Category Archives: Florida

Couple help to save a girl and her father from drowning: ‘we’re not heroes’

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Samantha Conover and her companions were on a boat and took action to locate a man and his teen whose jet ski had sunk

A woman, her fiancé and her friends were heading back from dinner on a boat last weekend when they ended up helping save the lives of a father and daughter whose personal watercraft had sunk near Tampa, Florida.

The Tampa news channel WFTS hailed Samantha Conover and her companions as heroes after they helped a local sheriff’s office deputy search for the missing man and girl and pull them out of the water, but the group has resisted the label.

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Suspect in shooting of six-year-old over stray basketball arrested in Florida

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Robert Singletary will not resist being transferred back to home state of North Carolina to face four attempted murder charges

The North Carolina man who is accused of shooting a six-year-old girl along with her parents after a basketball with which the child was playing rolled into his yard is not resisting being transferred to his home state after being arrested in Florida.

After his arrest on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, 24-year-old Robert Louis Singletary made a court appearance on Friday during which he was asked whether he would sign the extradition waiver that would allow officials to transport him back to North Carolina, where the shooting occurred two days earlier.

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DeSantis to meet UK foreign secretary with eye on US presidential bid

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Florida governor lines up four-nation tour in attempt to boost credentials as credible leader on world stage

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is to meet the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London at the end of the month as he attempts to burnish his credentials as a credible Republican leader capable of operating on a global stage ahead of a widely expected run for US president.

He is to lead a Florida trade delegation on a four-nation tour taking in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.

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Ron DeSantis threatens prison near Disney theme park in latest retaliation

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After being humiliated by its outgoing board, the Florida governor has hit upon another idea to punish the company

Ron DeSantis has unveiled the latest act of retaliation against Disney for speaking out against his “don’t say gay” law: he’s threatening to build a new state prison next to the company’s central Florida theme parks.

The Republican governor dropped the suggestion at a hastily convened Monday lunchtime press conference, at which he laid out steps the state legislature would take to try to regain control over Florida’s largest private employer.

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US supreme court justice blocks ruling that limits abortion pill access – live

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Temporary pause on lower court rulings gives court additional time to consider a longer stay

Danco Laboratories has said that they will continue to distribute the abortion pill, according to an email from the company.

Reuters reported that the company emailed a statement confirming that they will still continue to dispense Mifeprex to its customers.

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Ron DeSantis signs bill approving six-week abortion ban in Florida

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Bill gives governor key political victory ahead of expected presidential campaign

The Republican-dominated Florida legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, as he prepares for an expected presidential run.

DeSantis, a Republican, later signed the bill into law. “We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” he said in a statement. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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Man admits to Basquiat forgery scheme which saw fakes displayed in museum

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Michael Barzman sold paintings created in ‘maximum of 30 minutes’ by accomplice, justice department says

To the admiring patrons of a special exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art, they were among Jean-Michel Basquiat’s finest works, the angst of the troubled 1980s neo-expressionist rebel shining through the vivid colors of the compositions before them.

But what the paying public was really viewing were fakes, hastily slapped on offcuts of cardboard in 30 minutes or less by an unscrupulous auctioneer and an accomplice cashing in on the late artist’s famous name.

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Foot of rain causes severe flooding in South Florida in ‘1-in-1,000 year event’

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Forecasts predicted more rain on Thursday as Fort Lauderdale issues a state of emergency with flooding persisting in parts of city

Storms in South Florida brought almost a foot (30cm) of rain in a matter of hours on Wednesday, causing widespread flooding, closing the Fort Lauderdale airport and turning thoroughfares into rivers.

That amount of rain in a 24-hour period was a “1-in-1,000 year event”, Ana Torres-Vazquez of the National Weather Service’s Miami office told CNN.

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DeSantis pleads with Florida Congress members to stop endorsing Trump

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Governor phones representatives, dismayed that four members of delegation have backed former president for 2024 nomination

The soft launch of Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign appears to be stuttering further after a report emerged claiming Florida’s Republican governor was calling members of the state’s congressional delegation to persuade them to stop endorsing Donald Trump.

DeSantis has yet to formally declare his pursuit of his party’s 2024 nomination, but has seen an erosion in recent weeks of his formerly strong support, with Trump pulling further ahead in polling.

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‘Small like a ball’: Pearl the chihuahua becomes world’s shortest dog

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Pearl is shorter than the standard television remote and about as long as a dollar bill, Guinness World Records says

What do you call a chihuahua dog that’s shorter than a popsicle stick and can fit in your pocket? The planet’s shortest living dog, Guinness World Records has announced.

Pearl qualified for the title after a veterinarian at the Crystal Creek animal hospital in Orlando, Florida, where she was born, used a special dog-measuring wicket to determine she was just under 3.6in (9.14cm) tall and 5in (12.7cm) long. Those dimensions mean she is shorter than the standard television remote and about as long as a dollar bill, Guinness said in a statement.

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Trump reportedly seeks 2024 campaign role for far-right activist Laura Loomer

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Ex-president has told aides to hire failed congressional candidate and anti-Muslim campaigner, New York Times reports

Donald Trump has told aides to hire the far-right anti-Muslim activist and failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer for a role in his campaign to return to the White House in 2024, the New York Times has reported.

