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Tag: Florida

  • Florida Could Require Registration for Bloggers Writing About Elected Officials

    Florida Could Require Registration for Bloggers Writing About Elected Officials

    Florida is raising eyebrows with a bill that would require anyone blogging about the state’s elected officials to register or face fines.

    According to NBC affiliate WFLA, Florida Senator Jason Brodeur has proposed a new bill that would force bloggers writing about the “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature” to register with the state and file monthly reports if they receive compensation for what they write.

    The bill goes on to say that the bill “does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication,” but reading the bill’s text leaves tremendous room for interpretation and does not definitively rule out any type of news coverage.

    What’s more, the bill doesn’t even limit its scope to bloggers within the state of Florida:

    “Blogger” means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3) that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently published.

    “Blog post” is an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.

    The bill then outlines a schedule of monthly reports bloggers would be subject to:

    If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.

    Upon registering with the appropriate office, a blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

    Failure to comply would lead to some hefty fines:

    A fine of $25 per day per report for each day late, not to exceed $2,500 per report.

    It seems that Senator Brodeur may need a primer on the First Amendment and how it applies to bloggers, as well as all news coverage in general. In the meantime, it’s highly unlikely such a law — if the bill even passes — would ever survive a legal challenge.

  • Multiple States Investigating TikTok’s Impact on Children

    Multiple States Investigating TikTok’s Impact on Children

    TikTok is the latest social media platform in the crosshairs, as multiple states are investigating its impact on children.

    TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, and has taken off during the pandemic. Despite its popularity, the platform has not been without controversy, especially in regard to minors.

    According to ABC News, TikTok is drawing all new scrutiny, with attorneys general for California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont joining forces to investigate the platform.

    “Our children are growing up in the age of social media — and many feel like they need to measure up to the filtered versions of reality that they see on their screens,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release. “We know this takes a devastating toll on children’s mental health and well-being.”

    TikTok has repeatedly been under fire over privacy concerns and how the platforms handles information about minors. The company settled a privacy suit in the US for some $92 million, while the EU has warned it about its data practices. TikTok has repeatedly been accused of violating the privacy of children, or failing to protect it. The company was also accused of telling moderators to “suppress uploads from users with flaws both congenital and inevitable,” including “‘abnormal body shape,’ ‘ugly facial looks,’ dwarfism, and ‘obvious beer belly,’ ‘too many wrinkles,’ ‘eye disorders,’ and many other ‘low quality’ traits.”

    With that kind of history, combined with its popularity, it’s no wonder so many AGs want to better understand the impact the platform is having on minors.

  • Lilium Puts Florida On the Forefront of Electric Air Taxi Industry

    Lilium Puts Florida On the Forefront of Electric Air Taxi Industry

    Lilium, a company focused on all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft, has signed a deal for 10 vertiports in Florida.

    Lilium has been working to make electric air taxis a reality. The company told Business Insider in 2019 that flights could be as cheap as $70. The company has now moved one step closer to deployment, partnering with Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial to build 10 vertiports throughout Florida.

    The locations will ensure widespread coverage for the state’s residents.

    “Our strategy to bring high-speed transportation networks to an entire region is being brought to life in Florida, and Ferrovial is the ideal partner with their unrivalled expertise in airport construction and operations around the globe,” said Dr. Remo Gerber, Chief Operating Officer, Lilium. “Nearly all 20 million Floridians will live within 30 minutes of our vertiports and the 140 million annual visitors to the Sunshine State will have a high-speed option available to travel to their destinations.”

    “We are delighted to partner with Lilium in this big step towards new ways of achieving air mobility and sustainable infrastructure. Our partnership will deliver a uniquely different end-to-end passenger experience,” said Jorge Gil, CEO Ferrovial Airports.

    Lilium’s jet uses 36 electric jet engines to provide thrust, giving it a speed of 186 mph. Taking off, the jet is only as loud as a passing truck, and completely inaudible from the ground once it reaches 400 meters. Because they’re electric, Lilium’s jets are much simpler than traditional designs, having roughly the same number of parts as the average family car.

    It appears Lilium may have the right combination of features, performance and cost to finally make air taxies a success.

  • ‘2 Drunk 2 Care’ Tweeter Gets 24 Years for Fatal Crash

    ‘2 Drunk 2 Care’ Tweeter Gets 24 Years for Fatal Crash

    Kayla Mendoza, the Florida woman who sent an infamous string of tweets before causing fatal car crash back in 2013, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.

