More than three years after 13-year-old Sarah Lunde was killed and dumped in a pond near her Ruskin home, prosecutors are about to reveal some of what the slaying suspect said about her death. ...more

August 10, 2008

MANATEE COUNTY - Even as he held a jail visitation phone with shackled hands, first-degree murder defendant Timothy Brooks said Thursday he still hopes he will play in the National Football League someday. ...more

August 7, 2008

A jury convicted former youth minister Joshua Rosa of first-degree murder Monday in the strangulation of his 13-year-old neighbor. ...more

July 22, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child. In a 5-4 vote, the court says the law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in cases of child rape violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. ...more

June 25, 2008

President Robert Mugabe said Friday that his supporters are ready to fight if the opposition wins an upcoming presidential runoff election, hardening the rhetoric of a campaign that already has seen widespread violence against government opponents. ...more

June 14, 2008

The state Supreme Court on Thursday denied the appeal of a man convicted in the 1998 murder of Vicki Robinson, a killing in which he was aided by her 15-year-old daughter. ...more

June 6, 2008

In the end, a reprieve wasn't enough to save Zeus, the German shepherd from Nokomis who bit a Verizon worker last year and was condemned to death. ...more

May 29, 2008

The Bay area was stunned by the slaying of first one young girl, then another, then another during a 14-month span: Carlie Brucia, Jessie Lunsford and Sarah Lunde. ...more

May 29, 2008

One of the three men accused of fatally beating a homeless man as he slept on a park bench pleaded guilty Friday and agreed to testify against the others. ...more

May 24, 2008

Earl Column Refreshing Re: Fran Earl's weekly column. ...more

May 13, 2008