Florida

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

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Landscaper Jailed After Mowing Down Ducklings

He killed 9 in front of a couple and young son

(Newser) - A Florida landscaper faces prison time after he mowed down a family of ducklings. Jason Falbo, 24, claims it was unintentional, but a couple and their young son who watched the scene unfold aren't buying it, and, so far, neither are police, reports the Palm Beach Post . It happened...

Alleged Shooting at Zimmerman Was Self-Defense: Lawyer

Police recover guns from Matthew Apperson and George Zimmerman

(Newser) - After recent reports that Matthew Apperson shot at George Zimmerman near Orlando, Apperson's lawyer says his client did nothing illegal: It was "a good, old-fashioned self-defense case," attorney Mark NeJame says, as the AP reports. He holds that Zimmerman waved a gun at Apperson; he notes that...

Success! Rare Conjoined Twins Separated in Fla.

Parents elated 5-month-old Connor and Carter are 'doing very well'

(Newser) - "My word of the day is awesome." That was Bryan Mirabal's reaction to the surgery that successfully separated his conjoined 5-month-old boys last week, per the Florida Times-Union . The 26-year-old and his 24-year-old fiancee Michelle Brantley are celebrating the procedure on their boys, Connor and Carter, which...

American Sex Offenders Have Their Own City

The City of Refuge lies amid cane fields in Pahokee, Fla.

(Newser) - Convicted sex offenders are legally required to live far from children, so they often reside in cars, under overpasses, in the woods—or in the City of Refuge. More like a village, Refuge houses 120 offenders in 61 concrete bungalows amid the cane fields of Pahokee, Fla. "Here is...

Man Robs Woman on Elevator, Gets Stuck in Elevator

You've got to watch those closing doors, criminals

(Newser) - The thing about elevator doors is that they open and close, a point to keep in mind if you're planning to rob someone in an elevator. Deputies in Florida's Broward County say surveillance video shows a man armed with a knife entering an elevator and taking the purse...

Cops: Florida Parents Gave Girls Drugs for Doing Chores

Joey and Chad Mudd allegedly used drugs an incentive for getting kids to school, too

(Newser) - When choosing between the carrot and the stick to motivate their girls, police say a pair of Florida parents chose a seriously illegal carrot. Joey and Chad Mudd of Largo were arrested Monday on child abuse charges: The couple are accused of smoking pot with their teen girls, ages 13...

Hostage Uses App to Order Pizza, 911 Help

'Get 911 to me,' she wrote in Pizza Hut order

(Newser) - A Florida woman helped save herself and her three children from a hostage situation on Monday with help from a pizza app. Cheryl Treadway told police she'd been arguing with her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson, at their home in Highlands County when he took her cellphone and grabbed a knife....

Prisoner Who Escaped in 1959 Finally Caught

Ohio's Frank Freshwaters is picked up in Florida

(Newser) - Safe to say that Frank Freshwaters probably thought he had beaten the system for good. After escaping from an Ohio prison facility in 1959, Freshwaters managed to assume a new identity as William Cox and settle in Florida's Brevard Country. But as Cleveland.com reports, authorities finally tracked down...

Florida Ferries Going to Cuba Again

Also, JetBlue adds a weekly flight from New York City

(Newser) - The US embargo on Cuba is still in place, but two developments today further suggest that its days are numbered:
  • Ferry service: Two companies have gotten approval from the US to begin running ferries from Florida to Cuba for the first time in 50 years, reports the Sun Sentinel . The
...

Why It's Unwise to Play With Water Moccasins

They're not really cuddly

(Newser) - "People without the experience shouldn't be handling these types of animals." This revolutionary statement of the obvious on venomous snakes comes to us by way of a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rep in the great state of Florida, where one Austin Hatfield might take that to...

In Epic Document, 'Floridian-American' Calls Court a 'Hoe'

'F*ck this court ' and 'I AM justice' are just 2 gems in Tamah Jada Clark's complaint

(Newser) - When the very first thing you see under the date, header, and plaintiffs'/defendants' names on complaint papers is an underlined "To F--- This Court and Everything that it Stands For" mission statement, you know it's probably going to be a wild read. That's how Tamah Jada...

FBI Finds Lone Gold Bar Stolen in $5M Heist

Authorities may have traced suspects to South Florida

(Newser) - The FBI has made a break in the case of $4.9 million in gold bars stolen during a highway heist along Interstate 95 last month. Officers say they've uncovered a single bar worth up to $500,000 in South Florida, though they won't specify how or exactly...

Disney Driving Experience Turns Deadly

Customer lost control of Lamborghini

(Newser) - The Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World in Orlando turned deadly when a driver lost control of a Lamborghini and crashed into a guardrail, the Florida Highway Patrol says. Passenger Gary Terry, the operations manager at the track, was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday afternoon and the 24-year-old...

Student Faces Felony Over Computer Wallpaper Prank

Prank on teacher suddenly has serious consequences for Domanik Green, 14

(Newser) - The kid calls it a harmless prank on a teacher, the sheriff calls it a felony. Florida eighth-grader Domanik Green, 14, is in hot water after authorities say he hacked into his school's computer system, reports the Tampa Bay Times . As a result, he's facing charges of offense...

Metro Area With the Most Well-Being Is in ... Florida

North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area ranks No. 1 on the Gallup-Healthways Index

(Newser) - If you're looking to live in a place where people like what they do, like where they live, and make smart physical and financial choices, get thee to North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. Of the 100 most populated US metropolitan areas considered in the newly released Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index , it ranked...

Jeb Bush Registered to Vote as 'Hispanic'

Bush spokeswoman can't really explain why that happened

(Newser) - Jeb Bush seems to have erred in filling out his 2009 voter-registration application in Miami-Dade County—specifically in the "Race/Ethnicity" field, which he checked "Hispanic," the New York Times reports. The Times notes Bush's deep ties to the Hispanic community—including his Mexican wife, his fluent...

Soon to Be Legal in Florida: Living in Sin


 Soon to Be 
 Legal in Florida: 
 Living in Sin 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 5, 2015 6:41 AM CDT

Soon to Be Legal in Florida: Living in Sin

Bill would repeal 1868 law banning cohabitation

(Newser) - Soon, the 500,000-plus couples currently "living in sin" in Florida will, at least, not be breaking the law of the land. The state legislature is moving to repeal the 1868 law that makes unwed cohabitation illegal, Reuters reports. And while it sounds rather funny, it's not always...

Woman's Spirited Obituary: 'Too Late for Questions, Sorry'

Florida's Emily Phillips touches readers with humorous self-penned death notice

(Newser) - A couple of weeks before she died of pancreatic cancer, Emily Phillips gathered her family around to read them something special: the obituary she had written for herself. "It was one of the most special moments of my life to hear my mother tell her life story in her...

Prison Workers Are in KKK, Plotted to Kill Inmate: Fla. AG

Alleged murder plot conjured after black inmate fought with one of the workers

(Newser) - Two current employees and one former worker with Florida's Department of Corrections aren't just accused of being Ku Klux Klan members—the state's attorney general says they're now also facing charges of plotting to kill a former inmate, the AP reports. Thomas Jordan Driver, 25, and...

8 Killed in Church Van Accident
 8 Killed in Church Van Accident 
Mar 30, 2015 6:03 AM CDT

8 Killed in Church Van Accident

10 others in vehicle injured, 2 of them critically

(Newser) - A church van returning from a trip to Fort Myers, Fla., crashed in Glades County this morning around 12:30am, killing eight people. The van was apparently traveling on State Road 78 when it ran a stop sign at Highway 27, crossed all four lanes of the highway and a...

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