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Sunday, June 16, 2002 The Associated Press State & Local Wire Principal Frances Gupton, Jacksonville, FL, and Kevin Twomey, president of the Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co -- Do business leaders belong in public schools? This principal now says: YES! School-business program aimed at raising grades By Ron Word Principal Frances Gupton stopped celebrating her school's high marks on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests to fire off an e-mail to a businessman who helped her inner city school make an academic U-turn. The message was for Kevin Twomey, president of the Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co., who had volunteered as a...

A prominent ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with unprecedented access to local authorities and reportedly under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct has died in what is being investigated as a suicide.Kent Stermon, 50, of Jacksonville, was found dead in a truck parked outside the Atlantic Beach post office around 8 p.m. Thursday, the Florida Times-Union reported.Stermon had been reported missing by his wife, Christie, after his heart monitor stopped earlier that day, the First Coast News reported.Shortly after the discovery of his body, police announced they were investigating his death as a suicide.Stermon was under investigation for alleged sexual...

Here’s a Waffle House fight video that’s not really about the fight. It’s about the guy who just doesn’t care. This man is a true Waffle House OG. He just smiles as a fight breaks out behind him at a Jacksonville Waffle House. Dude just gonna enjoy his grits. And is that the 2 pork chop side? I think this guy is ordering off the menu. And who is yelling for security? Does Waffle House have security? I thought the employees were in charge of the fights? And a word of caution if you’re at work or the kids are...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A plane once again flew the Confederate flag around downtown Jacksonville on Tuesday morning. Action News Jax told you when a similar thing happened Nov. 27 before the Jaguars-Ravens game at TIAA Bank Field.

second grader was kicked out of Victory Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida after her parents refused to participate in an assignment that involved taking a picture of their child “doing reading homework in bathtub.” When mother Misty Dunham saw the assignment from teacher Irene Castaneda, she wrote a note back to the teacher saying her 8-year-old daughter would do no such thing: “I emailed the teacher ‘Hey, you may want to explain that. Send something out to the parents. Let them know what the intentions are.’ This just does not sound OK,” Misty Dunham said. “She did send out a...

Two “crazy” dads have been charged with attempted murder after allegedly opening fire and hitting each other’s daughters in a terrifying road-rage gun battle in Florida, authorities said. During the gun battle, Hale’s 5-year-old daughter was hit in the leg and Allison’s 14-year-old daughter was shot in the back, leaving her with a collapsed lung, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Monday. “What’s scarier than one crazy driver with a gun? Two crazy drivers with a gun,” the shocked sheriff said. “Thankfully, no one was killed in this incident, but it could have very easily turned out that way because...

Florida man, 37 attempted to enter the Ruth N. Upson Elementary School in Jacksonville carrying a large axe and ended up getting shot. At around 2:48 p.m. the suspect approached the entrance to the school armed with a large axe and the school staff followed procedure and did what they were supposed to do. The school was put into lockdown, the Duval County Schools Police Department was notified, and the school staff kept the man from entering the school. A school safety officer stayed on campus but kept an eye on the suspect as he left the school. Bruce Perkins...

A Florida homeowner shot a naked, mud-covered man who had allegedly broken into his house Wednesday morning. In a Thursday interview with WJAX-TV, William Kerr said that he had been heading to his office after his wife had started preparing to head out for an appointment, when he spotted the intruder. “I got the door open about a foot, and I see this guy standing there. He’s got my rifle … BB rifle – he’s standing there with the rifle like this, the butt facing me, and he’s fixing to clock me,” Kerr said, recollecting the moment when he first...

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has made it clear on social media that the department is planning to enforce a revised law in Florida that was ruled unconstitutional in its previous form in 2012. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Facebook warning. © Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Facebook warning. "What does this mean? It means that you will have to listen to your car radio at a volume that is NOT plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet or more," the Sheriff's Office said on social media last week, adding that Statute 316.3045 will "once again become enforceable." But some Duval...

(Church Leaders) A pastor in Jacksonville, Fla., was arrested on Wednesday, March 9, and charged with capital sexual battery in a case where the abuse dates back at least 30 years, according to authorities. Two other church members, Jerome Teschendorf (68) and Vernon Williamson (85), were arrested on the same charge as Paul Dyal (78), founder and pastor of The Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ. “It should be noted that through the course of the investigation we have identified and spoken to numerous victims and witnesses,” said the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO). “As a result, investigators believe there...

