PINELLAS COUNTY

A Florida man and woman were arrested and charged for allegedly sex trafficking a teenage girl across two counties in the state, according to authorities.

More than six dozen threatened manatees are currently in rehabilitation centers in Florida and elsewhere amid a chronic starvation problem caused by water pollution, wildlife officials said Wednesday.

Beaches in Southwest Florida are dealing with red tide fish kills and warnings as the harmful algal bloom makes its way from the Gulf of Mexico. Here's what people should know.

A Florida man is facing charges after police said he assaulted a police horse.

Human traffickers coerced eight Cuban migrants into prostitution in Florida, so they could each pay their $60,000 debt to the smugglers who helped them to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister.

A Florida teenager has died and two others remain in the hospital following a high-speed crash in a stolen Maserati, deputies said.

An illicit early morning joy ride ended in tragedy Sunday in Southwest Florida, an area still reeling from Hurricane Ian.

As Hurricane Ian continues to gain strength, residents were asked to evacuate the Tampa Bay area on Tuesday.

Hurricane Ian is targeting Tampa Bay as a "potentially catastrophic" direct hit. It would be the first major hurricane to strike the area in more than a century.

The National Hurricane Center is predicting storm surge in Tampa Bay and surrounding waters of between 5 and 10 feet.

It’s been over a century since a major storm like Hurricane Ian has struck the Tampa Bay area, which blossomed from a few hundred thousand people in 1921 to more than 3 million today.

It’s been more than a century since a major storm like Hurricane Ian has struck the Tampa Bay area, which blossomed from a few hundred thousand people in 1921 to more than 3 million today. Many of these people live in low-lying neighborhoods that are highly susceptible to storm surge and flooding they have rarely before experienced, which some experts say could be worsened by the effects of climate change. The problem confronting the region is that storms approaching from the south, as Hurricane Ian is on track to do, bulldoze huge volumes of water up into shallow Tampa Bay and are likely to inundate homes and businesses.

Beach renourishment, in which heavy machinery pumps sand from the water back to shore, is a partial solution to beach erosion. But in a break with decades of assistance, the Army Corps of Engineers is requiring all beachfront residents who live along the Sand Key project to give away some of their property rights. For the work to proceed, every owner will need to sign a document known as a perpetual easement that allows public access on a portion of their land next to the beach.

Voters in a key swing county in Florida are grappling with some of the highest inflation rates in the country. But it's not necessarily the deciding factor for some voters.

Police in west central Florida arrested a man and woman accused of murdering a 3-year-old girl in their care, inflicting gruesome injuries all over her body.

A Florida woman has been arrested for continuously making harassing phone calls to police.

Police arrested a west central Florida man accused of threatening a landscaper and his daughter with an assault rifle over a parking dispute last month.

A Pinellas County doctor is facing trafficking charges for allegedly writing and selling prescriptions for codeine and oxycodone.

Security video released by the Uhuru Movement shows the driver of a white sedan pulling up outside the group’s St. Petersburg headquarters on Saturday morning.

A Florida deputy was fired Tuesday after superiors accused him of trying to hide his “incompetence” by creating a fake drug report using information pulled from the license plate of a random vehicle parked at a Walmart store.

Even before a gunman opened fire at an annual LGBTQ Pride festival in Norway, police officials in a Florida city that hosts one of the largest Pride celebrations in the southeast U.S. were gearing up for “all hands on deck” to make sure the three days of festivities went off safely.

Police say a man found dead in a Florida lake while searching for Frisbees and other flying discs was missing three limbs after a likely encounter with alligators.

Officials have identified a man believed to have been killed by an alligator while searching for frisbees at a lake in the Tampa Bay area.

A possible alligator attack was responsible for the death of a 47-year-old man in the Tampa Bay area Tuesday, according to police.

A Florida man faces animal cruelty and domestic battery charges after police say he buried his father’s dog alive.

A Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputy has lost her job after officials say she was arrested for driving under the influence.

The deputy ran over a 23-year-old woman who was lying on her back.

A Florida man is facing charges after police say he allegedly trapped a male minor in a gym locker room and kissed him against his will.

Martin County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a man they say was targeting girls in the Treasure Coast area on social media for sex.

An 80-year-old Pinellas County man is facing charges for allegedly exploiting an 88-year-old man in a business deal.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper who risked her life to stop a wrong way driver on a Tampa roadway, talked about her experience on Thursday.

A Florida Highway Patrol Officer is being called a hero, after she used her patrol car to stop a suspected drunk driver.

A Pinellas County man is facing several charges of lewd and lascivious acts with minors.

