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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A demand for special coffee cost a police officer his job on Wednesday. Lt. Major Garvin, a 15-year officer with the Daytona Beach Police Department, was fired, accused by police of intimidating Starbuck's employees. A report from the Daytona Beach Police department said he went to the coffee shop in the Oceanwalk area up to six times a night while on duty demanding to get free specialty coffee or that area wouldn't be protected by police. Police officers are able to get free coffee, but police said he demanded a special type. The police department said...

The domestic violence industry operates under the cloak of secrecy and anonymity, maintaining such policies are necessary to shield victims from their abusers. But every now and then a crack appears in the façade, revealing a sordid panorama of corruption, fraud, and abuse. On February 28, 2007 the Naples, Fla. citizenry opened their morning newspapers to the jolting headline, "CEO Out at Women's Shelter: Investigation into Battery Complaint Prompts Departure." Over the next several months, details would spill out of a woman's rights activist who had evolved into a self-serving "tyrant," as one of her colleagues later described her. The...

The governor of Florida would consider going to court to guarantee his right to permit offshore oil exploration around Florida’s coasts. But Charlie Crist, who has been cited as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, told the Financial Times that in preference to court action it would be “more productive” for Congress to overturn its ban on offshore drilling. Oil exploration in all but a few sectors of US coastal waters has been prohibited since the 1980s by separate congressional and presidential bans. However, George W. Bush on Monday lifted the White House’s moratorium and called...

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2008 – War fighters from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are testing new battlefield systems that can discern friend from foe during the “Bold Quest Plus” joint military demonstration conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The demonstration’s purpose is to provide warfighters with combat-identification technologies that maximize mission effectiveness while minimizing the chances of fratricide, John Miller, operations manager for coalition combat identification at U.S. Joint Forces Command, based at Norfolk, Va., said today during a conference-call interview with reporters. The command is sponsoring the demonstration at Eglin, which began July 11. Miller...

More than 300 Palm Beach Post employees have applied for buyouts and all have been accepted, according to an internal memo obtained by the Pulp. Though the newspaper announced it would cut 300 jobs, there will be additional layoffs. According to the memo: The number of applications was more than expected. However, we received too many in some areas and not enough in others, So we still expect to begin a small number of involuntary separations, or layoffs, the week of Aug. 18 in some departments as needed. Thanks to all who applied. You have greatly reduced the number of...

Woman gives judge earful, lands in jail Obscene outburst nets Sarah Muller contempt charge in jury selection By Suevon Lee Star-Banner Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. OCALA — A Summerfield woman said she blurted without thinking a couple choice words for a county judge during jury selection at the Marion County Courthouse Monday morning—ones which had landed her in jail by the end of the day. ALAN YOUNGBLOOD/STAR-BANNER Sarah E. Muller comments on her case during an interview at the Marion County Jail. click to enlarge Judge R....

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A woman accused of not reporting her daughter missing for five weeks refused to answer a judge's question of where her daughter was in a bizarre missing person case that continues to frustrate investigators. Casey Anthony, 22, was taken into custody Wednesday after her daughter's grandparents called Orange County sheriff's deputies over concerns about the well-being of Caylee Marie Anthony, 2. Detectives said when they contacted Casey Anthony it was determined that she apparently never told anyone that Caylee has been missing for more than a month. Thursday, Judge John Jordan asked Anthony where her daughter...

Media General Inc (MEG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a second-quarter loss on Thursday, hurt by a severance charge and a 17 percent drop in newspaper advertising revenue, and said it would take a writedown of as much as $550 million. The publisher of the Tampa Tribune and Richmond Times-Dispatch posted a second-quarter preliminary loss of $129,000, or a penny a share, compared with net income of $5.1 million, or 22 cents a share, in the second quarter last year. The results do not include the effects of the expected non-cash writedown. Revenue fell to $204.8 million from $228.2...

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. -- About 30 fish were spotted "walking" through a Florida neighborhood, shocking homeowners who said they've never seen anything like it. "I was like, 'No way there's fish in the street,'" homeowner Dianna Fernandez said. "And I kept going further and further and seeing fish everywhere -- in driveways. I've never seen anything like it." The walking catfish were spotted in the road near a Pinellas Park subdivision Tuesday. The fish used their pectoral fins to walk or shuffle around the streets. Video showed the fish moving through the neighborhood. A scientist with the Florida Fish and...

