Florida

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

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Woman Who Fired Warning Shot Could Get 60 Years

Marissa Alexander faces triple the original sentence in new trial

(Newser) - Marissa Alexander, the Jacksonville woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot that injured no one, could now end up serving 60 years instead. Alexander, 33, was initially convicted in 2012 of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; the judge imposed three 20-year-sentences,...

Florida City Cites Woman ... for Living Off-Grid
Florida City Cites Woman
... for Living Off-Grid
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 2, 2014 11:16 AM CST

Florida City Cites Woman ... for Living Off-Grid

She won't hook up to water or electric, though she did use the sewer system

(Newser) - A Florida woman is in a legal fight with the city of Cape Coral for the right to live without municipal water or electricity—off the grid, as she puts it to WBBH-TV . The city just played a trump card, though: It capped the sewer at the house of 50-something...

Teen Wrongly Jailed for Month Over Name Confusion

Florida cops got the wrong Cody Williams on sex-assault charges

(Newser) - A Florida teenager spent 35 days in jail on sex-assault charges because it apparently never occurred to his arresting officers that two people might have the same name, reports the Florida Times-Union . Cody Lee Williams, now 19, was arrested last August and charged as an adult after a young girl...

Blind Florida Man Who Killed Buddy Gets His Guns Back

Was exonerated under Stand Your Ground

(Newser) - A blind man in Florida who shot and killed a drinking buddy in March 2012 has been reunited with his guns after winning immunity from prosecution last month under the state's Stand Your Ground law. The judge in Sanford—the city where George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin—on Thursday...

Fired for Carrying Gun, Wells Fargo Manager Sues

Ivette Ros says she needed it to protect her employees

(Newser) - Don't get between Ivette Ros and her 9mm, or she'll slap you with a lawsuit. That's what Wells Fargo Bank learned when it fired Ros from her position as manager in the rural city of Oldsmar, Fla., the Tampa Tribune reports. Ros said she liked carrying her...

Drivers Help Save Unconscious Baby

Miami Herald photographer captures scene on busy expressway

(Newser) - A quick-thinking aunt and a group of Good Samaritans on a busy Miami expressway saved the life of a 5-month-old infant who had stopped breathing yesterday. And one of those helpers just happened to be a Miami Herald photographer who captured some amazing images. The drama began about 2:30pm...

Hunter Mistakes Man for Deer, Shoots Him —Twice

Tampa man may have suffered permanent damage in shooting

(Newser) - A hunter in Tampa, Fla., mistook a man practicing turkey calls for a deer Sunday night and shot him—twice—with a high-powered rifle. Amazingly, he survived, Opposing Views and the New York Times report. Clint Galentine, 37, was walking with a friend in a wildlife management area when the...

'Loud Music' Killer Is Going to Jail; Is That Enough?

What Michael Dunn's murder mistrial says about race in America

(Newser) - Michael Dunn, the man who shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis over music he believed was too loud, is going to prison , likely for the rest of his life. But the jury didn't convict him of murder, which has left a bad taste in many people's mouths. Has justice been...

Fla. Guy Guilty of Attempted Murder in Loud Music Shooting

But mistrial declared on charge of killing teen

(Newser) - Prosecutors say they may retry a Florida man on first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting a teenager after an argument over loud music. A jury yesterday convicted Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software developer, of attempted murder for shooting into a carful of teenagers after the argument but jurors couldn'...

Florida Executes Man for Boy's Horrific Murder

Slain boy's parents pushed for stronger predator laws

(Newser) - Would-be child abductors should think twice about killing their victims because "people will not forget, they will not forgive," said the father of 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce after his son's killer was executed last night. "We will hunt you down and we will put you to death....

Driver in Wrong-Way Crash Was on 'Girls' Night Out'

Olivia Carolee Culbreath, 21, just had a baby last month

(Newser) - Olivia Carolee Culbreath, the 21-year-old arrested in a wrong-way crash in California that killed six people yesterday, had just had a baby late last month and was on a "girls' night out" when the horrific collision occurred around 4:40am Sunday in Diamond Bar, one of her friends tells...

11 Dead in Two Wrong-Way Crashes

Drivers in Florida and California trigger deadly accidents

(Newser) - In a scary weekend for freeway driving, 11 people were killed in two wrong-way crashes—one in Florida and one in California, CNN reports. The Florida crash occurred early this morning on Tampa's Interstate 275 when a Ford Expedition going south in a northbound lane struck a Hyundai, killing...

5 Big Lakes That Are Disappearing

Blame shifting climate, drought: Smithsonian

(Newser) - Climate change, sinkholes, human water use—the reasons are many, but the result is the same: Lakes across the world have shrunk or disappeared completely, and in the Smithsonian , Sarah Zielinski tells their stories. Among them:
  • It's called the Dead Sea, but it's technically a lake, and it'
...

Cops Name Suspect in Student's '89 Disappearance

Florida police think suspected serial killer Paul Rowles murdered Tiffany Sessions

(Newser) - Florida police think they're close to closing a 25-year-old case involving a missing University of Florida student. The sheriff of Alachua County said today that it's "highly, highly probable" that suspected serial killer Paul Rowles murdered Tiffany Sessions in 1989, reports CNN . Rowles died in prison last...

Driver Backs Out of Spot, Hits 7, Kills 3

Then hit a curb, some trees, and ended up in a canal

(Newser) - A 79-year-old woman mistakenly backed into seven people in a parking lot with her SUV Sunday, killing three of them and injuring four. The Florida Highway Patrol said yesterday that Doreene Landstra of Palmetto has been ordered to appear in court next month after receiving a citation for improper backing....

Monster Python Bagged in Florida

18-footer is just short of state record

(Newser) - A huge Burmese python shot and killed by a snake control agent in the Florida Everglades is long enough to swallow the world's two tallest people with room to spare, but the 18-footer is just shy of the state record. The 150-pound female was measured at 18 feet 2...

81-Year-Old Jailed for Excessive Bear-Feeding

She feared they'd starve otherwise: officials

(Newser) - An 81-year-old woman is in prison without bond for feeding bears vast quantities of dog food—and refusing to stop, officials say. Mary Musselman, a retired gym teacher, allegedly fed bears when they visited her property in Sebring, Florida. "We are talking about putting out as many as 17...

55 Bodies Exhumed From Notorious Reform School

And final number could be higher, say researchers

(Newser) - The remains of 55 bodies have been retrieved from unmarked graves at a notorious Florida reform school —almost twice the number that a 2009 inquiry determined were buried there, and five more than researchers were expecting, the Wall Street Journal reports. The now-shuttered Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys,...

Deep South Braces for 'Paralyzing' Winter Storm

Schools closed; hundreds of flights canceled

(Newser) - The next big winter storm is reportedly on its way, and this time, it's the Deep South that will be feeling its effects. The Weather Channel sees 40 million people in the path of Winter Storm Leon, which an expert says could bring once-in-a-generation weather; another calls the storm...

Report: Cocaine-Using Congressman to Resign

Trey Radel to submit resignation letter this morning, say sources

(Newser) - It looks like Trey Radel's "leave of absence" will become a permanent one. The freshman Republican from Florida, who in November pleaded guilty to cocaine possession, will send a letter of resignation to John Boehner today, multiple sources tell Politico . Radel is currently on probation for the drug...

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