    According to police, Mendoza went out for margaritas after work and at approximately 1:45 am, the then 20-year-old drove onto the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County – driving the wrong way. Soon after, she slammed head-on into another car, killing both people inside.

    The sad story was highlighted by an ominous tweet sent less than three hours before the crash:

    Mendoza pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter earlier this year. She actually faced up to 30 years in jail, but was only handed 24. She will also serve six years probation and is never allowed behind the wheel for the rest of her life.

    According to NBC Miami, Mendoza begged for forgiveness during her sentencing.

    “No matter how much time passes they will never leave my heart. I think about them everyday and I regret my choices everyday,” she said. “I don’t remember deciding to drive that night so I can’t even tell you what was going through my mind when I made that decision. I have no excuses for anything I’ve done, I just ask for forgiveness,” she said while reading a prepared letter.

    The families of the two she killed were unforgiving, apparently. They asked for the maximum sentence, saying she ruined their lives forever.

  • Florida Woman Texted “Driving Drunk Woo” Right Before Allegedly T-Boning a Truck and Killing Her Passenger

    A person is dead thanks to the careless actions of a Florida woman, so there’s nothing funny about this story.

    But its sheer stupidity factor makes it important.

    In August of 2013, a 22-year-old woman ran a red light at 4:45 am and plowed her rented smart car into the side of a truck. She survived, the driver of the truck survived, but her 22-year-old passenger did not.

    Prosecutors have just released a series of texts Mila Dago sent just moments before the fatal crash, and they’re, well…

    From the Miami Herald:

    Dago, newly released police records show, was also in the midst of a nasty breakup with her boyfriend. And as she and friends barhopped in Miami in the early hours of Aug. 14, 2013, she fired off a barrage of angry text messages that finally culminated in horrifyingly prophetic words:

    “Driving drunk woo …” “Ill be dead thanks to you …” “Lata”

    Texting while drunk driving – a very good way to ensure you have a terrible remainder of your life.

    Dago has pleaded not guilty to DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI with damage to a person. She’s also named in a civil suit.

    About 20 minutes before the fatal crash, her recently ex-boyfriend texted “What you talking about your physco stop weirdo.” She had reportedly texted him over 60 times throughout the night – the last ones coming while she was behind the wheel.

    Image via

  • Florida Man Shoots Guy for Facebook Messaging His Wife

    It looks like Florida Man needs to get his jealousy in check.

    Florida Man, the world’s worst superhero, is able to change his appearance and identity whenever he sees fit. Florida Man can also alter his gender at any time and become Florida Woman, though it’s a rarer occurrence. This time Florida Man has turned up at 22-year-old Christopher Romoleroux, a repeat criminal offender who is facing second degree murder charges after shooting a guy over Facebook messages.

    According to police, Romoleroux discovered that his wife, Ludwika Duarte, had been exchanging Facebook communications with another man, Clarence Autley. According to Autley, Romoleroux’s wife had contacted him via Facebook – just to catch up. The two had previously known each other but hadn’t been in contact in six years. They exchanged phone numbers and sent some texts.

    It’s unlikely to have mattered to Florida Man, however. According to an affidavit, Romoleroux decided to play the ol’ text switcheroo and asked Autley if he wanted to meet up

    From the Sun Sentinel:

    Assuming the text was from Duarte, Autley replied with his address, the affidavit said. While waiting in his driveway for Duarte to arrive, Autley saw a silver four-door car with tinted windows stopped in the street in front of his house.

    The driver got out of the car, started to punch Autley and yelled, “Why you trying to get with my woman?” The two grappled in the street until Autley’s neighbor intervened.

    The driver walked back to his car, grabbed a small-caliber black handgun, then fired once, striking Autley in his left thigh, the affidavit said. He then drove off in the silver car.

    With the help of Facebook photos, it wasn’t hard for Autley and police to figure out the attacker and his likely motivations.

    Autley suffered a broken femur and various cuts and abrasions.

    Florida Man will be spending some time in jail, and will likely have to pass the face to another.

  • Florida Sheriff Charging Teen with ‘Hacking’: Change the Law If You’re Mad

    Sheriff Chris Nocco of the Pasco County, Florida, Sheriff’s office isn’t all that concerned that his department is being mocked across the country.

    Last week, we told you about the department’s decision to charge a 14-year-old hacker mastermind with a felony after he infiltrated his school’s network and put hundreds of lives in danger.

    And what I mean by that is he figured out the password by looking over a teacher’s shoulder, logged in, and set some softcore porn as a teacher’s desktop background.

