Category Archives: Florida

Family of US airman killed by Florida police dispute sheriff’s narrative

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Relatives of Roger Fortson say deputies went to wrong unit and killed Fortson, as sheriff releases body-camera footage

The family of a Black US air force airman who was fatally shot by deputies who burst into his apartment in the Florida Panhandle said Thursday that they want to correct a false narrative put forth by authorities about the encounter that led to his death.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family of Senior Airman Roger Fortson, said Fortson had not known it was sheriff’s deputies who were breaking into his apartment – “his castle” – and that he grabbed his “legally owned firearm” to protect himself.

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Florida ex-cop with ‘patterns of abuse and bias’ joins DeSantis’s state guard

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Javier Ortiz, accused of false arrests, harassment and doxxing, is now member of group reportedly becoming combat-ready militia

A former Florida police captain with a long history of civilian complaints, including false arrests and harassment, has joined the state’s state guard under governor Ron DeSantis.

Javier Ortiz, 44, joined the Florida state guard in February, the Miami Herald first reported. Ortiz’s enrollment comes months after being reinstated by the Miami police department, after he was initially dismissed for slew of conduct complaints.

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Boeing hopes to polish its reputation with Starliner crew capsule launch

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Company, which has been plagued by safety issues in its avionics wing, will send two astronauts to the ISS in its new spacecraft

Boeing has an opportunity on Monday night to restore some luster to its tarnished name, with the scheduled first crewed launch from Florida of Starliner, a pioneering new capsule designed to transform human exploration of space.

Although the company’s space operations are entirely independent of its aviation wing, which has been plagued by a recent series of safety and quality issues, the spacecraft’s pathway to the Cape Canaveral launchpad, and planned 10.34pm ET liftoff, has been similarly bumpy.

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Melania Trump to hit campaign trail for husband after early absence

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The enigmatic former first lady to appear at fundraiser on Saturday, marking a return to her husband’s side as he seeks re-election

Her biggest fashion statement as first lady was a green jacket emblazoned with the words “I really don’t care, do u?” More recently, Melania Trump has given the impression that she doesn’t care whether her husband, Donald, returns to the White House. That is about to change.

On Saturday Melania, 53, will appear at a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Log Cabin Republicans, the biggest Republican organisation dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives. It will be her first appearance at a political event since Trump, 77, launched his bid to regain the presidency.

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‘It bust loose and went to Europe’: Florida buoy washes up in Scotland

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Navigation buoy sails 4,000 miles across Atlantic, joining storied history of wrecks upon shores of tiny Scottish island of Eriskay

From Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ill-fated 1745 landing, to the shipwreck of a whisky-laden cargo freighter two centuries later that inspired a bestselling novel and blockbuster movie, the tiny Scottish island of Eriskay has a rich and outsized history of notable maritime events.

Now, the arrival of a visitor from Florida following a 4,000-mile solo voyage across the Atlantic has added another curious chapter. It is a navigation buoy that slipped its mooring in the Florida Keys and rode the Gulf Stream to the British Isles, coming ashore in Eriskay and discovered by one of its 143 residents.

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Murder of second world war veteran milkman in Florida solved after 50 years

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Investigators say two people came forward after death of man who killed Hiram ‘Ross’ Grayam in 1968

More than five decades after a second world war veteran was killed while working as a milkman in Florida, investigators say they have solved the case thanks to two people who came forward after the killer died.

Hiram “Ross” Grayam was delivering milk in April 1968 and failed to return home after work. Deputies later found his body and his milk truck deep in the woods in the Vero Beach area, the Indian River county sheriff’s office said in a news release. He had been shot several times.

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Democrats bank on abortion in 2024 as Arizona and Florida push stakes higher

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Focus on reproductive rights has yielded big wins and Democrats hope threat of more Republican bans will mobilize voters

Kamala Harris’s Friday visit to Arizona was planned before the state’s top court upheld a 160-year-old law that bans almost all abortions. But the news galvanized the vice-president’s message, one that has already yielded stunning victories for liberals since Roe v Wade fell nearly two years ago.

That message is simple: abortion bans happen when Republicans are in charge.

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Ex-US ambassador sentenced to 15 years in prison for serving as secret agent for Cuba

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Manuel Rocha, 73, will also pay a $500,000 fine after pleading guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government

A former career US diplomat was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison after admitting he worked for decades as a secret agent for Cuba, in a plea agreement that leaves many unanswered questions about a betrayal that stunned the US foreign service.

Manuel Rocha, 73, will also pay a $500,000 fine and cooperate with authorities after pleading guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen other counts, including wire fraud and making false statements.

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Woman sentenced to prison for stealing and selling Biden’s daughter’s diary

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Aimee Harris of Florida sold Ashley Biden’s diary to conservative group Project Veritas in actions judge called ‘despicable’

A Florida woman was sentenced Tuesday to a month in prison and three months of home confinement for stealing and selling Joe Biden’s daughter’s diary four years ago to the conservative group Project Veritas.

Aimee Harris was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Laura Taylor Swain, the judge who called the Palm Beach, Florida, woman’s actions “despicable”.