BRADENTON - A 94-year-old man whose arrest in a prostitution sting here caused an international buzz will not be prosecuted. A judge ruled Tuesday that Frank Milio was a victim of entrapment. Milio, who has dementia, was unable to get into a care facility while his case was pending. The undercover Manatee County Sheriff's Office detective on the street corner that afternoon in November took 30 steps to go chat with Milio, who authorities say had honked his car horn at the woman to get her attention. Milio, who turned 94 this month, stopped his car in a parking lot...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) --There are three billboards across Orlando that all contain the same controversial image. Each shows the Twin Towers burning and read ‘Please Don’t Vote for a Democrat’. At a time when people are trying to forget the Twin Towers on fire, the billboards attempt to remind us of the War on Terrorism. It turns out the bill boards direct people to a website which promotes a political song, written by a Saint Cloud resident Mike Meehan, who also has his own music video. The musician and business owner is making a musical statement...

AMITE — Former Hosanna pastor Louis D. Lamonica will not face charges that he sexually abused a 2-year-old girl at his upcoming aggravated rape trial, Assistant District Attorney Don Wall said in court Monday. That case will be severed from the rape charges involving Lamonica’s two sons, ages 11 and younger at the time of the alleged abuse, on which Lamonica will be tried next month in 21st Judicial District Court. Lamonica, 49, of Holden, is among the seven members of the former Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula indicted in 2005 in the abuse of the three children. His trial is...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A controversial billboard in Orange County has a picture of the burning World Trade Center and the message, "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat." The man who paid for the ad says he's trying to help Republicans, but officials with both political parties are calling the billboard inappropriate. There are billboards up and down busy Orange Blossom Trail, but this at John Young Parkway (see map) one sticks out. "Just looking at it, I'm not thinking about Democrat or Republican, I'm thinking about the twin towers and all the people killed," resident Mary Anderson told Eyewitness...

On the surface, political life in Cuban Miami seems unchanged. Little Havana is still partly a Disney version of a displaced Cuba and partly a genuine community hub, where families who have long since left for suburbia still come for nostalgic weekend lunches. At the Versailles Restaurant, the community newspapers preaching no compromise with Castro are all that are on offer. For almost four decades, the Versailles has been an obligatory stop for Washington politicians courting the Cuban-American community, visits that, as photographs in the restaurant attest, have often involved putting on a white guayabera, the four-pocket dress shirt that...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A controversial billboard in Orange County has a picture of the burning World Trade Center and the message, "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat." The man who paid for the ad says he's trying to help Republicans, but officials with both political parties are calling the billboard inappropriate. There are billboards up and down busy Orange Blossom Trail, but this at John Young Parkway (see map) one sticks out. "Just looking at it, I'm not thinking about Democrat or Republican, I'm thinking about the twin towers and all the people killed," resident Mary Anderson told Eyewitness...

Here are their statements about President Bush's decision to lift the presidential ban on offshore oil drilling. U.S. Rep. Ron Klein: “I am extremely disappointed in the President’s decision to lift the Executive Ban on offshore oil drilling..... (snip) U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: The price at the pump is hurting many families in this country today, but drilling on the coast is not the answer.... (snip) U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler: “Offshore drilling is nothing more than a snake oil solution peddled by President Bush and Senator McCain for political gain....

Catholics consider the consecrated wafer, the Eucharist, among the most sacred objects in the world and believe it becomes the 'Body of Christ' through transubstantiation. Student Government Senator Webster Cook filed the hazing charges with University of Central Florida administrators shortly after he admitted violating church rules by bringing the Eucharist home from Mass on June 29, then holding it hostage for one week in a plastic bag before returning it. Cook said his hazing complaint cited a UCF anti-hazing policy banning the forced consumption of any food in which the initiation or admission into or affiliation with a University...

TAMPA - A former University of South Florida student will be sentenced today for holding a rifle at a shooting range for less than three minutes. Karim Moussaoui was convicted in April of a federal weapons charge of possessing a firearm in violation of his student visa. The Moroccan native and engineering student had gone to the Shoot Straight Tampa shooting range with a friend, Youssef Megahed, last summer and posed for pictures holding a .22-caliber rifle Megahed had rented. Because Megahed is a legal, permanent resident of the United States, he was allowed to posses and rent the weapon....

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - A Florida woman armed with some puppy love is on her way to lift some soldier's spirits. Kathy Alexander and her 13 pooches hope to bring warm fuzzy feelings to wounded soldiers across the nation. The dogs have been providing pet therapy to nursing homes for over 10 years, but in the next month they will be traveling to military bases across the country. Their first stop is Fort Benning where they hope to bring smiles to the men and woman serving our country. -snip-

Census Bureau says New Orleans is the fastest-growing large city in the nation, recovering from being wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After being pummeled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans is showing signs of recovery - ranking as the fastest-growing large city in the nation, according to a government report released Thursday. The Census Bureau said New Orleans' population rose 13.8%, to 239,124, in the year ended July 1, 2007. That was a faster growth rate than any other city with a population of 100,000 or more.