    More context from our previous coverage:

    Hacker extraordinaire Domanik Green, 14, has been charged with offense against a computer system and unauthorized access after he “logged onto the school’s network on March 31 using an administrative-level password without permission. He then changed the background image on a teacher’s computer to one showing two men kissing.

    The sophisticated hack that allowed Green access to the impregnable system involved looking over a teacher’s shoulder and watching her type the password. It turned out to be the last name of a teacher at the school. Edward Snowden weeps.

    One of the main points of contention for authorities is that one of the computers Green ‘hacked’ contained FCAT questions on it. Green didn’t access or alter these files, however.

    “Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

    Thoughtcrimes leader and amateur future teller Chris Nocco is standing by his decision, despite ridicule from all corners of the internet.

    From the Tampa Bay Times:

    Nocco is sticking to his guns. Green was suspended from school for three days for similar activity back in October, and the sheriff said it was obvious he hadn’t learned his lesson.

    “I think, unfortunately, when the story’s being told in other (publications), they’re not talking about the fact that he committed this crime previously,” Nocco said Monday. “We enforce the law. And if we don’t enforce the law, nobody else will.”

    Also, he said, the crime with which Green is charged is deemed a felony by the state Legislature. If people want to change it, they can write lawmakers, he said.

    Write your congressperson, folks. Nothing we can do about it now. Change the law if you’re mad.

    People are mad, for sure. Here’s a sampling of posts currently sitting on the Pasco County Sheriff’s Facebook page:

    – Felony charges because of what a 14 year old kid ‘might have done?’ Since when do we charge people based on the seriousness of crimes they ‘might’ commit. Your county sucks.

    – What has become of our society when felony charges are given for a harmless prank? We don’t live in the realm of “what if”. “who knows what this teenager MIGHT have done” -Sheriff Chris Nocco. I sincerely hope that this gets laughed out of court.

    – Missing children. Unsolved murders. And yet, you guys are arresting a kid for being a kid. Pigs

    – This is why even us law abiding Americans hates the police.. You people should really be ashamed of yourselves.. I mean, how do you sleep at night? Oh.. come to think of it… I’ll bet you sleep quite well.

    – I think it’s hilarious how you can charge a 8th grader with a felony and quite possibly ruin his life over a prank. When your own jackholes can just resign when they commit felonies. The double standards you have created in this country does not go over looked. You expect the public to show you respect and to trust you when you do the exact opposite. History will remember a ti.e in this country when our law enforcement were corrupt and could not be trusted. Shame on you.

    – This kid is 14 and the sheriff wants him to have a felony conviction on his record for the rest of his life. Despicable.

    – I’m embarrassed for you Chris.

    It’s probably unlikely the kid will see the inside of a courtroom – but the complications from this, and the legal bills likely to be incurred by his family – will not be inconsequential.

    Image via Pasco Sheriff’s Office, Facebook

  • 14-Year-Old Hacker Mastermind Infiltrated School Network, Charged with Felony

    A Florida eighth-grader is facing felony charges after accessing his middle school’s computer network and changing a teacher’s background.

    Hacker extraordinaire Domanik Green, 14, has been charged with offense against a computer system and unauthorized access after he “logged onto the school’s network on March 31 using an administrative-level password without permission. He then changed the background image on a teacher’s computer to one showing two men kissing,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.

    The sophisticated hack that allowed Green access to the impregnable system involved looking over a teacher’s shoulder and watching her type the password. It turned out to be the last name of a teacher at the school. Edward Snowden weeps.

    One of the main points of contention for authorities is that one of the computers Green ‘hacked’ contained FCAT questions on it. Green didn’t access or alter these files, however.

    “Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

    And he’s right. He most certainly could’ve hacked the mainframe and accessed the terminal. There he could’ve swapped out the launch codes for Microsoft Paint pictures of penises.

    It’s a good thing Green was caught when he was, as he appears to be a serial offender. According to the Times, he was once part of a criminal enterprise that involved logging into school computers and snapping selfies with the webcams.

    “You have somebody that clearly doesn’t learn their lesson. You have somebody who had the ability and if they had the intent could mess around with the FCAT system,” Sheriff Nocco told WTSP.

    If Green beats this rap, word on the street is Anonymous is looking to recruit.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Want to Avoid Getting Murdered by a Craigslist Killer? Try Selling Your Stuff at a Police Station

    Earlier this week, a pregnant Colorado woman looking to buy used baby clothes from a woman she found on Craigslist drove to the seller’s home. When she arrived, she was brutally beaten and stabbed. The attackers then proceeded to cut her unborn baby from her womb, leaving her there to die.

    She’s expected to survive, but the baby did not.