A 70-year-old man has been accused of slamming a child to the ground at a playground after yelling that kids were making too much noise.

Clearwater police have arrested a 23-year-old man on a charge that he raped a 14-year-old girl under Pier 60 in Clearwater Beach earlier this year. Timon Brandon Fonfara was arrested early Saturday and booked at the Pinellas County jail on a charge of sexual battery. He also was arrested on a charge of illegal possession of THC oil. Bail for both charges was set at $52,000, court records show, ...

Donterio Fowler, 26, and Keondre Fields, 23, have been charged in the 2016 murder of an FIU student in parking garage. Donterio Fowler is the brother of NFL linebacker Dante Fowler.

People may experience respiratory problems because of a persistent bloom of toxic red tide off Florida's Gulf Coast, the National Weather Service said Friday. The service issued a “beach hazards statement” affecting the oceanfront and bayside shores in Pinellas County from 11:30 a.m. Friday through at least 10 p.m. Saturday. Symptoms include coughing, sneezing and watery eyes.

Ron DeSantis held a news conference Wednesday afternoon at a school in Pinellas County, where he announced that he is asking the Florida legislature to approve setting aside $216 million from the ESSER Fund to go toward bonuses for principals and full-time teachers at public schools throughout the state. If approved, principals and Pre-K through 12th grade teachers would each receive a $1,000 bonus with the third-round funds provided to the state from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. “The past year included so much uncertainty for our state’s students, parents and educators,” DeSantis said. “In Florida, we knew how important it was for our students to return to school, and our principals and teachers answered the call. The governor said ESSER Funds are also being distributed at the local level and he urged local leaders to do even more for educators in their communities.

That’s when he turned around to see a massive alligator, between 7 and 9 feet long, on the lanai of his Pinellas County home. He says the alligator had gotten stuck under an end table right next to the pool. Tim Kelly had quite the surprise Friday morning when he heard growling while getting his morning cup of coffee. As he and his wife waited for the FWC to arrive, the alligator was able to free himself from the coffee table and splashed right into the pool. “We were just sitting here having coffee just watching him swim around in the pool,” he recalls.

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – A 74-year-old man was found dead after police say he drowned while searching for his golf ball at a country club in Florida. According to officials from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the tragedy took place at the East Lake Woodlands Country Club, Sunday morning, where 74-year-old Hermilo Jazmines was playing golf with a friend. “Jazmines ‘teed off near the third hole’ and ‘was last seen looking for his ball near the green,’” says the sheriff’s office. They later dispatched their dive team, which “located Jazmines submerged in the water near his putter.”AdJazmines was pronounced dead at the scene. In a press release released by the sheriff’s office, friends of the golfer say he enjoyed searching the golf course for lost balls.

Authorities say a hacker gained access to Oldsmar's water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical. A local sheriff's startling announcement Monday that the water supply of Oldsmar, population 15,000, was briefly in jeopardy last week exhibited uncharacteristic transparency. Ad“I deal with a lot of municipal water utilities for small, medium and large-sized cities. The nation's 151,000 public water systems lack the financial fortification of the corporate owners of nuclear power plants and electrical utilities. Although such incidents have been relatively few, that does not mean the risk is low and that most water systems are secure.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A day after Pinellas County authorities reported a cyber intruder’s failed attempt to poison the water on Friday at a plant near Tampa, officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties said water treatment plants in South Florida are safe. A. Selcuk Uluagac leads Florida International University’s Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab. AdThe Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department produces 320 million gallons a day of drinking water and serves nearly 2.3 million residents and thousands of tourists. In Broward County, there is a similar system of checks and balances. “Those chemicals are added manually.”Alan Garcia, the director of the Broward County Water and Wastewater Services, said the public has absolutely nothing to worry about.

Authorities say a hacker gained access to Oldsmar's water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical. A local sheriff's startling announcement Monday that the water supply of Oldsmar, population 15,000, was briefly in jeopardy last week exhibited uncharacteristic transparency. Ad“I deal with a lot of municipal water utilities for small, medium and large-sized cities. The nation's 151,000 public water systems lack the financial fortification of the corporate owners of nuclear power plants and electrical utilities. Although such incidents have been relatively few that does not mean the risk is low and that most water systems are secure.

In this screen shot from a YouTube video posted by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri speaks during a news conference as Oldsmar, Fla., Mayor Eric Seidel, left, listens, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021, in Oldsmar, Fla. Authorities say a hacker gained access to Oldsmar's water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical. AdIn May, Israel’s cyber chief s aid the country had thwarted a major cyber attack a month earlier against its water systems, an assault widely attributed to its archenemy Iran. The FBI, along with the Secret Service and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case. AdRussian state-backed hackers have in recent years penetrated some U.S. industrial control systems, including the power grid and manufacturing plants while Iranian hackers were caught seizing control of a suburban New York dam in 2013.

