Plans for a beaver nugget stop off Interstate 75 are one step closer, after a construction company has won a bid to help expand the interstate in Ocala.

Ten years ago, Florida held a black bear hunt that resulted in more than 300 animals killed in just two days before it was halted early. It was controversial from the start and hasn’t happened since — until possibly later this year amid strong opposition once again.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a press conference in Ocala on Tuesday morning.

Polina Wright was shot once in the head and died in Ocala, police said. She was 25.

A man is facing voyeurism charges for allegedly recording young girls at a Walmart in Ocala.

A Florida jury will determine whether a 60-year-old white woman was justified when she fired through the door of her central Florida apartment a year ago, killing a Black mother during an ongoing dispute over neighborhood children.

A jury of six men and two women were selected Tuesday for the trial of Susan Lorincz, a 60-year-old Ocala woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbor last year, an incident that has sparked outrage and protests.

The Biscayne Lake Gardens apartment complex remained flooded Thursday in Aventura after record rain Wednesday in South Florida.

Families in need are grieving on Thursday after seven men and a woman from Mexico — who were in central Florida on a temporary work visa for Cannon Farms workers — died in a crash.

A Central Florida school administrator is facing charges after deputies say he was caught on camera beating a student.

Adam Joseph Stone, who was at the Broward County main jail on Wednesday, has a history of violence, according to court records. Broward County judges gave him a chance for years, but the Florida Department of Corrections recently had enough.

A truck driver is facing charges after deputies said he shot at another truck driver on I-75 in Marion County and it was all caught on camera.

A beloved police dog has passed away after being shot while on duty.

A beloved police dog is fighting for his life after being shot while on duty.

A Florida woman is facing serious charges after police said her nine-month-old baby died of a fentanyl overdose.

Detectives were searching for a 39-year-old suspect on Tuesday after a shooting at a mall in Ocala killed a man and injured a woman. There is a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Authorities in central Florida have issued an arrest warrant for a 39-year-old man accused of fatally shooting another man at a shopping mall two days before Christmas in which police say the victim was “targeted” for the attack.

A judge granted a $154,000 bond Friday for a white Florida woman charged with fatally shooting a Black neighbor through her front door.

A Florida sheriff says detectives must investigate self-defense claims before any criminal charges can be brought against a white woman who fatally shot her neighbor last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud.

A Florida mother was fatally shot through the front door of her neighbor’s home while her 9-year-old son stood next to her, a violent culmination of what police said was a 2½-year feud.

A Florida mother was fatally shot through a door outside a neighbor's home after what officials characterized as a 2 1/2-year feud over playing children.

A 16-year-old boy wanted as part of an investigation into the killings of three teenagers in central Florida was captured by authorities, days after another teenager and a 12-year-old were charged in the deaths.

From beaver nuggets to pulled pork sandwiches and gas pumps as far as the eye can see, drivers in Florida will soon have another Buc-ee’s to visit.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference Friday morning with Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue and EFI President and CEO Laura Dibella in Ocala.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on Wednesday announced the arrests of two women following an election fraud investigation.

Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Ocala on Wednesday where he answered questions about a bill that was introduced Monday, which would give Florida control of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, changing its name to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

A 38-year-old man from Ocala was arrested Wednesday after fleeing from deputies on a stand-up electric scooter and then jumping in the water, authorities said.

A hospital transport driver in north central Florida has been arrested after having sex with a mental health patient.

Survival of the fittest was taken to another level at a Florida state park last week.

Two men have been charged by a federal grand jury for committing a hate crime after they allegedly attack a man because of his race.

Two Ocala police officers are being called heroes, after they saved a choking baby.

A prison guard has been extradited to Miami from Los Angeles to face charges in connection with the beating death of an inmate in February.

Floridians will save on items ranging from diapers and gasoline to auto racing tickets and energy efficient appliances under a $1 billion tax cut package signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Earlier this month, a teenage boy told police his friend, 16-year-old Christopher Broad, died while they were testing a bulletproof vest.

A Florida man and woman have each been sentenced to life in prison for killing a woman who was set to testify against them in a drug case.

