Free Republic

A program in Palm Beach County intended to encourage residents to report suspicious behavior is attracting resistance from around the state. Under the proposed "Violence Prevention Program," anyone who sees a potentially dangerous situation — a schizophrenic person with weapons, a war veteran making threats to passersby — could call a 24-hour hotline. Legitimate-sounding calls would trigger a visit by specially trained deputies in plain clothes or by mental health professionals. The Palm Beach County Sheriff says violence prevention unit could thwart would-be killers like the recent mass shooters in Connecticut and Colorado. The program will cost $3.2 million in...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has made job creation his top priority since coming into office, has rejected a proposed deal to bring major Internet retailer Amazon to the state. After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Scott ultimately said no to a deal that would have led to the construction of at least one Amazon warehouse in the state and brought jobs along with it. Amazon's arrival in the state, however, would have meant that Floridians would have to pay sales tax on Internet purchases made through the company.

Bipartisan House group reaches an "agreement in principle" on immigration reform, says GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) is looking for a lieutenant governor, and he believes former Congressman Allen West fits the bill. According to Tampa Bay's 970 WFLA, Scott has not determined exactly when he will appoint a replacement for Carroll. He said he plans to wait until the current legislative session is over before taking the matter up. However, he has made clear that West would be a good choice. Said Scott: "[Allen West] is a great American and a great patriot... he'd be a great Lieutenant Governor."

A Florida man accidentally shot himself in the leg while bowling Tuesday night. The man was at the bowling lanes in Jupiter, Fla., and witnesses told WPBF the ball likely hit the man's leg during his back swing. At first, some people at the bowling alley thought it was a firecracker going off. Witnesses say the man limped back to his seat clutching his leg. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, but his injuries weren't expected to be life-threatening. The man's identity wasn't released.

Do you live in Florida? Have you received a ticket from a red-light camera lately? There may be a reason for that: according to Tampa's CBS affiliate WTSP, the state recently shortened the legal length for yellow lights. That's caused a surge in red-light citations -- and proved beneficial for Florida's coffers. WTSP became suspicious of yellow-light times last December, when a Hernando County woman was killed after another motorist ran a red light. Timing of the yellow light revealed that it was shorter than expected, making drivers more likely to run the subsequent red light and making the intersection...

Despite being told to keep his question short at the North Miami immigration forum, Carlos Rivas plunged into the story of his father's impending deportation to Mexico, only hours away, and followed with a plea for help. His story moved Florida Representative Frederica Wilson, one of the four members of Congress in attendance. She proceeded to make late night phone calls to immigration officials, ultimately halting the deportation of Carlos' father. Carlos' mother Ana Rivas, pictured above with her family, told The Stream that her husband, Rene Rivas, was arrested on March 29 in an undercover US Immigration and Customs...

TAMPA (970 WFLA) -- Governor Rick Scott hasn't picked a new Lieutenant Governor, and it's not clear whether he will, but he says at least one Florida politician would make a superb choice. On AM Tampa Bay, the governor responded to a question by saying West "is a great American and a great patriot... he'd be a great Lieutenant Governor." Scott has said he would wait until the end of the session before working on finding someone to replace Jennifer Carroll, who resigned earlier this year after being questioned about an indicted charity that ran internet cafes. Her resignation was...

The former head of the RNC's Hispanic outreach committee in Florida is so fed up with the national party's stance on immigration that he's switching teams and registering as a Democrat. The final straw for Pablo Pantoja, who worked for the RNC in the 2010 and 2012 elections before quitting last summer, was apparently the new, flawed Heritage Foundation study on the cost of immigration, co-authored by Jason Richwine who previously wrote that "No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites." The Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald picked up on the Monday email from...

There wasn’t much time. The hour was getting late at the North Miami immigration forum. The four members of Congress were hungry. But 18-year-old Carlos Rivas had something to say. “My dad, he was two months ago arrested by ICE. I have my family right here: my mom and my three brothers and sisters. We don’t know what to do,” Rivas said. “He’s about to be deported tomorrow [Tuesday] at 4 a.m.” he said. “And I wanted to know what you could do for us. … What can you do? Is there any help you can try to give us?”...

