Category Archives: Florida

British man accused of trying to drown daughter-in-law in pool in Florida

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Mark Raymond Gibbon, in US on holiday, charged with attempted second-degree murder and battery

A British man has been charged by US police with the attempted murder of his daughter-in-law after allegedly trying to drown her in a swimming pool while on holiday, local authorities have said.

Mark Raymond Gibbon, 62, of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, allegedly tried to drown the 33-year-old woman after they had an argument about his grandchildren in their rental home at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, on Sunday, the Polk county sheriff, Grady Judd, said on X.

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Sheinbaum demands return of Mexican citizens held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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Mexican president said citizens held at controversial Florida immigration jail ‘should be repatriated immediately’

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said that the country is demanding the repatriation of at least 30 of its citizens currently being held in the controversial Florida immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.

The Mexican leader said on Wednesday that a note had been sent to US authorities “demanding that any Mexicans who might enter this detention center should be repatriated immediately”.

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Two children at Miami sailing camp killed after barge collides with their boat

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Six people pulled from water, with two other kids in critical condition, after crash sends them overboard, officials said

Two kids were killed and two more are in critical condition after a barge appears to have struck their boat and sent them overboard during a sailing camp in Miami on Monday, authorities said.

All six people on the sailing boat were pulled from the water by responders, and four kids were rushed to a nearby hospital where two were pronounced dead upon arrival, said petty officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard.

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Eastern US swelters from heatwave as high temperatures affect half of country

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Heat and humidity are stretching east from the Mississippi River valley, and some areas could see heat indices of 120F

The eastern half of the US is facing a significant heatwave, with more than 185 million people under warnings due to intense and widespread heat conditions on Monday.

The south-east is likely to endure the most dangerous temperatures as the extreme heat spread across the region on Monday, spanning from the Carolinas through Florida. In these areas, heat index values (how hot it feels once humidity is accounted for) are forecast to range between 105 and 113F (40.5 to 45C).

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‘Come with me, Chuck E’: Florida police arrest mascot for credit card fraud as children look on

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Police arrested employee of the chain after credit card stolen from customer was allegedly found in his possession

Florida police have arrested a Chuck E Cheese mascot for credit card fraud, telling him “Chuck E, come with me” and leading him away in handcuffs while still in his gigantic mouse head costume as horrified children looked on.

Police confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper that they had arrested Jermell Jones, an employee of the chain of family entertainment centers, on three felonies.

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Family of US citizen beaten to death by Israeli settlers calls on Trump administration to prosecute killers

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Sayfollah Musallet’s relatives criticize US government over West Bank killing: ‘Somebody needs to be held accountable’

Relatives of Sayfollah Musallet, a US citizen from Florida beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, are calling for the Trump administration to arrest and prosecute those responsible for his killing.

The 20-year-old from Tampa was visiting his family in an area near Ramallah, and died last week trying to protect their farm from invaders, they said at an emotional press conference in Florida on Monday afternoon.

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Trump celebrates harsh conditions for detainees on visit to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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President says immigration jail in Florida Everglades is a ‘little controversial, but I couldn’t care less’

Donald Trump on Tuesday toured Alligator Alcatraz, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience.

The president was chaperoned by Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who hailed the tented camp on mosquito-infested land 50 miles west of Miami as an example for other states that supported Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

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Ottawa ‘urgently seeking more information’ about death of Canadian citizen in Ice custody

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Johnny Noviello was detained by US immigration in Florida over a 2023 conviction and died while awaiting deportation

Authorities in Canada are seeking information about the death of a 49-year-old Canadian man who died while in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody in Florida this week.

In a statement, Ice, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Johnny Noviello, 49, died on 23 June after being found unresponsive at a federal detention center in Miami, where he was being detained “pending removal proceedings” from the US.

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Man convicted in 1994 rape and murder of Michelle McGrath put to death in Florida

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Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, died Tuesday by lethal injection at Florida state prison in state’s seventh execution this year

A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening.

Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, was pronounced dead at 6.13pm after receiving a lethal injection at Florida state prison near Starke, said Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for the governor, Ron DeSantis.

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Republican representative’s ectopic pregnancy clashes with Florida abortion law

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Kat Cammack blames left’s fearmongering after medical staff hesitated to give her drugs needed to end pregnancy

A Florida Republican congresswoman is blaming fearmongering on the left for the reluctance of hospital staff to give her the drugs she needed to end an ectopic pregnancy that threatened her life.

Kat Cammack went to the emergency room in May 2024 where it was estimated she was five weeks into an ectopic pregnancy, there was no heartbeat and her life was at risk. Doctors determined she needed a shot of methotrexate to help expel her pregnancy but since Florida’s six week abortion ban had just taken effect medical staff were worried about losing their licenses or going to jail if they did.

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Florida Republicans racially gerrymandered two state senate districts, court hears

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GOP officials had previously manipulated districts as well to wrest voting power from Black electorate

Republicans in Florida racially gerrymandered two key state senate districts to disenfranchise Black voters and skew results in the Tampa Bay area, a panel of judges has heard.

In one district, they took a small chunk of St Petersburg heavy with minority voters and added it to an area of Tampa in a different county, and across a 10-mile waterway, leaving the remainder of its electorate “artificially white”, the court was told.

