Florida

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Cop Who Killed Woman in Drill Has Checkered Past

He was forced to resign from previous post

(Newser) - The Florida police officer who accidentally fired real bullets during a role-playing drill, killing a 73-year-old woman , doesn't exactly have a spotless record. During his rookie year with the Miramar Police Department in 2013, Lee Coel, 28, was accused of excessive force on two occasions before investigators determined he...

Man Shoots Unarmed Ex at Denny's, Claims Self-Defense

Florida's Sean Barnes is the latest to invoke Stand Your Ground law

(Newser) - Sean Barnes admits he followed his ex-girlfriend into a Denny's bathroom, then shot her in the face. But as for the resulting attempted murder charge, Barnes says he acted in self-defense in August 2013 in accordance with Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, reports the Miami Herald . Police...

Once Jailed for Road Rage, Florida Man Is Victim of It

Gary Lynn Durham was shot dead Wednesday morning

(Newser) - Gary Lynn Durham was on probation until 2017, but didn't live to see it end. The Florida man, who had served a decade in prison in connection with a 2001 road-rage incident that ended in a man's death, was himself killed in what police say was another case...

Cop Kills Woman, 73, by Mistake in Role-Playing Drill

Mary Knowlton, 73, was picked at random to participate

(Newser) - In what's being described as a "horrible accident" by Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis, a 73-year-old Florida woman was mistakenly shot dead while participating in a citizen police academy designed to better relations between officers and the community they serve. The "shoot or don't shoot"...

The Zika Situation Gets Worse in Florida

4 new cases of locally-transmitted Zika announced

(Newser) - Florida's governor has announced four new cases of Zika virus infection that health officials believe were spread by mosquitoes in a Miami neighborhood, the AP reports. Florida now has 21 people who contracted the virus locally. According to a statement Tuesday from Gov. Rick Scott's office, the Florida...

Orlando Gunman's Dad Spotted at Clinton Rally

He says Trump 'has no solutions'

(Newser) - The mustachioed man in a red ball cap standing behind Hillary Clinton at a rally Monday night in Florida might have seemed ordinary, but his appearance is getting quite a lot of attention. That's because the man, Seddique Mateen, is the father of Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, reports...

Florida Mom-to-Be: Zika Turns Pregnancy Into Horror Movie

Liz Tracy talks being pregnant at the center of the US' Zika outbreak

(Newser) - "Pregnancy typically feels like a sci-fi flick," Liz Tracy writes for the Atlantic . "Zika, however, turns these nine-and-a-half months into a horror movie with a monster that is almost impossible to locate and hard to avoid." Tracy is currently pregnant in Miami, home to the US'...

Zimmerman Talks About Trayvon, Gets Punched

Witnesses say he was boasting about killing Trayvon Martin

(Newser) - There are differing accounts of what happened at a Sanford, Fla., restaurant Sunday evening, but three things are clear: George Zimmerman discussed shooting Trayvon Martin, he was punched in the face, and he is no longer welcome at Gators Riverside Grille. WKMG reports that Zimmerman called 911 and said that...

Busch Gardens' Flamingo Dies After Alleged Attack by Park Visitor

45-year-old man accused of flinging Pinky to the ground in Tampa

(Newser) - Sad news for fans of Pinky the flamingo, one of Busch Gardens Tampa's "animal ambassadors," per a park statement. The 19-year-old bird, who performed dance routines at the park and loved to "get her groove on," per the park's blog , was euthanized Tuesday evening...

'Bad' Breastfeeding Moms Asked to Leave Bad Moms

Theater says kids 6 and under not allowed into R-rated movies

(Newser) - Bad Moms is doing…just OK on Rotten Tomatoes , but moms going to see the Mila Kunis flick went a little meta in Fort Myers, Fla. More than 50 moms who organized through Facebook to see the movie gained their own "bad mom" rep at a Regal Cinemas when...

Woman Shoots Hand While Using Snapchat

Florida woman told cops she was posing with gun

(Newser) - It's only July, but Regina Powell, a 22-year-old woman from Florida, may have already locked down the title for Most Embarrassing Injury of the Year. Powell ended up in the hospital Sunday night after she shot herself in the hand while taking Snapchat video of herself posing with a...

Miss Florida Lost Her Crown, Now She Wants $15M

Pageant claims Genesis Davila used unsanctioned hair and makeup artists

(Newser) - A beauty queen who had her sash and crown stripped from her last month is seeking $15 million in damages, People reports. Genesis Davila was named Miss Florida USA 2017 on July 16. Her reign lasted all of six days. Pageant executive director Grant Gravitt tells the Miami Herald he...

'Highly Unusual' Travel Advisory Issued as Florida Gets 10 New Zika Cases

All are in one neighborhood north of Miami

(Newser) - The "good" news is that the only spot in the US where mosquitoes are believed to be transmitting the Zika virus continues to be one small neighborhood north of downtown Miami. The bad news is that more people have been infected. Gov. Rick Scott on Monday announced that 10...

Cops: Man Busted in Decades-Long Secret Life That Fooled His Wife

Richard Hoagland arrested thanks to search on Ancestry.com

(Newser) - When Richard Hoagland fled Indiana in 1993, leaving behind four children from two families, he was considered missing and in 2003 declared dead. In reality, police say he was alive and well, living in Florida as Terry Jude Symansky, an unmarried Florida fisherman with no kids who drowned in 1991—...

Deadly Parasitic Creature Spreading Through S. Florida

Invasive New Guinea flatworm has migrated from Miami to southwest coast

(Newser) - You may think you can avoid coming into contact with the New Guinea flatworm by simply not visiting New Guinea, but the critter is closer to home than you might guess. Per the Palm Beach Post , the potentially deadly parasite is proliferating throughout South Florida, slithering from where it was...

Fly to Cuba Starting Next Month for $99

JetBlue first domestic airline to offer commercial flights, with others soon to follow

(Newser) - For the first time in more than half a century, a domestic airline will be offering commercial flights to Cuba, and the price looks right. Consumerist reports that starting Aug. 31, JetBlue will be hosting three-times-a-week puddle-jumping jaunts from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Abel Santamaria Airport in Santa Clara, about...

It's Official: US Mosquitoes Are Transmitting Zika

Health officials say 4 cases in Florida came from local mosquitoes

(Newser) - The troubling signs have been building up , and on Friday, health officials confirmed: Florida mosquitoes are transmitting the Zika virus, the first time the virus has been known to be transmitted in the continental US. Four people so far in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have gotten the virus from local...

Mosquitoes May Be Spreading Zika in Florida

Travel and sex can't account for four new Florida cases

(Newser) - The US may have just joined the other 67 countries and territories worldwide where mosquitoes are spreading the Zika virus, Popular Science reports. Up until now, all 1,600 Zika cases in the US were people who either traveled elsewhere to contract it or had sex with someone who did....

Retiree Arrested When Cops Mistake Doughnut Glaze for Meth

'It's incredible'

(Newser) - "I recognized through my 11 years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic," the Orlando Sentinel quotes a police report by officer Shelby Riggs-Hopkins. Riggs-Hopkins must not have nearly as much experience with doughnuts. The Orlando officer pulled...

NFL Great Bitten While Fighting Over Lobster With Shark

The shark didn't care how many career sacks Warren Sapp had

(Newser) - It's a bad idea to get between a shark and its meal. The same could probably be said about NFL Hall-of-Famer Warren Sapp. So when Sapp and a shark both found themselves going after the same lobster Wednesday, the result was understandably gruesome. The Tampa Bay Times reports Sapp...

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