Charlotte County, Punta Gorda | featured news

TALLAHASSEE (AP) — The Department of Education has closed for the day after a car hit and ruptured water lines that feed the Tallahassee building.
The crash happened early Thursday morning.
Agency officials say they’ve closed the building for health and ...

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES (AP) — The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office has grounded one of its helicopters after a crew made an emergency landing after feeling the engine shudder.
The helicopter made an emergency landing on the beach in Ponce Inlet on Wednesday...

TAMPA (AP) — Thieves stole a trailer loaded with commercial equipment from a Tampa man who started a lawn maintenance business to better care for the three children he’s raising alone.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office thefts like the one Douglas ...

DAVIE (AP) — The Davie Town Council is clearing the way for folks who want to buy alcohol before noon on Sundays.
The council voted unanimously Wednesday to lift the decades-old Sunday ban on alcohol sales. A final vote will be taken at the next council ...

TAMPA (AP) — Deputies have charged a Tampa Police Athletic League employee with downloading child pornography.
The Tampa Police Department reports 50-year-old Marcos Santiago was arrested at his home Wednesday.
Detectives say they learned Santiago was p...

BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE, (AP) — A young female Florida panther has been struck and killed by a car near Naples.
Wildlife officials found the cat’s carcass on a stretch of U.S. 41 in Big Cypress National Preserve. The panther was believed to be about...

TALLAHASSEE (AP) — Florida child welfare officials are creating new performance measures to evaluate its 17 private contractors that oversee foster care around the state.
Florida Department of Children and Families Interim Secretary Esther Jacobo said Thu...

BOSTON (AP) — Two friends of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were indicted Thursday for allegedly trying to throw away fireworks and other items police say they found in Tsarnaev’s dorm room before his capture.
Authorities later found s...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The second round of Mideast peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is slated for Aug. 14 in Jerusalem, to be followed by a later meeting in Jericho on the West Bank, the State Department announced on Thursday.
State Department ...

ORLANDO (AP) — George Zimmerman ordered a bulletproof vest and an infrared home security device last year while he was out on bond awaiting his trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.
Records released Thursday by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office sh...