Two nights after Hillsborough County sheriff's Sgt. Ron Harrison was shot to death earlier this year, several of his co-workers decided to turn their grief into action. ...more

December 22, 2007

A Brandon teen turned himself in Friday to face one count of second-degree felony vehicular homicide in the Nov. 16 death of a Riverview man, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. ...more

December 21, 2007

Sunup to sundown. It's an expression Brooksville city council member Lara Bradburn has used often in recent weeks to describe the holiday events planned for downtown this Saturday. ...more

December 5, 2007

WAUCHULA — Trucker Jean Claude Meus' fight to have his 15-year prison sentence overturned or reduced received a big boost Wednesday afternoon. In a written opinion, Judge Douglas A. Wallace, of the Florida Second District Court of Appeals, suggested that Meus received ineffective counsel during his postconviction trial in 2005 at the Hardee County Courthouse. "(The opinion) was written very precisely," said defense attorney John H. Trevena, of Largo, who represents Meus. "Given its wording, I believe that it will give Mr. Meus an opportunity for a new trial." Meus is currently sitting in a state prison after being convicted of vehicular homicide in 2003 for the much publicized death of Nona Moore, 40, and her 8-year-old daughter Lindsey. The accident happened in 2001. During Meus' criminal trial, prosecutors said that he fell asleep at the wheel of his tractor-trailer, driving through a stop sign and eventually overturning his vehicle onto Moore's van at Seven Mile Point, just outside of Wauchula. Prosecutors maintained that Meus fell asleep shortly before the accident, but Meus maintained throughout his trial that a vehicle had cut him off, forcing him to swerve into Moore's van. ...more

November 30, 2007

Expensive home repairs can take a large chunk from people's budgets, especially those struggling to make ends meet. ...more

November 29, 2007

The Highlands County School District, Highlands County Courthouse, city government offices and facilities will be closed Thursday, Nov. 22, and Friday, Nov. 23, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Also closed will be the U.S. post office and other federal and state offices. ...more

November 20, 2007

Sending holiday cards featuring pictures of the city's historical buildings would be a great way to promote the hometown bank, its president figured. ...more

November 12, 2007

SEBRING — A Sebring woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of drug trafficking and forgery for using her employment at a local doctor's office to fax fake prescription papers to local Walgreens to obtain prescription medication. Ira Lorena Bareno, 28, of 1629 Lagrange Ave., entered a no-contest plea to charges that she obtained the drug Vicoprofen illegally. Bareno, who is currently out on bond, has a Dec. 17 sentencing date set before Judge Peter Estrada in the Highlands County Courthouse. ...more

November 2, 2007

Feeling like playing hooky, but nervous about getting caught? The Excused Absence Network has got your back. ...more

October 28, 2007

SEBRING — By the time Gary Christopher Ingmire Jr. gets out of prison, his victim will be 94 years old and the con artist will owe her some serious money. Judge Peter Estrada sentenced Ingmire, 27, of Sebring, to 15 years in prison Thursday morning at the Highlands County Courthouse, on a count of scheming to defraud more than $50,000, for borrowing money from a 79-year-old Sebring woman over a two-and-a-half-year period. "A crime against an elderly person is not only a crime against the person," said Estrada as he was rendering Ingmire's sentence. "It's a crime against society." ...more

October 26, 2007