    That’s a sickening story, but it’s not an isolated one. According to reports, at least 48 people have been killed in altercations stemming from Craigslist since 2009. When you think about what Craigslist provides – partially anonymous transactions involving goods and money – this isn’t all the shocking.

    But it’s troubling nonetheless.

    That’s why counties in Florida are looking to make Craigslist transactions safer. The Boca Raton Police Department has been leading a campaign to raise awareness about Craigslist crimes, and also provide buyers and sellers with a safer place to make their exchanges – police stations.

    These so-called “Safe Exchange Zones” are what’s needed to curb Craigslist-spawned violence, says Police Chief Dan Alexander. He claims to have fielded no instances of Craigslist-related crime since the safe zones’ inception.

    According to CBS News, other counties in Florida are looking to do the same, including Jacksonville.

    This extremely troubling story is just another reminder to be careful when dealing with strangers online. This sort of Craigslist bait-and-attack happens more often than you might think. See here, here, here, and here. Scary stuff.

    Image via Boca Raton Police Department, Facebook

  • Florida Men Butt-Dial Employer, Detail Robbery in Voicemail

    In an era of smartphones and passcodes, one would think that the instances of “butt dialing” would decline, if not disappear altogether.

    But this is Florida.

    Two Key West men have been booked on charges of felony grand theft after leaving a voicemail detailing their crime. They didn’t know they were leaving the voicemail, of course, as one of the men had accidentally called his employer.

    From the Miami Herald:

    David Ricky Fanuelsen, 39, and Dean Ellis Brown, 22, are accused of stealing three saws from their employer, Concrete Solutions, at a job site on North Roosevelt Boulevard.

    They got caught after one of them accidentally “butt dialed” the office. The call went to voice mail, which recorded Fanuelsen and Brown discussing how they planned to pawn the tools, Key West Police Department spokeswoman Alyson Crean said.

    It appears this was rather damning evidence, as both men have since confessed to stealing the saws.

    If this story sounds too funny to be true, you should know that this happens all the time. It’s actually impressive how many criminals find a way to butt dial people and detail, at length, their various crimes.

    Like that time a couple of video game thieves butt-dialed 911 and discussed their plans to sell the stolen merchandise for over an hour as the operator listened in. Or the time a Pennsylvania man accidentally called 911 during a drug deal. Then there was that time Florida Man butt-dialed 911 and detailed a murder plot. Oh yeah, and we can’t forget about the modern day Bonnie and Clyde from Roswell, New Mexico, who unwittingly dialed 911 and discussed a just-committed robbery, all while blasting Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’.

    You can’t make this stuff up.

    Image via Martin Abegglen, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Jeb Bush Fixes Social Security Number Leak, but People’s Email Addresses and Names Are Still Out in the Open

    Earlier this week, The eGovernor (as the public apparently called him at some point) Jeb Bush released hundreds of thousands of emails from his tenure as governor of Florida. It was a move in the name of transparency – Jeb Bush’s transparency. But the Bush team didn’t quite think everything through, and they didn’t double-check everything before making it all public. Most importantly, the team didn’t think about how transparent thousands of Floridans wanted to be – or more aptly put, how un-transparent they wanted to be.

    So when the big email dump went live, there was no redaction. Not a single bit. People’s email address, names, and in some case home addresses and telephone numbers were made public, along with the content of whatever email correspondence they had with the governor.

    But that wasn’t all. The Bush email dump also exposed around 13,000 social security numbers – most of which were hidden in a spreadsheet on a PowerPoint slide attached to a 2003 email.

    In his attempt to promote transparency, Jeb Bush had pretty much doxxed a good chunk of Florida.

    Now, it turns out, Jeb Bush and crew have fixed the most egregious error in the email project. According to the Guardian, the team has successfully redacted the tens of thousands of exposed social security numbers – per a Bush spokeswoman.

    But that’s it. All of the rest of it still remains – the email addresses, the names, the home addresses, the telephone numbers. None of this has been redacted.

    I’m not sure what kind of expectation of privacy these Floridians had when emailing a public figure – especially when it’s the governor. But it doesn’t take a huge leap to see how this could be problematic. Maybe May Whitfield of Boca Raton isn’t too thrilled that everyone can now see how much she didn’t want that Islamic center built in her neighborhood. Also, if you want to tell Mrs. Whitfield just how racist she is, well look – there’s her email!

    Redacting the social security numbers is a no-brainer, as revealing those likely violated state privacy laws. But think about the implications of the rest of the now publicly-available information. Shouldn’t Jeb Bush and company redact the names and email addresses of the 300,000+ emails in the archive?

