Police released new information Tuesday from their investigation of the carjacking of a 1997 Dodge pickup truck belonging to a Miami man, who picked up a hitchhiker at about 11 p.m. Sunday at the Race Trac gas station. ...more

August 6, 2008

Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned - her father forbade it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered. ...more

July 5, 2008

AVON PARK — An Avon Park man remained in Highlands County Jail on $5,250 bond, after sheriff's deputies reportedly had to zap him with a Taser when he resisted arrest after a car chase. Eddie Baez, 37, of 336 W. Mandan Road, was booked June 13 on charges of fleeing to elude a law enforcement officer with disregard to the safety of persons or property, battery on a law enforcement officer, criminal mischief $200 or more but less than $1,000, trespassing and resisting a law enforcement officer without violence. Baez was also charged with violation of probation in Miami-Dade County for burglary, grand theft and petty theft. ...more

June 21, 2008

A Miami-Dade County man has been charged with practicing medicine illegally at parties where women take shots of silicone to make their butts bigger. ...more

June 20, 2008

One of Miami's longest-serving federal judges was honored at the downtown courthouse for his upcoming 90th birthday. ...more

June 15, 2008

Pasco County planning commissioners cleared Cobb Theatres to serve alcohol at the company's 16-screen megaplex under development at The Grove at Wesley Chapel shopping center. ...more

June 12, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - With gas hovering around $4 a gallon, one less day of driving to the office can make a big difference. ...more

June 11, 2008

AVON PARK — Norm Stephens knows that in a recessionary economy, voters aren't likely to approve any suggestion of a tax increase. And in November, there will be nine ballot issues to confuse voters, including a one-cent sales tax which that would replace school property taxes. And furthermore, the 10-mill college property tax is No. 8 on the list, after the amendments prohibiting gay marriage and illegal aliens owning land. So its chances of passing may be small. But if voters approve in November, the Legislature would be required to allow the commissioners in Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties to hold a election which would generate property taxes to support South Florida Community College. "It's a four-step process," said Stephens, SFCC president. "It has to be approved by 60 percent of the voters in November. That allows the Legislature to develop rules. Then the counties can place it on the ballot, and the voters would have to approve again." ...more

June 8, 2008

In a decade handling evictions for the Miami-Dade County Police Department, Albert Fernandez has run across a middle-class father bankrupted by his daughter's cancer treatment, an old woman scammed by a gambling husband, and countless families perpetually on the edge of poverty. ...more

June 8, 2008

Police were questioning two men and searching for at least two others Friday after an undercover narcotics officer was shot while observing drug sales in one of the city's rougher neighborhoods. ...more

June 7, 2008