Category Archives: Florida

Florida surgeon general’s Covid vaccine claims harm public, health agencies say

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‘Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines effort’ to protect lives, warns letter to Dr Joseph Ladapo sent by FDA and CDC

US health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, warning that his claims about Covid-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.

The letter was sent to Joseph Ladapo on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was a response to a letter Ladapo wrote to the agencies last month, expressing concerns about what he described as adverse effects from Covid vaccines.

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FBI searches for two Capitol attack defendants who have gone missing

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Joseph Hutchinson and Olivia Pollock, whose brother is also a January 6 defendant, had ankle monitors that were removed or altered

The FBI is searching for a Florida woman who was supposed to stand trial on Monday on charges stemming from the January 6 Capitol attack as well as another riot defendant who has also gone missing, officials said.

A federal judge in Washington issued bench warrants for the arrest of Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III last week after the court was notified that they had tampered with or removed the ankle monitors that track their location, said Joe Boland, a supervisory special agent with the FBI’s Lakeland, Florida, office.

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Florida Republicans seek new abortion restrictions amid broad rightwing push

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Proposals include restrictions on gender identification, diversity programs, press freedoms, and relax concealed weapons laws

Florida Republicans are planning a broad rightwing legislative push, including new restrictions on gender identification, diversity and equity programs, abortion and press freedoms, and further relaxation of concealed weapons laws and the ability of courts to impose death sentences.

The basket of proposed legislation comes five months after the state’s rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis won re-election by a decisive margin and the Republicans established a convincing majority in the state legislature.

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Florida court denies habeas corpus petition for fetus of jailed woman

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Although the case was decided on a technicality, a dissenting judge on panel said the court should have rejected the claim on its merits

A Florida appeals court denied an attorney’s attempt to have a woman released from jail ahead of trial by arguing that her fetus was being illegally detained without charge – but the attorney says he plans to continue the legal battle.

Florida’s third district court of appeal dismissed without prejudice a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by attorney William M Norris on behalf of the “unborn child” of Natalia Harrell.

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Ron DeSantis takes control of Disney’s governing district after ‘don’t say gay’ row

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Move comes after Florida governor lashed out at theme park’s protest of law restricting sexual orientation discussion in schools

The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has signed a bill that wrests control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district, in a move seen as punishing the company for its opposition to his so-called “don’t say gay” law.

“Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” he said at the bill signing in Lake Buena Vista in his trademark bullish style. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”

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Photographer describes Florida ordeal that killed journalist: ‘He kept shooting’

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Jesse Walden and his colleague Dylan Lyons were reporting on shooting allegedly by same attacker when Lyons was killed

In interviews from his hospital room, a wounded news photographer has described surviving the harrowing shooting on Wednesday that killed his fellow Florida journalist while they reported on an earlier shooting allegedly committed by the same attacker.

The photographer, Jesse Walden, said that he and his colleague Dylan Lyons had just arrived at a street in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orlando where a local woman, Nathacha Augustin, had been murdered earlier the same day.

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Proposed Florida bill bans dogs from sticking their heads out car windows

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Lauren Book, Democratic leader in state senate who proposed the restriction, later said she would consider amending it

A Florida lawmaker says she is open to changing a bill that got people barking because it would ban dogs from sticking their heads out of a car window.

Lauren Book, the Democratic leader in the Florida senate, proposed the restriction in a bill, SB 932, filed last week. The measure would have made it illegal to “allow a dog to extend its head or any other body part outside a motor vehicle window while the person is operating the motor vehicle on a public roadway”.

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Journalist and child killed near scene of fatal Florida shooting earlier in day

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Police say man involved in earlier killing returned to scene and fired on news van before walking to nearby home and shooting girl

A central Florida television journalist and a young girl were fatally shot on Wednesday afternoon near the scene of a fatal shooting from earlier in the day, authorities said.

The Orange county sheriff, John Mina, said during a news conference on Wednesday evening that the police had detained Keith Melvin Moses, 19, who they believe is responsible for both shootings in the Orlando-area neighborhood.

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Florida researchers capture invasive pythons by attaching GPS collars to prey

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Burmese pythons, which can grow up to 20ft, have surged in south Florida due to snake owners releasing them when they get too big

To better find, capture and remove invasive Burmese pythons in Florida’s Everglades, a team of researchers is attaching location-tracking collars on animals such as raccoons and opossums that the predatory snakes feed on.

Burmese pythons have surged in south Florida in recent years, because many snake owners release them into the wild after they become too large to take care of.

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Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery

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Doctors’ interpretation of state law prevents procedure, family tells Washington Post, despite baby’s fatal illness

In a few weeks, a Florida couple will have to bid farewell to their child shortly after the baby is delivered, a gut-wrenching reality created by the US supreme court’s elimination of nationwide abortion rights last year.

Because of a new Florida law that bans abortion after 15 weeks except under certain circumstances, Deborah Dorbert has become one of many women having difficulty accessing necessary abortion procedures after the supreme court overturned the rights granted by the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision.

