AG Sessions To Visit Tallahassee (Tallahassee, FL) -- Tallahassee will get to hear, first-hand, how the White House plans to tackle a growing problem. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced yesterday he will be in the city tomorrow to discuss the opioid epidemic. President Trump recently announced he'd like to see drug dealers get the death penalty. Sessions' appearance will take place at the Federal Courthouse on North Adams Street.
Brevard County Approves Consent Order With DEP (Titusville, FL) -- A solution is in place that should prevent a repeat of problems Brevard County had during Hurricane Irma. The county commission yesterday approved a consent order with the Department of Environmental Protection over millions of gallons of diluted sewage that wound up in the Indian River Lagoon in September. The county agreed to spend twelve million dollars on infrastructure improvements that should be finished in a couple of years. The county also agreed to pay the DEP more than 14-thousand dollars in penalties.
Two MSD Students Arrested For Bringing Weapons To School (Parkland, FL) -- While Stoneman Douglas High School students try to get back to normal, some classmates are accused of disrupting that process. Eighteen-year-old Jordan Salter and 17-year-old Gavin Stricker were arrested yesterday for bringing knives to school. Another student was removed from class after Broward County deputies say he posted pictures on Snapchat of him with a gun and bullets. The tenth-grader was also ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.
Psych Eval Ordered For Cruz' Brother (Fort Lauderdale, FL) -- Prosecutors see something eerily familiar about Nikolas Cruz' younger brother. Eighteen-year-old Zachary Cruz was arrested this week for trespassing at Stoneman Douglas High School and the Broward County State Attorney said yesterday he has the same red flags as his brother. He also said Zachary is impressed that his brother is now famous, and he wants to start a fan club for Nikolas. A judge set bail for Zachary at 500-thousand dollars and ordered him to get a psychological evaluation.
Scott To Use FHP Troopers To Secure MSD (Parkland, FL) -- Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel last night said he has accepted Governor Rick Scott's offer to deploy FHP troopers at the school. Scott made the offer after Nikolas Cruz' brother was seen on campus and two students were arrested for bringing knives to school this week. Israel says the troopers will be stationed at the school's entrances and exits.
Teen Beaten To Death Over Girl (Winter Haven, FL) -- Jealousy appears to be the cause behind the deadly beating of a teenager. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said yesterday Lake Wales 16-year-old Dillen Murray killed 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz because Diaz was involved with a girl Murray liked. Diaz was hit at least nine times with an aluminum baseball bat, and Judd says the beating was so bad, it dented the bat. Murray and Diaz were friends, but Murray had been investigated for battery against Diaz two years ago.
CA Woman's Bigfoot Case Dismissed (Crestline, CA) -- A California woman's Bigfoot lawsuit is off the docket, but she says she'll be back. Court records show that Claudia Ackley withdrew her case last week demanding that California recognize the Sasquatch as an official species. Her lawyers urged her to pull back and refile after they have had a chance to rewrite the complaint against the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 46-year-old woman claims to have seen a Bigfoot three times near the San Bernardino mountain community of Lake Arrowhead. There are no other such claims on record for the area.
Nightclub To Re-Open After Horse Incident (Miami, FL) -- A Miami nightclub is going to re-open after being shut down when a horse carrying an almost naked woman rode into the place. Video of the incident earlier this month went online and showed the barely dressed woman and the horse in the Mokai Lounge, which was very crowded at the time. Officials in the city were concerned about public safety and animal cruelty and the Lounge was shut down. However, the place is opening its doors once again today after agreeing to several conditions, including paying a fine and donating money to a charity service for horses.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
2011, the perjury and obstruction of justice trial for baseball star Barry Bonds began in San Francisco. Bonds was accused of lying in testimony related to the government's investigation of a steroid scandal involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. He was convicted on April 13th, 2011 on the obstruction of justice charge.
1989, Dick Clark announced he would step down as host of "American Bandstand."
1980, J-R Ewing was shot on the season finale of "Dallas." It remained unclear for the next few months whether J-R was dead. The cliffhanger left the nation wondering "Who Shot J-R?"
1965, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and more than three-thousand civil rights demonstrators began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. An additional 25-thousand people joined the march along the way.