Category Archives: Florida

Black woman in Florida fatally shot through front door by white neighbor

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Ajike ‘AJ’ Owens killed after allegedly trying to retrieve iPad taken from her child, while shooter has not been arrested or charged

A Black mother of four in Florida was killed by a white neighbor who shot her through a front door as the victim attempted to retrieve an iPad taken from her child, civil rights attorney Ben Crump has said.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Crump said the death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, 35, at a housing complex in Ocala on Friday evening was an “unjust killing” and lamented that the shooter had not been arrested or charged.

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Newsom threatens kidnapping charges after Florida dumps migrants at church

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Governor tweets ‘You small, pathetic man … Kidnapping charges?’, directed at DeSantis after migrants left outside Sacramento church

California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, on Monday branded his rightwing Republican Florida counterpart, Ron DeSantis, a “small, pathetic man”, and appeared to threaten kidnapping charges for an episode in which a group of migrants was dumped at a Sacramento church.

Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said in a statement that 16 South Americans abandoned outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on Friday were “in possession of documentation purporting to be from the state of Florida”, and may have been duped into boarding charter flights via New Mexico after entering the US in Texas.

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Florida school offers yearbook reprints after objections to LGBTQ+ content

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Several conservative parents of students at Lyman high school complained about two pages highlighting LGBTQ+ students

A high school in Florida will offer refunds and reprints to parents and students who argued its yearbook featured “disgusting and wrong” LGBTQ+ content.

Students at Lyman high school in Seminole county received their yearbooks a few weeks ago. Several conservative parents complained.

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Mastermind of assassination of Haiti president sentenced to life by US court

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Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian-Chilean businessman, conspired with Colombian mercenaries, to kill Jovenel Moïse in 2021

A mastermind of the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse two years ago has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a federal court judge in Florida.

Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian-Chilean businessman, conspired with a group of Colombian mercenaries to murder Moïse at his home in Port-au-Prince on 7 July 2021. Prosecutors at his sentencing hearing in Miami said Jaar obtained the weapons used in the “commando-style” attack that killed Moïse, 53, and seriously injured his wife.

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Prosecutors have evidence Trump showed classified papers to people – report

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Development could raise stakes as investigation into former presidents handling of national security materials nears end

Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump showed classified documents to people, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, as the investigation into his handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice approaches its conclusion.

The development could raise the stakes for the former president as it exposes him to serious action under the Espionage Act, of wilfully communicating national security materials rather than simply retaining them, which is rarely charged.

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DeSantis’s $13.5m police program lures officers with violent records to Florida

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Governor’s incentive scheme recruits officers with history of excessive violence or who have been arrested since signing up

Numerous police officers lured to new jobs in Florida with cash from Governor Ron DeSantis’s flagship law enforcement relocation program have histories of excessive violence or have been arrested for crimes including kidnapping and murder since signing up, a study of state documents has found.

DeSantis, who is expected to launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week, has spent more than $13.5m to date on the recruitment bonus program, which he touted in 2021 as an incentive to officers in other states frustrated by Covid-19 vaccination mandates.

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Florida: parents of trans children seek to block state ban on gender-affirming care

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Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that prohibits hormone-related therapy to treat gender dysphoria in minors

The parents of three transgender children in Florida are trying to get a federal judge to block a new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors, a signature policy of Republican governor Ron DeSantis as he nears the official launch of his presidential campaign.

US district judge Robert Hinkle on Friday heard arguments from an attorney representing the three families in a case that argues they are being stripped of the right to make medical decisions for their children.

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Disney cancels plans for $1bn campus in Florida amid battle with DeSantis

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Company has clashed with governor over anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, prompting state to strip its self-governing power

Disney has scrapped plans to build a near $1bn (£804m) corporate campus for 2,000 employees in Florida, amid an increasingly bitter political and legal battle with the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, over the future of the entertainment giant’s theme parks.

Walt Disney, which has also announced the closure of its $2,500-a-night “Star Wars” Galactic Starcruiser Hotel in Orlando, said it would no longer relocate California-based employees including theme park ride designers to the new campus about 18 miles (30km) east of Walt Disney World.

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Florida: blow to DeSantis as Democrat wins Jacksonville mayor’s race

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Donna Deegan becomes city’s first female mayor by beating Daniel Davis, Republican backed by hard-right governor

In a major electoral upset on Tuesday, voters in Jacksonville elected their first female mayor, defeating a Republican backed by business leaders and endorsed by Ron DeSantis, the state governor and prospective presidential candidate.

Jacksonville is the most populous Florida city, with about 950,000 residents. Donna Deegan, a Democrat, earned 52% of the vote, beating Daniel Davis. About 217,000 people voted, a turnout of 33%.

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Mem Fox book Guess What? banned in Florida county under Ron DeSantis bill

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Agent for bestselling Australian children’s author says she has ‘nothing to say’ about the ban and Duval county ‘is not important’

Bestselling Australian author Mem Fox has become the latest victim of ultra-conservative Florida governor Ron DeSantis, with the writer’s 1988 children’s book Guess What? being banned in the Jacksonville county of Duval.