State prosecutors in the case against George Zimmerman are pushing to keep Zimmerman's attorneys from bringing testimony about Trayvon Martin's past during the trial. The state said in motions filed on Friday they want to prevent Zimmerman's attorneys from bringing up Martin's personal life, including his school records, previous suspension from school, fights, text messages sent prior to his death unless related to case and his social media use. The motion also says the state wants to prevent the defense from using Martin's toxicology report, which showed the level of marijuana in Martin's blood the night he was shot and...

Florida's $9 billion orange crop, the largest in the world after Brazil's, may not survive an incurable disease that threatens to wipe out citrus groves throughout the United States. The disease, known as "citrus greening" or huanglongbing, is caused by a bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The bacteria are spread from tree to tree by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid, The New York Times reports...

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

Many people in Seminole County are right now getting jury notices that could lead them to the huge role of deciding George Zimmerman’s fate. But are some people talking about getting a notice too much? And could that affect how fair of a trial Zimmerman could get? “They’re all excited, everybody’s watching the mailbox every day to see if they’re going to get one of those letters that come through the mail,” said Francis Oliver, the Curator of Sanford’s Goldsboro Museum.And when people do get them, some are talking about it a lot -- even on Facebook. There’s a post...

WASHINGTON – Nearly 12 years after 9/11, Americans are still waiting for the U.S. government to release key information about the attack that killed more than 3,000 of their countrymen. Related topics Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Peter King, R-N.Y., introduced legislation in 2011 to review the original 9/11 Commission findings. Their bill passed the House Homeland Security Committee and was referred to three additional committees: the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Space Science and Technology, and Transportation and Infrastructure. But the measure has yet to be acted upon by the House as a whole. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.,...

Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union, spoke to Mark Levin on The Mark Levin Show Thursday evening. Crane recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the immigration bill working through Congress. Crane explained how President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have, since the administration’s start, “attempted to shut down” border enforcement and “absolutely” tied law enforcement’s hands.

The Miami Dolphins would consider building a brand new stadium in Palm Beach County, Fins CEO Mike Dee told reporters today. Dee, who’s still smarting from the team’s failure to get state dollars to renovate Sun Life Stadium, was asked directly about Palm Beach County — and said the team would consider moving north. “We’re open-minded to all long-term solutions,” Dee responded, according to The Miami Herald. “You can’t close the door on anything.

Another step in Charlie Crist’s political evolution is complete. On Wednesday night, the former Florida governor endorsed gay marriage. “I most certainly support marriage equality in Florida and look forward to the day it happens here,” the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat wrote on his Facebook page. He congratulated Delaware on becoming the 11th state to legalize gay marriage.

Bryan Zuniga took great pains to get away from a Pinellas deputy who tried to pull him over early Thursday. Instead, he ended up in great pain. After Zuniga stopped his 1995 Nissan SUV in the 7100 block of 78th Avenue, he jumped out and started running away, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Potential/likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is taking some heat for having backed a Florida gay marriage ban during his 2006 Republican primary for governor. Tonight he posted the following on Facebook: Some great news: On Tuesday, Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality. And just a few days ago, Rhode Island adopted a similar measure, which followed victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington. I most certainly support marriage equality in Florida and look forward to the day it happens here. Seems to us he still has some explaining to do about his position. Was it...

... Charlie Crist’s march to the left is all but complete. The one-time Republican announced his support for marriage equality on his Facebook page, writing that he looks forward to the day it happens in Florida. In his Facebook post, Crist writes that it is “great news” that Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality.

Access to all ballots and registration information has been granted to True the Vote for citizen-led audit of the 2012 contest for Florida's 18th Congressional District HOUSTON, TX. May 7, 2013 - True the Vote (TTV), the nation's leading voters' rights organization, today announced its settlement with the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections regarding records inspection rights under federal law and the Florida Constitution. The agreement provides True the Vote access to all ballots, registrations, and other election related data necessary to conduct an audit of a federal election in Florida's 18th congressional district. The audit is unprecedented in that it will be led...