Citing four anonymous sources, the Times noted that Loomer, 29, attended Trump’s speech at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Tuesday night, an angry rant delivered hours after the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in New York over hush money payments, including to the porn star Stormy Daniels.

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Trump vents grievances against criminal charges from the safety of Mar-a-Lago

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The former president appeared subdued in New York, only to return to his campaigning, inflammatory ways hours later in Florida

Simmering with anger and defiance, Donald Trump returned to the safe space of Mar-a-Lago and his loyal supporters on Tuesday night, seeking to turn his status as an accused criminal into a political war cry.

The former president ignored a plea from the judge in the case to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric, even launching a broadside at the judge’s daughter over her political connections.

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Disney chief Bob Iger calls Ron DeSantis ‘anti-business and anti-Florida’

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CEO’s comments are latest round in bitter feud between governor and state’s largest corporate employer over ‘don’t say gay’ law

Disney’s chief executive, Bob Iger, has lambasted the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, as “anti-business and anti-Florida” in the latest round of a bitter public battle between the Sunshine state’s most powerful corporation and its top elected official.

DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state legislature have targeted Walt Disney World, the Orlando-area entertainment resort that employs 75,000 people, since the company spoke out against the controversial Florida “don’t say gay” law curtailing classroom discussion of gender identity and sexuality amid mounting pressure from its employees to take a stand.

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Florida closes in on six-week abortion ban while also allowing no-permit gun carry

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Abortion legislation needs to move through house before gaining DeSantis’s likely signature while gun-carry law enacted today

Florida took another step to the right on Monday when the state senate approved a bill to ban abortions after six weeks, a measure supported by Republican governor and expected presidential candidate Ron DeSantis – who on the same day signed into law a bill allowing the public to carry concealed guns without a permit.

The latest proposal to restrict reproductive rights must still be approved by the house in the state legislature before it reaches the governor’s desk. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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Florida reels after two children allegedly ‘die at hands of their caregivers’

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A two-year-old’s father has been arrested over his death and a grandmother charged with aggravated manslaughter

Florida is reeling after two separate cases in the state allegedly saw children die at the hands of their caregivers, according to authorities.

In St Petersburg, the body of a two-year-old boy was found Friday in an alligator’s mouth a day after his mother was discovered murdered, prompting his father’s arrest.

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Florida plastic surgeon charged with murder in case of vanished lawyer

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Steve Cozzi took a break and never returned – but blood and video pointed to Tomasz Kosowski, who was suing Cozzi’s clients

One day last week, Steve Cozzi, a south Florida attorney, got up from his desk to use the bathroom. He never came back to work and has not been seen since.

Police say he was apparently murdered during that bathroom break, by a plastic surgeon at the center of a lawsuit in which Cozzi represented the opposing side.

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Art, not pornography: Florence museum invites Florida parents to see the David

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Galleria dell’Accademia director issues invitation in wake of incident that forced principal to resign after parents’ complaints

The Florence museum which houses Michelangelo’s David has invited the board of a Florida Christian charter school to visit, after the school’s principal was forced to resign following parent complaints that pupils were shown an image of the nude sculpture in a class.

Hope Carrasquilla resigned as principal of the Tallahassee Classical school last week, after the school board told her to quit or be fired. Carrasquilla’s exit came after three parents complained about a lesson on David, with one parent claiming the 16th century Renaissance masterpiece was pornographic.

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Florida principal resigns after parents decry Michelangelo’s David as pornography

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Tallahassee Classical school’s governing board heard complaints after sixth-graders were shown classical sculpture

A Florida principal has resigned after students at a Christian charter school in Tallahassee were shown the statue of the biblical figure David by Michelangelo, prompting at least one parent to complain that the children had been exposed to pornography.

Hope Carrasquilla resigned Monday as principal of the Tallahassee Classical school after the campus’s governing board told her to either step down or be fired over parental complaints that came in after sixth-grade students were shown the 16th-century sculpture, one of the Renaissance’s most famous pieces of art.

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Knock, knock, who’s there? Alligator bites Florida man after he opens door

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Scot Hollingsworth of Daytona Beach said he heard a noise and after opening door was bitten by 9ft alligator on the thigh

A Florida man answering a knock at his front door was promptly bitten by a 9ft long alligator when he opened it to see who was there.

Scot Hollingsworth, of Daytona Beach, told local TV station WKMG that he was watching TV with his wife when he heard a bump at the door and got up to investigate.

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Family of Florida man who died while being violently restrained sues jail staff

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Suit alleges that Broward county sheriff’s office used excessive force as Kevin Desir suffered mental health emergency in 2021

The family of a Florida man who died after being violently restrained by jailers is filing a civil rights suit against the officers who were involved in the incident and the jail’s healthcare provider.

According to a draft of the lawsuit shared exclusively with the Guardian, the family of 43-year-old Kevin Desir alleges that Broward county sheriff officials used excessive force against Desir while he was suffering from a severe mental health episode, violating his 14th amendment rights.

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