Tax office sets schedule for Saturday license services
TAMPA – The Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s has released a schedule for Saturday license services for the rest of 2026.
These monthly weekend events allow residents to deal with their licensing needs without missing work or school.
The weekend service is offered only at the Brandon office, 3030 N. Falkenburg Road.
The next weekend session will be March. 21.
The other weekend dates are:
• April 18
• May 16
• Aug. 15
• Sept. 19
• October 17.
Saturday licensing services are by appointment only. Call 813-635-5200, option 5, to register for an appointment. Limited spots are available and cannot be made online.
Deadline for registration is 5 p.m. on the Friday before each event unless available appointment book up prior.
St. Joseph’s adds third surgical robot
LUTZ – Lutz’s St. Joseph’s Hospital-North expanded its robotic surgery services with the addition of a third surgical robot in January 2026 to keep up with demand for this minimally invasive surgery. The three robots are guided by St. Joseph’s Hospital-North surgeons who are specially-trained and experienced in robotic surgery.
St. Joseph’s Hospital-North achieved its highest number of robotic surgeries in 2025 with 908. It was the fifth consecutive year the hospital set its record for most robotic surgeries. The hospital has had a 70% increase in robotic surgeries since it began using the robotic assistants in 2021, when they aided with the performance of 533 surgeries.
In addition to assisting the surgeons, hospital officials say patients also benefit from the robots in several ways:
• Precise surgical incisions, allowing unhealthy tissue to be removed without affecting surrounding healthy tissue.
• Smaller incisions that can cause less trauma and pain to a patient’s body.
• Smaller incisions that decrease blood loss and infection risk.
• Recovery from robotic surgery may be quicker due to smaller incisions.
• Robotic surgeries may result in a shorter length of stay in the hospital.
Robotic surgery is an alternative to many open surgeries that would require a hospital admission. Many robotic surgeries are done as outpatient surgery and patients are discharged on the same day as their surgery.
The four interactive arms of the robot are over the patient on the operating table. The surgeon operates the robot from a console. The console has a high-resolution screen that projects 3-D images of the surgical site. The surgeon manually guides the surgical arms and instruments from the console utilizing their hands and fingers. When the surgeon moves, the arms respond precisely to those movements in real time. The instruments work identically to the movement of a human arm, human elbow and a human wrist, however with an enhanced range of motion.
St. Joseph’s Hospital-North is accredited as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC). SRC is a leading national, independent, external evaluator of programs and services of surgeons and hospitals. The designation signifies that St. Joseph’s Hospital-North’s robotic surgery services provide the highest quality of care to patients.