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www.news965.com logo Orlando police officers who responded to a domestic dispute Monday were met with gunfire, which seriously wounded an officer and launched a standoff with the gunman, who then barricaded himself in an apartment with four young children. Shortly before midnight, Orlando police and Orange County deputies announced that the suspect and the children had died. Updates below: 12:00 a.m. The suspect accused of shooting an Orlando police officer in the face and holding four children hostage for nearly 24 hours killed the children and then killed himself, police said. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said they lost communication...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A robbery at River City Marketplace forced shoppers to defend themselves Friday afternoon, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Jacksonville police said a 36-year-old man put multiple people at risk after he stole a cash register drawer from the Walmart at the shopping center. Police said Christopher Hill ran out to the parking lot after grabbing a Walmart cash register and approached a couple sitting in their pickup truck in front of Supercuts hair salon. Police said Hill pulled a knife on the man sitting in the truck, cutting him on the hands and legs. The injured...

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The majority of the 99 seats in the House of Representatives identified by the Cook Political Report as “competitive” in 2018 are in eight states: California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Michigan. Of the 435 seats in the lower chamber of Congress, 336 are not competitive–180 held by Democrats, 156 held by Republicans, according to the Cook Political Report’s ratings. Only 15 of the 99 competitive seats are currently held by Democrats, while 84 are held by Republicans. The simple math–24 more non competitive seats are held by Democrats than are held by Republicans–and the Republicans...

Wexler retired from the Secret Service in 2014 after 27 years with the agency. ~~~~~~~~~~~ He had offered in the past to make security recommendations. The district “finally took me up on the offer” in December when a teacher on behalf of the school’s security committee asked him to conduct a “site survey” of the campus. Was school security sufficient? they wanted to know. ~~~~~~~~~~ He said he printed out details about the school: its floor plan, bell schedule and an aerial map. Then he arrived early for his meeting Dec. 13 and pulled his truck into the visitor’s parking...

In 2018, black voters are finding out just what the hell they had to lose. Nazis and Klansmen march openly and proudly, and hate crimes appear to be on the rise. Police killings of people—especially black people—remain largely the same year to year, and this iteration of the Justice Department has largely abdicated any federal responsibility in reducing brutality. An infant-mortality crisis is tightening its grip on the most marginalized communities, and across many economic metrics—from evictions, to generational wealth, to segregation—disparities are either stagnating or trending in the wrong direction. Fifty years after the Kerner Commission’s report said the...

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson introduced legislation this week that would create a national gun registry. Known as the “Crime Gun Tracing Modernization Act,” the bill would require ATF to set up a “searchable, computerized database” of all records pertaining to the sale, importation, production or shipment of firearms. The agency would be given three years to get the system up and running. “The fact that there is a law on the books that forces agents to comb through millions of files by hand is absolutely ridiculous,” said Nelson, a Florida Democrat.

The Florida government did not conduct background checks on thousands of applicants for concealed weapons for a year because the state employee was unable to log into the system. According to a February 2016 investigative report from Florida’s Inspector General, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, a state Division of Licensing employee identified as Lisa Wilde was unable to log into the system to actually complete these background checks. She never mitigated this issue. When determining eligibility for purchasing a firearm, applicants must undergo a background check known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is...

A vocal bloc of House conservatives are fuming at Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) behind the scenes, after the lame-duck speaker publicly sided with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) in the debate over the FBI’s tactics in its investigation into the Trump campaign. Gowdy shot down allegations last week that the FBI improperly used a confidential informant to “spy” on the campaign, saying that the bureau “did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do.” Ryan on Wednesday called Gowdy’s assessment “accurate,” dealing another blow to the claims dubbed “Spygate” by President Trump. But Trump allies on Capitol Hill say that...

Gov. Rick Scott appears to be on board with Rep. Carlos Curbelo's plan to bypass House Speaker Paul Ryan to force a slew of immigration votes, putting the Republican running for Bill Nelson's U.S. Senate seat in line with Democrats and a small group of moderate Republicans. But while Scott offered support for Curbelo's idea to force action, it isn't clear what types of immigration policies he would champion in the U.S. Senate if elected. "We need to secure our borders and help these kids. Congress needs to get DACA legislation done. Thanks Congressman Curbelo for fighting for this," Scott...

For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public. A previously unreported Office of Inspector General investigation found that in February 2016 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped using a FBI crime database called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that ensures applicants who want to carry a gun do not have a disqualifying history in other states. The employee in charge of the background...