Republican Nick Howland flipped a Jacksonville, Florida, city council seat in a heavy Democrat district that swung for President Biden in 2020. Duval County election results from Tuesday night showed that Howland defeated Democrat Trayce Polson with a sizeable majority of 68,599 votes versus her 64,113 votes – 51.69 percent versus 48.31 percent.

<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vowed not to sign a new congressional map unless lawmakers dismantle a North Florida district represented by a Black Democrat, setting up a showdown with his own party that threatens to upend the state's delicate redistricting process.</p>

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FIRSTCOASTNEWS) — A Jacksonville woman allegedly poisoned her boyfriend’s drink because he wouldn’t stop talking. Alvis Parrish, 54, is facing charges of poisoning food or water with intent to kill or injure. According to an arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a home on Dec. 7 in reference to a poisoning. When law enforcement got there, Parrish was sitting on her front porch yelling at them, reported local NBC/ABC affiliate First Coast News. As deputies got closer to her, Parrish reportedly said, “Yeah, I did it… because he wouldn’t shut the f*** up.” As...

A Jacksonville woman allegedly poisoned her boyfriend’s drink because he wouldn’t stop talking. Alvis Parrish, 54, is facing charges of poisoning food or water with intent to kill or injure. According to an arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a home on Dec. 7 in reference to a poisoning. When law enforcement got there, Parrish was sitting on her front porch yelling at them, reported local NBC/ABC affiliate First Coast News. As deputies got closer to her, Parrish reportedly said, “Yeah, I did it… because he wouldn’t shut the f*** up.” As she was being handcuffed,...

"After deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban's tenure with our team, I am bitterly disappointed to arrive at the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone," owner Shad Khan said in a statement. "I informed Urban of the change this evening. As I stated in October, regaining our trust and respect was essential. Regrettably, it did not happen.(Snip)Meyer's only season with the Jaguars wasn't very good on the field -- the team went 2-11, its 10th season with double-digit losses in the past 11 years -- but issues off the field...

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he wants new state laws protecting Florida from the "Biden border crisis" that he directly tied to the stabbing death of a Jacksonville resident in a case where authorities charged a Honduran man who posed as a 17-year-old under a fake name.DeSantis made the link to that homicide case during a news conference at Jacksonville International Airport while saying President Joe Biden's immigration policies have left Florida exposed to people arriving from other countries without state and local officials knowing who they are.U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, who has criticized federal flights into Jacksonville of unaccompanied...

More than 70 flights transporting migrants from the southern border to Jacksonville have landed in the dark of night in recent months as the Biden administration struggles to empty overflowing border facilities, the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. It is the first time the state of Florida has disclosed the number of confirmed flights arriving in the state since the summer. The governor's office has scrambled in recent weeks to uncover who is facilitating the mystery flights landing in northern Florida daily, but the Biden administration has refused to disclose any information, one official said.

The penalties on 58,900 containers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are officially racking up charges. These containers were part of the 60,000 containers the ports alerted the ocean carriers last Monday to move or face a daily $100 penalty per container, increasing in $100 increments per day.American Shipper reached out to both ports for updates on the removal of the “lingering” containers.Photo of Pier 400 courtesy of Port of Los AngelesAccording to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, there are a total of 84,000 total imports on docks waiting to be transported, a total...

A California longshoreman, who works at California’s San Pedro Bay Port Complex, reportedly said the labor unions are exascerbating the supply chain crisis. Identified as Alfred to Yahoo News, the longshoreman blamed Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) for “cutting the work” at the port, which is increasing the jam of containers stuck at sea and on the docks. “They’re [PMA] the ones who are not training: skilled positions. [That] means crane operators, top handler drivers, trans drivers,” said Alfred. “They’re the ones who are keeping the ships out there at sea anchored.” Despite the delays and mounting shipping costs American families...

West Coast Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose members earn average wages and benefits of $285,000 by raising labor hell, is facing existential risk from the widened Panama Canal. The San Francisco Chronicle described the 42,000 card-carrying International Longshore and Warehouse Union members that since 1934 has maintained iron-fisted control of all 29 West Coast commercial ports, "the aristocrats of the working class." ILWU full-time workers receive an average of $175,000 in annual wages, along with a non-wage benefits package costing more than $110,000 per active worker per year. Benefits include fully paid health care, employer 401(k) matching, 13 paid holidays,...