Category Archives: Florida

Mickey Mouse could soon leave Disney as 95-year copyright expiry nears

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The beloved character was created in 1928 and the cartoon is widely regarded as a pioneer in animation

As a consequence of US copyright law, entertainment giant Disney could soon lose the exclusive rights to some of the characters most responsible for the brand’s universal recognition, including the mouse that acts as its mascot.

Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain in the year 2024, almost 95 years after his creation on 1 October 1928 – the length of time after which the copyright on an anonymous or pseudo-anonymous body of artistic work expires.

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Person with flamethrower sets fire to Pan-African flag at activist headquarters

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Flag was outside Florida home of the Uhuru movement, a Black international socialist group

A person using a flamethrower set fire Saturday to a Pan-African flag flying on a pole outside the headquarters of the Uhuru Movement, a Black international socialist group based in Florida.

Security video released by the group shows the driver of a white Honda sedan pulling up outside the group’s St Petersburg headquarters, removing a flamethrower from the trunk and shooting a tower of fire at the flag flying about 30ft (9 meters) above the ground.

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Florida teen bitten by shark survives but faces losing her leg

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The girl was collecting scallops in 5ft deep water off Keaton Beach when she was attacked; her brother jumped in to save her

A teenager is facing the loss of one of her legs after a shark bit her while swimming off the coast of Florida, according to authorities.

Facebook posts shared by the Taylor county sheriff’s office and the girl’s father, Shane Bethea, recounted the nearly fatal attack Thursday.

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Portly python: heaviest-ever snake captured in Florida tips scales at 215lbs

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Biologists used male ‘scout’ snakes to find the female Burmese which was nearly 18ft long and had 122 developing eggs

A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said. The discovery was part of the state’s python removal program.

The female python weighed in at 215 pounds (98 kg), was nearly 18ft long (5 metres) and had 122 developing eggs, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a news release.

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Airplane catches on fire at Miami airport after landing gear collapses

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Authorities said all aboard the flight, which had arrived from the Dominican Republic, were safe

An airplane caught fire after landing at Miami International airport on Tuesday, but authorities have said all passengers are safe.

The fire broke out when landing gear inside the airplane collapsed during landing, NBC Miami reported. The Red Air flight had arrived from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, according to a spokesperson from the Miami-Dade aviation department.

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Florida’s manatees are dying in record numbers – but a lawsuit offers hope

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US wildlife agency agrees to review protection for habitats after conservationists sue over mass die-offs from poor water quality

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has agreed to update critical habitat protections for manatees after legal pressure from environmental groups, as the animals continue to die in record numbers.

More than 1,000 manatees died in Florida last year, wiping out more than 10% of the state’s population, the deadliest year on record. The unusually high mortality rate for the threatened mammals has continued into 2022, with 562 deaths in the first five months.

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Ron DeSantis blocks funds for Tampa Bay Rays after team’s gun safety tweets

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  • Florida governor defends vetoing funds for training facility
  • Rays had joined Yankees in tweeting about gun safety

The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has defended his veto of $35m in funding for a potential spring training site for the Tampa Bay Rays, after the Major League Baseball team used social media to raise awareness about gun violence after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.

“I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums,” DeSantis said on Friday, when asked about the veto of the sports complex funding.

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Florida supreme court declines to rule gerrymandered voting map unconstitutional

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Governor Ron DeSantis’ map dismantles the state’s largely Black fifth congressional district into four new ones

Florida’s supreme court has declined to hear a request to rule on whether the state’s new congressional map was unconstitutional, a decision that means it will probably be more difficult for Black voters in north Florida to elect their preferred candidates to represent them.

The state’s congressional map, drawn by Governor Ron DeSantis, dismantles the state’s fifth congressional district, which stretches from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and is 46% Black.

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Spain and Morocco feel the heat as unseasonal snow falls on Colorado

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Analysis: high temperatures affect southern Europe, while in US state mercury rapidly drops more than 30C

Extremely hot and mostly sunny conditions have been experienced across southern Europe this week. Parts of Spain have had record-breaking temperatures for the month of May, with the southern city of Jaén in Andalucia recording 40.3C (104.5F) on Friday 20 May, according to the Spanish weather agency Aemet. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Andújar, temperatures exceeded 42C two days in a row.

Intense heat also affected northern Africa, with Sidi Slimane city in Morocco recording its hottest day in recorded history, reaching a scorching 45.7C. Although one particular weather event cannot be directly attributed to the climate crisis, scientists believe the severity and duration of heatwaves are expected to increase in the future in response to a warmer global climate.

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‘Any number of rights could be next’ if Roe v Wade goes, says Buttigieg

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US transportation secretary says supreme court’s ruling could determine future generations’ freedoms

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary and the first openly gay member of a US administration, has expressed his worry that the expected overturning by the supreme court of the 1973 landmark decision which made abortion legal, may be the start of a series of eliminations of other groundbreaking rights and protections.