Few Americans paid much attention last year when Cuban President Fidel Castro announced China would help explore potentially large oil reserves off Cuba's northwest coast - not far from the Florida Keys. "We sit here watching China exploit a valuable energy resource within eyesight of the U.S. coast," said. Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican. "I think the American public would be shocked - as this country is trying to reduce dependence on Middle East oil - that countries like China are realizing this energy resource." Thus there has been considerable excitement about fields off the northwest Cuban coast that...

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow died Saturday after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 53. His father, Jim Snow, 76, who lives in The Villages in Lake County, talked about his son with Sentinel reporter Gabrielle Finley. "I saw him in the hospital, spent four or five days with him. I think the hardest thing is he looked like he was making a recovery on Thursday. "His sister called me Thursday and said he had been able to sit up for about 15 minutes and they had reduced the amount of oxygen he had been on....

A former youth pastor accused of secretly taping Bible study students changing clothes in his Ellenton home has pleaded no contest to nine counts of voyeurism. Matthew C. Porter, 31, of Ellenton, is scheduled be sentenced on the misdemeanor charges at the Manatee County Judicial Center on Aug. 21. He faces up to nine years in prison if sentenced consecutively on the charges, Assistant State Attorney Erica Arend said Friday. The maximum sentence for misdemeanor voyeurism is one year in jail. Porter resigned from Bethel Baptist Church after admitting he secretly videotaped his students ages 12-16, according to the Manatee...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- If you need more proof that New Smyrna Beach is the shark bite capital of the world, a local photographer has it, three amazing photos with eyewitnesses to back it. Just as thousands of surfers and swimmers are heading to the beach this weekend, there's more evidence they aren't the only ones in the water. It happened in the blink of an eye, but some people told Eyewitness News they still don't believe the tale of a wave-jumping shark in New Smyrna Beach even though it was caught on camera. "He said, 'I hope I...

OCALA – Firing a .357-caliber handgun until it was empty, an Ocala woman chased two intruders from her home in the 3800 block of Southeast 68th Street on Wednesday morning. Later Wednesday, Marion County sheriff's detectives had one home invasion suspect in custody and were looking for the second. Aaron Scott Beardsley, 25, was charged with armed home invasion robbery. Deputies were still looking for a heavy-set Hispanic male, about 6-foot-1 or 6-feet-2, who was wearing black shorts at the time, a dark T-shirt and a bandana. Sheriff's Detective Art King, in his report, gave the following account of the...

MELBOURNE, Fla., July 11, 2008 – Army Sgts. Daniel and Timothy DeKoeyer have been together all their lives. Army Sgts. Daniel (left) and Timothy DeKoeyer prepare to deploy with the Florida Army National Guard's 715th Military Police Company in Melbourne, Fla., July 5, 2008. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As civilians, the twin brothers serve together as police officers in Deland, Fla., and now the 22-year-old citizen-soldiers have volunteered to deploy together to Afghanistan for a year-long military police mission. They left for training July 5 with the Florida...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is on John McCain's vice-presidential short list. Talk-radio host Glenn Beck has predicted that Mr. McCain would tap Mr. Crist. Mr. McCain would be hard pressed to make a worse choice. True, Mr. McCain won Florida's primary on the wave of Mr. Crist's late endorsement, which Mr. McCain rode to shore as the Republican presidential candidate. The Florida governor is especially popular in the state's liberal precincts, and he likely would deliver the Sunshine State in November.

A disabled foster child whose liver is failing has been removed from a Central Florida hospital's organ-transplant waiting list because hospital administrators fear the state's shaky child-welfare system cannot ensure he has a permanent home in which to recover. Shands Hospital in Gainesville removed the boy, 15, from a waiting list for organ recipients after administrators determined the boy's unstable living conditions make him a poor candidate for a transplant, said Nick Cox, the Department of Children & Families regional administrator in the Tampa Bay area, where the boy lives. The state's next move: appeal to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital,...

Drawing the sharpest distinctions yet between himself and the man he hopes to replace, Sen. John McCain said Tuesday his presidency would focus on climate change issues, reducing federal spending, closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center and eliminating torture by the U.S. government. In a meeting with the Tribune-Review's editorial board, McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said "spending got out of control" under the Bush administration. He blamed Congress for pushing spending and the administration for failing to halt it.

