Punta Gorda News

CHRISTY SWIFT/Kristie Popa stuffs bags for the county's fourth-graders who will participate in Ag-Venture this year.

People in Charlotte County are using and abusing the 911 call center after a reported rise last year, two recent, bizarre arrests show just how vulnerable false 911 calls can make real emergency situations.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office assisted the Arcadia Police Department in locating and arresting an armed fugitive today.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office responded to the Waffle House, located at 9092 Mac Drive, after employees reported that the business had been robbed at gunpoint by two men.

Link: Visit the spring break page for more stories, videos and galleries. Five years ago, Brad Hoffman got his first chance to torch up Fort Myers Beach as one of the Greater Cincinnati Firefighters show group dancers.

A food distribution company has broken ground on a center that ultimately could provide 380 jobs.

It's your money and people living in Charlotte County could be asked to pay ten million dollars in the name of public safety! The radios that emergency crews use to respond to calls are outdated and in just a few years, they won't work at all! 2500 radios across charlotte county help multiple agencies do their jobs.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- Charlotte County detectives are attempting to identify a woman who used a credit card that was taken from a woman's purse to purchase a television in January.

Inshore anglers from across Florida and surrounding regions will converge at Punta Gorda, Fla., March 8-9, for the season-opening events of 2014 for the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- A Punta Gorda man was arrested this afternoon after a Charlotte County Sheriff's deputy stopped him for speeding and reportedly found bags of crack cocaine in his possession.

The parents of three children are in a Florida jail after leaving the kids to wander the woods while the parents may have been high, possibly on methamphetamine, according to police and CNN affiliates.

The company is going to bring nearly 400 jobs upon opening and an extra few hundred will come in a few years.

Governor Rick Scott will be in Punta Gorda to mark the groundbreaking of a new Cheney Brother's Distribution Center.

Michael Scott Butcher, left, and Sarah Christina Butcher were arrested March 1, 2014 for loitering, meth possession, and abandoning their three kids in the woods.

A Charlotte County couple is accused of child neglect after their kids were found walking through a patch of Punta Gorda woods looking for help.

Roger LaLonde/Staff The RC Laser sailboats fly to the finish line in the 11th annual Midwinter RC Laser Championship Regatta at Mackle Park on Marco Island Sunday.

Charlotte County investigators are blaming a Cape Coral couple and a Miami man for the worst animal cruelty case they've ever seen.

Detectives with the Lee County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit are working a deputy-involved shooting at the Pilot located at 6050 Plaza Drive.

Deputies say the woman was ejected from the car and was found on the median when emergency crews found her.

Yusniel Valdez-Darias and Greisy Suarez both face dozens of charges for animal cruelty and abandonment.