Page formatting: New line following an entry that starts with an image

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I’m trying to make pages that list a number of data items (people, places, events). Each entry to start with a thumbnail image, followed by text. Then the next entry on a new line.

I haven’t been able to make Worpress do this. If I put a carriage return, WordPress strips it out on the next refresh. Likewise <p></p> in html.

I thought I had a workaround by putting a long string of dashes in html. This turns out to work OK visually in Firefox, but it’s a mess in Explorer 7. Example at

What’s a mother to do? This should be easy, but it’s driving me crazy. Any help is greatly appreciated.