Free Republic

A Florida man who requested a mail-in ballot for his wife who died in 2018 said he just "wanted to test the system,” according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the local supervisor of elections contacted them on Sept. 17 about possible voter fraud after they received a request for a mail-in ballot for Ursula Wiggins, who has been dead for two years, and noticed that the signature on the form didn’t match the signature on her prior voter registration records. A search was conducted that showed the woman’s address was the same as her husband’s, Larry Wiggins,...

An ongoing lawsuit has pried loose new records linked to a family of Sarasota Saudis who left home in a hurry just before 9/11. It was Halloween night, 2001. The horrors of 9/11 were still fresh on the the minds of Americans. At a time when everyone was on edge, the sight of a man disposing documents in a dumpster behind a Bradenton storage facility aroused suspicion. Summoned to the scene, Manatee County sheriff’s deputies confronted the man, who had a Tunisian passport. According to FBI records, authorities searched the dumpster and found “a self-printed manual on terrorism and Jihad,...

For the third time in two years, Manatee County Democrats are looking for someone to lead them. The county's party is struggling to find candidates, raise money and keep from falling further behind the Republicans at a time when other Democrats in the region are building momentum and hoping to gain power in offices across the region. While the leadership vacuum is frustrating for the small cadre of Manatee Democrats, it actually has a much greater regional impact: It's killing the chances of any Democratic candidate for the 13th Congressional District. Most of the seat's constituents are in Sarasota and...

Missing Child DESHAWN MILNER Date Missing:3/21/2004 Birth Date:9/25/2002 Race:Black Height: Hair:Brown Sex:Male Weight: Eye:Brown Companion Name:Marcus Houston Birth Date:1/6/1986 Race:Black Height:5' 10" Hair:Black Sex:Male Weight:180 Eye:Brown Abductor Name:Byron Houston Birth Date:1/15/1979 Race:Black Height:5' 08" Hair:Brown Sex:Male Weight:180 Eye:Brown NARRATIVE: Deshawn was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and a diaper. He was last seen at the 4900 block of Lake Hill Court in Bradenton, Florida and is believed to be in danger. Authorities say the child was likely abducted by Byron Houston who was last seen wearing a red, white and black silk jersey, black shorts and blue cap, subject...