Florida

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

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Florida Teacher Pulled From Class After Podcast Surfaces

Dayanna Volitich says white nationalist views espoused in podcast were 'satire'

(Newser) - A 25-year-old Florida middle school teacher is in the news following a HuffPost report published Saturday that linked her to a podcast it alleged she hosted under the name "Tiana Dalichov" that espoused white nationalist views. The teacher in question, Dayanna Volitich, has been removed from her classroom at...

Retiree Accepts Proposal After Winning Conch Shell Contest

Mary Lou Smith, 70, and Rick Race, 73, were both competing on a stage in Key West

(Newser) - A Florida retiree has won the women's division in Key West's annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest—and accepted a marriage proposal from a fellow competitor. Seventy-year-old Mary Lou Smith impressed the judges Saturday with long blasts on the fluted, pink-lined shell. And when 73-year-old Rick Race proposed on...

Biologists Find Bloated Snake, Shocked by What Comes Out

'We were ... trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around ... a deer'

(Newser) - Researchers studying invasive Burmese pythons in Florida came upon something they'd never seen before: an 11-foot-long python had consumed an entire deer that weighed more than the snake itself. The AP reports the wildlife biologists tracking the slithery creatures stumbled upon the bloated snake in Collier Seminole State Park,...

He Guessed Shooting Victim Was Older Than 15. It Saved Her
He Guessed
Shooting Victim
Was Older Than
15. It Saved Her
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He Guessed Shooting Victim Was Older Than 15. It Saved Her

Lt. Laz Ojeda made the call to take Parkland victim not to a children's hospital, but to a closer facility

(Newser) - Maddy Wilford was shot multiple times in the Parkland school massacre and was near death as first responders tended to her after the shooting. But an observant Coral Springs Fire Department lieutenant asked the teen an important question as they prepared to whisk her away, and it was one that...

Dad Accused CNN of 'Scripting' Town Hall; CNN Releases Emails

Parkland survivor's dad admits he left critical words out of exchange he sent to media outlets

(Newser) - An emotional CNN town hall last week after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School focused on gun control and school safety, but the network soon found itself in a tiff with the family of one of the survivors. Conservative outlets went after CNN for "scripting"...

Cops Say Deputies Waited Outside School During Shooting

Officers upset armed deputies didn't enter high school to confront Parkland shooter, sources say

(Newser) - The school resource officer said to have waited outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 dead may not have been alone. The Sun-Sentinel reports Coral Springs police officers say several deputies from the Broward County Sheriff's Office also waited outside the school...

Parkland Suspect to Police: 'I'm Dealing With a Bunch of Things'

Dozens of calls to FBI, 911 regarding Nikolas Cruz released, including 1 from suspect himself

(Newser) - “I know he’s—he’s going to explode," an unidentified caller told the FBI on Jan. 5, less than six weeks before authorities say Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida. The Wall Street Journal obtained a transcript of the call, which...

Florida Governor Breaks With NRA on Guns

Rick Scott wants to bar anyone under 21 from buying one; does not want to arm teachers

(Newser) - Just over a week after the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a plan Friday to keep his state's students safer: a $500 million proposal to ban bump stocks, restrict people under age 21 from purchasing guns, and prohibit the...

Killer's Last Word Before Death: 'Murderers!'

Florida executes Eric Branch for 1993 murder

(Newser) - Eric Scott Branch was executed Thursday night for the 1993 rape and murder of a University of West Florida student—and he did not go peacefully. The 47-year-old inmate screamed, thrashed on a gurney, and shouted "Murderers! Murderers! Murderers!" as the lethal injection drugs were administered, the AP...

School Officer Waited Outside During Parkland Shooting: Sheriff

'He never went in'

(Newser) - “I am devastated,” the Miami Herald quotes Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel as saying. “Sick to my stomach. He never went in.” Israel suspended Scot Peterson—the school resource officer assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland—pending an investigation into his actions...

Florida Lawmakers' Decisions on Guns, Porn Draw Outrage

State reps decline to consider ban on assault rifles, declare pornography a health risk

(Newser) - Lawmakers in Florida are waking up to headlines like these: "Florida House refuses to debate guns, but declares porn dangerous" from the Washington Post . "Florida State House Declares Porn Is Health Risk, Assault Weapons Totally Fine Though" in Gizmodo . "Florida declares porn a health risk but blocks...

GOP Aide Fired for Calling Shooting Survivors 'Actors'

Conspiracy theories are spreading

(Newser) - An aide to a Republican lawmaker in Florida was fired Tuesday for spreading a bizarre conspiracy theory about survivors of the Parkland school shooting. Benjamin Kelly, a staffer to state Rep. Shawn Harrison, used a government email account to email the Tampa Bay Times , claiming that two students filmed speaking...

Teens Walk Out of School, March 10 Miles to Shooting Site

Florida students demand end to gun violence

(Newser) - Hundreds of students walked out of their Florida high school Tuesday and made their way to the site of a school shooting 10 miles away in a show of solidarity for bringing an end to gun violence, the AP reports. "It has to be tougher. People are blaming it...

US Army to Honor Heroic Shooting Victims

Official describes outpouring of 'generosity and compassion'

(Newser) - He might not get a full military funeral , but Parkland school shooting victim Peter Wang will get a nod from the US Army. The 15-year-old old Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps member who held doors open for students and staff fleeing bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week...

They're FEMA's Elite Rescuers, Yet Some Do Little Rescuing

Bureaucracy, too much gear, and other inefficiencies are marring response efforts

(Newser) - They're called the "national Swiss Army knife of emergency response," teams of highly trained first responders sent by FEMA across the US when disaster strikes. But when hurricanes pummeled Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico last summer, many of the thousands deployed via the agency's National Urban...

Petition: Parkland Student Hero Should Get Full Military Funeral

Peter Wang held doors for fleeing students, staff; another student hero recovers at a local hospital

(Newser) - Amid the grief and anger, stories of inspiration and heroism continue to emerge out of the Parkland school shooting last week, and a petition is now in place to honor one of the late students who helped his classmates escape to safety. The Sun Sentinel reports that the petition on...

Video of Cruz Fighting at School Surfaces

Teachers say they tried hard to help him

(Newser) - Former teachers say alleged school shooter Nikolas Cruz wasn't somebody who slipped through the cracks, he was somebody they worked hard to get help for. The teachers say that after behavioral problems in middle school and high school, they tried calling social workers, holding parent conferences, and sending him...

Family on Fla. Suspect: 'We Had Monster Living Under Our Roof'

Kimberly and James Snead said they had no idea Nikolas Cruz was allegedly capable of Parkland shooting

(Newser) - On Friday, the family that was housing Parkland suspect Nikolas Cruz wasn't ready to speak out about him, with a "visibly emotional Kimberly Snead" telling the New York Post to respect her family's privacy. On Saturday, however, both Snead and her husband, James, spoke to the South ...

In the Works: School Protests to Take On 'American Carnage'

One is set for the anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine

(Newser) - The mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead has sparked calls for walkouts, sit-ins, and other actions on school campuses across the US aimed at pushing lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws. Organizers behind the Women's March are calling for a 17-minute walkout on...

Parkland Survivor Goes Viral by Calling Out Trump, NRA

'Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?'

(Newser) - “Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS,” Emma Gonzalez said Saturday at a gun-control rally in Florida. “They say that tougher gun laws do not...

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