Earlier this month a leaked document showed that five conservatives on the nine-justice supreme court had voted to reverse their predecessors’ ruling in Roe v Wade nearly 50 years ago. The provisional ruling could lead to abortion being outlawed in more than half of US states unless it is changed substantially before becoming final.

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Ringling Bros circus returns after five years – without animals

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Famous circus ended 146-year-run in January 2017 after customer sales declined in wake of criticism over animal acts

“The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback – without animal acts – five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey announced on Wednesday.

The interactive live show will launch in September next year, celebrating performers from around the world “displaying incredible feats that push the limits of human potential”, the Florida-based company said in a news release.

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‘Holy cow’: scientists successfully grow plants in moon soil for the first time

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Researchers at the University of Florida planted thale cress in harsh lunar dirt returned by Apollo 11 astronauts

For the first time, scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon collected by Nasa’s Apollo astronauts.

Researchers had no idea if anything would sprout in the harsh moon dirt and wanted to see if it could be used to grow food by a new generation of lunar explorers. The results stunned them.

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Victims of Florida condo collapse could receive nearly $1bn in settlement

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The 12-story Champlain Towers South building in Surfside had collapsed abruptly in June 2021, killing 98 people

A nearly $1bn tentative settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit brought by families of victims and survivors of last June’s condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, an attorney said Wednesday.

Harley S Tropin announced the $997m settlement during a hearing before Miami-Dade circuit court judge Michael Hanzman. Still pending final approval, the settlement involves insurance companies, developers of an adjacent building and other defendants.

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Ex-pro wrestling star ‘Sunny’ charged in DUI crash that killed Florida man

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Toxicology test confirmed Tamara Lynn Sytch had blood-alcohol level three times over the legal limit at time of the accident

A member of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame crashed into and killed a man while driving drunk in central Florida earlier this year, authorities said.

Tamara Lynn “Sunny” Sytch caused the wreck that killed Julian Lasseter on 25 March but it was not until later that a toxicology test confirmed the 49-year-old former pro wrestling personality had a blood-alcohol level more than three times over the legal limit at the time of the accident, police said in a statement to the Guardian on Monday.

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British Virgin Islands premier demands release from US custody in cocaine case

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Andrew Fahie was arrested last week in a US Drug Enforcement Administration sting as he was preparing to board a private jet

The premier of the British Virgin Islands has demanded his immediate release from US custody, arguing he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges because he is the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory.

An attorney for Andrew Fahie made the request in a filing with Miami federal court on Monday.

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Gator aid: Florida couple call for help after can-do alligator drinks Diet Cokes

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Uninvited guest surprised Naples homeowners when they opened door to garage after hearing a crash

A gregarious Florida alligator seemingly could not wait for a family’s birthday party to begin, so it slipped into a garage where supplies were being stored and chugged down a slab of Diet Coke.

The uninvited guest surprised Naples homeowners Karyn and Jamie Dobson when they opened the connecting door from their house after hearing a crash, WINK News reported.

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Disney tells investors Florida’s attempts to repeal private district are unlawful

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Move could thwart state’s retaliation against company’s opposition to ‘don’t say gay’ law

Disney has told investors that attempts by the state of Florida to repeal the company’s ability to operate a private government in the state are unlawful, in a move that could thwart Florida’s retaliation against Disney’s opposition to a “don’t say gay” law.

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has pushed legislation that would eliminate the Disney-operated Reedy Creek Improvement district, a move which would have huge financial implications for the company.

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Judge orders man who defaced Pride mural to write essay on Pulse shooting

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Judge says he needs more time to determine a punishment and orders Alexander Jerich to write 25-page essay on 2016 massacre

A Florida judge has ordered a man who defaced an LGBTQ+ Pride mural to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting.

Last June, the city of Delray Beach in south Florida unveiled a rainbow mural at an intersection on the fifth anniversary of the attack, in which a gunman killed 49 people at the club in Orlando.

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Ron DeSantis signs bill to create Florida voter-fraud police force

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Republican governor embraces top priority of his party, following Donald Trump’s false claims that his 2020 re-election was stolen

Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday to create a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes, embracing a top priority of Republicans after Donald Trump’s false claims that his reelection was stolen.

DeSantis, who is running for reelection and considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, made voting legislation a focus this year, pushing the Republican-controlled Legislature to create the policing unit in a speech where he referenced unspecified cases of voter fraud, which have become popular talking points in his party.

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Florida bride and caterer charged after serving marijuana-laced food at wedding

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Police arrived at the venue to find wedding guests being treated for ‘symptoms consistent with that of someone who has used illegal drugs’

A Florida bride and her wedding caterer have been criminally charged after serving food laced with marijuana to their wedding guests, sickening them and sending several to hospital.

Danya Shea Svoboda, 42, and Jocelyn Montrinice Bryant, 31, who catered her wedding, face charges of violating Florida’s anti-tampering laws, delivery of marijuana and culpable negligence.

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