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DeSantis wins new power over Disney World in ‘don’t say gay’ culture war

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Florida legislature gives governor right to name members of board supervising theme park, claiming: ‘There’s a new sheriff in town’

Florida’s far-right governor, Ron DeSantis, has won the power to appoint the members of the board that supervises the development of the state’s famous Walt Disney World theme parks after a fight over a law that restricts sexual orientation and gender identity discussions in schools.

Disney as a result is set to lose some of the autonomy it has enjoyed in Florida during the last nearly six decades, but the company has held on to some of its key privileges amid the culture war leveled at it by DeSantis.

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Florida still world’s shark bite capital – but attacks on humans lowest in decade

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Across the world there were 57 unprovoked shark bites in 2022, most of which occurred in the US and Australia

Florida has retained its title as the shark bite capital of the world, according to new figures, but globally the number of such attacks on humans is at its joint lowest level for a decade.

Across the world there were 57 unprovoked shark bites in 2022, most of which occurred in the United States and Australia, said the University of Florida’s international shark attack file, a renowned resource that published its annual data on Monday.

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Ron DeSantis prepares for 2024 White House bid as Trump hits campaign trail

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Moves spur Trump into attacking Florida governor during low key events over the weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire

America’s 2024 presidential race is showing signs of kicking into gear amid reports that Florida’s rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis is now laying the groundwork for a White House bid as Donald Trump finally hit the campaign trail.

DeSantis’s moves even spurred Trump into attacking him directly as the former US president held relatively low key events over the weekend in the key early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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Florida officers charged with battery after allegedly beating homeless man

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Two officers allegedly handcuffed Jose Ortega Gutierrez and took him to an ‘isolated’ location where they beat him unconscious

Two Florida police officers are facing armed kidnapping and battery charges for allegedly assaulting a homeless man after handcuffing him without reason, and taking him to an “isolated” location where they beat him unconscious.

The news has emerged as America is grappling with a reckoning over abusive policing in the US following the beating to death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. Video of the beating of the 29-year-old Black motorist shocked the US and the world when it was released on Friday. Five officers have been charged with his murder.

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DeSantis calls to end jury unanimity for Florida death penalty cases

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Republican governor suggests ‘super-majority’ should suffice in state that has required jury unanimity in capital cases since 2017

Florida’s rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, wants to end the constitutional requirement that juries in his state are unanimous when handing down death sentences.

“Fine, have a super-majority,” DeSantis told the Florida Sheriffs Association on Monday. “But you can’t just say one person votes no, and therefore the death penalty is not given.”

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Ron DeSantis moves to permanently ban Covid mandates in Florida

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Governor proposes legislation to ban mask requirements and outlaw ‘discrimination based on vaccine status’

Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has announced a proposal to permanently ban Covid mandates in the state.

In a press release issued earlier this week, DeSantis said that he has proposed legislation to “make permanent Covid freedoms in Florida”, adding that the “strong pro-freedom, anti-mandate action will permanently protect Floridians from losing their jobs due to Covid vaccine mandates, protects parents’ rights, and institutes additional protections that prevent discrimination based on Covid vaccine status”.

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Shooting at Martin Luther King Day party leaves eight wounded in Florida

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One person critically hurt after firing broke out at family event in park in Fort Pierce: ‘People were just running in all directions’

A shooting which erupted on a packed Martin Luther King Jr Day block party in Florida that left eight people wounded late on Monday was the 30th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Authorities said one person was critically hurt after the shooting during the event in Fort Pierce. Seven others were also shot and wounded, and at least four more hurt in the panic that followed.

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Democratic lawmakers demand Biden revoke Bolsonaro’s visa after Brazil riot

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Former president entered the US after his election loss and is staying in Florida

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers, including some of the top members of the House foreign affairs committee, sent a letter to Joe Biden on Thursday demanding former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s diplomatic visa be canceled in the wake of the rampage in Brazil’s capital by his supporters.

“We request that you reassess his status in the country to ascertain whether there is a legal basis for his stay and revoke any such diplomatic visa he may hold,” said the letter. It continued: “The United States must not provide shelter for him, or any authoritarian who has inspired such violence against democratic institutions.”

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Brazil capital attack complicates US relationship with Bolsonaro

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The former Brazilian president has taken up residence in Florida, and some Democrats are calling for his visa to be revoked

The future of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who flew to Florida in his last days in office, is emerging as a potential diplomatic issue between Brazil and the US amid calls for his expulsion for inciting insurrection.

Bolsonaro has distanced himself from the mob which stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasília, on Sunday, denying accusations from his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that he had encouraged the rioters from the US.

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Florida: alleged burglars arrested after calling 911 for help moving belongings

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Two arrested in Kissimmee after calling for assistance moving items from burglarized house and a ride to the airport

Sheriffs in Florida arrested two purportedly bumbling burglars after one allegedly called 911, intending to ask police for help moving belongings from a house they broke into, authorities said.

The chain of events started to unfold around 1am on Saturday in Kissimmee, about 20 miles from Orlando. A Dollar General discount store was burglarized and “multiple items stolen” the Polk county sheriff’s office said, documenting the alleged incident in an arrest affidavit and a Facebook post.

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