Florida

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Woman Jailed After Girl Scout Cookie Brawl

What can you say? She must really like her Thin Mints

(Newser) - Everybody loves Girl Scout cookies, but not everybody loves them this much: A Florida woman is in jail on charges of beating up her roommate Sunday in a dispute over Thin Mints. Hersha Howard, 31, is accused of bursting into Jasmin Wanke’s room while she slept and accusing Wanke...

Annual Shark Migration Swarms Florida Coast

They only look scary, say biologists

(Newser) - Large schools containing thousands of migrating sharks are once again appearing off the coast of Palm Beach County and other southern Florida beaches—sometimes right along the shore, reports NBC . As large numbers of black tip and spinner sharks make their annual trek northward for warmer waters, biologists have tried...

Acid Dad Charged With Attempted Murder

Jorge Barahona allegedly abused children found doused in chemicals

(Newser) - Jorge Barahona, the man whose adopted twin children were found doused in toxic chemicals inside his truck on the side of the highway Monday, has been charged with attempted murder for the injuries sustained by 10-year-old Victor, the Miami Herald reports. Barahona, who has not been charged in the death...

Girl's Body Found in Dad's Truck, Covered in Acid

Her twin brother, 10, is in intensive care

(Newser) - It's one of the more horrific allegations of a child abuse to come along for some time: Florida police found the corpse of a 10-year-old girl, covered in acid, in the back of her adopted father's truck. Her twin brother was in the front seat, nearly overcome by toxic fumes,...

Dalai Lama Nephew Killed in Florida

Jigme Norbu struck by car after setting off on 300-mile odyssey

(Newser) - The nephew of the Dalai Lama was killed after being struck by a car as he walked along a Florida highway during a 300-mile march to raise awareness for Tibetan independence. Jigme K. Norbu, 45, was hit by an SUV last night as he set off on a "Walk...

With Eye on Spring Break, Florida Bans Bath Salts

Spring breakers will need to find another cheap, dangerous high

(Newser) - On the heels of reports that bath salts are as bad as meth, Florida's not messing around: The Sunshine State has joined Louisiana in banning the sale of little white packets of crystals that people around the Southeast are smoking or snorting, because, "For lack of a better term,...

Lotto Winner Can Sue Cops Who Shot Him: High Court

Excessive force trial to move forward

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court ruled that a trial for two sheriff's deputies who shot a man at his Florida home should go forward, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Robert Swofford seemed to be a pretty lucky guy—he'd won $60 million in the Florida lottery two years before a tracking...

Arsonist Busted After Leaving Fingertip at Scene

Cops found Ismael Ortiz, not surprisingly, at a hospital

(Newser) - Ismael Ortiz left something kinda important behind after allegedly setting a Florida home on fire: the tip of his finger. Police found the evidence inside a latex glove; a detective says Ortiz slammed his finger in a door while fleeing the scene. They found Ortiz, 24, at a local hospital,...

Drug-Seeking Burglars Snort Man, Dog Ashes

Teen sniffers were hoping for cocaine, heroin, say cops

(Newser) - Oops. Burglars were so desperate for drugs when they broke into a Florida home that they snorted a powder found in a ceramic urn. But they didn't get even a hint of a buzz because they had inhaled some of the cremated remains of the former man of the house...

Cops Nab Fugitive After 30 Years on Run

Canadian dope smuggler had been living in Pennsylvania for decades

(Newser) - Thirty years after faking a heart attack to escape prison, a 71-year-old alleged dope smuggler has landed back in custody, reports CNN . Ian Jackson MacDonald escaped from a Miami-Dade prison hospital in 1980, after convincing a guard to unshackle his legs so he could take a shower. MacDonald had been...

Teens Arrested Over Facebook Prank
Teens Arrested
Over Facebook Prank
Jan 14, 2011 10:26 AM CST

Teens Arrested Over Facebook Prank

Setting up fake profile was serious crime, police say

(Newser) - Two teenage girls in Florida are facing serious criminal charges for a Facebook prank they played on a classmate. The girls, aged 15 and 16, created a fake Facebook profile in the name of another student—a girl they were no longer friends with—and added photos doctored to make...

WikiLeaks Sued for 'Emotional Distress'

Leaks make Florida claimant worry about "nucliar war'

(Newser) - One slightly bent Florida fellow is suffering from more serious depressions, higher hypertension and more stressful stress, he's charging in a typo-riddled lawsuit filed against WikiLeaks. He's in "constant fear of being stricken by another heart attack or stroke" because he now believes the world is "on the...

Florida City to Turn Toilet Water Into Drinking Water

Pembroke Pines to inject treated sewage into the water supply

(Newser) - Within three years, Floridians from Miami to Boca Raton could be drinking sewage—albeit nice, treated sewage. Pembroke Pines plans to build a $47 million facility that will pump 7 million gallons of treated sewage a day into the aquifer that supplies Broward, Miami-Dade, and part of Palm Beach County,...

Man to Spend Month in Lion's Den
Man to Spend Month
in Lion's Den
Jan 3, 2011 2:33 PM CST

Man to Spend Month in Lion's Den

James Jablon is doing it for charity

(Newser) - One Florida man is putting his life on the line for charity. James Jablon began sleeping in a lion's den on Saturday, NBC Miami reports, and he plans to bunk with the two African lions for the entire month. Jablon is undertaking the stunt as part of a fundraiser for...

Woman Arrested After Calls to 911 About Manicure

She called four times during dispute

(Newser) - A Florida woman was jailed briefly for tying up 911 with a decidedly "non-emergency" issue: complaints about her manicure. Cynthia Colston called four times from the salon after getting into an argument with her nail technician, including once to complain about the deputy who arrived on the scene and...

Five Teens Found Dead in Hotel Room Accident

Carbon monoxide appears to be to blame

(Newser) - Five teens were found dead in a Florida hotel room yesterday, after apparently accidentally poisoning themselves with carbon monoxide. Juchen Martial and his friends had rented the $62 motel room Sunday night to celebrate his birthday. But they left their car running, parked below their hotel room. The fumes from...

God Is Getting More Snail Mail This Year

People send requests to heaven, notes to lost friends

(Newser) - Letters to the North Pole are common, but this year has seen notable quantities of letters to a different address: Heaven. “In the 10 years I've been doing this, I've seen maybe two or three letters addressed to heaven," one Florida postal worker tell the St. Petersburg Times...

Census Results Could Be Really Good News for GOP

Red-leaning states to see congressional boost

(Newser) - The Census Bureau will announce its new population figures tomorrow, and Republicans will likely be fans of the numbers. Based on the figures, as many as 18 states could see their number of congressional districts and representatives change, a political consultant tells NPR . Texas is set to gain three Congressional...

Classy ATM Spits Gold, Not Cash, in Florida

Machine installed in a shopping mall

(Newser) - An ATM at a posh Florida mall cuts out the paper and goes straight for gold. Slide in credit card or cash and get out a pile of gold bars and coins in a tidy black box, the AP reports. The German machine is primarily a novelty item, says its...

Guard Who Took Down Gunman: 'I'm No Hero'

Mike Jones says he'd been terrified he let school board down

(Newser) - When distraught ex-con Clay Duke took a school board meeting hostage on Tuesday, it was security guard Mike Jones who saved the day, shooting and wounding Duke, who then killed himself. But Jones says he was only doing his job. “I’m not a hero folks,” he said...

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