News in United States

• Rays-Yankees: Never too early for a pennant race
  

  It's only late July, but this weekend's series at the Trop hardly feels like ordinary summer baseball.

• PricewaterhouseCoopers laying off hundreds in Tampa
  

  Consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers will lay off approximately 500 high-end information technology professionals, the bulk from the company's offices in Tampa. This comes on the heels of other cutbacks at PWC offices across Florida.

• Displaced theater group finds new home
  

  Following months of uncertainty, members of Masque Community Theatre can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing they will have a place to hang their hats and hone their crafts.

• BP hiring former FEMA head for Gulf recovery
  

  BP announced today that it is hiring a former Clinton-era emergency management official and his consulting firm to help with the recovery from the massive Gulf oil spill.

• Police investigate theft of clothes from WestShore Plaza Macy's
  

  A woman made off with $1,000 worth of clothes from Macy's at WestShore Plaza this week and Tampa police on Friday released surveillance photos of the woman and the car in which she made her getaway.

• Fergs' owner has plan to keep the Rays in St. Pete
  

  Ferg's.

• No food inspections at Florida hospitals, nursing homes
  

  No one is inspecting food preparations at Florida's hospitals and nursing homes, nearly one month after the inspections were stopped in a budget-cutting move, officials said today.

• Recovery loses speed as consumers turn cautious
  

  The recovery lost momentum in the spring as growth slowed to a 2.4 percent pace, its most sluggish showing in nearly a year and too weak to drive down unemployment.

• Tampa Bay shoppers spared; here's who's losing Winn-Dixie
  

  The Bay area was spared the pain of supermarket closings with the announcement this week by Winn-Dixie of more stores it will shutter.

• Poll: Crist holds small lead in Senate race
  

  Gov. Charlie Crist is slightly ahead of Republican Marco Rubio in a three-way general election matchup for the U.S. Senate while the race to succeed Crist as governor is about even, a poll released Friday suggests.

• U.S. expert: China oil spill far bigger than stated
  

  China's worst known oil spill is dozens of times larger than the government has reported, and some of the oil was spilled deliberately to avoid an even larger disaster, an American expert said today.

• St. Pete police ask for help identifying armed robber
  

  St. Petersburg police are asking for the public's help in identifying an armed robber who stole cash from a convenience store on Tuesday.

• USF camp seeks to challenge youngsters
  

  A summer camp for the super smart is wrapping up its three-week run.

• Unknown treasure: Tampa has world's largest bowling pin
  

  Parade magazine identified one "American original" in each of the 50 states. Florida's original? It's right here in Tampa: the world's largest bowling pin, outside Splitsville at Channelside.

• Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling' hits 6 million downloads
  

  The Black Eyed Peas have more proof of the ubiquity of "I Gotta Feeling."

• Column: Bucs' Talib chasing dreams, not nightmares
  

  Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib wants to become a leader on the young team, but he knows he has to change first.

• Disney sells Miramax to investor for $660 million
  

  The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it agreed to sell its Miramax Films to an investor group for about $660 million, ending a 17-year association with the studio and a six-month bidding process.

• U.S. gas stations: Stay BP or change name to Amoco?
  

  BP gas station owners across the country are divided over whether the oil giant stained by its handling of the Gulf spill should rebrand U.S. outlets as Amoco or another name as part of its effort to repair the company's badly damaged reputation.

• Rays-Yankees sold out; A-Rod still seeks 600
  

  The calendar says end of July, but this weekend's showdown between the Rays and the Yankees at Tropicana Field will have a pennant race feel.

• Convict sues man he robbed in St. Pete over takedown
  

  Michael Dupree is serving a 12-year sentence for burglary and cocaine possession stemming from his 2007 break-in of a van in St. Petersburg. Dupree stole a bicycle locked inside and was apprehended after the owner, Anthony McKoy, saw him with the bike down the street.