Category Archives: Florida

Disney workers walk out over ‘don’t say gay’ bill as company sends mixed messages

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Debate over Florida legislation has forced Disney into a balancing act between expectations of a diverse workforce and demands from a politicized marketplace

Even though only a small percentage of Walt Disney Co workers participated in a walkout Tuesday, organizers felt they had won a moral victory with the company issuing a statement denouncing the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that sparked employee outrage.

Throughout the day, pockets of employees staged demonstrations at various sites across the US, including near Orlando’s Walt Disney World and Walt Disney Studios. According to a Disney official, there had been no interruptions in any operations as of midday Tuesday.

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Marvel denounces ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill after Disney apology

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Following Disney’s apology for silence over Florida law, studio pledges ‘strong commitment as allies who promote the values of of equality, acceptance and respect’

Marvel Studios says it “strongly denounces” any legislation that affects the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, following the passing of a controversial bill in Florida.

Republicans in Florida recently passed what opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which limits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to young children in the state.

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Bob Saget’s fractures possibly caused by falling on carpeted floor

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Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos star died from accidental blow to the head, medical examiner concluded

Fractures around Bob Saget’s eye sockets and bleeding around his brain were possibly caused by the comedian hitting “something hard, covered by something soft”, such as a carpeted floor, according to a report released on Tuesday that provided more details of the death of the TV star.

The 65-year-old star of Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos was found by a hotel security officer on his bed at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando on 9 January, after he failed to check out and his family asked for a wellbeing check.

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‘Don’t Say Gay’: Disney clashes with DeSantis over Florida bill

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Entertainment giant suspends political donations as CEO apologises for silence and governor hits back with ‘communist’ barb

The Walt Disney Company is suspending political donations in Florida after its chief executive suffered huge blowback for not using the company’s vast influence in the state to try to quash a Republican bill that would stop teachers instructing early grades on LGBTQ+ issues.

The bill has sparked a spat between the tourism giant and the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who accused the company of being friendly with communist China.

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Tennis star Coco Gauff attacks Florida law that marginalizes LGBTQ+ people

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  • World No 19 says bill will halt important conversations
  • Law restricts instruction on sexual orientation

Tennis star Coco Gauff has voiced her opposition to a bill in her home state of Florida that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for many young students.

“I’m against it,” Gauff told reporters on Wednesday in California, where she is preparing for the Indian Wells tournament. “I think these conversations are important, and for me, who has friends in the LGBTQ+ community, I couldn’t imagine not being able to talk about your identity. I feel that’s something that is normal.”

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Florida to formally recommend against Covid vaccine for healthy children

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  • Surgeon general announces policy after roundtable discussion
  • CDC recommends vaccine for everyone five years and older

The surgeon general of Florida, Dr Joseph Ladapo, said on Monday the state will formally recommend against Covid-19 vaccinations for healthy children.

Ladapo made the announcement at a roundtable event organized by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, that featured doctors who have criticized coronavirus lockdowns and mandate policies.

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Florida Panhandle wildfires force evacuation from more than a thousand homes

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Veterans at a nursing home also evacuated, as well as residents of at least 1,100 houses, as firefighters battle two fires

Veterans at a nursing home were evacuated, joining residents from more than 1,000 homes, as firefighters and emergency workers battled two massive wildfires Sunday in an area of the Florida Panhandle that was still recovering from destruction caused by a category-5 hurricane more than three years ago.

The 8,000-acre Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 841-acre Adkins Avenue fire threatened homes and forced residents of at least 1,100 houses in Bay county to flee over the weekend.

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Florida governor Ron DeSantis scolds students for wearing masks – video

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Ron DeSantis had strong words for a group of students at the University of South Florida who were wearing face masks before a press conference. The Republican governor for Florida asked them to take their masks off, saying it was 'Covid theater'

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Trump ignores Farage – and risks midterm elections farrago – with insistence on big lie

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Analysis: His British friend tried to help but the former president did not want to forget his voter fraud obsession and focus on the future. CPAC loved it but Republicans hoping to take Congress know they are courting disaster

The sagest advice given to Donald Trump all week came from a man who is neither a Republican nor an American.

Nigel Farage, the British politician, broadcaster and demagogue whose Brexit campaign coincided with Trump’s rise to power, warned his old pal against endlessly fixating on the 2020 election.

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Trayvon Martin compared to Emmett Till on 10th anniversary of death

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Martin’s mother says fight for justice must continue as Al Sharpton makes comparison with teen lynched in Mississippi in 1955

Trayvon Martin’s mother used the 10th anniversary of his death on Saturday to urge those who sought justice for her family to continue to fight.

