You don't have to be a kid to enjoy model trains. Just ask the members of the Sun City Center Model Railroad Club. ...more

November 25, 2009

Save the pennies and they will grow into dollars, the old adage goes. ...more

December 24, 2008

"The Polar Express" will be the final "movie in the park" for 2008. ...more

December 19, 2008

SEBRING — Ready for some good news about the Christmas toy recall? Florida's consumer services commissioner sent inspectors to 154 stores last week, and found only three recalled toys. None were in Highlands County, said spokesman Terence McElroy, although it's not known if inspectors came to the county. Two of the toys recalled were Pull-Back Action Toys, which are sold in Dollar General and Big Lots stores for $1 per pack. ...more

December 14, 2007

Buying toys just isn't fun anymore. Six months ago, store shelves were loaded with cheap toys and metal trinkets. Grabbing an inexpensive present was simple. Now, as retailers enter what are supposed to be the busiest sales days of the year, shoppers warily eye Elmo, Barbie and Thomas the Tank Engine. Metal trinkets are hard to find. At customer service counters, glossy ad displays have been replaced by wanted posters featuring some of the estimated 25 million children's products deemed dangerous. ...more

December 9, 2007

Buying toys just isn't fun anymore. Six months ago, store shelves were loaded with cheap toys and metal trinkets. Grabbing an inexpensive present was simple. ...more

December 8, 2007

•The Fur Real Friends Butterscotch pony that whinnies, wiggles its ears and blinks is in a toy category all its own. Parents might prefer a $74.99 U.S.-made Flying Turtle scooter; the insanely popular pony costs $249.99. ...more

November 22, 2007

Santa has a new list to check twice this year, and it's full of recalls. ...more

November 22, 2007

TAMPA - Santa has a new list to check twice this year, and it's full of recalls. The 2007 holiday shopping season starts before dawn Friday, with more anxiety than ever. Adding to the pressure of finding the gifts that holiday memories are made of, parents are increasingly concerned about safety — especially of toys made in China. They worry that this year's must-haves will end up on the government's rapidly growing list of recalled toys. ...more

November 21, 2007

Lisa Hawk patiently tries to corral son Aiden, 5, back to business, drawing clowns from geometric shapes at his home-school worktable. But there are people in the house — big, big excitement. His bare feet skitter across hardwood floors as he runs room to room, showing off his prized dominoes and Thomas the Tank Engine trains. Then he throws himself across the front door and pleads with grown-up visitors to stay and play. His mother knows he gets bored and lonely at home, even though she brings in playmates as often as she can. It breaks her heart to watch the carefree children at her St. Petersburg neighborhood school, knowing Aiden will never join them. "I would love for him to be able to go to school and play with the other kids," Hawk says. "But for someone with allergies, a peanut in the classroom is like a loaded gun." ...more

October 28, 2007