Troy-Baker Robinson, 35, of Gainesville, had a bond hearing Thursday in regard to charges filed against him earlier this month for occupying a vacant apartment and stalking a University of Florida student.
Read More »Newly released video shows police with assault rifles searching inside Walmart for rogue excavator driver
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Carrying assault rifles through a local Walmart, police officers can be seen on newly released video moving past startled shoppers looking for a shirtless man who they said just crashed a stolen excavator into the building and caused $2 million in damages across the popular shopping district. …
Read More »Man accused of crashing excavator into Walmart ordered to face mental health evaluation
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A judge has ordered a man accused of stealing an excavator and running it into several buildings to undergo a mental health evaluation before he can be released on bail. Jesse Charles Smith, 47, of Trenton, Florida, was arrested late Monday in Gainesville. Police accused him of …
Read More »Supreme Court denies insurer’s appeal in Marion County blood “pollutant” dispute
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a property insurer’s appeal in a dispute about whether blood should be considered a pollutant under a homeowners’ policy. Justices declined to hear an appeal by Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Co. in the dispute about whether the …
Read More »Florida set to execute inmate James Phillip Barnes in nurse’s 1988 hammer killing
A Florida man sentenced to death for the 1988 attack on a woman who was sexually assaulted and killed with a hammer, then set on fire in her own bed, is set for execution Thursday after dropping all his appeals and saying he was ready to die. James Phillip Barnes, …
Read More »The Point, June 5, 2023: Special Report: The Price of Plenty
Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • WUFT News Special Report: Today WUFT News launches The Price of Plenty, a special report on the fertilizer industry by student journalists from the University of Florida and the University of Missouri. Funded by …
Read More »Former death row inmates slam new Florida law making it easier to impose capital punishment
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With Florida making it easier for juries to impose the death sentence, two formerly condemned inmates who are still behind bars are warning that the change gives too much power over life and death to elected prosecutors. Their concerns are at odds with some families of murder …
Read More »Putnam County Sheriff’s Office says cold case solved after 7 years
On Monday, a grand jury indicted Lorenzo Hudson on first-degree murder charges for the death of a pregnant woman, Shaquierra Pickney, the Putnam County sheriff said during a press conference on Tuesday. Pickney’s body was discovered in a Gethsemane Baptist Church Cemetery in East Palatka on Sept. 3, 2015, and …
Read More »Retired cop never forgot unsolved case, helped convict rapist decades later
Nick VanderWal was a retired cop in Florida who couldn’t let go of his unsolved cases even decades later – especially a 1992 rape by an armed burglar who tied up his victim and placed duct tape over her eyes during an attack so awful that judges later called it …
Read More »The Point, Feb. 15, 2023: Mayor Ward gives State of the City Address
Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • WUFT News: Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward delivers 2023 State of the City Address. “During this annual keynote, Ward reflected on accomplishments in 2022 related to housing programs, the local economy, sustainability efforts, …
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