Sybrina Fulton spoke to the National Action Network, the civil rights organization founded by the Rev Al Sharpton in Harlem. She said she had come to New York City from Florida in order to support her supporters.

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Massive feeding effort underway to save starving Florida manatees

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First two months of 2022 alone have seen more than 300 manatee deaths as major conservation effort to rescue population

More than 80 Florida manatees are currently in rehab centers across the US as officials and conservations work to rescue a population that has been hit hard by starvation.

The data released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and US Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday underscores the peril facing the manatees, and comes amid a major conservation effort that includes a feeding program distributing 3,000lb of lettuce daily at a site on the Florida coast.

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Bernie Madoff’s sister and her husband found dead in apparent murder-suicide

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Palm Beach county sheriff says Sondra Wiener, 87, and 90-year-old husband Marvin Wiener found dead on Thursday

The sister of the Wall Street fraudster Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in Florida in what investigators said was an apparent murder-suicide.

The Palm Beach county sheriff’s office on Sunday identified the couple as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener of Boynton Beach and her 90-year-old husband, Marvin Wiener.

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Maine family’s lost cat turns up after six years – in Florida

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Denis Cilley had given up her pet, Ashes, for dead but a microchip confirmed she had somehow made her way 1,500 miles away

A Maine family that long ago gave up on a lost family cat is being reunited – more than six years and 1,500 miles later.

Denise Cilley, of Chesterville, said she was shocked to get a voicemail last week announcing her cat, Ashes, had been located in Florida.

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Ten Cuban migrants in sinking vessel rescued off Florida coast

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Rescue comes after a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized with only one of 40 passengers surviving

Ten Cuban migrants in a sinking vessel were rescued off the Florida coast, according to the US Coast Guard.

A Coast Guard boat spotted the vessel on Thursday about 40 miles (about 64km) off Key Largo, the Coast Guard said in a tweet.

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Super corals: the race to save the world’s reefs from the climate crisis – in pictures

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Few corals are safe from warming oceans, a new study warns, but studies are finding surprisingly hardy corals, natural sunscreens and how coral ‘IVF’ can regrow reefs

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Teenager seeks $50k from Elon Musk to delete Twitter bot tracking private jet

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In DM exchange Tesla boss offers $5,000 for takedown but 19-year-old replies: ‘Any chance to up that to $50K?’

A row has broken out between the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, and a 19-year-old student and aviation enthusiast from Florida.

Jack Sweeney created the Twitter bot @ElonJet, which tracks Musk’s Gulfstream private jet and posts real-time updates of its location.

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Four more bodies found off Florida coast from capsized boat

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Discovery brings total to five, but search for survivors will be suspended if new discoveries are not made, says US coast guard

The US coast guard said it would call off the search for survivors at sunset on Thursday if no new discoveries were made following a boat capsizing off the Florida coast at the weekend with 40 people on board.

Four more bodies had been discovered, bringing the total to five, Capt Jo-Ann Burdian, commander of the coast guard’s Miami sector, said in a press conference on Thursday.

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Brian Laundrie admitted in notebook to killing Gabby Petito, FBI says

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  • Notebook discovered near Laundrie’s body in Florida swamp
  • Authorities say boyfriend alone responsible for ‘tragic death’

The boyfriend of Gabby Petito admitted killing her in a notebook discovered near his body in a Florida swamp, the FBI announced on Friday.

It was the first time authorities squarely pinned the blame for Petito’s death on Brian Laundrie, though he was the prime suspect all along.

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Florida health official put on leave after encouraging staff to get Covid vaccine

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State health agency conducting inquiry into Raul Pino to ‘determine if any laws were broken’

A health official who helped lead Florida’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been put on administrative leave as state officials investigate whether he tried to compel employees to get vaccinated.

The state health agency is conducting an inquiry into Raul Pino, director of the Florida department of health in Orange county, to “determine if any laws were broken in this case”, the state department of health press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said in an email.

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Tens of thousands without power as winter storm blasts US south-east

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Dangerous storm with high winds and ice sweeps through as highway patrols report hundreds of vehicle accidents

A dangerous winter storm combining high winds and ice began sweeping through parts of the US south-east on Sunday, knocking out power, felling trees and fences and coating roads with a treacherous frigid glaze.

Tens of thousands of customers were without power in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Highway patrols were reporting hundreds of vehicle accidents, and a tornado ripped through a trailer park in Florida. More than 1,200 Sunday flights at Charlotte Douglas international were cancelled more than 90% of the airport’s Sunday schedule, according to the flight tracking service flightaware.com.

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