Free Republic

The Republican Party of Florida suspended Chairman Christian Ziegler and demanded his resignation during an emergency meeting Sunday, adding to calls by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top officials for him to step down as police investigate a rape accusation against him. Ziegler is accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a prior consensual sexual relationship, according to police records. “Christian Ziegler has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office,” the party’s motion to censure Ziegler said, according to a document posted on the social media...

(March 17, 2023)- On March 16, 2023, at approximately 9:11 p.m., officers from the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a call for service at 2100-Block of SW 45th Terrace, Cape Coral, Lee County, Florida, in reference to a boating hit and run. The call notes stated that a male, later identified as Kurt James Snowden (W/M 8-25-1971, 2517 SW 52nd Street), was highly intoxicated and was operating a boat inside the canals, causing a scene. Mr. Snowden played music loudly, screamed, disturbed the peace, and struck several docks in the area with his boat. Contact was made with witnesses...

In the sunshine state, we met the sofa survivor. In the worst hit part of southwest Florida, David Dean told us how he saw out Hurricane Ian. "I found myself around three or four in the afternoon, floating on a sofa with my head just above the ceiling fans, 18 inches below the ceiling. I was gasping for air." As the water rose inside David's 1970s single-storey park home, he planned for the worst - and an exit route. "From that point, it was going to be to try to get out the door and hold on to a palm...

Officials in Lee County, Florida, are warning that not all post-Hurricane Ian looters may get off as lucky as the jailed accused scavengers arrested earlier this week — some of whom are in the U.S. illegally. Omar Mejia Ortiz, 33, and Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena, 26, were arrested, along with 20-year-olds Brandon Mauricio Araya and Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya. Lee County sheriff's deputies arrested all four on charges of burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency, according to online jail records. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno held a press conference Tuesday in which he addressed the spike...

Hurricane Ian "Fatalities in the hundreds" according to Lee County Sherriff Carmine Marceno

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (WFLA) — A man was arrested in Punta Gorda after stabbing another man with scissors over 40 times Monday, according to deputies. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said the stabbing happened at the Trading Post at Burnt Store Marina. Surveillance video showed the suspect, 36-year-old Edmond Clarke, standing at a counter when he grabbed a pair of scissors from a cup and is seen moving toward the victim. The video released by deputies cuts out before the stabbing is showed. Deputies said the “brutal” attack came without warning and lasted for several minutes as the suspect continued...

A Florida sheriff has taken the unusual step of releasing the mugshot and identity of a 10-year-old boy who was arrested for making a school shooting threat. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno defended releasing the boy’s identity by saying that “a child pulling a trigger equals the same aftermath.” Daniel Issac Marquez, 10, was arrested and perp walked on Saturday after sending text messages claiming that he obtained weapons and would shoot up Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral. The child had sent his friend a text with a Googled image of cash, saying “I scammed my friend.” “I bought...

Cape Coral, Florida – A fifth grade boy was arrested on Saturday for a text message threatening to carry out a mass shooting just days after the Uvalde mass shooting. The 10-year-old boy is a student at Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral, Florida. "This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said. “Making sure our children are safe is paramount. We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second…NOT ONE SECOND, to investigate this threat.” “Right now is not the time to act...

CLEWISTON, Fla. – A woman was fatally shot and at least three others were injured at the Brown Sugar Festival in Clewiston Saturday night, according to the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office. Around 9:30pm, 911 began receiving multiple calls reporting a shooting in the Harlem Community of the city. Hendry County Investigators say that Deputies were in the area of Harlem Academy and 12th Street when they heard gunshots. The deputies immediately responded and found the victim, later identified as 20-year old Evereonna Sankey, a licensed certified nursing assistant from Lee County. ... The shooting occurred at the Brown Sugar Festival,...

Craig Lang, who is charged with killing a Florida couple in 2018, has become a cause célèbre in the country where he has fought as a mercenary. In the spring of 2015, former U.S. soldier Craig Lang traveled to Ukraine and joined a paramilitary group fighting the Russians. “I never noticed any fear,” said Mamuka Mamulashvili, who commanded Lang in the Georgian Legion. Four years later, Lang is under house arrest in Ukraine. His situation has nothing to do with his conduct inside the eastern European country. Lang is facing charges in the U.S. for allegedly killing a Florida couple...

[Truncated headline] This is the original: A Native American tribe will cover the costs of the funerals for all of the Alabama tornado victims (CNN)Often times the worst situations will bring out the best in people. That's proving true once again, this time in southeastern Alabama, where residents are still reeling from an outbreak of tornadoes that killed 23 people this week. But their loved ones won't have to worry, at least, about the costs of the funerals. A Native American tribe says it will cover the funeral and burial expenses for all the victims of Sunday's tornadoes. The Poarch...