During the 1990s, Welsh professor Tudor Parfitt, known around the world as the “British Indiana Jones,” discovered evidence that the Lemba tribe in central Zimbabwe and northern South Africa has Jewish roots. He identified a genetic element in the male chromosomes of the tribe that comes from the Kohanim, the Jewish priestly line. This year, Dr. Parfitt published his latest of 25 books, Black Jews in Africa and the Americas. He also joined the faculty of Florida International University (FIU) and led an expedition to Papua New Guinea to visit the Gogodala tribe, which like the Lemba claims to be...

The dinosaur was seized by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after it was sold at auction in New York for over $1 million last year. The government said the skeleton was mislabeled as reptile bones from Great Britain. By law, any dinosaur fossils found in Mongolia belong to the country and its people. "It's really important that as nations, we recognize there's a difference between art sold in the regular course of business, and then there are things that are truly national heritage," said ICE director John Morton.

Cesar Conda is Marco Rubio’s Chief of Staff. He recently made his Tweets private (protected) so the general public can’t read them. Cesar Conda has been pushing amnesty for illegals on Twitter and else as Marco Rubio’s PR agent. Conda, who is an immigration lawyer, went to work for George Soros before becoming Rubio’s Chief of Staff. Cesar Conda worked on the editorial advisory board of George Soros magazine, The International Economy Magazine. Cesar Conda had been spinning lies about the amnesty bill about how illegal wouldn’t get welfare, wait more than 10 years for citizenship, etc. Those lies have...

A television news crew was threatened with arrest if they dared enter a 500 foot “safety zone” surrounding a school in Florida this week, even though it is not even school property. However, the 27-year-old school teacher that is accused of taking a 15-year-old girl into a closet in his classroom for heavy make-out sessions was not arrested. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said that Palatka High School English teacher Austin Johns did not commit a crime because he did not have sex with the student, even though they were planning on doing so.

Violent El Salvador 'drug-dealing gang member' discovered running a children's party and pony rental business in Florida A suspected member of a violent street gang who has been arrested in Florida has been running a children's party business, authorities said. Dilbert Coreas, from El Salvador, was arrested in Florida after he allegedly re-entered the U.S. following his deportation in 2012. He had been charged with cocaine possession in 2009. Police from Palm Beach County's gang unit were tracking Coreas after seeing pictures of him on social media sites which suggested that he was linked to a transnational criminal organization known...

Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint argued on Sunday that implementing immigration reform as proposed by the “Gang of Eight” would “cost Americans trillions of dollars.” “The study you’ll see from Heritage this week presents a staggering cost of another amnesty in our country and the detrimental effects long term that that will have,” Mr. DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

When Stacey Singer of the liberal Palm Beach Post tweeted to me Friday that she was “appalled” I’d “ever post such a thing,” I was kind of surprised. When I figured out what post she was talking about, I responded with the dark sarcastic part of my personality. Randy Schultz is The Post’s ultra-progressive Editorial Page editor, and from what I understand, Singer works closely with him. The post Singer was “appalled’ about, “Nearly one-third of voters think armed revolution may be needed,” written by BizPac Review’s Tom Tillison, involved a poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University that found 29 percent...

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. wrote an op-ed in this week’s Wall Street Journal inviting public input on the issue. Here are mine. Dear Senator Rubio, Why does immigration reform have to be “comprehensive?” Can’t we just fix the aspects of our broken system everyone agrees on and debate the rest later? The need for an increase in the number of high-skilled H1B visas is a simple fix that could be done tomorrow. This would help keep high paying, hi-tech jobs in this country and may eventually lead to the return of some that have been outsourced. That’s an easy...

