Public
Corruption Bill Passes Senate, Heads to House
- Government officials who abuse their office
for personal gain could face up to 15 years in
prison under a bill the Senate passed Tuesday in
response to a string of corruption scandals. The
proposed state law also imposes the same
penalties on officials who falsify or destroy
documents or block an investigation. The bill
would create several new types of public
corruption crimes, increase the penalties for
many existing state laws, make it easier for
prosecutors to file charges, and increase the
maximum sentence for bribery from five years to
15 years...
Sub
Launches Cruise Missile on Successful Test
Mission - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.
(AP) - A submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise
missile successfully completed a test Tuesday
with a parachute landing at this Florida
Panhandle base. The missile, accompanied by
chase aircraft, flew west from the USS
Providence off Jacksonville across Florida's
peninsula and over the Gulf of Mexico. It then
turned north over the Panhandle and Alabama
before returning to Florida to complete the
750-mile test...
Senate
Questions Bill That Would Change How Students
Are Graded - State law says a student
who does average work is supposed to earn a
grade of C. That's by definition. But the most
common grade given out in Florida is B. Sen.
Anna Cowin thinks grades today are arbitrary and
too easily manipulated by teachers who want to
help students who aren't doing so well...
Man
Arrested After Soliciting Teen Sex Over Internet,
Authorities Say - PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) - A man
who allegedly had sex up to 70 times with a teenager was
arrested after he used the Internet to arrange a sexual
encounter with a police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy,
authorities said. Daniel Sandler, 35, of Parkland, was
arrested when he arrived at a Burger King parking lot with a
16-year-old former neighbor, St. Lucie County sheriff's
deputies said. After his arrest Monday, Sandler told
detectives he had been having sex with his former neighbor
since the boy was 13 and that even after the boy moved to
Kansas two years ago, the teen would fly back to Florida to
visit him, authorities said...
Florida
Starts Internet Permitting - Developers can
turn to the Internet to find out what environmental
permits they need - and may soon be able to get
those permits online, Senate President Toni Jennings
and Florida's top environmental regulator said
Monday...
Childers
Unlikely Poster Boy for Term Limits - State Sen. W.D.
Childers opened a campaign account three years ago to seek
re-election in 2000 although his name cannot appear on the
ballot under Florida's new term limits. Childers, nicknamed
the "banty rooster" for his short stature but
feisty demeanor, had figured a way around term limits...
Thousands
Protest Florida Governor's Affirmative Action Changes
- Thousands of demonstrators from around the country marched
Tuesday to protest Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to eliminate racial
and gender preferences in university admissions and state
contracting. They chanted "Shame on Bush" and
began a mile-long march to the Capitol as the governor
started his State of the State address. Tuesday also was the
opening of the Legislature's annual two-month session...
For
Scores of Lawmakers, Term Limits Means Last
Session - Some lawmakers have had
nearly two decades, a few even longer, to put
their stamp on Florida. For those and many
others, the next two months is their final shot.
Term limits, which take effect this year, are
forcing out nearly half of the House members and
more than a quarter of the Senate...
Two
Postal Managers Who Disappeared Left Mansion
Behind - A pair of postal managers who
mysteriously disappeared last month not only
left behind a lot of questions, but they also
abandoned a $1 million home. Authorities
investigating the disappearance of Jerry Lenn
and his wife, Wanda Martinez, have little
information about where the couple is and why
they apparently left without telling anyone. But
they are looking into how a pair of government
employees who made about $140,000 combined could
afford a 6,300-square-foot house...
Judge
Dismisses Suit Against State Democratic Party
- A judge has thrown out a prominent
businessman's defamation suit against the
Florida Democratic Party. C.C. "Doc"
Dockery sued in 1997, saying his reputation was
damaged in fliers mailed to voters in 1996 while
his wife, Paula Dockery, was running for state
House District 64. Two fliers gave a false
impression that he failed to pay $515,000 in
taxes relating to stock gifts he gave his
children in 1992...
Some
Proposed Open Government Exemptions -
Here are some public records bills that open
government advocates are concerned about...
Man
Convicted of Manslaughter in Student's Death
- One of three men charged with fatally shooting
a University of South Alabama student during a
drug robbery outside a Pensacola restaurant has
been convicted of manslaughter. Prosecutors had
sought a first-degree murder conviction against
Joey Lee Harper, 23, but a jury found him guilty
of the lesser offense Thursday for the April 9,
1999 death of Klie Faulkner, 23, after
deliberating for 10 hours...
FL-Abandoned
Babies - Six newborns have been
abandoned in Florida in a month...
Teen
Who Threatened Columbine-Style Attack Spouted
Hatred in Diary - A diary kept by a
17-year-old boy who tried to recruit classmates
to carry out a Columbine-style attack on his
high school is filled with swastika drawings and
ramblings of hate. Derik Lehman, a junior at
Royal Palm Beach High School, wrote eight pages
of a composition notebook with yearnings to kill
fellow students who had ridiculed him, according
to the state attorney's office. On a map of the
school's classrooms, Lehman allegedly suggested
25 to 40 people could be killed...
Group
Requests Federal Investigation Into Mentally-Ill
Boy's Death - A group requested a
federal investigation Friday into Florida's
treatment of mentally ill children, saying the
death of a boy crushed by a counselor at a
state-contracted facility is part of a larger
pattern of mistreatment. The National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill wrote Attorney General
Janet Reno asking her to investigate Florida's
system for treating mentally ill children and
the death of 12-year-old Michael Wiltsie...
Local
activism: FL Libertarian using laws to gain
credibility and attention - A Florida
Libertarian is using the state's open records
law to not only keep an eye on local government
officials, but also to gain credibility for the
state Libertarian Party. Dean Crumly, the
Okalossa County LP chair and state LP vice
chair, has been very active in local politics in
Fort Walton Beach during the past year, using
the state open records law to obtain information
from local officials and using the information
to critique local spending practices and to
offer alternative policies...