  • ‘Zombie Cat’ Now the Subject of Legal Battle

    Bart, the “zombie cat” who stole headlines when he rose from grave after being presumed dead is back in the news. This time, he’s the subject of a custody battle.

    A couple of weeks ago, Bart’s story went viral. His owner, 52-year-old Ellis Hutson, said he found Bart in the middle of the road, covered in blood, and completely lifeless. Assuming the cat was dead, Hutson enlisted a friend to help bury the feline.

    Flash forward five days, and Bart was spotted in a neighbor’s yard – alive but badly wounded.

    Bart was taken in by the Humane Society of Tampa, and on January 27 the cat had surgery to repair his jaw and remove his eye, which was damaged beyond repair. He was scheduled to be returned to his owner in 5-7 days.

    But on January 30, the Humane society issued an update, saying they “learned new information about Bart’s home enviorment” and would be keeping the cat under their care.

    “Recently we have learned new information about Bart’s home environment and the circumstances leading up to his burial. Therefore, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay does not intend to return Bart to the Hutson family. We are prepared to fight for the best interests of this cat. We hope the Hutson family will do the right thing and surrender Bart to our care so that we can find an appropriate environment for him to live out his life,” said the Tampa Humane Society in a blog post.

    And now Hutson has filed a motion against the Humane Society.

    “On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay was served with official Hillsborough County Court documents notifying the Society that it is being sued by Ellis Wayne Hutson for the custody of Bart the cat,” the organization said”

    “Mr. Thomas Gonzalez, of Thompson Sizemore, Gonzalez & Hearing, has agreed to volunteer his time to represent the interests of Sherry Silk, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, and Bart the cat. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay will review all legal options to keep Bart safe and secure. Bart continues his medical treatment and care at the Society’s animal hospital.”

    Hutson says that the Humane Society is hanging on to Bart as a fundraising tool. He also said the organization won’t allow him to see his pet.

    Image via Humane Society Tampa Bay

  • Jeb Bush Just Released Years of Emails – Complete with the Names and Email Addresses of All Who Wrote Him

    In the name of transparency, former Florida Governor and likely 2016 Presidential candidate Jeb Bush just published all of his email correspondence from his tenure running the state.

    “In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the emails of my governorship here. Some are funny; some are serious; some I wrote in frustration. But they’re all here so you can read them and make up your own mind,” says Bush on the new site, jebemails.com. The site contains a searchable database, filterable by time period. Bush has also made the emails available as original outlook files and has even published the emails as an e-book.

    You can check that out here.

    It’s clear that Jeb Bush sent a lot of emails during his time as the Governor of Florida.

    “Now that the campaign was over, how could I keep track of what Floridians were thinking? I needed their energy and passion and wisdom. Email. Everyone could email me. So they did,” he reminisces in the new e-book preface. “Millions of emails came in through our website, but it was when I made my personal email – jeb@jeb.org – public that I earned the nickname ‘The eGovernor.’”

    According to Bush, he spent 30 hours a week emailing citizens. And he may have just pissed off a good swath of them.

    Go take a look at the email database. You’ll see emails spanning nearly a decade, dozens every single day. What you won’t see are any redactions. Not a single one.

    Every email has been published as is, including the full names and email addresses of the Floridians who emailed Bush from 1999 to 2007.

    Now, it’s unclear whether or not these people had any expectation of privacy when emailing a public figure – especially one in the state government. Especially when it’s the Governor himself. But if I had to guess, I’d say plenty did.

    I’m sure it would only take a few minutes to find handfuls of emails that contain some sensitive content – controversial opinions perhaps. Now those opinions are public, and tied to people’s names and email addresses.

    It just makes you wonder why the Jeb Bush staff didn’t employ some black bars. Someone should’ve seen how this could be an issue.

  • Mom Turns in Son After Spotting Him on Police Facebook Page

    This is going to be an awkward Thanksgiving.

    Police in Casselberry, Florida, like many police departments around the country, have taken to Facebook and Twitter over the past few years to get help in solving crimes, locating fugitives, and getting general information out to the public. Over the years, I’ve seen story after story about criminals commenting on their own Facebook wanted posters, taunting the police on Facebook, and more general stupidity.

    But this is a first.

    According to WFTV, an 18-year-old has been arrested and charged with retail theft and shoplifting after his mom saw his photo on the local police department’s Facebook page and turned him in.

    This was the post she saw, which claims that the man on the surveillance video stole approximately $670 worth of PlayStation and Xbox controllers from a local Target.

    Post by Casselberry Police Department.