Federal investigators are trying to hunt down the person who tried to poison a public water supply — remotely. Investigators say a plant operator monitoring the water plant in the Tampa Bay city of Oldsmar noticed breaches starting Friday morning. If ingested in large amounts, sodium hydroxide can cause vomiting, chest and abdominal pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A look at a water tank at the Oldsmar, Florida, water treatment plant. WTVT via NNSFortunately, inside the water treatment plant the plant operator immediately reduced the levels back to what was safe.

Federal investigators are trying to hunt down the person who tried to poison a public water supply — remotely. Investigators say a plant operator monitoring the water plant in the Tampa Bay city of Oldsmar noticed breaches starting Friday morning. If ingested in large amounts, sodium hydroxide can cause vomiting, chest and abdominal pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A look at a water tank at the Oldsmar, Florida, water treatment plant. WTVT via NNSFortunately, inside the water treatment plant the plant operator immediately reduced the levels back to what was safe.

FBI probes hacker attempt to poison Florida town's water supply A shocking case of computer hacking has been discovered in Pinellas County, Florida, where federal investigators are tracking down a person or persons who tried to poison a public water supply remotely. Jeff Pegues reports.

While the Sunshine State is known for election-night hiccups and razor-thin margins, Pinellas County isn't usually among the trouble spots. MacManus notes that the county has turned a lot bluer since 2016, when there were about 2,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. These days there are just over 5,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections' website, and a total of just over 711,000 registered voters. That is not playing well with citizens of Pinellas County." Even in Pinellas the margin is smaller than it was at the peak, when there were about 9,000 more registered Democrats, Scott admits.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the chairman for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, talked of such problems in 2018. I dont think it is good for the citizens of the state of Florida to call 911 and they say, Hold on, Im going to transfer you and you can tell your story again, he said.

The right oversight mechanism is in place," said Gualtieri, who is the sheriff in Pinellas County. "The reality is there is no perfect in the world. You take reasonable steps to ensure you get the right people, and they are trained properly. We in essence are putting these guardians through the same scrutiny that we put police officers through, and they are being signed off on by the sheriff.

CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. - School disturbances on campuses, whether by total strangers or those familiar to students, are becoming far too normal. That is according to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Safety Commission. "The incidents are going to happen, there's no question they're going to happen," said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. The commission, formed after the Parkland mass shooting in February 2018, is still working to reduce vulnerabilities in school safety and response tactics. The rise in school threats remains one of the biggest issues the commission is working to remedy.

BELLEAIR BLUFFS, Fla. - Authorities say a man chased down and killed another man inside the victims home after the two had been arguing and making threats for days. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office said in a news release that David Murray Biggs, 22, was charged with first-degree murder. Detectives said Biggs and Darius Johnson, 24, had been arguing for the last couple of days. Murray Biggs drove to Johnsons home on Saturday, and the two began arguing outside. Johnson ran inside his home, but Biggs followed, forcing his way inside to continue shooting.

BELLEAIR BLUFFS, Fla. - Authorities say a man chased down and killed another man inside the victims home after the two had been arguing and making threats for days. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office said in a news release that 22-year-old David Murray Biggs was charged with first-degree murder. Detectives say Biggs and 24-year-old Darius Johnson had been arguing for the last couple of days. Murray Biggs drove to Johnsons home on Saturday, and the two began arguing outside. Johnson ran inside his home, but Biggs followed, forcing his way inside to continue shooting.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoShe disagrees with critics who accuse Trump of race-baiting with his attacks on the four women of color. Its doing great, and I am afraid if we dont re-elect the president, that will stop.Democrats and some Republicans have criticized Trumps attacks on Omar and fellow U.S. Republican support for Trump, however, rose by 5 percentage points to 72% after his weekend tweetstorm, a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll showed. The countys voting rolls currently show almost an even split in registered Republicans and Democrats, as well as a large number of independents. Everything is Trumps fault, said Kathy Corbin, 66, who sat at another table at the groups meeting.

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety commission has 16 members and four ex-officio members. Here is the list:COMMISSION CHAIR: Pinellas County Sheriff Bob GualtieriVICTIMS' FATHERSRyan Petty is the father of Alaina Petty. He played an integral role in insuring that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act moved through the Florida Legislature. He has met with local, state, and federal officials after his daughter's death. He has advocated for school safety improvements and has urged members of the Florida Legislature to enact effective legislation.