Marion County

The girl’s middle school classmates reportedly each got about $100.

A small plane crashed in a heavily wooded area of central Florida, killing both people on board. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says the plane  crashed late Saturday in a wooded area between Citra and Orange Springs. Deputies say that because of the remote location of the crash, a special operations force in the Marion County Sheriff’s Office was called...

A Florida man is facing a murder charge after authorities said he shot and killed his neighbor during an argument over a wandering cat. Cliffton Anthony Bliss Jr., 58, was arrested on a second-degree homicide charge in the Wednesday shooting, Marion County Sheriff’s Office officials said. Investigators said Bliss became angry when his neighbor’s cat came onto his property,...

Six inmates were hospitalized after a transport van crashed on a Florida highway, authorities said Sunday. A box truck rear-ended the van on 1-75 near Belleview. The van was driven by U.S. Corrections, a private inmate services company, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Six inmates were taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. A seventh inmate was...

A Florida inmate is suing the state’s Department of Correction over allegations that an officer put chlorine bleach in her drink

A central Florida sheriff says his deputies won’t be allowed to wear face masks except under some conditions, and neither will visitors to the sheriff’s office

A Florida church sustained extensive damage when a driver plowed a van through the front door and then set the sanctuary on fire

Police say a woman accused a heavily tattooed Florida man of sexually battering her in a camper and burning her hair with a cigarette

Officials say a dog disease that can be passed to humans has been confirmed in Iowa. The state veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Kaisand, says several cases of canine brucellosis have been confirmed at a commercial breeding facility for small dogs in Marion County. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says it is notifying people who have custody of the...

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has issued a Missing Child Alert for a 15-year-old girl from Marion County.

Two South Carolina law officers were charged Friday in the deaths of two women who drowned while locked in the back of a sheriff’s department van during Hurricane Florence. Stephen Flood is charged with two counts each of reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter, according to online court records. Joshua Bishop faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

21-year-old Nicholas Sardo told Marion County Sheriff’s deputies he had sex with the horse named Jackie G. after witnesses say they saw the events last month outside of Ocala and called police.

Polls have barely opened on the East Coast, and voting machines — and people — are already causing a few foul-ups. Experts say that the errors are normal, and that none that have emerged so far should prevent voters from casting a ballot. “There are literally hundreds of thousands of voting machines being set up, mostly by volunteer poll workers,...

Angered residents demanded Marion County board member Nancy Stacy resign during Tuesday’s meeting.

As South Carolina rivers overflowed from Florence’s torrential rain, deputies taking two women to a mental health facility drove into floodwaters that swamped their van and trapped the women inside, officials said Wednesday. The two deputies worked to free the women, who were being transported Tuesday night as part of a court order, but were not able to save them...

A Florida woman who flashed a big grin in a mugshot following a car crash and DUI arrest now faces a new charge and prison time after a crash victim died. News outlets report 44-year-old Angenette Marie Welk didn’t smile when a new mugshot was taken Saturday at the Marion County Jail in Ocala.