Florida

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Florida Teen's Killing Erupts Into National Story

Trayvon Martin's family wants shooter George Zimmerman prosecuted

(Newser) - An unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, and Zimmerman has yet to be charged; now Reuters reports that the FBI is monitoring the controversial Sanford, Florida, case, which has garnered nationwide attention. Trayvon Martin, 17, was walking through a gated...

2nd 'Underground Railroad' Ran South for 100 Years

Slaves fled southern states for Spanish-owned Florida

(Newser) - Turns out there was another Underground Railroad that helped Southern slaves escape their masters before the Civil War—only it ran the other way and relied partly on help from American Indians. Reporting on an upcoming conference in St. Augustine, Fla., the AP describes a lesser-known railroad that once shuttled...

Plenty of Schools Still Rely on Spanking

Paddling is especially popular in northern Florida

(Newser) - Think spanking in school is extinct? Think again. Nineteen states legally permit teachers and principals in public schools to spank a child, reports NPR . In Florida, for instance, more than 3,600 kids were spanked in 2010, usually with a wooden or fiberglass paddle, and usually in a rural district...

Vets Rip Flag With Obama&#39;s Face
 Vets Rip Flag With Obama's Face 
Mar 16, 2012 1:26 AM CDT

Vets Rip Flag With Obama's Face

Removed flag available for purchase online

(Newser) - O say can you see ... Barack Obama? A local Florida Democratic Party office has removed an American flag that replaced Old Glory's stars with President Obama's face after a handful of angry veterans turned up to call it disrespectful. “What really upsets me is that the flag...

Cops: Nameplate Thief Posts Facebook Photo

Steven Mulhall accused of taking it ... from a judge

(Newser) - If you're going to steal the nameplate of a judge off his door, fine, have fun. But don't have a photo snapped of yourself holding the nameplate and then post it on Facebook, as Steven Mulhall, 21, of Coral Springs, Florida, is accused of doing, reports the Sun ...

Students Joked Fired Teacher Might Snap

Shane Schumerth had to be escorted out of class, students say

(Newser) - Shane Schumerth was an "awkward man" who didn't seem to fit in, Episcopal High School students say, and when he was fired yesterday morning and escorted off the Jacksonville campus, some of the students joked that he would return to campus and do something. And he did: Police...

Fired Fla. Teacher Kills Principal, Self

Spanish teacher ranted about politics weeks before murder-suicide

(Newser) - A teacher fired from a private Florida high school returned several hours later with an assault rifle hidden in a guitar case and killed the school's headmistress before taking his own life. Students say the Spanish teacher, 28-year-old Shane Schumert, had been ignoring the subject this semester, and was...

23 States Considering Welfare Drug Tests

Lawmakers follow lead of Florida

(Newser) - Lawmakers in 22 states think Florida had the right idea with its law requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test . States like Wyoming, Illinois, Maryland, and Colorado are all considering similar laws that would make a clean drug test a prerequisite for food stamps, welfare, and other forms of...

Woman Vanishes From Cruise Ship
Woman Vanishes
From Cruise Ship
Mar 1, 2012 1:04 AM CST

Woman Vanishes From Cruise Ship

Coast Guard searching area between Bahamas and Florida coast

(Newser) - Yet more bad publicity for the cruise industry: Coast Guard crews are searching a 900-square-mile area of sea for a woman who vanished from a cruise ship somewhere between Grand Bahama and the coast of Florida, ABC reports. The Canadian woman's boyfriend says he last saw her after midnight,...

Woman Torched Ancient Cypress to Better See Drugs

Sara Barnes charged with setting fire that destroyed 3,500-year-old tree

(Newser) - When we last visited the sad tale of "the Senator," arson had been ruled out as the source of the fire that felled the famously ancient cypress tree. Now, a pathetic and unfortunate cause emerges: Sara Barnes, 26, was charged yesterday with setting the fire that burned the...

School's Plan to Boost Test Scores: Feed Kids Placebos

Florida elementary school students given 'FCAT PowerBars'

(Newser) - A Florida elementary school wants its students to perform better on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test … so it's feeding them "placebos." Hagen Road Elementary students will be given an "FCAT PowerBar"—aka an apple-flavored cereal bar with a label reading, "Warning: Improves Writing...

Miami Man Arrested for Threatening Obama

Joaquin Amador Serrapio pleads not guilty after house raid

(Newser) - Federal agents arrested a 20-year-old Florida man for allegedly threatening President Obama during a presidential fundraising trip to Miami last week, NBC Miami reports. Agents raided the home of Miami resident Joaquin Amador Serrapio on Thursday and took him into custody, where he pleaded not guilty to a federal magistrate....

7 States Sue Over Birth Control Rule

Measure on religious employers violates First Amendment, they say

(Newser) - The White House plan to make sure that employees of religious institutions get birth control coverage is back in the news. The attorneys general of seven states—Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas—have sued the federal government over the requirement, reports the Hill . They say the...

Woman Plows Car Into Slow Drive-Thru Customer

Jennifer Lynn Betterly wasn't pleased with the speed at a KFC/Taco Bell

(Newser) - It's called fast food, people. Or so may have gone the thought process of one Jennifer Lynn Betterly, a Florida woman who had just about enough of waiting in line at the KFC/Taco Bell drive-thru in Largo on Saturday night. And so she did what any hungry diner would...

Florida Man Tried to Cash $100 Check ... Gets $3.3M

Well, after being mistaken for a robber and having his head kicked by police...

(Newser) - It's not every day that you walk into a bank planning to cash a $100 check—and ultimately find yourself $3.3 million richer. That's what happened to Rodolfo Valladares, just not quite that smoothly. Valladares, sporting a Miami Heat hat, walked into a Florida Bank of America...

Judge Orders Man to Take Wife on Date
 Judge Orders Man 
 to Take Wife on Date 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 12, 2012 7:00 PM CST

Judge Orders Man to Take Wife on Date

Joseph Bray ordered to take his wife bowling, to Red Lobster

(Newser) - Let the punishment fit the crime? A Florida man who appeared in court this week on a domestic violence charge was ordered by the judge to ... take his wife on a date. The charge apparently grew out of an argument Joseph Bray had with his wife—whose birthday he failed...

3 Dead in Florida Hostage Standoff

Man appears to have killed 9-year-old son

(Newser) - Police are still sorting out what happened at a Florida RV park last night, after a standoff that left three people dead and two others badly hurt. Police got a call about a shooting at the park just before 6:30pm, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel . When they arrived,...

Florida Abolishing 'City That Never Was'

Conservationists thwarted developers' plans for Islandia

(Newser) - Florida's smallest city, which spans 33 islands at the north end of the Florida Keys and is home to many more manatees than people, is about to be wiped off the map. The city of Islandia only ever really existed in the minds of developers, who declared it a...

Pythons Squeezing Life Out of Everglades

Invading snakes blamed for drastic decline in mammal populations

(Newser) - The native mammals of the Florida Everglades have been all but wiped out by huge numbers of pythons and anacondas descended from released pets, a new study finds. After nearly a decade of night-time road surveys in the 1.5 million-acre national park, researchers found that raccoon and opossum sightings...

Newt Slams Obama, Mitt on 'Anti-Religious Policies'

Obama has declared 'war on Christianity,' he says

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich's latest campaign pledge is to overturn all "anti-religious" policies on his first day in office. On the campaign trail in Florida yesterday, the candidate—a prominent opponent of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque—portrayed himself as the candidate of religious freedom, the Wall Street Journal reports....

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