Free Republic

POINCIANA, Fla. — Going for a stroll through the neighborhood is one thing. Doing so naked, and disrupting neighbors, is another. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office says 23-year-old Giovanni Alcaraz rang multiple doorbells and tried to break into homes in a Poinciana neighborhood Monday night, leaving explicit surprises on some of the doorbell cams. "He's waving his fanny at the door," Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said. Lopez says at least two homeowners called the police. "Somebody happens to look at their ring door camera and says, 'there's somebody naked in front of my house,'" Lopez said. Lopez says after...

With Indiana primary voters headed to the polls in less than 24 hours, Ted Cruz said he will "absolutely" have a path to victory even if he loses the next GOP presidential nominating contest. "We intend to do absolutely everything possible to win tomorrow. It's gonna be up to the people of Indiana," Cruz told ABC News while campaigning in Osceola, Indiana. "The polls have been all over the place. There has literally been a 30-point swing depending on what poll you are looking at. We are neck-and-neck right now in the state of Indiana."

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — More than 20 teachers have resigned or decided to retire from the Osceola County School District in just the past month -- and the district already had a shortage with more than 50 vacant teaching jobs. The teachers’ union told Channel 9’s Deneige Broom that some of them quit because they're fed up with standardized testing. At Kissimmee Elementary, they need to fill two spots. At the nearby middle school, three spots are open.

Four people have been arrested in connection with two recent fatal shootings in Osceola County and 12 more random shootings, police said. Police officers are still looking for answers Thursday after a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in Kissimmee. Detectives now say a suspicious Fourth of July death is a homicide. According to police, Konrad Schafer, 15, said he used his father's high-powered rifle and killed 17-year-old David Guerrero because it would be "fun and cool." He said David Damus, 20, drove him around as he randomly picked out targets, police said. "To think about the loss of a...

OSCEOLA -- An Osceola police officer was arrested last week on felony charges relating to sexual acts he allegedly committed with a 15-year-old girl. Ronald Lusk, 50, was arraigned Monday on two felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor. An investigation into Lusk's conduct began Thursday, when the girl's mother found her daughter drinking an alcoholic beverage and learned that Lusk had bought it for the girl. Officers later obtained the girl's diary, which described sexual activity between her and Lusk on Sept. 3 at his home in St....

view low speed video view hi speed videoWSBT) An Osceola police officer is on the wrong side of the law. Officer Ronald Lusk faces two felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. The allegations involve sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl. In court Monday the judge entered a not guilty plea to the charges on Lusk’s behalf. Court documents say Lusk initially denied having any sexual contact with the girl, who was 15 at the time. Lusk later admitted that he had engaged in sexual conduct with the girl beginning in the early summer of this year. He told...

Learned a few new things last week, leading to this week's posting: The town of Orting, in Washington, sits right on top of the landslide deposits from the Electron mudflow generated by Mount Rainier. A buried tree stump excavated from the Electron mudflow. Ash layers from Mt. St. Helens. I learned last week that after the 1850 BC eruption, the native population abandoned the area for about 2000 years. That's a pretty long length of time for "you don't want to live in that neighborhood" to get passed along around the campfire.

A former Osceola County fire chief is facing charges of running a million-dollar marijuana-production operation from a house near Holopaw in rural southeast Osceola. A tip led deputies to a house owned by former Fire Chief Jeffrey Ray Hall, 42, who now lives in Melbourne. Hall's partner in the operation told investigators the two were taking in $15,000 a month by growing and selling an especially potent variety of pot known as "crippy," which fetches a higher street value, the Osceola Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's community-response team found 460 marijuana plants, 18 pounds of pot and several grow rooms...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...