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Two dead and seven wounded in shooting at Florida shopping mall

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Security guard killed at bar in CityPlace Doral following altercation, with gunman then shot dead by police

Two people have died and seven have been wounded following a shooting at a popular shopping mall in Florida.

A fight broke out at the Martini Bar located in the CityPlace Doral early on Saturday morning, according to Miami-Dade police. The altercation resulted in a security guard, who intervened in the dispute, being shot and killed by the gunman, who was then also killed in a subsequent gun battle with police, according to Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade detective.

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Spinning, whirling fish in south Florida prompt emergency response

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Smalltooth sawfish are behaving oddly, eliciting a first-ever plan to rescue and rehabilitate species from wild

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is launching what the agency described as an emergency response effort in south Florida after emerging reports of smalltooth sawfish spinning, whirling and displaying other abnormal behaviors.

In a statement released last Wednesday, NOAA said that in addition to the abnormal behaviors, there have been reports of fish deaths in the lower Florida Keys, including more than 28 smalltooth sawfish as of 24 March.

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DeSantis allies reach settlement over who controls Disney’s governing district

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Tourism oversight board members approve agreement, ending nearly two years of litigation after DeSantis’s takeover

Allies of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and Disney reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday in a lawsuit over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district.

In a meeting, the members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’s takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.

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Kamala Harris announces new office to implement ‘red flag’ gun control laws

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Vice-president launches national resource center at site of 2018 Florida school shooting where 17 were killed

The White House has announced a new national office to support states implementing “red flag” laws to combat gun violence, an initiative funded by the justice department.

Kamala Harris made the announcement on Saturday during a visit to Parkland, Florida, where she toured the site of the nation’s worst high school shooting, the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre that killed 17.

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Sixteen states sue US over ban on approvals for LNG exports

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States including Texas, Louisiana and Florida say federal government lacks authority to broadly deny permits

Sixteen US states, including Texas, Louisiana and Florida, have filed a lawsuit to challenge the US federal government’s ban on approving applications to export liquefied natural gas, the office of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said on Thursday.

The lawsuit argues the federal government lacks the authority to broadly deny those permits.

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The Mar-a-Lago judge is entertaining Trump’s most brazen defenses

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Trump and prosecutors in the classified documents case have been told to draft jury instructions that could result in ensuring acquittal

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents appears to be entertaining his most brazen defenses that could ultimately result in ensuring the acquittal of the former president.

The issue revolves around an order from the US district judge Aileen Cannon on Monday asking Trump and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith to draft jury instructions for two scenarios that gave extraordinary credit to Trump’s defense theories.

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US primary elections: Biden and Trump notch wins with surprises in store down ballot

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Nikki Haley gains votes despite dropping out of Republican race as Trump-backed candidate wins Ohio Republican Senate primary

Donald Trump and Joe Biden swept up more delegates in Tuesday’s primary elections as they set their sights on a rematch in November.

Trump and Biden picked up wins in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Trump also won the Republican primary in Florida, where the Democrats are not holding a primary.

Biden v Trump: What’s in store for the US and the world?
On Thursday 2 May, 8-9.15pm GMT, join Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer for the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live

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DeSantis signs bills expanding prison sentences for undocumented migrants

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Measures target people convicted of driving without a license – which undocumented people can’t obtain – or committing felonies

Florida’s governor signed bills Friday that increase the prison and jail sentences for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally if they are convicted of driving without a license or committing felonies.

Ron DeSantis is a frequent critic of the Biden administration over its handling of the Mexican border, sending Florida law enforcement agents and national guard members to Texas. The Republican governor, who ended his attempt for his party’s presidential nomination last month, has also flown immigrants who entered Texas illegally to Massachusetts and California.

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University of Florida terminating all diversity, equity and inclusion positions

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Move is to comply with state law passed by Governor Ron DeSantis that prohibits public funding of DEI programs

The University of Florida is terminating all its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions to comply with a state law passed in January that prohibits state or federal funds from being used to fund the programs.

The university, with more than 30,000 undergraduates, said in a memo issued on Friday that it was closing its office of the chief diversity officer, eliminating DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halting DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.

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Judge denies Trump’s request to access secret filing in Mar-a-Lago case

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US district judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump’s motion to review special counsel filing on redacting classified information

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Donald Trump to review a sensitive court filing submitted by special counsel prosecutors that detailed their reasons for wanting to redact some of the classified documents that would be turned over to the former president in discovery.

The attempt by Trump to access the filing was a brazen move that would have defeated the purpose of rules to protect national security in Espionage Act prosecutions and potentially thrown into disarray the scope and viability of continuing the case against Trump.

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Girl dies after sand hole at Florida beach collapses on her

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Five-year-old Sloan Mattingly of Indiana was buried in a rare but deadly event unknown to many Americans

The collapse of sand holes, like the one that killed a five-year-old Indiana girl who was digging with her brother on a Florida beach, is an under-recognized danger that kills and injures several children a year around the country.

Sloan Mattingly died Tuesday afternoon at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s beach when a 4-5ft-deep (1-1.5-metre) hole collapsed on her and her seven-year-old brother, Maddox. The boy was buried up to his chest, but the girl was fully covered. Video taken by a bystander shows about 20 adults trying to dig her out using their hands and plastic pails, but the hole kept collapsing on itself.

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