Latest storm warning comes just days after areas of Vermont and New York were hit with flash flooding, raising concerns over more damage
Meterologist Ben Frechette from NBC5 reported that a tornado risk is going up slightly in north-eastern NewYork state:
As some parts of the US are sweltering, Vermont was bracing for more rain on Thursday.
Continue reading...Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble thought ‘it was all over for us’ – but marine expert suggests shark was merely being ‘inquisitive’
A pair of paddleboarders raising money for charity had a frightening encounter with a hammerhead shark that circled them near Florida’s coast – and the entire incident was caught on video.
Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble were paddling from Florida to the Bahamas, an 80-mile journey, to raise money for cystic fibrosis awareness, WJZY reported.
Continue reading...Bloodstains and broken glass remain where 17 students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida
For more than five years, the bloodstained halls and classrooms where 17 people died in the Parkland school shooting has remained locked away and mostly untouched – not even the victims’ families had been allowed inside.
That changed on Wednesday, as heart-wrenching private tours began for relatives of the 14 students and three staff members who died on 14 February 2018. The 17 wounded and their loved ones will also be able to visit the 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, now that it is no longer needed as evidence in the trials of the convicted killer and the deputy who was just acquitted of failing to stop him.
Continue reading...Ex-president arraigned and charged in Miami court over allegations he mishandled classified documents
Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents as he was formally arraigned on Tuesday, becoming the first former US president to face federal criminal charges.
Federal prosecutors accused Trump of willfully withholding classified documents obtained during his presidency and obstructing justice in his efforts to conceal those materials from authorities, as detailed in a 49-page indictment unsealed on Friday. The former president was charged with 37 federal counts, including 31 violations of the Espionage Act.
Continue reading...Police chief says department taking Trump court appearance ‘extremely seriously’ and that it can handle crowds of up to 50,000
As court officials set up barricades and police tape around the Miami courthouse where Donald Trump is due to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon, police officials sought to assure local residents they would safely handle any protests.
“Make no mistake about it, we’re taking this event extremely seriously, and there’s a potential for things to take a turn for the worse,” said the city’s police chief, Manuel Morales, adding “but that’s not the Miami way.
Continue reading...A black bear was sighted in the Gulf of Mexico before it decamped into the nearby dunes to the astonishment of beachgoers
Florida beachgoers have long been accustomed to the threats from sharks in their warm waters, but bathers at Destin recently got a surreal shock when they saw a black bear emerge from the surf and amble on to the beach.
Local TV station WMBB reported that stunned onlookers saw the bear, which appeared to be a youngster, swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and heading to shore.
Continue reading...Officials claim the people, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, consented to the travel, refuting allegations from Gavin Newsom
Florida confirmed on Tuesday that it was behind two private jet flights that brought three dozen people seeking asylum from the US southern border to California amid accusations that the individuals were coerced to travel under false pretenses.
The state’s division of emergency management said in a statement that the passengers all went willingly, and refuted allegations from California officials such as the governor, Gavin Newsom, who had threatened Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, with kidnapping charges.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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%.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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