Ocala FL

With 2026 less than a month away, businesses are gearing up for upcoming openings, including Walmart. The retail giant has already wrapped up its openings for 2025 on Nov. 5 with its new location in Melissa, Texas, about 48 miles northeast of Dallas. According to the company, more openings are slated for January....

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) — Buc-ee’s plans to open its Ocala location in 2028, corresponding with a new Interstate 75 interchange project, Marion County officials told TV20. County officials said Buc-ee’s is planning to open simultaneously with the I-75 interchange project, which consists of building new on and off ramps...

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. – A Citrus County judge handed down a massive sentence yesterday, ordering a 31-year-old repeat violent offender to serve 20 years in state prison. After listening to two hours of testimony and closing arguments, Judge Joel D. Fritton revoked Darien Andrew Hauter’s probation. Hauter was found...

A resident of The Villages has been arrested in connection with a violent incident involving a dementia patient she had hoped to defraud. Kara Lynne Johnson, 48, of the Village of Chitty Chatty, took the woman, who has been diagnosed with the onset of dementia, from Mississippi to the Days Inn on State Road 44 in...

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) - Donna Adelson has been moved to a new correctional institution closer to her home in South Florida, according to officials. Adelson was initially held at the Florida Women’s Reception Center in Marion County after her trial. Florida’s Department of Corrections says now she has...

A former Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy accused of stealing over $5,000 from an Ocala bank has pleaded guilty to a robbery charge. On Thursday, December 4, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced that 40-year-old Christina Gates Thagard has pleaded guilty to one count of bank...

I have lived in Dunnellon for three years and every year a cat or dog appears at my house in the forest. I took both cats and one large dog to be neutered. Found a home for one of the younger cats. Fostered/adopted dog. It’s ridiculous. Marion County Animal...

A woman who admitted to mixing Mudslides and pills was arrested at Lake Sumter Landing in The Villages. Laurel Beth Robbins, 74, of Bradenton, was pulled over at about 6 p.m. Monday at Old Mill Run and Buena Vista Boulevard, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

A major new residential project proposed along County Road 466A — tentatively named Vita Serena — has the potential to shift the development landscape around The Villages. If approved, the 95.35-acre community would introduce more than 400 new housing units, driving fresh demand for retail, commercial uses, and...

A snowbird engaged in some Bad Parking at Brownwood Paddock Square in The Villages. A member of the Parking Patrol spotted the vehicle, with Illinois license plates, far away from curb near Five Guys. “I assumed she was just picking up, but no, she went in for a full sit...