Stephen Hudak

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The former police chief of Colorado Springs, Colo., has been hired as the new interim chief in Sanford, Fla., City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. announced Tuesday.

SANFORD, Fla. -- Sanford, Fla., shopkeeper Harry Rowan stopped sweeping cigarette butts and leaves from the sidewalk in front of his antiques boutique to greet a small knot of passing preschoolers, offering them "high fives."

One by one, the little children, white and black, gave his palm an enthusiastic smack.

"Of all the towns to get the label of a bad place, it shouldn't be Sanford," said Rowan, 79, who has lived in the Seminole County seat for more than 30 years. "We all get along here."

But Sanford -- which calls itself "The Friendly City" and boasts a picturesque lakefront, a historic downtown with brick streets and a splash park for kids -- clearly has an image problem now.

BUSHNELL, Fla. -- Sheryl Hare never trusted Gypsy.

The Marion County, Fla., grandmother said she so feared that the 8-foot-6-inch Burmese python would hurt her tiny granddaughter, Shaianna, that she offered $500 for the pet reptile from her daughter weeks before it strangled the child.

In opening remarks to jurors Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino said Shaianna's mother, Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend, Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34, both charged with manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect, ignored the risks posed by the snake, which had repeatedly escaped its tank.