Tampa Bay Fl

The Georgetown apartment complex was one of this city's most coveted properties back in 2005. Now Greg Chelius and Alex Size were touring it as if examining an exotic ruin. They walked past the unmanned guardhouse and its broken windows. Size snapped photos with a digital camera. Chelius lifted the green fabric on a fence tacked with No Trespassing signs. Building after building loomed in the near distance, all of them quiet and vacant.

The Georgetown apartment complex was one of this city's most coveted properties back in 2005. Now Greg Chelius and Alex Size were touring it as if examining an exotic ruin. They walked past the unmanned guardhouse and its broken windows. Size snapped photos with a digital camera. Chelius lifted the green fabric on a fence tacked with No Trespassing signs. Building after building loomed in the near distance, all of them quiet and vacant.

Tornadoes hopscotched across the Tampa Bay area for hours Saturday, killing four people at mobile home parks and smashing dozens of houses into splinters, authorities said. A two-day storm with winds gusting up to 90 m.p.h. also was blamed for sinking a freighter. All 15 crew members were rescued after the 255-foot Holstein went down with 2,000 tons of flour late Friday in the Gulf of Mexico.

Al Gore ended his presidential race in this gleaming Gulf Coast city, sipping strong Cuban coffee with running mate Joe Lieberman. President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have made repeated campaign stops here, observing the axiom: As go Tampa Bay voters, so goes Florida. A recent study showed that only three cities nationwide had been more barraged with presidential TV ads than Tampa. Despite the attention, the region's voters are still very much divided over who they want for president.

With a powerful hurricane whirling toward Florida's densely populated middle Gulf Coast on Thursday, authorities ordered the largest evacuation ever in the Tampa Bay area, telling hundreds of thousands of people to seek higher ground before Hurricane Charley storms ashore sometime today. The hurricane swept over Cuba late Thursday with high winds, a strong storm surge and heavy rain. As in Florida, many areas on the island were evacuated.

Al Gore ended his presidential race in this gleaming Gulf Coast city, sipping strong Cuban coffee with running mate Joe Lieberman. President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have made repeated campaign stops here, observing the axiom: As go Tampa Bay voters, so goes Florida. A recent study showed that only three cities nationwide had been more barraged with presidential TV ads than Tampa. Despite the attention, the region's voters are still very much divided over who they want for president.

1 Is Hale Irwin still the champion of them all? Yes, until somebody knocks him off. Irwin turns 58 in June, yet with his unmatched intensity and the way he keeps himself in shape, there's no reason to believe he'll move aside. Irwin stumbled a bit the final two days of the MasterCard Championship in Hawaii but rebounded with a tie for seventh at the ACE Group Classic at Naples, Fla. In 2002, Irwin finished in the top 10 in 22 of his 27 starts. * 2 Who will be his most formidable challengers?

With a powerful hurricane whirling toward Florida's densely populated middle Gulf Coast on Thursday, authorities ordered the largest evacuation ever in the Tampa Bay area, telling hundreds of thousands of people to seek higher ground before Hurricane Charley storms ashore sometime today. The hurricane swept over Cuba late Thursday with high winds, a strong storm surge and heavy rain. As in Florida, many areas on the island were evacuated.

Tornadoes hopscotched across the Tampa Bay area for hours Saturday, killing four people at mobile home parks and smashing dozens of houses into splinters, authorities said. A two-day storm with winds gusting up to 90 m.p.h. also was blamed for sinking a freighter. All 15 crew members were rescued after the 255-foot Holstein went down with 2,000 tons of flour late Friday in the Gulf of Mexico.