The county on Tuesday tabled plans to proceed with a new $18.6 million judicial center, opting to wait until the economy improves. ...more

March 11, 2009

Bernard Madoff will plead guilty Thursday to 11 criminal counts including money laundering, perjury and securities, mail and wire fraud and will do so without a plea deal, knowing it carries a potential prison term of 150 years, lawyers said today in court. ...more

March 10, 2009

Bernard Madoff could soon find himself in a courtroom with some of the same devastated investors who he is accused of ripping off in one of the biggest financial frauds in history. ...more

March 7, 2009

In a victory for news technology in federal courts, a judge is allowing a reporter to use the microblogging service Twitter to provide constant updates from a racketeering gang trial this week. ...more

March 7, 2009

One of five teenage girls charged in the beating of another teen was sentenced today to three years of probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery. Circuit Judge Keith Spoto also sentenced Mercades Nichols to 100 hours of community service and ordered that she pay restitution to victim Victoria Lindsay. ...more

March 6, 2009

A teenager accused of brutally raping two Zephyrhills women in 2007 rejected a plea deal Wednesday that would have sent him to prison for 30 years. ...more

March 5, 2009

A teenager accused of brutally raping two Zephyrhills women in 2007 rejected a plea deal today that would have sent him to prison for 30 years. ...more

March 4, 2009

A World War II hero learned today he won't have to go to prison for what likely would be the rest of his life. ...more

March 3, 2009

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson toured the Sam M. Gibbons Federal Courthouse today and the experience literally left him aghast. The senator was responding to complaints from federal judges and employees who work in the 12-year-old building that shoddy construction has left them with leaking windows and roofs and that mold has taken hold. ...more

February 16, 2009

A well-spoken and assertive Diana O'Neill spent nearly four hours arguing her innocence Friday before a jury found her not guilty of four child abuse charges. ...more

February 14, 2009