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Florida dad dies after helping save his daughter from drowning on Father’s Day

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Antwon Wilson was with his two children at a Fort Lauderdale beach when he saw them in distress in the water

A Florida dad has lost his life after helping save his daughter from drowning in the ocean on Father’s Day.

That was the tragic story coming out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, when 33-year-old Antwon Wilson died while his daughter and another adult were hospitalized, according to authorities.

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Latinas for Trump co-founder criticizes president’s immigration arrests: ‘Unacceptable and inhumane’

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Florida state senator joins US House member in expressing alarm over ‘arbitrary measures to hunt down people’

A co-founder of a group for Latinas who support Donald Trump has excoriated the president on some of the immigration-related arrests being carried out by his administration, which she called “unacceptable and inhumane”.

In a statement posted on X over the weekend, Ileana Garcia wrote, “This is not what we voted for.”

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‘I had 30 Lamborghinis’: Pablo Escobar’s top cocaine pilot gives first interview

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Tirso ‘TJ’ Dominguez says Escobar paid him $20m monthly to fly planeloads of coke

A man who eventually became Pablo Escobar’s go-to cocaine pilot has revealed that he first turned down an employment offer from the notorious Colombian drug lord because he was content with the $4m a month he was earning while flying for a competitor.

But, in a new podcast containing what is believed to be his first interview since authorities arrested him at his Florida mansion in 1988, Tirso “TJ” Dominguez recounted how he changed his mind about working for Escobar when the so-called Patrón – or boss – offered him a salary that was five times higher: $20m monthly.

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Shark fisher uses drone to save teenage girl from drowning in Florida rip current

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Andrew Smith called ‘true hero’ after using drone to deliver flotation device to girl ensnared by Pensacola Beach current

A Florida man who fishes sharks has been called a “true hero” after saving a teenage girl from drowning in a rip current by using a drone to deliver a flotation device to her.

Andrew Smith’s heroics – which have gone viral in corners of the internet dedicated to uplifting news stories – unfolded after he left work on 15 May and made the last-minute decision to go to Pensacola Beach to try fishing in the waters there, according to the Florida station CBS 12.

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‘From all sides’: universities in red states face attacks from DC and at home

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As universities begin to push back on Trump’s policies, those in Republican-led states face multiple threats

Days after the University of Michigan president, Santa Ono, announced that he was leaving his post to lead the University of Florida, his name was quietly removed on Wednesday from a letter signed by more than 600 university presidents denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” with academic institutions.

As Ono is set to become the highest-paid public university president in the country, in a state that has often been at the forefront of the rightwing battle against higher education, the reversal, first reported on by Talking Points Memo, underscored the challenges of standing up against the government’s sweeping attacks on education in solidly red states.

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US jury’s $30m verdict brings hope for Cuban exiles over confiscated land

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Lawsuit brought under Helms-Burton could spur others pursuing compensation for property seized by Castro

Long before it became one of Cuba’s most popular tourist destinations in the 1990s, the small island of Cayo Coco, with its pristine beaches and powdery white sands, attracted a different kind of clientele.

Inspired by its unspoiled beauty, and his observations of shack-dwelling fishermen scratching out a meager living, Ernest Hemingway set scenes from two of his most famous books there, including the 1952 classic The Old Man and the Sea.

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Woman in Florida deported to Cuba says she was forced to leave baby daughter

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Heidy Sánchez says she was told her 17-month-old, who has health problems and is breastfeeding, couldn’t go with her

A mother deported to Cuba reportedly had to hand over her 17-month-old daughter to a lawyer while her husband, a US citizen, stood outside unable to say goodbye.

Heidy Sánchez was told she was being detained for deportation to Cuba when she turned up at her scheduled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) check-in appointment in Tampa, Florida, last week.

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One dead after boat crashes into ferry carrying more than 40 people in Florida

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Police declare ‘mass casualty incident’ due to the number of injuries, and say boat that caused accident fled the scene

A boat crashed into a ferry transporting 45 people on the final day of a sand-sculpting festival in Florida, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.

The crash late on Sunday in calm waters off Clearwater on the western Florida coast set off an emergency response due to the high number of possible casualties.

“We were just enjoying the ride and all of a sudden we heard the first mate yelling: ‘Hey, hey, hey,’” Marco Vacheco, who was on the ferry with Brenda Alvarez and their two young children, told WFTS. “And we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat.”

The boat then fled the scene, authorities said.

The Clearwater police department posted on X that there were multiple injuries and the crash had been declared “a mass casualty incident” by the Clearwater fire & rescue department due to the number of injuries.

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Trump golf club to host speaker who markets bleach as health treatment

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Andreas Kalcker, prominent peddler of chlorine dioxide remedy, to appear at ‘Truth Seekers Conference’ in Miami

Donald Trump’s private golf resort in South Florida will next week host one of the world’s leading purveyors of chlorine dioxide, a potentially life-threatening form of industrial bleach that is claimed without evidence to be a cure for cancer, Covid and autism.

Andreas Kalcker is among 50 listed speakers at the “Truth Seekers Conference”, a two-day event opening on Thursday at the US president’s resort, Trump National Doral Miami. The event features several anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists who have been brought together by the far-right commentator Charlie Ward.

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