Having just moved into their home on Navajo Way in 1956, Louise Weatherholt’s small children often spent the afternoons exploring their new neighborhood, which in those days consisted mainly of cow pastures and marshes.

There were good days, and then there were other days. For Bravo Company of the 841st Engineering Battalion, whose mission was to clear Iraqi roadways of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), the difference could be one of life and death. “On a good day, we would return to the base without incident,” said David Rosado, an Army reservist and team leader in the 3rd squad of Bravo Company, which spent a year performing the dangerous task of finding and removing IEDs from main roads leading to places like Fallujah, Tikrit, Kirkuk and Mosul.

A court date for the 11-year-old girl who was tased by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy has been set for Sept. 17. The girl was arrested on March 27 after a scuffle at Moss Park Elementary School, where she attended the fourth grade. She was charged with battery against a lawenforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and resisting arrest without violence. If found guilty, the girl could face sanctions such as a boot camp-type program or juvenile detention up to the age of 21.

if you can’t beat ’em, loin ’em — by stripping down to a Speedo in front of 100,000 spectators. That was the motto of the Wrong Brothers — a team of four University of Central Florida aerospace engineering graduate students and one space shuttle engineer — who went to Tampa to participate in the July 18 Red Bull Flugtag (“flying day” in German).

They talked and National City listened. But it took a lot more than speaking to get the bank’s attention. About 20 people whose homes are either in or bordering foreclosure carried signs reading “National Shame” and chanted “Predatory lenders, criminal offenders” July 29 in front of the National City Bank on Lee Vista Boulevard.

With the start of school less than two weeks away, school officials are hurriedly implementing a new bus schedule, the county is scrambling to find funding for expanded after-school programs, and parents are stepping up efforts to put a stop to it all. Last week the Orange County School Board approved a new bus schedule for the 2008-09 school year, finalizing a major overhaul of school operations.

They work in the rain, in the summer heat, and the crisp cold of winter. Canvassers for Democracia U.S.A. are passionate folks who want fellow Latinos to have a voice. “I tell them, ‘Change will come. In unity there is strength,’” said long-time canvasser and East Orlando resident Maria Guerrero.

More people are leaving their cars in the garage and dusting off their 10-speeds to run errands or commute — mostly in response to rising fuel costs. But venturing onto East Orlando’s congested roadways with nothing but pedal power poses safety concerns, especially since many Americans are not familiar with cyclists’ rules of the road.

With gas prices lingering around $3.80 a gallon and airlines charging more for tickets and denying passengers their mid-flight Coke and peanut snack, traveling is becoming less and less appealing. Travel-industry leaders predict that many Orlando families will plan a “staycation” this year, meaning they visit theme parks, dine in restaurants and sleep in hotels that are no more than 50 miles from their home.

Shopaholics of East Orlando need not panic — the Lake Nona Town Center is still on its way. The 1.1 million-square-foot open-air, upscale shopping mall originally planned to open in the fall of 2009 will likely be stalled one year.