Spring Hill names permanent fire chief

SPRING HILL -- The Spring Hill Fire Rescue Commission made it official tonight, removing the "interim" tag in front of Chief Mike Rampino's name.

Pedestrian killed in Clearwater

CLEARWATER -- Police are investigating a crash that killed a pedestrian Wednesday night.

Badly burned body found in northeast Hillsborough

TAMPA -- Deputies found burned remains of what appeared to be an adult in an abandoned trailer park lot Wednesday afternoon, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Golfer's family thinks he was victim of fatal hazing

TAMPA -- The family of a young Tampa man who died after fraternity activities in North Carolina last fall intend to file legal action against his college, his fraternity and his fraternity brothers, citing hazing as the reason for his death.

Harrison Kowiak, 19, a standout golfer from Wharton High School, died Nov. 17 while engaged in a pledge week activity in a dark pasture off campus, police said. A freshman at Lenoir-Rhyne University, a small liberal arts school in Hickory, N.C., Kowiak was hoping to join Theta Chi.

St. Pete High student jumps from school bus

ST. PETERSBURG -- An 18-year-old St. Petersburg High student is in critical condition after jumping from a school bus this afternoon to avoid trouble at school, police say.

Thieves hit gym parking lots

ST. PETERSBURG -- A recent string of vehicle burglaries in the parking lots of local gyms has prompted police to warn residents to safeguard their parked vehicles. Seven vehicles were hit in three days last week. The methods are similar, police said Tuesday, but they haven't said if the culprits are the same.

Judge to ex-Ray Dukes: Pay up or go to jail

TAMPA -- Former Rays player Elijah Dukes was ordered today to pay $40,643 in back child support or face a 90-day jail sentence.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Mark Wolfe held Dukes in willful civil contempt for failing to pay his court-ordered child support and alimony to his estranged wife, NiShea Gilbert.

Bomb squad incident over at sheriff's Dunedin office

DUNEDIN -- The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office bomb squad has determined that a World War II-era grenade and mortar round that a resident brought to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office's north district office this afternoon are "stable" -- they do not pose a danger. The military ordnance was taken away and the incident is over, Pinellas deputies say.

Tampa family whose two chihuahuas died says firefighters ignored their pleas

TAMPA -- The family whose two chihuahuas died of asphyxiation in a Monday evening house fire blamed the firefighters this afternoon for ignoring their pleas on how to save their pets.

Federal appeals panel weighing fate of evidence in explosives case

JACKSONVILLE -- Federal prosecutors will soon learn whether a U.S. district judge overstepped his bounds in excluding evidence they planned to use during the explosives trial for former University of South Florida student Youssef Megahed.