Among the 34 plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the estates of six people who were killed in the shooting. Nine of the plaintiffs were detained or "arrested" by police as they ran out of the nightclub, Radner said. ... Orlando police officer Adam Gruler, according to court papers filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, "was at Pulse at all pertinent times and was charged with providing security to Pulse. Instead, he abandoned his post, thereby allowing [the] shooter to not only enter the club once to scout out the area and make sure nobody could stop him, but to then...

Full title: Broward sheriff's captain who gave initial order to 'stage,' not enter Stoneman Douglas, to be replacedJan Jordan, the Broward County sheriff's captain who allegedly directed emergency responders to "stage" outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, rather than rushing immediately into the building, will be replaced. Jordan, who was in her role since March 2017, will be replaced with a higher-ranking officer — a major — as part of a re-evaluation of the contract the city has with the sheriff's office, officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. Multiple law enforcement sources told Fox News in...

A Miccosukee tribal member owes back taxes on gambling revenue, a federal appeals ruled Monday in a decision that experts believe could pave the way for the federal government to collect more than $1 billion in overdue personal income taxes. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Miami federal judge who ruled that tribal member Sally Jim must pay the Internal Revenue Service $278,758 in taxes, interest and penalties for failing to file a tax return in 2001. The ruling came two years after U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga decided her family's gaming income — a distribution of...

The Fraternal Order of Police district that includes Broward County has dropped U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, from its endorsements. Instead, the big police union said it’s endorsing Carlos Reyes, one of three Republicans seeking his party’s nomination to challenge Wasserman Schultz in the Broward/Miami-Dade County 23rd Congressional District. ...the FOP district said it endorses “people who have supported or will support the FOP and its mission. Both parties have endorsements along with non-partisan” contests. Others use it as a different kind of guide, which one reader posted on the FOP’s Facebook page: “Pretty easy for me. Vote against...

A South Florida hospital has agreed to reimburse the state more than $800,000 to settle Medicaid claims about care for undocumented immigrants who sought treatment. The payments from Homestead Hospital to the state are part of an ongoing tussle between hospitals and state officials over Medicaid coverage for people who may be in the country illegally but qualify for the program because of medical emergencies or because they are in labor or need dialysis. Mallory McManus, a spokeswoman for the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees Medicaid, said the state paid hospitals $484.2 million to care for undocumented...

An unarmed security monitor in a golf cart was the first person to see Nikolas Cruz step out of an Uber, a large bag in hand, and stride toward Building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High just before the worst school shooting in state history. Cruz, however, was no stranger to staff. "Nikolas Cruz. I knew the kid," security guard Andrew Medina told Broward detectives in a sworn video-recorded statement released by prosecutors on Tuesday evening. As soon as Cruz began walking "like on a mission" toward the building, Medina followed and began frantically texting fellow security guards. "We had...

Ex-Democratic National Committee head Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she intervened in a Pakistani land deal involving her then–IT aide Imran Awan, according to two House employees. The dispute came after Awan’s father was charged with fraud in relation to the deal, and the mysterious exertion of political influence resulted in Pakistani authorities instead targeting the elderly alleged victims, according to a local report. And when a House Office of Inspector General cybersecurity investigation found that Awan made “unauthorized access” to House servers, including the House Democratic Caucus’ shortly before the election, Wasserman Schultz became “frantic, not normal,” “making the rounds”...

A Democratic senator who recorded his dramatic, unsuccessful effort to enter a federal immigration facility in Texas on video over the weekend was "irresponsibly spreading blatant lies about routine immigration enforcement," the White House said Monday. And in a separate statement, the Department of Homeland Security seemingly contradicted Sen. Jeff Merkley's suggestion that he was being systematically barred from immigrant detention centers, saying federal officials took extra steps to grant him access to one on Sunday. In footage uploaded to Facebook late Sunday and seen by more than a million viewers, Merkley, D-Ore., approached the Office of Refugee Resettlement facility...

Recreational vehicle manufacturer Winnebago Industries says it is buying boat maker Chris-Craft to expand beyond motor homes and travel trailers and create a diversified outdoor lifestyle products company. Winnebago, based in Forest City, Iowa, hasn't disclosed details of the transaction... Chris-Craft is a recreational boating brand dating back to 1874. It's been owned by London-based investment firm Stellican Ltd. since 2001. Winnebago CEO Michael Happe says he sees a significant intersection between the RV and marine lifestyles and views the boat business as a natural addition to its existing outdoor recreation portfolio, with similar customer demographics and ownership crossover... Winnebago...