The book, about a witch called Daisy O’Grady, appears to have fallen foul of Florida’s parental rights in education bill, widely referred to as the “don’t say gay” law, championed by DeSantis, the Republican widely considered to be Donald Trump’s closest rival for the 2024 presidential race.

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Florida teacher defends showing Disney movie: ‘I’m just being accepting’

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Jenna Barbee, who is under investigation, insists film is related to curriculum and warns investigators are traumatizing her students

A Florida teacher under investigation because she showed her class the Disney animated movie Strange World which features a gay character has defended herself on social media, insisting the film related to the curriculum and warning that state investigators were traumatizing her 10- and 11-year-old students.

Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters school in Hernando county, Florida, released a six-minute TikTok video in which she gave her side of the story. She said she had been reported to the local school board by one of her students’ mother, who sits on the board and was on a “rampage to get rid of every form of representation out of our schools”, Barbee alleged.

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Thirteen-year-old girl punches shark in Florida to escape attack

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Ella Reed was bitten in the stomach, arm, knee and finger after attack from probable bull shark, but plans to return to the water

A 13-year-old girl escaped a shark attack at a Florida beach Thursday by punching the aggressive, predatory creature.

The teen, Ella Reed, told South Florida’s Local 10 News, was sitting in waist-deep water, alongside a friend, when she was struck by intense, sharp pain.

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Unaccompanied Honduran teen dies in US custody as Title 42 expires

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Investigators trying to determine cause for teen’s death, which occurred in a Florida shelter on Wednesday

An unaccompanied 17-year-old migrant from Honduras died in a shelter in Florida on Wednesday, according to authorities.

Investigators on Friday were still trying to determine a cause for the teen’s death, which came as the US lifted immigration restrictions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Remains of quarantine hospital found on submerged island off Florida

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Historical records indicate dozens of people may have been buried at site now in waters west of Key West, officials say

Archeologists have found the remains of a 19th-century quarantine hospital and cemetery on a submerged island in the Dry Tortugas national park, off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.

While only one grave has been identified, historical records indicate dozens of people – mostly US soldiers stationed at Fort Jefferson – may have been buried at the site now in waters west of Key West, Florida, park officials said.

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Florida principal who lost job over ‘pornographic’ David statue visits Italy

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Hope Carrasquilla, forced to resign after parents condemned Michelangelo’s statue as pornography, invited to Florence

A Florida principal who resigned after parents at her school decried Michelangelo’s David statue as pornography has traveled to Florence, Italy, following invitations from the museum director and mayor of Florence.

Hope Carrasquilla, the former principal of Florida’s Tallahassee Classical school, touched down in Florence on Friday and visited the Accademia Gallery with her family where David’s statue resides.

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Florida school superintendent who criticized DeSantis could lose job

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Rocky Hanna is accused of ignoring Florida governor’s directives in latest move against those who oppose Republicans’ politics

Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized the governor, Ron DeSantis.

The educator is accused of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership.

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Ron DeSantis says Disney lawsuit a political stunt with no merit

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Florida governor attempting to weaken Disney’s self-governing powers after entertainment giant opposed his ‘don’t say gay’ law

Disney’s lawsuit over his attempt to seize its self-governing powers is a political stunt with no legal merit, the increasingly embattled hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis, told reporters on Thursday.

“I don’t think the suit has merit,” the likely Republican White House hopeful said, adding: “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”

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Trump lawyers say Mar-a-Lago boxes contained foreign leader briefings

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New letter sent to Congress attempts to paint Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at Florida home as inadvertent

Donald Trump’s lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation found the 15 boxes the former president returned to the National Archives a year after the end of his presidency mostly contained briefings for calls with foreign leaders, according to a new letter they sent to Congress.

The majority of the letter – seen by the Guardian and earlier reported by CNN – served to characterize Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents as inadvertent, and due to White House staffers sweeping all documents into boxes during a chaotic departure at the end of the administration.

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Disney sues Ron DeSantis in battle over control of Florida resort

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Entertainment giant wants court to overturn governor’s efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando

Disney sued Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and presumed challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday, saying he had subjected it to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation”.

The entertainment giant wants a court to overturn state efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World in Orlando. The lawsuit was filed within minutes of a DeSantis-appointed oversight board voting to override agreements made in February that allowed the company to expand the theme park and maintain control over neighboring land.

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Florida prosecutor investigates shots at couple lost while delivering groceries

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Incident in Broward county was one of a spate involving people lost, at wrong address or getting into wrong car by mistake

A Florida prosecutor on Sunday ordered an investigation into a confrontation in which a homeowner fired shots into a couple’s car after they mistakenly turned on to his property while making a late-night grocery delivery.

Police closed the case without consulting the state attorney.

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