Free Republic

Gov. Bush's Haiti initiative A Times Editorial Published July 1, 2004 Who cares if, as some Democrats are suggesting, Gov. Jeb Bush's concern for reconstruction in Haiti also helps his brother's presidential re-election campaign in Florida? The average Haitian certainly doesn't. The governor deserves credit for looking for ways to help Haiti meet its fundamental needs. Sadly, neither the United States nor the world community has shown the political will to do anything about Haiti's terrible plight, which in the past several months has included political violence and devastating floods that left nearly 2,700 dead or missing. Bush announced this...

WELCOME RACE FANS!!! to the 2004 NASCAR Daytona Twin 125 Qualifing Races Live on TNT Thursday 02/12/04 1 p.m. ET Other upcoming Races this week: Daytona 500 NBC Sun. Noon on NBC Hershey's Kisses 300 NBC Sat. Noon on NBC Florida Dodge Dealers 250 Fri. 8 p.m on SPEED Race Schedule for the 2004 NASCAR SEASONRace 1 lineupRace 2 lineupRace Weather from the Dayton Beach Airport (the runway runs next to the back strech, so I figured that was about as close as I could get Us)FR Canteen linkDedicated to Our Troops around the GlobeWe Thank You ALL for everything...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- An officer accused of wrongful arrest testified that he forgot he had an audiotape in his sock drawer that could have cleared two murder suspects. Broward County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Thomas "Bill" Murray said Tuesday that the tape of informants implicating two other men was in his drawer for eight months before the state Department of Law Enforcement asked for it. "I completely forgot about it," Murray said. "I didn't do it intentionally." Stephen Rosati and Peter Roussonicolos spent 16 months in jail for the 1986 murder of Joseph Viscido Jr. before they were cleared...

So Charlie Crist has backbone after all By LUCY MORGAN, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief Published September 27, 2003 Our own Charlie Crist deserves an apology. From us, from everyone who called him a lightweight and suggested he was all form and no substance. As attorney general, Crist seems to be coming into his own. I always hate to say good things about a politician, because just as surely as I do they'll do something really stupid. But here goes. This week Crist appointed former Public Counsel Jack Shreve as his top consumer advocate to take on the state's telecommunications companies....

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- A man who mooned jurors before his conviction on armed burglary and aggravated battery charges has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Cornell Jackson, 29, swore and yelled at Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet before bailiffs escorted him from the courtroom. The outburst followed his trial in July when he punctuated his insanity defense by loudly hooting "cuckoo-cuckoo" and dropping his pants to moon the jury. Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet said Tuesday that Jackson would have to serve a previously imposed 13-year sentence before he begins his 20-year penalty. Jackson told the judge at the...

BARTOW, Fla. (AP) -- Stray chickens are now fair game in the central Florida town of Bartow. City commissioners approved an ordinance last week to strip the fowls of protection under the city's status as a bird sanctuary, allowing the wandering birds to be captured and exiled from the city. The city will hire someone to capture stray chickens, and they will be held for three days to give time for people to claim ownership. If they are not claimed, they will be handed over to someone outside the city. The city's code enforcement board had been receiving rising complaints...

POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- A 35-year-old Polk County woman admits she chained her sons to their beds at night to keep them out of trouble, according to a Local 6 News report. Karen Abe, 35, said her sons would break into and steal cars while she was at work so she tethered her 13- and 15-year-old sons to their beds with heavy chains and padlocks. Even though her ex-husband was reportedly inside the home at night, the boys were chained from 9:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. "When I left, I just put them on the chain," Karen Abe said. "They...

8 Fla. Child Welfare Officials Sacked Wednesday December 11, 2002 4:10 AM TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The second in command and seven other top officials at the state's beleaguered child welfare agency were ousted Tuesday in a shake-up sparked by the case of a missing Miami girl. Gov. Jeb Bush had asked for the resignations of the agency's top managers after his election to a second term. Jerry Regier, who took over as secretary of the Department of Children & Families in August, accepted the resignations Tuesday. ``The secretary let people know when he came into the office that he...

I'm a .25 caliber pistol—a so-called Saturday Night Special—made by defunct gun maker Raven Arms. Although I'm an inanimate object, I've been found legally culpable in the 2000 classroom shooting of a West Palm Beach, Florida school teacher. More specifically, a jury has just found gun distributor Valor 5 percent guilty in the tragic murder, which occurred when a 16-year-old student stole an unloaded version of me and some bullets from a family friend and then killed his teacher. The local school board and the family friend—though not the actual shooter—shouldered the rest of the blame. In the first trial...

BREAKING NEWS: Gun Company Must Pay Teacher's Widow Posted: 5:02 p.m. EST November 14, 2002 Updated: 5:31 p.m. EST November 14, 2002 PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- A jury has awarded the widow of teacher Barry Grunow $1.2 million from a gun distributor. Pam Grunow's lawsuit accused Valor Corp of distributing a gun that was "unsafe, defective and lacked features that would have prevented a minor from using it." The case stems from the murder of teacher Barry Grunow by one of his students. Nathaniel Brazill shot Grunow to death two years ago in a West Palm Beach classroom. Pam...

Get Ready for Vote Fraud and Chaos NewsMax.com Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2002 MIAMI – Election chaos like the seemingly endless hassle in Florida two years ago could break out again in several states in today's off-year elections, including the Sunshine State. The biggest problem: Florida and other states are trying out voting systems for the first or second time. Doug Chapin, director of Election Reform Information Project, said three states bear the most watching. "The potential hot spots are obviously Florida, especially south Florida; Georgia is rolling out new touch screens to all 169 counties; and the state of Minnesota...

<p>Ranchers and farmers battling the government over fish protection in Oregon and Nevada said they're taking a page out of the environmentalists'book, trying to rally public support for their property rights cause with a cross-country convoy.</p> <p>The Klamath Bucket Brigade of Klamath Falls, Ore., and the Jarbidge Shovel Brigade of Elko, Nev., left Oregon on Saturday for a 3,000-mile, 22-day drive to Florida. Sporting a 13-foot silver bucket and a 30-foot green-and-yellow shovel, they intend to raise money and support for Florida farmers.</p>

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A mother and her boyfriend were arrested for allegedly locking the woman's 7-year-old daughter in a room for four months and giving her so little food she looked like "a walking skeleton." The girl weighed just 25 pounds, less than half the normal weight for a child her age, when police found her this month, according to a police report. Connie Warrington, 23, and David LaPointe, 36, were arrested Friday on multiple counts of abuse, including caging, food deprivation and medical neglect, police said. "She looked like a walking skeleton," police spokesman Joe Durkin said. The...

Fla. Police May Be Given New Powers Friday June 7, 2002 3:00 AM TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Police officers in a state anti-terrorism unit will have the power to enforce immigration law under a pilot program created with the federal government, the state said Thursday. The 35 members of the state's Domestic Security Task Force will not conduct routine immigration enforcement, such as checking someone's immigration status, but could detain a suspected terrorist for violating immigration laws. ``It's targeted only to terrorist investigations - not checking green cards and work camps,'' said Tim Moore, commissioner for the Florida Department of...