Category Archives: Florida

Passengers escape after plane skids off runway into river in Jacksonville

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Boeing 737 was landing at a naval airport when it ended up in the St Johns river but 143 passengers and crew survive

All 143 passengers and crew have escaped after a Boeing 737 plane skidded off a runway and landed in a river during a “terrifying” attempted landing at an airport in Jacksonville, Florida.

The military-chartered Miami Air international plane was trying to land in a thunderstorm at the naval air station in Jacksonville en route from Guántanamo Bay in Cuba at around 9.40pm local time when it slid off the runway into the St Johns river, a statement from the navy airport said.

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Police officers pepper-spray and punch black teenager, 15, in Florida – video

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Two Florida sheriff's deputies have been suspended after a video showed them pepper-spraying and punching a 15-year-old black student. The video, which was widely shared on social media last week, shows the two officers slamming Delucca Rolle to the ground and smashing his face into the concrete several times. Rolle’s family say he was picking up a cellphone that a classmate had dropped when one officer pepper-sprayed and jumped on him

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Cassowary attack: giant bird kills owner in Florida after he fell

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Bird native to Australia and Papua New Guinea likely killed breeder with its long claws

A cassowary – a large, flightless bird native to Australia and Papua New Guinea – has killed its Florida owner when it attacked him after he fell.

The fire rescue department in Alachua county told the Gainesville Sun newspaper the cassowary killed the man on Friday on his property near Gainesville, in the north of the state, likely using its long claws. The victim, whose name was not released, was apparently breeding the birds, state wildlife officials said.

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Three naked Florida women lead police on 21-mile chase

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  • Women applying lotion told trooper they were “air drying”
  • Tampa Bay Times says no link to area nudist community

Authorities said three naked women who were seen applying suntan lotion at a Florida rest stop led police on a 21-mile chase, drove a car at one deputy and threatened another with a bat.

The Florida highway patrol said that when a deputy approached the women at the Interstate 75 rest stop on Wednesday in Dade City, Pasco county, they started dressing. The women told the trooper they had been staying at a relative’s home but went to the rest stop after an altercation and had nowhere else to go.

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Death of second Parkland student being investigated, police say

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  • Police say, ‘It hasn’t been confirmed as a suicide’
  • Second death of a Parkland survivor in about a week

A second student from the Florida high school targeted in a mass shooting has died in little more than a week, police said on Sunday.

The boy was believed to be a survivor of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas school on 14 February 2018 in which 17 people were killed and 17 wounded.

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‘Pay-for-access to Trump club’: Mar-a-Lago faces renewed ethics concerns

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With the winding down of the ‘Winter White House’ comes another season of controversy and scandal that swirl around the president’s resort

At Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s waterfront winter retreat, an end-of-term air hangs over the expansive verandas and perfectly manicured lawns. In barely a month’s time, following the traditional season-closing Easter Sunday brunch gala, the private members’ club will be scrubbed and shuttered for the summer, its wealthy clientele dispersing to residences in the Hamptons or boarding their mega-yachts to cruise the Mediterranean.

Related: Trump's four 2017 Mar-a-Lago trips cost taxpayers nearly $14m, watchdog says

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Trump donor who once owned prostitution case day spa offered access to president

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  • Li Yang claimed to give Chinese clients pictures with Trump
  • Miami Herald and Mother Jones reports raise ethics questions

A company run by a donor to Donald Trump claimed it could provide Chinese clients with a chance to mingle and take photos with the president, along with access to his private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Related: Trump in Super Bowl selfie with founder of spa in prostitution case

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#MeToo daubed on kissing sailor statue day after serviceman’s death

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Florida sculpture of George Mendonsa and Greta Zimmer Friedman defaced as kiss comes under scrutiny

A statue in Florida depicting the US sailor famously photographed kissing a female stranger at the end of the second world war has been vandalised, with “#MeToo” written in red spray paint across the woman’s leg the day after the serviceman’s death.

Although the image of George Mendonsa kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman has long been heralded for epitomising the joy shared throughout the world upon the ending of hostilities in 1945, it has come under scrutiny more recently, with many accusing Mendonsa of assault.

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‘It was hell’: Parkland massacre survivor sets focus on healing … and soccer

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The Marjory Stoneman Douglas student was hailed as a hero for saving 20 students, but the teen only wants the freedom of playing on the field

When the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school commandeered the streets of Washington DC to march for their lives last year, Anthony Borges was still in a Florida hospital, fighting for his.

The soft-spoken 15-year-old, then a freshman at the school in Parkland, had been shot five times during the onslaught of violence on 14 February 2018, which left 17 students and teachers dead.

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Jeffrey Epstein: US opens inquiry into light sentence for wealthy sexual abuser

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Plea deal, involving attorney who became Trump’s labor secretary, saw financier avoid severe penalty for abusing girls

The justice department has opened an investigation into federal prosecutors’ handling of a plea deal in which a wealthy, politically connected Florida financier avoided potentially severe penalties for sexually abusing teenage girls in favor of a relatively light state conviction.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Republican senator Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, that it would examine whether professional misconduct occurred in the highly publicized case of Jeffrey Epstein. The letter cited a series of recent articles by the Miami Herald that focused new attention on how the deal came about.

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Roger Stone’s arrest may renew threat of impeachment for Trump

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White House says arrest of Trump’s adviser ‘has nothing to do with the president’ but analysts warn it may thrust him into legal jeopardy

It was time once again on Friday morning for Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, to go on television and say that the arrest of a Donald Trump campaign associate had nothing to do with the president.

This time the arrestee was Roger Stone, a longtime Trump political adviser, taken into custody in a 6am raid by FBI agents on his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone was charged with lying to Congress, obstructing an investigation and witness tampering. In the past, Stone has denied all wrongdoing.

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Parkland commission recommends teachers be allowed to carry guns

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Commission unanimously approved 446-page report containing the proposed policy and other changes to ‘harden’ schools

The commission investigating the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida has included a recommendation in its preliminary report that classroom teachers who volunteer and undergo training should be allowed to carry guns in school.

Related: Parkland parents channel their grief at children's deaths into advocacy

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Development project threatens endangered Florida panther, experts say

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Almost half of proposed area of construction falls within hunting and roaming zone that is essential to animal’s survival

The extinction of the endangered Florida panther could be hastened by a large development proposed for the state, environmental groups are warning, as a major project is expected to win approval from the Trump administration as early as April.

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Trump calls Gillum a “radical socialist,” says Abrams is unqualified

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President Donald Trump took the low road in recent attacks against two of the most promising Democrats running in high profile governor's races, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum in Florida and former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in Georgia. On Saturday night the president told a crowd at a rally in Pensacola that Gillum is "a radical socialist ... who will not do good things for Florida," according to CBS News .

Trump tours hurricane damage in Florida

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US President Donald Trump has been shown roofless homes and uprooted trees as he toured Florida Panhandle communities ravaged by the force of Hurricane Michael. Mr Trump toured devastated coastal communities by air, land and foot before he and the first lady helped hand out bottled water at a Federal Emergency Management Agency aid distribution centre.