Jurors deliberated for four hours today before finding Sharon Sprout guilty of second-degree murder in the 2004 killing of longtime boyfriend, Anthony Candiano. She will likely be sentenced to life in prison at a hearing Dec. 23. Sprout, 51, shot Candiano in the head as he slept in their Regency Park home on July 10, 2004. Early that morning, Sprout retrieved a .38-caliber pistol from a desk in another bedroom. She then went into the master bedroom, pointed the gun behind Candiano's right ear and pulled the trigger. The bullet cut a path through Candiano's brain, instantly killing the 64-year-old. ...more

November 20, 2008

Readers at TBO.com had a lot to say about the Hillsborough County School Board's recent decision to select Strawberry Crest as the name for a new high school under construction off Interstate 4 east of McIntosh Road. ...more

November 19, 2008

Employees, family members and friends of Freedom Plaza will be walking in the Freedom Plaza Sun City Center Memory Walk 2008 to help find a cure for Alzheimer's. Freedom Plaza is part of Brookdale Senior Living, an Independent Living Community. ...more

November 19, 2008

Sharon Sprout's words about longtime boyfriend Tony Candiano might have seemed a bit strange when she uttered them back in early 2004. ...more

November 19, 2008

Police recovered a missing woman's car Monday morning and crime scene technicians are processing it for evidence. ...more

November 17, 2008

Florida's public employee pension plan has lost more than a quarter of its peak value, but Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials Monday said the fund is built for the long haul and there's no need to panic. ...more

November 17, 2008

Detectives are asking the public for help in finding a woman who was expected to throw a birthday party on Saturday for her 2-year-old daughter, authorities said. ...more

November 16, 2008

Floridians are lucky to live in a state that requires their government at all levels to operate in the sunshine, where almost every record and meeting is open for all to see. That's the only way a democracy can thrive, and the best way to stop corruption before it starts. It's a basic tenet of what Highlands Today believes, and critical to our role as public watch dogs. However, there are times when this is carried a bit too far, and that's apparent with a case sweeping across the state. ...more

November 16, 2008