    From WFTV:

    According to police, a woman contacted them to say she had seen the Facebook post and the young man they were looking for was her son.

    Police said they went to the home of Joel Brown, 18, where they found him wearing the same sweatshirt seen in the surveillance photos. Brown was arrested.

    Even your mom thinks stealing Xbox controllers from Target is a douchey thing to do. I guess it’s just tough love. Really, really tough love.

    Image via Casselberry Police Department, Facebook

  • Florida Man Has Drugs, in Case You Were Wondering – the Police Sure Were

    I’ve never tried to give someone a bag of meth in a Kmart, so I’m no expert on the matter. I have to imagine, however, that if I did decide to make that life decision – I’d wear the most literal T-shirt imaginable for the occasion.

    50-year-old John Balmer sure did.

    According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, Balmer was arrested in a Hudson Kmart on Monday after he attempted to hang “a bag of green leafy substance” to the person behind him in line. When the person refused to take the bag, Balmer reportedly laid it down on the ground as he approached the cash register. It was then when deputies approached Balmer, after store employees notified them of the strange activity.

    Police found meth and marijuana in the bag.

    Why is this news? I mean, it is Florida after all.

    Well, here ya go:

    Post by Pasco Sheriff's Office.

    Seriously, he had drugs.

  • Alexis Waller: 11-Yr-Old Girl Puts On Makeup, Grabs Granny’s $10K, Takes Cab to FL to See Boy [Pics]

    Alexis Waller was gone. Her father was beside himself with worry. His 11-year-old daughter was missing from their Bryant, Arkansas home and he feared something horrible had happened.

    “You always just think the worst,” said Brent Waller. “I just thought some guy had come and scooped her up.”

    But Alexis Waller turned out to be totally fine, although a bit on the worried side herself. Once her family found out what had happened, it made for an adventure story that the whole town wound up talking about.

    Alexis Waller had piled on some makeup, snuck out of her family’s home in Bryant in the middle of the night, and hitchhiked with a stranger 20 miles to nearby Little Rock. Once there, she stopped at a gas station where she called a cab. Alexis had bigger travel plans than a quick run to Little Rock.

    The cab arrived and the driver asked where she wanted to go. He later said that, with all the makeup she had on, she looked about 17 years old. Alexis told him she wanted to go to Jacksonville, Florida. She had met a 16-year-old boy from Jacksonville while on vacation two years before. They had kept in touch, and that’s where she was headed.

    Since this was almost 900 miles away, the cabbie asked if she had money to pay that kind of fare. Alexis had prepped with more than just makeup before striking out that night. She had also swiped $10,000 from her granny’s sock drawer. Sure, she could pay.

    “He didn’t really ask anything, he just asked me where I needed to go,” Alexis said later. I said I need to go to Jacksonville, Florida. He’s like, ‘do you have money’ and I’m like, ‘yes.’”

    Once her father and mother noticed her missing, they called the police. Police checked phone records, tracked down the cab company Alexis had called, and found out who she was riding with. When they called the cabbie, he told them they were outside of Atlanta, Georgia. They had made it nine hours away before police tracked them down.

    Alexis’ parents hit the road to retrieve her.

    “I’m actually glad I got found. I knew I made a mistake after a while and I didn’t have a phone,” said Alexis.

    The cabbie didn’t get into any trouble. He seems to have honestly thought that Alexis was older, since she was made up quite a bit. As for the boy in Jacksonville, he says he had no idea she was headed his way.

    Post by Brent Waller.

    On the way home from picking up Alexis in Atlanta, Brent Waller snapped this picture of his exhausted daughter napping in the back of his SUV.

    Post by Brent Waller.

    “You have the rest of your life to punish her. You just want to hug her and just love her because you got her back and that’s what’s important,” Brent Waller said. But he also took away her makeup. Later he posted this to Facebook.

    Post by Brent Waller.

  • Green Construction Being Continuously Innovated in Florida

    Commissioned News Story (Source: Phillips Development & Realty)

    Green construction enables builders to use resources more efficiently and create more energy-efficient buildings. This efficiency ideally lasts throughout the lifetime of the building, including its design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

    Close collaboration between designers, architects,and engineers is required throughout various stages of the product.

    Sometimes known as “green building” or “sustainable building,” green construction has been getting an increasingly large amount of attention in the United States. Not only is it about being environmentally responsible and resource-efficient, but a lot of businesses simply prefer green building for financial reasons.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics points to a 2009 McGraw-Hill Construction survey of high-level executives in firms that own green buildings, in which 72 percent say that their firm participates in sustainability efforts to lower operating costs.

