Ellenton, FL

Gulfport’s opioid crisis is personal. Reading the statistics is one thing. More than 8,100 people died of fatal drug overdoses in Florida between January 2021 and January 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, up 6.7% compared to a year ago. Nationally, drug overdose deaths are up 12.5% compared to last year with many of the 107,375 fatalities linked to fentanyl. The synthetic opioid can be 100 times more potent than morphine and can be deadly.

MANATEE COUNTY – Cierra Shannon, 28, of Holmes Beach, was sentenced on June 20 to four years in prison after pleading no contest on April 11 to a first-degree felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash with a death. She also will serve a minimum of three...

A Bradenton man has been charged with murder in a killing at an after-hours spot eight years ago.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could pursue a former top-10 NFL Draft pick and Pro Bowler now that Rob Gronkowski has retired.

Tampa Fire Rescue is on the scene of an apartment fire on South Carolina Avenue.

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s office plans to seek the death penalty against a man police say shot randomly chosen people in St. Petersburg’s Bartlett Park neighborhood and elsewhere in the Tampa Bay area, according to court records. Police arrested Johnny Carnegie, 34, in April in connection with the...

Potential Tropical Cyclone Two formed east of Trinidad Monday and has a 70% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm in the next 48 hours, and a 90% chance of developing over the next five days, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ben Prestage Dave Shiplett, chef/owner of the restaurants/music venues Birdrock Taco Shack and Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen in Bradenton's Village of the Arts, will celebrate his 63rd birthday with this show held at Birdrock featuring Ben Prestage. The self-described “Deep South swamp music” artist grew up in rural Florida before later living in Memphis, where he learned how to...

One of the best restaurants to eat in all of the U.S. and Canada is located in Florida, and it was ranked from the well-known site, Yelp. They looked at the top 100 vegan restaurants across North America, and The Mediterranean Chickpea in Tampa takes first place. From home-made hummus,...

The Tampa Bay Lightning's third straight run to the Stanley Cup Final took quite the physical toll on their players. General manager Julien BriseBois revealed the long list of injuries that players played through during the playoffs, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith. Brayden Point suffered a "significant" quad tear...

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office terminated one of its deputies Tuesday after learning he falsified a report to cover his own inactivity.

The Fourth of July is on a Monday this year, but you can still celebrate like it’s the weekend (your boss is giving you Tuesday off, right?) Here’s a list of BBQs, beach parties, parades, and – of course – fireworks from Gulfport to a Tampa Bay beach near you.

This weekend, take a trip down memory lane with Siesta Key Aqua Adventure’s newest attraction - Bigfoot’s Bumper Boat Adventure. The attraction, aptly named after the company’s mascot - a seven-foot statue of Bigfoot - is as ingenious as it is silly and exactly what it sounds like - bumper cars, but on the water. The idea for the novelty came from the company’s owner, Richard Campbell, wanting to fill a void within the watersports space. “In the state of Florida, you have to be at least 16 years of age to operate watercraft - leaving a large demographic of people that want to drive them, but can’t. I started doing research and found out that as long as you have less than 10 horsepower and the vessels are under a certain size there’s no age restriction,” says Campbell.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final marked a changing of the guard in the NHL. While the Colorado Avalanche had the franchise-altering win, hoisting the Cup for the first time since 2001, the loss marked a shift for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opposite direction. The Avalanche did...

HOLMES BEACH – Manatee County voters are no strangers to political antics when it comes to local elections, but the case of the disappearing election signs has turned serious, with an accusation of theft. The problem began when Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore removed three campaign signs promoting Jason...

Twenty months after starting a legal push to overturn the Manatee County commissioners’ decision to allow a car lot on State Road 64 adjacent to Lakewood Ranch, members of the Save Gates Creek and Its Neighborhoods organization are optimistic 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas will send the matter back to the commissioners for another vote.

Dawnyelle Singleton got in on the ground level at Visible Men Academy and helped establish programs at the Manatee County charter school. Now she hopes to improve the educational opportunities available in her home county as a member of the Sarasota County School Board. The Sarasota High School graduate and...

The two former teammates might be seeing each other often again as soon as this fall.

Keone Pearson plans to make a statement when he returns to his next bodybuilding show in roughly six weeks. In preparation for his next contest, Pearson shared a physique update and a video of him squatting over 800-pounds on the squat machine. Pearson quickly grew in popularity during 2019, a...

Bucs' RB Leonard Fournette has a plan to lure Rob Gronkowski out of his recent retirement.