Metro

  • Local Firm Removes Jihadi Web Site

    Tribune Told Hosts About Its Content TAMPA — A Tampa Web-hosting company has taken down a Web site used by al-Qaida for communicating in secret and hiding files from investigators. The company, Noc4Hosts, took the action Monday after it was informed about the site by The Tampa Tribune. Noc4Hosts, at 400 N. Tampa St., is…

  • Mice Face Execution

    The lawyers at the state attorney’s office are acting as judge and jury when it comes to an unwelcome invasion of rodents TAMPA — In the south tower of the courthouse annex on Kennedy Boulevard, mice are everywhere, says Pam Bondi, spokeswoman for State Attorney Mark Ober. On desks. Scampering across floors. Leaving droppings and…

  • USF Student Won’t Wear Jail ID; Officials Deny Him Privileges

    Father: Its Sign Of Unhappiness TAMPA — One of the two University of South Florida students recently indicted on federal explosives charges has refused to wear his jail identification wristband and is being denied privileges until he cooperates, jail officials say. Ahmed Mohamed hasn’t been acting up, but he has refused to wear the bracelet…

  • Hackers’ Web Site Shut Down

    Danish Paper Attack Tracked To Tampa TAMPA — A site for hackers credited with an attack on a Danish newspaper was taken down Wednesday morning by a Tampa company that says it hosted the site inadvertently. 3asfh.com and a companion site, 3asfh.net, were removed from the Internet by United Colocation/Sago Networks after the company was…

  • Cartoon Brouhaha Has Link To Tampa

    Hackers Use Local Web Business TAMPA — The global controversy over an editorial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed is hitting home. Danish police have been asked to investigate a group of hackers operating via a Web site hosted by a Tampa company. The hackers claim responsibility for taking down the Web site of Jyllands-Posten, one…

  • Highway Terror Watch Visible

    Group Pursues Local Tanker Truck Snoop In November, a man was asking detailed questions at a Tampa gas station about fuel deliveries. Where are you going? How much do you carry? How would one get access to the delivery facility? The fuel truck driver was concerned and contacted a program called Highway Watch, run jointly…

  • Local Officials Questioning Security Data

    Information Led To Loss Of Funding State and local public safety officials are questioning data used by the Department of Homeland Security to keep Tampa off a list of 35 metro areas eligible for new security funding. The Homeland Security formula considered threat information gathered from intelligence agencies, and it assessed critical infrastructure, transit systems,…

  • Missing Boy Is Home Safe

    Police Say Ex-Boyfriend Took Woman’s Son TAMPA — After almost 42 agonizing hours hoping her missing 3-year-old son would return home safely, Sylvia Hopkins got her wish Monday afternoon as Tampa police engineered a surprise mother-and-child reunion. “I am so glad to see you,” she said as she squeezed her son, Malachi, when police brought…

  • ICE Chooses New Leader For Local Office In Tampa

    U.S. Senator Calls For Investigation TAMPA — As a new special agent is set to take over the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal investigation is unfolding into the former chief, and a U.S. senator is taking an interest in the case. Elissa Brown, head of the Chicago office of Immigration and…

  • Mermaids Dinosaurs Deemed Terror Targets

    Tourist Sites Might Get Security Money The mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs are probably not very high on the list of terrorist targets. Neither is the Styrofoam and fiberglass stegosaurus at Dinosaur World in Plant City. Yet both facilities were on a list of sites the federal government wanted “hardened” under the $90 million Buffer…

  • Missed Connection Ruins A Day

    No. 31, Brandon To Tampa It was 6:57 a.m., and I was frustrated driving around the vast commercial strip that is Brandon in a fruitless loop looking for the HARTline bus stop. I pulled up as the bus was loading. I am from the Northeast, you see, where “public transportation” is not a fancy term…

  • Avril Has Something For All 7,000 At Amphitheatre

    TAMPA — Gone was the raccoon makeup. Gone was the trademark tie and the arm socks. Gone was the dark, pouty princess of the moody, broody, blues vibe. The Avril Lavigne who showed up at the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday night in a gray tank top and blue jeans was a full-on sultry, blond rocker…

  • Likely ‘Random’ Shooting Kills 1 Horse, Injures 2nd

    RIVERVIEW — Mulata is lying on her right side. A swarm of flies buzzes around the horse’s corpse. Her face is frozen in a grimace. Her legs are still with rigor mortis. Giraldo Leon, who works at this small farm on 66th Street in Riverview, Shakes his head as he walks past the dead animal…