Just when you thought the crap couldn’t get any creepier in Obamaland, BOOM, it does and things just got a little bit more … how shall I say it … peculiar. Can we still use the word “peculiar”? We can? Good. Cue Twilight Zone music, por favor, and allow me to proceed. So, what am I talking about you ask? Am I referring to the forced lesbian kissing class in a Red Hook, New York middle school? No, silly. That was like two weeks ago. Duh. That’s so yesterday. Or, as Jay Carney said of the Benghazi Massacre, “That was...

When Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., chastised Jay-Z and Beyonce in a TV interview for their recent trip to Cuba, he especially criticized Jay-Z for his adoration of Che Guevara. “I think Jay-Z needs to get informed,” Rubio said. “One of his heroes is Che Guevara. Che Guevara was a racist. Che Guevara was a racist that wrote extensively about the superiority of white Europeans over people of African descent, so he should inform himself [about] the guy that he’s propping up.” Jay-Z, Carlos Santana, and Johnny Depp — who have all been spotted in Guevara t-shirts in the last decade...

Full title - "'You deserve to rot in hell for what you have done to me': Daughter's twitter outburst about mom who has resurfaced after being missing for ELEVEN years" The teenage daughter of a woman who secretly left her family 11 years ago says she's angry and doesn't want to have a relationship with her. Morgan Heist said Thursday that she's still trying to sort out why Brenda Heist would have decided to abandon her and her brother in Pennsylvania in 2002 and hitchhike with strangers to Florida. Morgan Heist is now a 19-year-old freshman at a community college...

IMMOKALEE, Fla., - Authorities in Florida said a Burger King employee fired during an argument with his boss allegedly threatened the manager with a knife. Collier County sheriff's deputies said the manager of the Immokalee eatery told them Nicholas Trejo, 21, asked for time off in mid-May for a family emergency, and the manager responded it would not be possible to pre-plan if it was a true emergency, the Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported Friday. Trejo allegedly became enraged and yelled at the manager, who responded by firing him. Trejo then allegedly threw his uniform shirt, chicken tenders, hamburgers and...

As Biden speaks at event named for Old Hickory tonight, more appalling stories show party should dump him as icon Spring means that appeals for money are bursting forth from both major political parties. It also means Democratic officials in states and counties around the country are busy getting people out to their major fundraiser, the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. And theyÂ’re bringing in the big guns: Vice President Joe Biden will keynote the South Carolina DemocratsÂ’ dinner tonight.But after an election in which Democrats rode a wave of minority support to keep the White House and Senate, party activists should...

The inaugural Rising Seas Summit will bring professionals from national and local government, industry, academic institutions and environmental NGOs together to highlight the interrelationships between sea level rise, climate change and extreme events. Understanding, anticipating and adapting to water related threats is critical to national security and a stable economy. Sea level rise will continue to damage coastal ecosystems and inland water systems, and the recent catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Sandy have demonstrated the risks faced by all coastal communities on the U.S. eastern seaboard. These new environmental challenges require that stakeholders share knowledge and work together to reduce and...

Miami cop fired 8 times could make it 9 By Claudine Zap | The Sideshow – 1 hr 58 mins ago....Email 0Share 0Tweet174Share0Print......For one police officer, will the ninth strike mean he's out? This time around, Sgt. German Bosque—who has been fired eight times from three different police departments—has been charged with leaving his assault weapon with his girlfriend’s father, a trained security guard, while on an eight-day leave, according to CBS4 Miami. That’s a no-no, says the Opa-locka Police Department, which presented its case to dismiss him in front of an arbitration officer on Wednesday.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating after a Volusia County deputy shot a woman in the shoulder outside her Volusia County home Thursday evening. The deputy was dispatched to the home on Eloise Circle near Ormond Beach about 6:10 when a woman called and reported that someone was trying to break into her house, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. When deputies arrived, a woman was outside pointing something that "appeared to be a weapon" at them, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said. Deputy Omar Bello, 28, fired a single shot. Deputies think the woman who was shot is...

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw may soon receive $1 million from the state of Florida to set up a new violence prevention unit, but his recent comments encouraging people to turn in their neighbors are causing a firestorm. “We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw told The Palm Beach Post. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ” “How are they possibly going to watch everybody who makes a comment...

