Links for Nov. 23: End of the road, Bay Pines, Domenic Rabuffo, drywall, Snell-Bishop house

End of the road: Driving in old age
At the intersection of freedom and responsibility, there is a hard choice for older drivers.
Part one: A key realization | One senior's story
Part two: At 79, Joetta Marlor makes a bid to keep her driver's license and her independence.
Part three: Florida ensures older drivers see a clear path

Bay Pines VA
Monday, a federal judge offered a stunning rebuke of administrators at the nation's fourth-busiest veterans hospital, barring them from any further retaliation against their work force of 3,000 employees over discrimination complaints.
Federal jury: Bay Pines discriminated against four employees (July 3)
Employees accuse Bay Pines VA Medical Center's leadership of discrimination, retaliation (June 15)

Dominic Rabuffo's North Carolina development
Federal prosecutors in Miami and Pittsburgh have opened a criminal investigation into loans obtained for a  North Carolina development, some by Florida buyers.
Fraud alleged in Rabuffo development in North Carolina (Sept. 7)
Florida man's mountain deals in N.C. are a mystery (July 2008)

Feds find association between drywall, corrosion
The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.
The majority of the drywall complaints came from Florida. Here's some of what we've written on the topic:
Defective drywall transforms South Tampa dream home into disaster (Nov. 19)
Consumers' Edge: Chinese drywall scanner holds promise, remains unregulated (Nov. 14)

Snell-Bishop house for sale
The historic Snell-Bishop house, a St. Petersburg landmark since the 1920s and one of the city's most distinctive properties, is again on the market for $18 million.
Snell-Bishop house got a facelift (Oct. 2006)
Mansion changes hands, it was on the market for $7.9 million(Feb. 2006)
A home with many stories (Nov. 2005)

Florida's application for Race to the Top funds

Florida’s application for a share of the $4.35 billion federal Race to the Top fund could become a $1 billion request, Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith told reporters in a conference call last week. The state issued a summary of its still-developing application, due by Jan. 19.

Links from the Times for Nov. 23: Survivor heads home, driving in old age

Man who lost leg in hit and run leaves hospital for home
Andrew Hall came to Bayfront on April 20, after he was hit by a Honda Accord going an estimated 90 miles per hour on Main Street in Safety Harbor. He went home Sunday.

Special report: Read about the Golden Hour when Hall was saved

End of the road: Driving in old age
At the intersection of freedom and responsibility, there is a hard choice for older drivers. At 79, Joetta Marlor makes a bid to keep her driver's license and her independence.
Part one: A key realization | One senior's story

Oops, St. Petersburg already had official song; DJ Jim Jeffries

A panel of judges chose three finalists from among 31 songs. Then more than 13,000 online votes were cast to choose the best in a contest for an official city song for St. Petersburg. The winner, Charlie Souza of North Redington Beach, received 43 percent of the votes for Carry Me Back to St. Petersburg. On Nov. 14 he shared the stage with national acts at the annual Ribfest festivities at Vinoy Park. One problem. Turns out St. Petersburg already has an official song.

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Epilogue: Every night in 1965 Detroit, from midnight to 6 a.m., a bemused voice floated from the radio. The night man on WKNR-AM spent hours spinning stories and platters, entertaining the third shift at the auto plant, the cops on patrol, and the insomniacs craving diversion.

Other disc jockeys went by fancy handles or funny nicknames, but that wasn’t the night man’s style. The fans of the station, known as “Keener-13,” knew he was just plain Jim Jeffries. Listen to a clip of Jeffries’ night-time radio show on Detroit’s WKNR-AM.

View photo gallery: Foggy morning in Tampa Bay

Patchy fog reduced visibility to as little as a few blocks in some areas this morning. The fog stretched from the Pinellas beaches east through Brandon. View a photo gallery of images from the foggy morning.

Share your favorite weather photos: E-mail your pictures to submit@tampabay.com with your name and e-mail address in the body of the message. Then view your photos in tampabay.com's Weather Photo Gallery.

Links from the Times for Nov. 20: UNICEF report; Rays stadium documents; Naimoli video

World in a Snap: Twenty years after the U.N. adopted a treaty guaranteeing children's rights, fewer youngsters are dying and more are going to school. But a billion youngsters worldwide are still deprived of food, shelter or clean water, UNICEF says. See photos of children's living conditions around the world.

Tampa Bay Rays stadium: St. Petersburg development director Rick Mussett sent an e-mail to the ABC Coalition asking that "appropriate respect be given’’ to the current use agreement on Tropicana Field in the coalition's draft report. The coalition, which has suggested that the Tampa Bay Rays need a new, retractable roof stadium, is scheduled to vote on the draft report Friday. 

Links from the Times for Nov. 19: Senate health care bill

Senate health care bill: Setting up a historic year-end health care debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled long-awaited legislation Wednesday night to extend coverage to all but 6 percent of eligible Americans and bar private industry from denying insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions. The Democrat's $849 billion measure is designed to remake the nation's health care system, relying on cuts in future Medicare spending to cover costs — as well as on higher payroll taxes for the well-to-do and a new levy on patients undergoing elective cosmetic surgery. Aides said the mammoth, 2,074-page bill would reduce deficits by $127 billion over a decade and by as much as $650 billion in the 10 years that follow, citing as-yet-unreleased estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

See photos: Tampa Bay kids wowed at Great American Teach-In events

The children of Bay Point Elementary were amazed at the sight of a huge Black Hawk helicopter sitting on their P.E. field Wednesday morning.

The aircraft and its crew were visiting as part of the Great American Teach-In. Hundreds of parents and volunteers across the Tampa Bay area went to schools to talk about their careers, which included everything from firefighters to politicians to scientists to document shredders.

But one of the coolest props was the Black Hawk, operated by the six-person "Phoenix Dustoff" Army MedEvac unit out of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport.

Read full story | See photos from the professionals visiting students at Tampa Bay area schools

William Thornton visited Osceoa Middle School to talk about decisions and consequences. Thornton was a teen when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for vehicular homicide.

• No more prison time for Thornton (April 2, 2009)

• Thornton quietly waits for justice (June 18, 2008)

• Tampa attorney says bad lawyering got teen 30 years in prison (June 4, 2008)

Links from the Times for Nov. 18: Janet's Easy Meals newsletter; Firefighters rescue Tampa teen

Easy Meal Ideas: Just in time for dinner!

Get easy and creative weeknight meal ideas e-mailed to you each afternoon from Times food editor Janet Keeler. Click here to sign up.

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In three minutes Saturday, Drake Williams went through a whole lifetime's worth of luck — both good and bad.

The bad: having a rare heart condition that causes "sudden cardiac death."

The good: after he collapsed at basketball practice, everyone around him knew what to do, and two Tampa Fire Rescue paramedics happened to be right outside.

Read the full story | Listen to audio of the 911 call.

Must-see photos: Leonid meteor shower

The annual Leonid meteor shower is promising to put on a dazzling sky show. St. Petersburg Times photographer Maurice Rivenbark shot this photo about 4 a.m. Tuesday as the  meteor shower neared its peak over the Eastern sky near Floral City.

We've collected some spectacular photos of the Leonid meteor shower -- named for the constellation Leo -- taken over the last several years by Times and Associated Press photographers.

If you've captured some cool astronomy photos, we'd love to see them: E-mail your photos to submit@tampabay.com with your name and photo details in the body of the message. Then view your pictures in tampabay.com's Community Photo Gallery.