Nearly 2.6 million Florida voters are receiving mail ballots for the November election It's still early, but there's no sign of a blue wave in the initial wave of mail ballot returns in Florida. Figures filed Wednesday with the state show that more Republicans than Democrats are returning their mail ballots, 20 days before Election Day. Nearly 2.6 million voters have been sent mail ballots — what used to be called absentee ballots — and 554,000 arrived through Tuesday. Republican mail ballot returns of 247,530 accounted for 45 percent of the total returns statewide, even though Republicans account for 35...

A 31-year-old Florida woman mad at her neighbor for letting a dog relieve itself on her lawn ended up attacking the two late Monday morning, news reports say. Sylvia Shikita Mari White, of Tavares, told deputies that at about 11:30 a.m. she went outside to confront the woman, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report obtained by the Daily Commercial. White began yelling at the woman, who eventually kept on walking with dog in tow. White went back into the house, but when the duo came back from their walk, she greeted them outside with a black club, according...

Dive Brief: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced the completion of the state's first-ever diverging diamond interchange (DDI), located on Interstate 70, according to Equipment World. The DDI design eliminates left turns across oncoming traffic, improving vehicle flow and decreasing the chance of accidents. The agency also chose the DDI configuration because it could use the former interchange's cloverleaf footprint, reducing the impact of construction on the area. PennDOT said it modified the traditional DDI design slightly. Dive Insight: Design is one way transportation agencies are combating gridlock resulting from increased traffic. Other tools in DOT arsenals are...

LEE COUNTY, Fla. - The entire westbound span of the Cape Coral Bridge will be replaced in about 11 years. That overhaul will be an expensive project costing $88 million. At the rate you're paying the $2 toll right now, the money could be saved and ready to pay for it in half that time. However, that’s not happening, and NBC2 investigated to find out why. More than 20,000 vehicles pass over the Cape Coral Bridge in a single day. Drivers headed to the Cape from Fort Myers have to pay $2 before jumping on the westbound span. "Living on...

A canine deputy in Fort Myers, Fla., was rendered unconscious in a brutal struggle with a theft suspect outside a Wal-Mart but recovered during the fight and helped apprehend the man, according to the (Fort Myers) NewsPress.com. The suspect, later identified as Liferein Lenord Bell, 25, was allegedly trying to steal two area rugs by switching price tags when store security officers caught him Friday evening (June 12). Bell fought with the security officers and then with deputies who arrived on the scene but he was able to escape through the front door of the store, the website reported. A...

I have often read keyboard racists claim that black men cannot use firearms for self defense, that the courts will always find against them, no matter what.  This is a pernicious lie that is destructive to the rule of law in the United States.     In this story from Florida, a black man defends himself from what appears to be a version of the "knockout game".    He is hit in the face, draws his firearm, then shoots another attacker who is charging at him.  The video does not show him doing anything to provoke the attack.   His attackers appear to...

An Alabama police chief has determined that one of his officers used “appropriate force,” when the cop arrived at the scene of a traffic accident and immediately shot an apparently unarmed Air Force airman. The airman, 20-year-old Michael Davidson, was shot in the chest and nearly bled out before receiving medical aid, according to the Raw Story. Davidson was driving to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He may have been driving erratically, according to the Ledger-Enquirer. After clipping another vehicle, he pulled over to exchange insurance information with the other driver. Eventually, Officer Phillip Hancock arrived...

LEE COUNTY, FL. - The Lee County Sheriff's Office is investigating an early morning shooting. LCSO say they were called to a home on the 17-thousand block of Lebanon Rd. Saturday morning just before 2:00 a.m. When deputies arrived they found one male suffering from a gun shot wound. The homeowner said the person shot was attempting to break into the home. The Sheriff's Office says the 25 year old man is in stable condition at Lee Memorial Hospital. The shooting is still under investigation.

LEE COUNTY, FL - The local branch of the NAACP is asking the Justice Department to investigate Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott. The request comes after a controversial letter sent by the sheriff calls out the civil rights group for not doing enough to stop black-on-black crime. In the letter, the Sheriff uses the "N" word, prompting the organization's president James Muwakkil to call the Sheriff a racist. He later retracted the comment. Now voicemail messages Muwakkil left for the Sheriff contradicting the NAACP's agenda have been released. Sheriff Scott responded to the inquiry by saying he thinks "federal involvement...