Hernando Sun

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco announced Friday afternoon that longtime Corporal Donald Valverde, 37, was arrested and fired on multiple felony sex charges involving a juvenile. Valverde, who had been with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office since 2015, faces “two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor,” according to Sheriff Nocco, with one charge punishable by life in prison.

SPRING HILL – The Nature Coast Sharks grounded the Springstead Eagles in three sets in the 2026 Eagles Volleyball Showcase on Friday. The Columbia Blue got off to a strong start before needing a gutsy comeback to defeat their cross-county rivals in one of the first games of the Labor Day weekend tournament on Friday. After a close back and forth in the first half of the opening set, Nature Coast rattled off seven straight points due in part to a kill and an ace by Senior Peyton Gregoire.

DADE CITY — The new stadium opened, the trophies came home, and — at least for one night — it looked a bit like old times for the Pasco High football program. With running backs Gio Reyes and James Canty running wild and a strong defensive effort, Pasco cruised to a 36-6 victory in the first game played in the new W.F. Edwards Stadium. The win was also the first of new Pasco coach Cortez Stubbs’ career. The night was a mix of old and new, and that made for a good formula for the Pirates (1-2).

Three days after his 28th wedding anniversary, Kenneth “Kenny” Grube bolted awake, clutching his chest, terror evident on his face. His wife, Stephanie Grube, immediately sensed something was seriously wrong. Using her physician assistant skills, she placed a blood pressure cuff on his arm. The result, 290/180, confirmed her worst fears.

BROOKSVILLE – Leaders from around the county and the state of Florida met on Wednesday for a special monthly breakfast meeting with the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce.

BROOKSVILLE – Defense was the name of the game on Friday night as the Nature Coast Tech Sharks (2-1) fell to the Tampa Catholic Crusaders (3-0) by a 7-0 margin on Labor Day weekend. The teams combined for three goal line stands (one forced by Nature Coast, two by Tampa Catholic), four turnovers on downs (three by Nature Coast, one by Tampa), and twenty-six penalties in the Crusaders’ low-scoring win over the Columbia Blue.

Since 2011, when the Hernando County School Board approved a student representative, that person has sat on the dais alongside the school board members, the superintendent, and legal counsel. That policy will come to an end this school year. Determined to protect future student representatives from the harassment received by last year’s representative, the board voted in its Aug. 25 workshop to have the student representative sit off camera at the staff table and make presentations from the podium.

Loading Audio Player By Instaread, Please Wait... Via consent agenda on Aug. 25, Hernando County commissioners approved a motion allowing the Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) to apply for a federal grant to implement an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program, expand the Drone as First Responder (DFR) Project, and participate in immigration-related law enforcement. Upon this approval, HCSO applied for the grant on August 28 and should receive notice of any award by October.

On Aug. 25, county commissioners unanimously voted to rezone 331.6 acres in northwest Pasco County, allowing the construction of 832 single-family homes, 75,000 square feet of commercial space, and 440,000 square feet of light industrial space. The development is located 1.5 miles east of the intersection of Denton Avenue and Little Road, near Hudson. The project has been in the works since 2021, and had previously been postponed in May and June.

The criminal case against a former Hernando High School teacher and coach accused of giving a kratom product to a 17-year-old student has been dismissed after he successfully completed a pretrial intervention program. Prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi Jan. 23, formally ending the misdemeanor case against Terry Thomas Kennedy, court records show.