Jacksonville News (BETA)

Hundreds of properties in Springfield and Brooklyn are being added to a list of Jacksonville locations that might be contaminated with ash from old trash incinerators. A cleanup project run by City Hall is asking residents for permission to collect soil samples — and do cleanup work if needed – at about 725 more locations. read more

Though the people attending Wednesday night’s town hall meeting on Jacksonville’s budget crisis fell into two distinct camps, together their message was clear: Balance the city budget without cutting necessary government services and without raising taxes. read more

It was only a two-second laser blast to his left cheek, but Jimmie Wallace hopes it will open the doors to a new life. The treatment last month was the first that will eventually dissolve a tiny mark, a teardrop tattoo that has a meaning much larger than its size would indicate. Wallace got the tattoo in prison, where he spent nearly nine of the past 16 years. "I'm tired of people judging me by ...

Police are asking for help solving what appears to be the random slaying of a 19-year-old Jacksonville student headed to high school six months ago. Bilaal Kwame Shaw was in his grandmother's neighborhood waiting for a 5 a.m. city bus that would take him across town to First Coast High School when he was shot and killed Jan. 9 at East First and Franklin streets. Shaw was a "true innocent ...

A driver who was trying to evade shots fired from a pursuing sport-utility vehicle Wednesday afternoon smashed into a car parked on a residential Jacksonville street. Detective John Hurst of the Sheriff’s Office said five people were in the car shortly before 5 p.m. when a black SUV started following them on Almeda Street near Kings Road. The passengers hit the floor, and the driver sped up on ...

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Family members of high school sports players fear some districts may still keep the scheduled cuts, even though the governing body abandoned them.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- More than 200 people turned out on Wednesday evening to tell Jacksonville city officials what they think of Mayor John Peyton's budget proposal, which includes a property tax increase.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL -- A St. Johns County Corrections Officer has been arrested following an altercation with his neighbor.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The driver of a car heading southbound on Almeda Street was taken to the hospital this evening after he veered off the road when someone shot at his car.

LAKE CITY, FL -- She was sitting out on her front porch like most afternoons when, Sheila Bell saw something very unusual.

Severe weather was expected to persist over the Central US and was forecast to move into the Northeast on Thursday. A strong low pressure system was expected to continue tracking eastward through Canada, just north of the Great Lakes.

After 1 Year, Teen To Celebrate With Family In Calif. MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- After more than a year at sea, Southern California teenager Zac Sunderland is closing in on a world record to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

The Florida Gator quarterback edged out four other college athletes to become the only two-time winner of the Best Male College Athlete ESPY award.

WASHINGTON -- The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes soared by nearly 15 percent in the first half of the year as more people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their monthly mortgage bills.

NEW YORK -- Paul McCartney has returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, 45 years after the Beatles made their U.S. television debut there.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Mayor Peyton is holding a series of lunchtime and after hours public meetings to discuss his budget proposal.

TEMPLE, Ga. -- The driver stopped to take a shower. Investigators say he even locked the truck and had the keys with him.

HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say a South Florida landlord killed his tenant and buried the body beneath the rental home.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA Engineers are reviewing video from Shuttle Endeavour's launch Wednesday after debris struck the spacecraft's heat shield.

LAKE CITY, Fla. -- A pastor is accused of scamming his own church out of a quarter million dollars.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday is expected to say he acted appropriately last December when Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp. threatened to back out of a deal to buy Merrill Lynch & Co., according to a transcript of his prepared remarks. (BAC)

The St. Johns River Water Management District decided Tuesday to delay funding allocations for construction of river water withdrawal projects at least until the next fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense contract to provide healthcare for about 3 million military beneficiaries in Florida and 10 other states. (UNH) (HUM)

A study by Families USA projects that 185,360 Floridians – 3,560 a week – will lose health coverage this year.

Health care reform cleared its first major hurdle Wednesday morning as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved its bill on a 13-10 party-line vote.

A turbine at a Palatka power plant caught fire Wednesday morning, causing several hundred thousand dollars' worth of damage, but did not disrupt the plant's output, a Putnam County official said.

A guard at the St. Johns County jail was arrested Wednesday and charged with beating a neighbor he suspected had burglarized and vandalized his vehicle the day before.

A St. Augustine Beach man who retired in June following a decades-long teaching career was arrested Tuesday in Pennsylvania after a 10-year-old girl accused him of raping her there last summer.

St. Augustine's Wal-Mart re-opened its garden center Wednesday after a pygmy rattlesnake bit a customer's finger Tuesday, sending him to the hospital.

Construction of a new museum showcasing the history of Catholicism in St. Augustine is expected to begin next week near where the first Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in the New World, according to Diocese of St. Augustine officials.

A turbine at the Seminole Generating Station near Palatka caught fire Wednesday, abruptly shutting down one of its two coal-fired units.

Gov. Charlie Crist appointed two new members to the St. Johns River Community College District Board of Trustees on Wednesday.

Firefighters work to fully extinguish a truck that caught on fire after involvement in a wreck on U.S. 17 near the entrance of LaFarge on Tuesday afternoon.

Putnam County School Board member Terry Wright likened it to one family foregoing a box of doughnuts on one Saturday morning.

Some East Putnam residents complained Tuesday about a monthly $20 fee they face for not using a water system being built by the county.

A Brunswick dock damaged by high winds and rain during Tropical Storm Fay in August 2008 won't be getting demolished anytime soon, but that isn't stopping government agencies from moving forward with plans to construct its replacement.

Attorneys for the family of a 17-year-old girl who died while in custody at the Glynn County Detention Center are disputing comments made by Glynn County Sheriff Wayne Bennett at a press conference held Tuesday.

Businesses on Jekyll Island do not expect to feel any major side effects of the higher parking fee that will be charged motorists coming onto the island next month.

A left turn signal installed Monday at the intersection of Kings Way and Frederica Road is helping to ease traffic as it enters St. Simons Island from the F.J. Torras Causeway.

The bell rang in the lobby of the Jekyll Island Convention Center Tuesday, and this time it was teachers who were ushered to their seats.

Starke police have arrested a third suspect in the June 5 murder of Decoveya Desue at Whispering Oaks Apartments. The arrest warrant for Jeffery A. Jackson of Jacksonville was issued after many interviews by the police department and testimony given to the Bradford County Grand Jury.

A 21-year-old woman died in jail custody last week for reasons that are still unknown. Tia Maria Sloama Ritch of Davis Street in Starke was found unresponsive in her bed at the jail around 6 a.m. July 3 and pronounced dead a short time later by Bradford County EMS personnel.

Lake City Community College student Anthony Newton didn’t set out with the intentions to write a book. But a handful of incensed thoughts posted on his personal blog soon turned into something more — becoming the inspiration for his first novel, “Make or Break.”

The executive director and president of Community Mercy Center and former pastor of First Assembly of God, the Rev. Samuel Darin Taylor, was arrested Wednesday on allegations he defrauded a local church of more than $250,000.

Last month a contingent of local residents indicated they were not in favor of having a private prison built in Columbia County that would be designed to house male, criminal, illegal aliens awaiting deportation. The prison would be built from a contractwith the federal bureau of prisons.

The saga behind a four-year-old boy escaping from an apartment bathroom after allegedly being bound and tied for some time continues to unfold for the Lake City Police Department through its investigation.

Two Lake City women were arrested Tuesday afternoon for allegedly tying up a 4-year-old child in their custody and leaving him at their apartment, according to reports.