By MICHAEL KRUSE, St. Petersburg Times

Zander Blosser sat at the plastic picnic table outside his parents' house and began to build a dragon out of duct tape and printer paper.

He had a black knit cap on his head and chipped black polish on his nails. The air smelled like kitty litter and lawn-mower gas, depending on the wind, and he worked under the raspy din of a window-unit air conditioner.

Here's another sign of today's tough times: Jim Faylo has gone from taping the ankles of professional football players to feeding blueberry applesauce to his infant daughter.
Faylo used to be head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League. He lost that job in December when the league called off its season due to the sagging economy.

A check for $1,000, another $1,100 in cash, a gift card to a pizza joint for $13.06.
That's the sum authorities say Edward Graziano of Palm Harbor, Fla. paid a man to kill his wife. The man ended up being an undercover Pinellas County deputy. Graziano was charged last week with murder solicitation.
If the price for the hit sounds low, it's not.