Florida

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

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2nd Florida Sinkhole Opens Near First

Initial site now considered missing man's grave

(Newser) - The residents of Seffner, Fla., are on edge after a fresh sinkhole appeared just three miles from where a sinkhole swallowed a man last week . The new sinkhole, which is about 10 feet deep, appeared between two homes yesterday afternoon, ABC reports. Authorities say the hole is not geologically connected...

Florida Imam Found Guilty of Supporting Taliban

Elderly cleric claimed he was lying about supporting them

(Newser) - Miami Muslim cleric Hafiz Khan was convicted of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists today, charges that could, given his advanced age, land him in prison for the rest of his life. During the trial, prosecutors trotted out hundreds of FBI recordings in which Khan, 77, expressed support for...

Crew Saves Mementos From Sinkhole Home

Family watches, weeps

(Newser) - Crews have now razed about half of the Florida home that fell victim to a sinkhole last week , and workers managed to grab some keepsakes for its former residents in the process. Among them: photos, a Bible, a jewelry box, a purse, and a pink teddy bear belonging to the...

Crews Begin Razing Fla. Sinkhole House

They'll try to push house toward street so family can enter

(Newser) - Crews with heavy equipment have begun the demolition of a Florida home over a huge sinkhole where a man is presumed dead after being swallowed by the earth. The search for Jeff Bush, 37, was called off yesterday, and a heavy machine with a large bucket scoop was moved into...

Rescuers Give Up on Sinkhole Victim

Jeffrey Bush was sucked into cavity under his house

(Newser) - Rescuers have called off the search for a Florida man who was sucked into a sinkhole under his bedroom late Thursday night, the AP reports. Officials said they plan to destroy the home of 37-year-old Jeffrey Bush and ordered the next-door neighbors to move out before the sinkhole drags them...

Search Continues for Man Swallowed by Sinkhole

Florida's Jeffrey Bush, 37, vanished while in his bedroom

(Newser) - Engineers are still gingerly trying to find a 37-year-old Florida man who disappeared into a sinkhole that opened up in his bedroom yesterday. Jeffrey Bush is presumed dead, and authorities say the sinkhole is so dangerous they can't risk simply sending searchers into it, reports AP . It's about...

Giant Sinkhole Swallows Florida Man

Homes beside the sinkhole evacuated as hole said to be growing

(Newser) - A giant sinkhole opened up last night under a man's bedroom in Brandon, Florida, swallowing the 34-year-old, who is believed to be dead, reports CNN . The man's brother tried to rescue him from being swallowed by the hole, but was unable to and was pulled away by rescuers...

Man's Romantic Balloon Gesture a Felony: Florida

Anthony Brasfield faces felony under environmental crime statute

(Newser) - Warning to all Florida residents: Be sure to express your love in an Earth-friendly way. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that a 40-year-old man faces up to five years in prison because of 12 heart-shaped balloons. Anthony Brasfield was with his girlfriend in the parking lot of a Motel 6...

GOP Governors Are Coming Around on ObamaCare

How lobbying, politics are making them change their tune

(Newser) - Rick Scott's stunning about-face on expanding Medicaid in Florida made him the seventh Republican governor to back the ObamaCare provision, a trend delighting the law's supporters, the New York Times observes today. "I think this means the dominoes are falling," says the head of one consumer...

Big Reversal: Florida Gov. Backs Key Part of ObamaCare

Scott now supports expansion of Medicaid

(Newser) - ObamaCare scored a big surprise victory today thanks to one of its most strident critics, reports Politico . Florida Gov. Rick Scott reversed himself and backed an expansion of Medicaid in the state, reports the Tampa Bay Times , which calls it an "amazing policy reversal." Scott said the death...

Florida Stadium to Be Renamed— After Prison Firm

GEO Group's boss is alumnus of Florida Atlantic

(Newser) - A 29,000-seat university stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, will soon boast the name of a private prison company—a move that has critics shaking their heads, the New York Times reports. GEO Group "is a company whose record is marred by human rights abuses, by lawsuits, by unnecessary...

Rubio's Water Bottles Bring in $100K

More than 3K sold for his PAC

(Newser) - It looks like Marco Rubio's self-deprecating fundraiser is working. After weathering merciless teasing over his infamous swig during the State of the Union response, the Florida senator began offering water bottles to benefit his political action committee, Reclaim America. Supporters have snapped up more than 3,100 bottles (the...

Oopsss: Fla. Python Hunt Names Wrong Winner

The real longest snake captured was returned to the Everglades

(Newser) - The wrong hunter nabbed some glory when Florida named the winners of its Python Challenge, reports the Miami Herald . A pair of hunters who bagged an 11 foot, 1 inch snake were the real winners of the longest-snake-captured category, but the winner was named as somebody who brought in one...

Obama Golfs With Tiger Woods

Prez 'counts all his shots,' coach says

(Newser) - President Obama beat former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane on the links yesterday—with a little help from a guy called Tiger Woods. The foursome played 18 holes at Crane's Floridian Yacht & Golf Club in Palm City, Fla., reports the Palm Beach Post...

Final Tally in Fla. Python Hunt: 68

Take that, tens of thousands of dreaded, non-native reptiles

(Newser) - Florida's ambitious 2013 Python Challenge has officially wrapped, and after some 1,600 hunters combed the Everglades in the month-long state-sanctioned slaughter of the estimated tens of thousands of snakes that can reach 18 feet in length, well ... ladies and gentlemen, there were 68 casualties. "You can go...

Judge Forgives Teen Who Flipped Him Off

Penelope Soto won't have to serve 30 days

(Newser) - Remember Penelope Soto , the Florida teen who became so enraged at a judge's treatment of her that she flipped him the bird and dropped an f-bomb? All is forgiven, reports NBC Miami . Soto tearfully apologized to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat yesterday, calling her behavior "irrational." Rodriguez-Chomat...

Florida&#39;s Python Hunt a Flop?
 Florida's Python Hunt a Flop? 
Feb 8, 2013 11:13 AM CST

Florida's Python Hunt a Flop?

1,500 hunters kill ... 50

(Newser) - More underwhelming news for Florida's "Python Challenge": Despite 1,500 would-be snake hunters joining in the month-long attempt to thin out the Burmese pythons living in the Florida Everglades, just 50 snakes have been killed or captured, reports the Telegraph . "They are very evasive," explains one...

It's Never Wise to Flip Off the Judge in Court

Florida's Penelope Soto learns the hard way

(Newser) - It should have been a routine bond hearing on a minor drug charge, but Florida's Penelope Soto has instead become a viral video star for all the wrong reasons, reports the Miami Herald . The 18-year-old wasn't taking the proceeding too seriously, smiling and laughing as the Miami-Dade judge...

County Clerk Issues Epic 6-Page Dress Code

Employees bewildered by detailed doc

(Newser) - One Florida county clerk has some very specific ideas about how his 160 employees should dress. Osceola County boss Armando Ramirez has issued an incredibly detailed six-page dress code prohibiting everything from ankle-high boots (when worn with dresses and skirts, that is) to sequins to stirrup pants, the Orlando Sentinel...

Woman Shoots Ex Off Hood of Her Car

...where he'd clung angrily for 10 miles

(Newser) - What a way to end it: A Florida woman fatally shot the father of her three children after he had clung to the hood of her car for 10 miles, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Nikki McNeil, 33, reportedly got into a dispute with her ex, 36-year-old Lamar Tucker, when she dropped...

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