Criticized for requiring strict punishment for even minor infractions, Florida's "zero-tolerance" school discipline policy is being updated according to a new law, which calls for discretion by school officials when applying the law. ...more

October 23, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist ceremonially signed a law requiring children younger than 16 to wear a helmet while riding a horse on public roads. ...more

June 8, 2009

A 12-year-old Polk County girl has been found safe but with a man who police say could be charged. ...more

April 30, 2009

Children no longer would be arrested for such minor violations of zero tolerance polices as bringing plastic butter knives to school, drawing pictures of guns or throwing an eraser under measures moving through the Florida Legislature. ...more

March 25, 2009

The only teenager to receive jail time for her role in the videotaped beating of a Polk County girl is back home. Brittini Hardcastle, 17, left jail this morning. She was sentenced Friday to 15 days behind bars and released today because she had previously served some of that time. ...more

March 24, 2009

The father of a missing 5-year-old north Florida girl plans to marry his 17-year-old girlfriend. ...more

March 10, 2009

An anonymous pledge of $5,000 in the case of a missing Putnam County girl has boosted the reward for finding her to $25,500. ...more

February 25, 2009

Authorities in north Florida have scaled back their search for a missing 5-year-old girl who vanished from her home last week and a volunteer search group has ended its efforts. ...more

February 16, 2009

Investigators were interviewing 44 registered sex offenders in the disappearance of a 5-year-old Putnam County girl that they are treating as an abduction. ...more

February 13, 2009

The father of a missing 5-year-old Putnam County girl said he and his 17-year-old girlfriend have passed polygraph tests, according to CNN.com. ...more

February 12, 2009