Additionally, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office was slammed for keeping secret police files on private citizens.

lorida House and Senate budget leaders have awarded Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw $1 million for a new violence prevention unit aimed at preventing tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., from occurring on his turf. Bradshaw plans to use the extra $1 million to launch “prevention intervention” units featuring specially trained deputies, mental health professionals and caseworkers. The teams will respond to citizen phone calls to a 24-hour hotline with a knock on the door and a referral to services, if needed. The goal will be avoiding crime — and making sure law enforcement knows about...

Kiera Wilmot got good grades and had a perfect behavior record. She wasn't the kind of kid you'd expect to find hauled away in handcuffs and expelled from school, but that's exactly what happened after an attempt at a science project went horribly wrong. On 7 a.m. on Monday, the 16 year-old mixed some common household chemicals in a small 8 oz water bottle on the grounds of Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida. The reaction caused a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

A man who tried to shoot a squirrel for dinner by taping a .40-caliber cartridge to a BB gun was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds after the cartridge exploded, Gainesville police reported. A sworn complaint was filed against William Daniel Lloyd, 31, for discharging a firearm in public and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, Officer Ben Tobias stated in a press item. Officer Diana Mattern responded to a medical emergency call at 600 SE 12th Terrace and learned that Lloyd had taped the cartridge to the end of a BB gun to shoot a squirrel, Tobias said. Lloyd fired...

When the George Zimmerman case dominates the local and national news, one of the places you'll be able to get in-depth information will be in the palm of your hand! Download the Local 6 News Zimmerman Case app now. This breakthrough app will take you inside the courtroom of one of the most captivating criminal trials in Central Florida -- The People vs. George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. Not only will the app allow you in-depth information on the case, it will also provide unlimited access into the trial. Its features include livestreaming from inside the courtroom...

It’s hard to believe that Marco Rubio has only been in the Senate since January 2011. With the way he has been going on lately, telling conservatives what a bunch of unenlightened rubes we are for objecting to his immigration reform, you would think he’d been a Senator for 20 years.

Orange County health officials said a baby died from whooping cough last week... Whooping cough, also called pertussis, and other diseases are making comebacks, because so many parents are deciding not to vaccinate their kids...

Authorities in Gainesville, Fla. have charged William Daniel Lloyd with discharging a firearm in public and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, after he reportedly tried to shoot a squirrel for dinner by taping a .40-caliber cartridge to the muzzle of a Pumpmaster 7670 BB gun. Lloyd, 31, was treated — and later released — for shrapnel wounds when the cartridge exploded. The condition of the targeted squirrel was not reported. The Gainesville Sun .

Hialeah police officer Fritz Janvier vowed the footage of him and fellow officers arresting a man for recording them would never see the light of day. In fact, he held on to Eric Faden’s phone for two months as “evidence,” even after a Miami-Dade judge dropped the baseless charges against the Florida International University student, the full story which you can read here. And the only reason he was forced to return the phone was because the same judge issued a court order demanding the return of the phone. And much to Janvier’s dismay, he and his fellow officers didn’t...

On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that including a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants in any comprehensive immigration bill would jeopardize the likelihood of the legislation passing. “I think if instead the bill includes elements that are deeply divisive--and I would note that I don’t think there is any issue in this entire debate that is more divisive than a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally--in my view, any bill that insists upon that jeopardizes the likelihood of passing any immigration reform bill,” Cruz said at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing, according to CNS News....

The battle within the Republican Party over the so-called Gang of Eight’s 844-page immigration bill has often been contentious, but in recent days it has escalated. Despite his plea for cooler heads to prevail in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing last, Alex Conant, press secretary for Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, likened the current plight of illegal immigrants to that of slaves in 19th century America. Conant made his remarks in a Twitter argument with the Washington Examiner’s Conn Carroll, who accused the Florida Republican of “selling lies.” Conant replied by asking Carroll for suggestions. After Carroll suggested...