    The green construction trend is certainly in effect in Florida. Inc. Magazine’s Issie Lapowsky talks about a builder in the state:

    The trouble with the construction industry is it somehow manages to be both remarkably fragmented and dominated by a few major incumbents. In other words, it’s hard for a new entrant to get noticed, let alone hired.When Stephen Ellis and his co-founder Grant Castillow launched MyGreenBuildings, a luxury residential green building company, he started with his own home, vowing to make it the greenest home in Florida. When the renovation was complete, Ellis began to give tours to members of the community (not to mention the American Institute of Architects and local master gardeners groups)  to show off his handiwork.”A lot of what we did to break into the marketplace was to create a marketplace,” he says.

    It’s important for contractors to adopt sustainable construction techniques, and use green building materials.

    Donald Phillips, managing director of Florida-based Phillips Development & Realty, who’s been in the real estate industry since he was 19, agrees.

    “It will become increasingly required by an ever more knowledgeable public and the ever increasing prices of energy resources,” he said.

    Asked if he’s had to change his business to adapt to the Green Movement, Phillips said, “Yes. We are moving away from less efficient environmental systems to more efficient systems like geo-thermal and reducing our design dependency on wood frame structures in favor of more robust envelopes.”

    Green construction, he said, will become “more favored as public sensitivity increases and operating efficiencies are sought.”

    As far as the next innovation, Phillips said, “Lighting will continue to trend much more efficient thanks to federal mandates and environmental systems will follow suit. The present boom in rental housing has moved decidedly urban as more demand for walkable living has surged.”

    As Inc. magazine recently reported, the days of green building being a niche market are gone. It’s now the future of the construction industry.

  • Florida Man Phuc Kieu Charged in Attempted Rape, Robbery

    A Florida man, legal name Phuc Kieu, has been charged with robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery after attempting to rape another man in a Gainesville parking lot.

    58-year-old Phuc X. Kieu allegedly waited for the victim to finish making a withdrawal from an ATM before attacking him and dragging him into his car – where Kieu had been busy watching porn.

    If you’ve taken the time to carefully repeat the accused name out loud and think this is totally fake here’s what the official police report has to say:

    On the above date and time the victim conducted a withdrawal from the walk-up ATM and when done walked north through the bank parking lot. The defendant parked his vehicle, laid the driver’s seat all the way back and proceeded to watch homosexual pornography on a portable DVD player. As the victim passed the driver’s side of the vehicle, the defendant exited, grabbed the victim, punched him in the mouth and grabbed the bag containing the money …

    The defendant then pulled the victim into the driver’s side seat, straddled the top of him, and began to pull of his shirt, belt, and pants.

    The victim was eventually able to fight off Kieu, who chased him through the parking lot. Back to the report:

    The defendant then grabbed the backpack of the victim, attempting to pull it off … The victim the ran across the street to a nearby shopping center yelling “rapist”.

    The arresting officer says he observed Kieu running across the parking lot and detained him.

    Kieu

    According to WESH Orlando, Kieu is a nail specialist.

  • Pam Bondi Requests Stay On Florida’s Ban On Same-Sex Marriages

    Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi requested on Friday, October 22, that the stay on Florida’s ban on same-sex marriages imposed in August be extended until the 11th Circle Court rules on the matter. Lifting the stay would allow same-sex marriages in Florida.

    On August 21, US District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, but that he would stay his ruling until “the US Supreme Court resolves the pending applications, at that time, from Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia,” according to American Civil Liberties Union executive director Howard Simon. On October 6, the US Supreme Court announced it would no longer accept appeals on federal court decisions on same-sex marriages in Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia, along with Wisconsin and Indiana, which prompted the ACLU to follow up with Hinkle on October 7 to lift the stay in Florida so that same-sex marriages could happen in that state.

    Friday marked the deadline for Bondi’s response to the ACLU’s request. “It’s disappointing that Attorney General Bondi and Gov. Rick Scott have chosen to continue to swim against the tide of inevitable history and block Florida families from having the protections that come with being married. We are hopeful that the court will reject the state’s effort to keep the stay in place and allow marriages to go forward and be recognized in Florida,” said Simon.

    Bondi reportedly filed last week with Third District Court of Appeal in Miami. She requested that the highest court of Florida decide on whether the ban on same-sex marriages is legal, saying that “changed circumstances” warrant the ban’s review there.

    Meanwhile, some of Bondi’s detractors have been criticizing the Attorney General for her active participation in filing briefs in states other than Florida. Bondi, with the Republican Attorneys General Association, has opposed the ban on semiautomatic weapons in Connecticut and the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Neither of these actions respond to issues in Florida.

