15-year-old Ke’Mani Hill was scheduled to take her murder case to jury selection yesterday, but instead she pleaded no contest to manslaughter with a firearm, a lesser included offense. Taking a plea deal, Hill was convicted and sentenced to 20-years in prison. Her prison sentence will be followed by ten years of probation.

The plea agreement was negotiated between pros...

Saturday, April 11, celebrity musicians Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist, along with dozens of other artists throughout the weekend, performed for the Big Culture and Arts Festival.

The two primary headliners appeared to perform on stage together, with Big posting a clip o...

On January 23, 2026, Lonnie Joe Ward, 49, entered a no contest plea agreement for a misdemeanor battery charge and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Ward on October 11, 2024, on a child molestation charge. 

The incident location was a haunted house in Newberry with several teens who were participating as...

Between August 2025 and April 2026, Michael Scott Brannon, 40, was sentenced in a number of misdemeanor domestic abuse cases spanning Alachua and Duval Counties. 

On March 1, 2025, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Brannon and charged him with domestic battery. The victim, who provided police with a sworn statement, said she ...

On March 25, 2026, Xzavier Taylor Hawkins, 21, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with a ten-year minimum mandatory following a no contest plea and conviction of attempted second-degree murder.

Hawkins faced an additional charge for possessing a firearm with a prior juvenile adjudication but that was dismissed as part of the plea deal.