TAMPA - TAMPA - Robert Cash Jr. said he felt like somebody was targeting his Palma Ceia home. About two weeks ago, he found a claw hammer covered with a rag in a backyard flower bed. Last week, he saw the gate to his wooden privacy fence in the 4100 block of West San Luis Street had been opened. He secured it with a new lock. "It was obvious something was about to happen," recalled Cash, 40. "You don't know what to think." About 2:50 a.m. Saturday, everything gelled. Tampa police said Cash surprised a man who had tunneled under...

Don’t blame a bird for the punch that the Northwest Airlines plane took in the nose on Sunday. Northwest is now examining the dented nose cone of a Boeing 757 jet that was damaged during a flight from Detroit to Tampa. Images snapped by passengers... show the front tip of the plane looking a bit like a beer cup smashed in after a football game. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A. in Atlanta, said pilots heard a bang when the plane was at 18,000 feet during its descent into Tampa. Its radar went out, prompting the crew to suspect...

REDDICK - Marion County sheriff's deputies arrested an undocumented immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, on Sunday evening on charges of molesting an 8-year-old girl. The victim's grandmother entered a bedroom and found Martin Ramirez Garcia, 43, with the girl, sheriff's Detective Mariam Diaz said. "She didn't see the actual touching, but she saw him on top of her," Diaz said. "The grandmother beat him off of her." According to the arrest affidavit, the victim told an investigator that Ramirez Garcia touched her inappropriately over her clothing on several occasions and exposed himself to her. Diaz said the victim's 5-year-old sister also...

LAUDERDALE LAKES - She denied she had given birth even as she was caught holding a white garbage bag with a crying newborn in it, the Broward Sheriff's Office said today. Officials said they also placed a immigration hold on Morant, a Jamaican citizen who was in the country illegally.

Walt Disney World fired a security guard on Monday after he protested the company's decision not to allow people with concealed weapons permits to keep guns in their cars on Disney property. Disney terminated Edwin Sotomayor, 36, of Orlando for violating three Disney employee policies, essentially for failing to cooperate with an internal investigation, said spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez. Sotomayor vowed to continue his fight. At issue is Florida's new law that allows people with concealed weapons permits to keep firearms in their vehicles in employee parking lots. Disney advised its employees late last month that the theme-park resort is exempt...

A Hillsborough sheriff's deputy who said he had always wanted to spend his life in law enforcement used a Taser on his wife then held his service pistol to her head before he was arrested and held for mental evaluation, deputies say. Carlos Thomas Tanner, 38, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was arrested at his Dover home about 1:45 a.m. Monday. He is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor battery-domestic violence. Tanner was taken in under the state's Baker Act because he threatened to harm himself if he were arrested, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie...

MIAMI, US - A POISONOUS rattlesnake hidden among leafy plants in the garden section of US retail giant Walmart sprung out and bit a man who was shopping there, a company spokeswoman said on Monday. The man was hospitalised after the 30-centimeter pygmy rattlesnake bit him in the right hand while he was perusing the plants at the store in Pembroke Pines, Florida, about 50 kilometers north of Miami. 'This is an isolated incident and we're taking precautions to make sure that it doesn't happen again,' Walmart spokeswoman Ms Ashley Hardie said. 'To ensure the well-being of our customers, we...

I read a story on the New York Post website the other day that first broke my heart and then filled me with rage. The story was about the funeral of a three year old boy named Kyle Smith who was beaten, tortured and killed by his guardians. What was done to this poor child was so horrible that I cannot even bring myself to describe it. Every time I read one of these stories, I have the same reaction. Not only do I want the perpetrators of these atrocities to die, I want them to die slowly and painfully....

The vaunted Bush money machine in Florida has yet to step up for John McCain.Some of Florida's most elite Republican fundraisers quietly grumble about McCain, cite his campaign's lack of outreach or just gripe about the tough economy. Others say no candidate could match the financial performance of Jeb and George Bush in Florida, while still more say the Bush family network has been succeeded by a new, Charlie Crist generation of money-raisers jumping enthusiastically behind McCain.Regardless of the explanation, the numbers are striking. Of the 55 Floridians the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign designated as top fundraisers, either "Pioneers" who brought...

Oil companies, which once would not even consider drilling off Florida, are now in southern US waters. Record crude oil prices have fuelled support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's once pristine shores.