  • John Goodman Trial: Will A Run Of Bad Luck Allow Him To Walk?

    You could argue that Florida prosecutors’ run of bad luck began when John Goodman had his previous conviction overturned.

    The Texas-born billionaire was supposed to be serving a 16-year sentence following a successful DUI manslaughter conviction.

    But that sentence was thrown out after Goodman’s legal representatives were able to prove successfully that a serious error was made.

    Serious enough to require a retrial.

    Only, it isn’t exactly a retrial.

    The ten jurors selected for this case aren’t supposed to know that the 51-year-old has been through this process before.

    They aren’t supposed to know about victim Scott Wilson, or the fact that John Goodman’s Bentley hit the recent college graduate’s car with so much force, it tumbled into a nearby canal.

    The men and women selected to hear this case aren’t expected to know that the 23-year-old died due to drowning in said canal. Nor that the man who put him there was said to have driven while intoxicated.

    According to authorities, Goodman’s blood alcohol content was .177, nearly twice the legal limit to drive.

    During efforts to whittle away at the potential pool of jurors, an individual named Travis Van Vliet decided the best course of action was to look online to find out information about the suspect.

    Naturally Van Vliet learned that the case was a retrial. Unfortunately, he then moved to share this information with another would-be juror.

    Both individuals were dismissed, and he was led away in handcuffs.

    The bad luck didn’t stop there.

    The first person on the stand was a key witness: Catherine Lewter, the bartender who served John Goodman the night of the crash.

    Though Lewter had been previously cooperative, she seemed to have reversed her story somewhat in the window of time since she last testified.

    Before she had no problem admitting to Goodman’s alleged level of intoxication and how many drinks he ordered.

    But when asked again on the stand this week, Lewter insisted that her previous assertions had been exaggerated.

    She also said that she didn’t think that Goodman appeared all that intoxicated when he left the Player’s Club bar where she worked.

    Lewter instead said that she was fearful and gave the lawyers what they wanted to hear because she felt “intimidated”.

    Although Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson countered Lewter’s claims with a video clip, her move to backpedal was worrying.

    The pièce de résistance in the mess that prosecutors find themselves dealing with is of course John Goodman’s Bentley.

    Somehow this absolutely essential piece of evidence was released “prematurely” by authorities.

    John Goodman’s appeal hadn’t been filed at the time the car was let go. Of course this meant that the new jury could NOT have access to the wrecked vehicle.

    The prosecution has had to be creative, relying on a computer-generated recreation of the crash.

    With the trial only beginning and so many issues plaguing the Florida case, some are wondering if it’s a sign that John Goodman may avoid a second conviction.

    Do you think various issues will allow John Goodman to evade jail time this time around?

  • John Goodman Trial: Bartender Claims She Was “Intimidated” By Lawyers Into Exaggerating

    One testimony into the John Goodman trial and there is already controversy.

    This can be blamed on the inconsistent testimonies given by Catherine Lewter. The former bartender backpedaled significantly during her testimony on Thursday.

    When she testified four years ago as part of a civil lawsuit, Catherine claimed that she poured both two and two and a half ounce shots of alcohol for Goodman and his friends. Now she testifies that the drinks contained half that amount of alcohol.

    Lewter also stated that when Goodman left the bar ahead of the accident he didn’t appear to be very intoxicated.

    Not only did she change her statements about the alcohol, but Lewter testified that during the civil trial she felt “intimidated” into making certain statements. She said she felt “preyed upon” and full of fear.

    Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson was not convinced. In an effort to discredit her, Johnson showed footage of Lewter’s previous testimony.

    The clip showed the former bartender calmly answering questions about John Goodman with no signs of emotional distress.

    The woman countered that a single video clip cannot accurately demonstrate what she felt during the entire trial.

    This is just the latest in a series of problems for the prosecution as it attempts to re-convict John Goodman.

    He was previously convicted of DUI manslaughter for causing the death of 23-year-old Scott Wilson. He was alleged to have ignored a stop sign and crashed into Wilson’s car. The victim’s vehicle flipped upside down in a nearby canal, which caused him to drown.

    The 16 year sentence was thrown out after Goodman’s lawyers were able to prove juror misconduct.

    The new jury will not be able to hear evidence about the defendant’s Bentley as the state prematurely released it.

    There was also the issue that arose while selecting jurors for the John Goodman trial.

    One potential juror carelessly researched the previous trial and shared this information with another individual.

    These series of complications suggest that re-convicting Goodman may be an uphill battle for Florida prosecutors.