Florida

Read recent news stories and current events about Florida on Newser.com

Stories 3481 - 3500 | << Prev   Next >>

Florida Sen. Martinez to Resign: Insiders

Announcement could come today

(Newser) - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will resign, perhaps as soon as today, sources tell the Miami Herald. “It's a deeply personal decision that he will expand on later today. He decided it's time to move to another stage of his life,” one said. The Republican has previously refuted word...

Tampa Town Hall on Health Turns Ugly

Forum turns into rowdy shouting, shoving match

(Newser) - Rowdy protesters turned a Tampa town hall meeting on health care reform into a near-riot last night, reports the St. Petersburg Times, whose reporter at the scene likened the atmosphere to a wrestling cage match. Local Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor was shouted down by audience members crying "Tyranny!"...

Online Political Ads: Subject to Regulation, or Just a Link?

(Newser) - If online ads are the future of political campaigning, then a legal snafu in the St. Petersburg mayoral race bears watching. Florida election officials have ruled that one candidate’s Google and Facebook ads violate state election laws because they don’t clearly state who paid for the ad, the...

Miami Cops Hunt Horse Killers
 Miami Cops Hunt Horse Killers 
Jul 31, 2009 11:30 AM CDT

Miami Cops Hunt Horse Killers

(Newser) - Miami police have a mystery on their hands. Someone, or a group of people, is slaughtering horses and making off with the meat, the AP reports. Since January, 17 horses have been found dead, their butchered bodies generally left by the roadside or in pastures. Animal rights groups believe the...

Shuttle Returns to Earth
 Shuttle Returns to Earth 
Jul 31, 2009 10:14 AM CDT

Shuttle Returns to Earth

(Newser) - Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts are back on Earth. Endeavour landed at Florida's Kennedy Space Center this morning after a 16-day mission that saw the crew complete its major construction goals at the International Space Station. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, back after 4½ months in space, says he...

Fla. Python Hunt More Wild Goose Chase
 Fla. Python Hunt 
 More Wild Goose Chase 
ANALYSIS
Jul 30, 2009 12:05 PM CDT

Fla. Python Hunt More Wild Goose Chase

(Newser) - The “Great Florida Python Hunt” is on, but the prey population is likely smaller—and less dangerous—than advertised, Paul Quinlan writes in the Palm Beach Post. Proponents have said there could be 100-150,000 Burmese pythons in the Everglades, a figure the media has seized upon. But the...

Florida's New Boom Crop: Potent Indoor Pot

(Newser) - California gets most of the attention when it comes to marijuana headlines, but Florida leads the nation in indoor pot cultivation, reports Time. Last year, police raided more than 1,000 so-called grow houses, more than double the number in 2006. The trend has the attention of authorities because pot...

Disease Threatens Florida Oranges

Scientists search for solutions to citrus greening disease

(Newser) - Florida’s orange growers face a powerful adversary in a disease know by its shorthand of HLB that causes citrus trees to “green”—produce only sour, misshapen fruit, Scientific American reports. With every county in the state affected, the citrus industry has dedicated $10 million this year alone...

Porn Star's Hubby Loses Town Manager Gig

Mayor acknowledges he did a good job, but could be distracting

(Newser) - Porn cost Scott Janke his job. He didn’t download it at work, but he did marry an adult video star. The Fort Myers Beach, Fla., town manager and Anabela Mota (stage name: Jazella Moore) wed last year, but the mayor and council members didn't hear about it until Tuesday,...

Slain Couple Stashed 100K in Home Safe

Adoptive parents of 13 gave gang boss financial help

(Newser) - The gang who killed a Florida couple in a military-style assault on their home were after a safe that contained $100,000 in cash, a source tells CNN. The suspects fled with a smaller safe after being unable to open the main one, according to the source. The smaller safe...

Same-Name Couple to Wed After Meeting on Facebook

Kelly Hildebrandt (F) made the first move

(Newser) - Kelly Hildebrandt found her soon-to-be husband on Facebook—but not in the usual ways, such as through college or friends in common, the AP reports. The 20-year-old Floridian plugged her name into the social-networking site’s search engine and found the only match at the time—Texan Kelly Carl Hildebrandt....

Sotomayor Wins Republicans' Backing

 Sotomayor Wins 
 Republicans' Backing 
UPDATED
Jul 17, 2009 12:17 PM CDT

Sotomayor Wins Republicans' Backing

She's shown 'judicial temperament': statement

(Newser) - Richard Lugar said today he’ll back Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court bid, making him the first GOP senator to do so, the Washington Post reports. Mel Martinez of Florida, the chamber's sole Republican Latino, quickly followed suit. “Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination...

8th Bust Made in Murder of Fla. Pair; Cartel Link Surfaces

Eighth arrest in slaying of Byrd and Melanie Billings

(Newser) - An eighth arrest was made yesterday in the killing of a Florida couple with 16 kids, the Pensacola News Journal reports. Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, has been charged as an accessory to the crime. She has been linked to two other suspects—she rents an apartment to the man described...

Florida to Unleash Python Hunters

(Newser) - With Florida’s python population exploding, state wildlife officials are going on the offensive, hiring a team of trained hunters to track down the alarmingly large snakes and take them out, the Miami Herald reports. “There’s one way to do this: kill the snakes,” says Florida Sen....

7 Busted in Slaying of Couple Who Took in Disabled Kids

Men trained for military-style assault on parents of 17

(Newser) - The video surveillance system a wealthy Florida couple installed to keep track of their 13 adopted children has helped catch their murderers, the Pensacola News Journal reports. The seven men in custody trained for up to a month to carry out a military-style invasion on the home of the couple,...

Like Most Humans, Jacko's Bubbles Retired in Fla.

(Newser) - He sat in the studio as the "Bad" album was recorded, dined with countless celebrities, and was once perhaps the world's most famous chimp. But like so many oldsters, today Michael Jackson's onetime pal Bubbles lives a quiet life in the retirement haven of Florida, reports the Miami Herald....

2 Grilled in Murder of Parents Who Adopted Disabled

(Newser) - Police are interrogating two men they say were caught on videotape in the home invasion-murder of a wealthy Florida couple who adopted 12 children, several of them disabled, reports the Pensacola News Journal. Eight of the children of the murdered couple, Byrd and Melanie Billings, were home at the time...

Floridians Gang Up on New Neighbor: 8-Foot Gator

Said to have come from local canal

(Newser) - Residents of a South Florida town found a surprise visitor in their pool last night: an 8-foot alligator. Someone—nobody owned up—tied the creature to a tree with an extension cord before calling for help, the Miami Herald reports. When deputies arrived, a crowd of 30 was ogling the...

Cat-Carving Teenager a Sociopath: Detectives

(Newser) - A Florida teen charged with killing 19 cats in his Miami community became so excited talking about feline dissection that detectives were convinced he was a sociopath, according to court documents released yesterday. Tyler Weinman, 18, never admitted he killed the cats that were found mutilated in his neighborhood, but...

Pet Python Strangles 2-Year-Old

(Newser) - A 2-year-old Florida girl was strangled to death yesterday by a pet python owned by her mother’s boyfriend, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Charles Darnell noticed that his 8-foot-long albino Burmese python had escaped from its aquarium when he awoke yesterday morning. He found it on top of the girl...

Stories 3481 - 3500 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser