SEBRING — Detectives with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office have arrested the driver supposedly involved in the June 7 shooting death of a Lake Placid man and the shooting injury of a second man. Shane Ryan Fannin, 21, of 12075 Payne Road, Sebring, was arrested on charges Wednesday in connection with the murder of Walter Enrique Vilchez and attempted murder of Jose Franklin Escalante, at 242 Phoenix Ave., in Lake Placid. Fannin was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and was being held without bond. ...more

June 18, 2008

No sooner have the little hands knocked on Helen Morrison's front door than they are in position on the piano keys, plunking out songs. ...more

May 24, 2008

A monthly party hosted by businesses on the city's west side and slated for today will also serve as a fundraiser for a woman who lost her home to a fire last weekend. ...more

May 7, 2008

There is a fine line between crime prevention and a flagrant disregard for rules, laws and basic human rights. I am saddened yet happy that our communities are choosing to draw a line in the sand and take action against our law-breaking youths. ...more

February 10, 2008

SEBRING — Going to build a new church? The impact fee has gone up another 5 percent, according to a new schedule released by the Highlands County building official's office. The charge is now $1,528 per 1,000 square feet. Last year, impact fees were adopted at 25 percent of the amount Highlands County commissioners plan to eventually charge on new homes and commercial buildings. In September, the five board members decided not to raise impact fees for 2008, then changed their minds a week later and went to 30 percent. ...more

January 16, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - In a single half hour during New Year's Eve festivities, bullets presumably fired into the air in celebration returned to earth, hitting two people and narrowly missing two others, police say. ...more

January 2, 2008

DOVER - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office issued arrest warrants Thursday for Victor Carlos Martinez on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the death of Pascual Garcia Lopez. ...more

December 28, 2007

DOVER - A 27-year-old man was fatally shot outside a mobile home at the Starlite Mobile Home Park, 5230 State Road 60, at 9 p.m. Wednesday. ...more

December 27, 2007

Educator. Coach. Pastor. Father and grandfather. Prison evangelist. Community servant. The Rev. Abe Brown is one of Tampa's last surviving icons from the days before people of color had rights. Some of his peers were more vocal in their leadership — the late Rev. Leon Lowry and Bob Gilder, to name two. Brown, meanwhile, quietly influenced thousands of lives and change in this community. It is only fitting that his biblical name means "father of many nations." "He's the property of history. Our history," says Tampa's poet laureate, James Tokley. "He is the coach of men, of the community and of the hopeless." At the end of the year, Brown, now 80, retires from one job so he can plunge into another. Although he has certainly earned the right to enjoy some time off, that's just not his nature. Because wherever there's work that needs to be done, there is Abe Brown. ...more

December 23, 2007

Coach wasn't putting up with anything from Al Barnes. The teenager knew that when he saw Abe Brown on the porch, talking to his mama. ...more

December 23, 2007