Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 2, 2000

Driver waiting at red light killed in wreck

ST. PETERSBURG -- A motorist stopped at a red light on 22nd Avenue N died Tuesday evening when a van sped down an Interstate 275 ramp, became airborne and crashed into his Cadillac, police said.

The man in the Cadillac, in his late 40s, was killed instantly. His name wasn't released pending notification of his family.

"He never knew what hit him," said St. Petersburg police Officer R.P. Kocak.

The brown Cadillac was sitting at a red light in the westbound lanes of 22nd Avenue N beneath the I-275 overpass just before 6:45 p.m.

Police said a blue van that had been northbound on I-275 came down the ramp at high speed, went over a median in the middle of 22nd Avenue N, and landed on the Cadillac.

Rescue workers had to remove the van's driver from his vehicle. He was taken to Bayfront Medical Center.

Police officers temporarily shut down the avenue in both directions and closed entrance and exit ramps. They also repeatedly shooed away spectators who stopped their cars on the side of I-275 to look at the crash scene below.

League cancels candidates seminar

The League of Women Voters has canceled "Take Back the System," a candidates seminar scheduled for Saturday at the Poynter Institute. Registration fees will be returned to those who signed up in advance. Call 894-4789 for more information.

Hospital losses exceed predictions

TARPON SPRINGS -- In the month before voters approved a deal designed to bring financial stability to Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, the facility continued to suffer some of the worst financial losses in its history.

In June, Helen Ellis lost $418,000, nearly twice the amount administrators had expected to lose during the month.

"Traditionally, the hospital does experience, and budget for, an excess of expenses over revenues during the slower summer months," hospital administrator Joseph Kiefer wrote in a July 31 letter to city officials.

But total losses for the fiscal year already have reached $2.3-million -- far more than the $1.2-million the hospital expected to lose for the whole fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

Kiefer said in his letter that many of the expenses that led to the losses will be eliminated when a takeover by University Community Hospital is finalized, including the more than $200,000 a month in interest payments Helen Ellis makes on its bonds.

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