Hunter's Green should be held liable for the crash along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard that forever changed their family. The defendants say fault rests with Harold Vann, who was convicted of driving drunk at the time of the wreck.

A six-person jury will decide who was negligent and what damages, if any, the Jacksons should receive. Deliberations start this morning in Hillsborough Circuit Court.

The Jacksons seek an estimated $14.5-million to cover the medical expenses of their daughter, Elizabeth, who was permanently brain-damaged in the crash. They also want justice for their daughter, Katherine, who died in the Feb. 6, 1997, accident.

The suit claimed Markborough Development Co., which created Hunter's Green, planted trees and shrubs in the median of Bruce B. Downs that blocked motorists' view when they turned into the subdivision. The Hunter's Green Community Association failed to properly maintain them, the suit said.

The Jacksons say Debra Jackson never saw Vann coming because the developer planted the wrong trees in the wrong spots.

The defense argued the landscaping had nothing to do with the accident. It said Vann simply was intoxicated and unexpectedly ran a red light.

Recount confirms amendment vote

ST. PETERSBURG -- A charter amendment to let St. Petersburg City Council members request copies of documents directly from city staffers did pass narrowly, a recount Wednesday confirmed. Under the previous charter, all council member requests for information had to be routed through the mayor's office.

The ballots for that question were automatically recounted because the margin of victory was smaller than one-half of 1 percent. The recount margin was 127 votes, while the election night count showed a gap of 121.

The recount found three fewer "yes" votes for the idea and nine fewer "no" votes than the original count, with 22,523 voters, or 50.14 percent in favor of the idea, and 22,396, or 49.86 percent opposed, Pinellas County elections supervisor Deborah Clark said Wednesday.

Girl convicted in vandalism case

DADE CITY -- Tears streamed down the 15-year-old girl's face Wednesday as she apologized for her part in the Labor Day break-in at Sand Pine Elementary School.

In the cramped chambers of Judge Lynn Tepper, the girl sat across a table from school principal Ginny Yanson.

"I'm very sorry for what happened at your school," she said, tears flowing. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything at the time. "I know I can't take back what I did, but if there's anything I can do, I will."

The girl was the only female among the 10 teens arrested after a two-night rampage at the elementary school in central Pasco County's Meadow Pointe community.

She was found guilty Wednesday of burglary and third-degree grand theft. She will be sentenced April 25.

Authorities estimated that the group cost the school district more than $100,000 in damage and stolen equipment. None of the 10 teenagers had ever attended the school.

The Times has not identified any of the teens because of their ages.

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