A Florida first: White man will be executed after getting death penalty for killing black man

Since Florida reinstated the death penalty in 1976, at least 20 black men have been executed for killing white victims, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. On Thursday, Mark James Asay - a former white supremacist prison gang member once inked with a swastika tattoo - is scheduled to become the first, by way of lethal injection with a drug never before used in a U.S. execution.

In a Florida first, white man to be executed for killing black man

For the first time in state history, Florida is expecting to execute a white man Thursday for killing a black person - and it plans to do so with the help of a drug that has never been used before in any U.S. execution. Barring a stay, Mark Asay, 53, is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. Asay was convicted by a jury of two racially motivated, premeditated murders in Jacksonville in 1987.

Navy pilot rescued after crashing fighter jet off Florida coast

A Navy pilot needed to be rescued after crashing his fighter jet of the coast of Key West A U.S Navy pilot crashed his fighter jet into the ocean off the coast of the Florida Keys on Wednesday. The U.S. Coast Guard were notified at 1:07 p.m. on Wednesday that a Navy F-5N jet pilot needed to be rescued after crashing 20 nautical miles off the coast of Key West, according to a U.S. Coast Guard news release .

Jeb Bush: Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s ‘incompetence and terrible judgment’ is ‘jarring’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lashed out at Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., amid an information technology procurement scandal involving one of her former staffers. "The incompetence and terrible judgment displayed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Democrats is jarring," Bush tweeted Saturday, with a link to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece detailing the controversy surrounding IT aide Imran Awan.

LETTERS: “Volunteer one to two hours per week to help with the…

As a 28-year member of the Volusia Literacy Council, I remember when I first joined, 1 in every 4 folks in Volusia County could not read or write past a fourth-grade level. Fast forward 28 years later, and as many as 1 in 4 adults still cannot read past a fourth-grade level.

How Florida explains our polarized politics

The strategists plotting Florida Gov. Rick Scott's re-election bid in 2014 faced a problem: The state's explosive growth, especially in liberal cities like Miami, Orlando and Tampa, was being fueled by an influx of voters likely to back Scott's Democratic opponent. To win a second term, Scott would have to find votes in unlikely places.

FBI, Coast Guard investigate newlywed’s sea disappearance

When the Coast Guard found Lewis Bennett on a life raft between Florida and the Bahamas, he told rescuers that about three hours earlier he had been asleep inside the cabin of the catamaran he shared with his new bride, Isabella Hellmann, and was jolted awake when the craft hit something. He said he went up top and found Hellmann gone.

Commissioner Adam Putnam One of First Individuals Awarded 2017 US Water Prize

Last night Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam was presented with the 2017 US Water Prize in acknowledgement of his leadership on water issues in Florida. The prize was award by the US Water Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the nation about the true value of water and advancing policies and programs that manage water resources to advance a better quality of life for everyone.

JaxPort board votes full steam ahead on starting $484 million dredging project

Alfredo Gonzalez, Visit Florida's vice president of global meetings and trade, has turned in his resignation and will depart the agency on July 8. Gonzalez's departure leaves a hole in Visit Florida's campaign to market the state's tourism industry in lucrative markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the Middle East. He followed International Marketing Program Director Shari Bailey, who resigned on Saturday.

House Dems Hired A Fired McDonald’s Worker As Their IT Guy

Multiple members of Congress hired as their information technology administrator an individual whose most recent job experience was being fired from McDonald's, The Daily Caller News Foundation's Investigative Group has learned. Spokesmen for the members won't say what their bosses knew at the time, but the hiring decisions highlight the role - witting or unwitting - the representatives played in what turned out to be an alleged multi-million-dollar IT scam in Congress with serious implications for national security.

Mom of teen missing at sea with friend in 2015 showed ‘egregious …

Investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement say the mother of one of two teen boys who disappeared during a fishing trip nearly two years ago showed an "egregious lapse of judgement and failure to exercise due care." In a newly released report obtained by PEOPLE, the FDLE says the actions or lack thereof of Carlson "Carly" Black, mother of 14-year-old Austin Stephanos , "had the effect of culminating in the disappearance of both boys who are now believed to have perished."

Session on verge of collapse as Florida GOP leaders feud

Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature, which has been wracked by feuds among its top leaders for the last several years, is in danger of ending a three-day special session without restoring billions in money that public schools use to pay for day-to-day operations. The session is scheduled to end Friday, but after two days there remained a divide over spending that appears to have been partially spurred on by Gov. Rick Scott's decision to veto more than $400 million in projects, including tens of millions in programs for the state's 12 public universities.

The Fake History of Bush v. Goreby Gray & Passamani On April 4, the…

SPAN and other media outlets, in fake-news fashion, have erased the Florida witnesses who sued for a statewide recount on equal-protection grounds. n April 4, the Washington Post ran a brief item in its "Daily 202" newsletter about the Gorsuch nomination that ended with a warning: "Don't forget Bush v.