A married couple has pleaded guilty to using doughnuts and pastries to lure black bears in rural Florida, allowing packs of dogs to attack them and then posting the gruesome videos on social media.

A key figure in the federal investigation of Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges next week.

A Florida woman, who was arrested at an Ocala hotel for disorderly intoxication, said she was targeted because "her body looked good".

OCALA, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol says a motorcyclist hit a bear that was standing in the westbound lane of State Road 40 near Ocala. Troopers say the crash late Thursday night killed the man and the bear. A news release says the 42-year-old man was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center where he later died of his injuries. The bear was dead at the scene. The agency did not release the name of the man.

Albane Valenzuela misses a putt during the final round of the LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala in Ocala, Florida on Sunday, March 7, 2020. [Alan Youngblood/Special to the Ocala Star-Banner]OCALA, Fla. – Austin Ernst won the Drive On Championship on Sunday for her third LPGA Tour title, pulling away to beat fellow former NCAA champion Jennifer Kupcho by five strokes at Golden Ocala. She won the NCAA title in 2011. It’s just unfortunate that’s when mine came for the week.”Winless on the tour, the former 23-year-old former Wake Forest star from Colorado won the NCAA title in 2018 and the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019. Nelly Korda, tied with Ernst and Kupcho for the first-round lead, had weekend rounds of 76 and 75 to tie for 28th at even par.

OCALA, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the On Top of the World retirement community in Ocala.

OCALA, Fla. – Federal investigators say a Florida women’s prison has likely violated inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from sexual abuse by staff. According to a report released Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the conditions at Lowell Correctional Institution in north Florida violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment. The Justice Department provided the prison with written notice and suggested minimum remedial measures that include installing additional video surveillance and adopting new policies to protect inmates.

OCALA, Fla. – Authorities say a man who fled a drug conspiracy charge in Nebraska 35 years ago has been arrested in Florida, where he was living under a false identity. Court records show 72-year-old Howard Farley Jr. was arrested Wednesday at his north Florida home. He faces a passport charge in Ocala federal court and up to 10 years in prison. According to a criminal complaint, Farley applied for a passport in February using the false identity. Records show that Farley was the only defendant not apprehended in the case.

DUNNELLON, Fla. – Authorities say a Florida police chief died when the plane he was piloting crashed into an open field. Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn confirmed the death of Ocala Police Chief Greg Graham on Sunday. Marion County Fire Rescue says the plane crashed around 11:30 a.m. into an open field, not far from the Marion County Airport. Guinn says Ocala Deputy Chief Mike Balken will be named interim police chief. “He loved Ocala and Ocala loved him,” Sheriff Billy Woods told WKMG-6 in Orlando.

FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2019 file photo, developer Danny Gaekwad talks about the roof top bar on his Hilton Garden Inn hotel that is presently under construction in Ocala, Fla. Since the coronavirus crisis started, hotel owners say they are struggling to get relief on a type of loan that Wall Street investors buy. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner via AP)

OCALA, Fla. – A 9-year-old boy has been charged with trying to kill his 5-year-old sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife inside their Florida apartment last month, officials said. The boy was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder and appeared in court on Wednesday in the central Florida city of Ocala, prosecutors said. When she returned, she said she found the boy stabbing his sister with a kitchen knife in a bedroom. The child told investigators he thought of killing his sister two days before the Jan. 28 stabbing, Ocala police said. The public defender's office is awaiting results of a competency examination that will determine whether the boy understands the charges, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Casei Jones, 32, and her children, who range in age from 1 to 10, were last seen about six weeks ago in the Ocala, Florida, area, the sheriff's office said. On Sunday, Michael Jones crashed his van near Brantley County in southeast Georgia, about 150 miles north of Jones' last known Florida address. Deputies "smelled a foul odor" coming from Michael Jones' van, according to a Brantley County Sheriff's Office press release. Marion County officials said a warrant for second-degree murder charges has been issued for Jones' arrest. "True evil poked its head up here in Marion County," Sheriff Billy Woods said.