No, ignore that photograph, and its possible implications, and look further down the piece at this fellow (pictured at right; click to enlarge). Look closely at his medals. As any American veteran can tell you, it's as easy to spot the fact that those aren't American medals as it is to tell the difference between, say, an M4 and an AK-47. In particular, take a look at the top right medal in the gentleman's array. Then, take a look at the image below at left. See a resemblance? The medal is the "Order of the Patriotic War" -- "an Order...

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Oil companies once viewed drilling in the deep waters off Florida as cost prohibitive. Politicians feared even the slightest sign of support would be career suicide. No more. Record crude oil prices are fueling support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's shores. In Florida, movement was underway even before President Bush called on Congress last month to lift a federal moratorium that's barred new offshore drilling since 1981. The early activity here stems from a 2006 Congressional compromise that allows drilling on 8.3 million acres more than 125 miles off the Panhandle _ an...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Former First Baptist Church deacon Stephen Edmonds was back in court on Thursday asking a judge to change his sentence.  In 2003, Edmonds pleaded guilty to molesting three boys. In return for his guilty plea to three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, 10 other charges were dropped and Edmonds was sentenced to one year in jail and five years probation. He also must register as a sexual offender.  The plea deal did not sit well with families of the victims, which wanted the judge to sentence Edmonds to the maximum of six years...

ST. PETERSBURG - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is engaged to a woman he met last September during a trip to New York, according to a published report Thursday evening. Crist asked Carole Rome, his girlfriend of nine months, to marry him on Thursday at his St. Petersburg apartment, the St. Petersburg Times reported on its Web site. Crist says she said yes without hesitation.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's mansion much longer -- he is engaged (video: MyFoxOrlando) to a woman he met in New York City last September who quickly captured his heart. Crist, 51, asked Carole Rome to marry him Thursday morning at his St. Petersburg apartment, giving her a blue sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds. She immediately said yes. "I'm very happy and couldn't be more pleased. What a great way to celebrate America's birthday," said Crist, who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain....

Florida Supreme Court Overturns Indian Gaming Deal The Tribe Has Already Given The State $50-Million As Part Of The Negotiations TALLAHASSEE (CBS4); The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday has overturned an agreement Gov. Charlie Crist signed with the Seminole Tribe to expand gambling at its casinos. The court ruled that the governor doesn't have the constitutional authority to enter into the agreement that allows Las Vegas-style slot machines, black jack and other card games at facilities like the Hard Rock Casinos in Tampa and Hollywood. Attorney's for the Florida House of Representatives made their case before the Supreme Court earlier...

<p>BOGOTA (Reuters) - French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and 11 other hostages were rescued from leftist guerrillas by Colombian troops on Wednesday after years in captivity, the government said.</p>

For the next hour I sat behind the glass panel of the control booth and watched Limbaugh at work in front of the “golden E.I.B. microphone.” Unlike Howard Stern or Don Imus, he has no sidekicks with him in the room. He does, however, keep up a running conversation with an unheard voice. I always assumed that this was just imaginary radio shtick. Now I saw that the voice was attached to a human interlocutor, Snerdly, who banters with and occasionally badgers Limbaugh via an internal talk-back circuit. After the broadcast, Limbaugh waved me into the studio and offered me...

FORT PIERCE — A 41-year-old man who told police he was just “relaxing” with his pants undone at the Fort Pierce Community Center was arrested and charged Saturday with lewd or lascivious exhibition/masturbation. Fort Pierce Police officers saw Nicodeme Petion sitting in the driver’s seat with his pants open, belt unbuckled with a sock over his genital area, according to a police report. Before police contact with Petion, a family with young children walked past his 1994 green Chevy Caprice and the mother looked inside the car and quickly ran over and picked up her child to escort them pass...

Family Of Subway Robbery Suspect Says Customer Shouldn't Have Pulled Trigger POSTED: 10:30 am EDT June 29, 2007 PLANTATION, Fla. -- The family of one of the men who was shot by a retired United States Marine while they attempted to rob a Subway sandwich shop said the customer shouldn't have pulled the trigger. According to Plantation police, two armed men barged into the Subway at 1949 Pine Island Road shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, demanding money...

The Sunshine State has about 3.8 million people without insurance, or about 21% of the population, the fourth-highest rate in the country. The "Cover Florida" plan hopes to improve those numbers by offering access to more affordable policies. As even Barack Obama says, the main reason people are uninsured isn't because they don't want to be; it's because coverage is too expensive. But the Florida reform, which both houses of the legislature approved unanimously, renounces Mr. Obama's favored remedy: It nudges the government out of the health-care marketplace. Insurance companies will be permitted to sell stripped-down, no-frills policies exempted from...