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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) The State of Florida is looking for help finding something you'd think would be hard to lose; approximately 18,000 buildings, owned by the taxpayers of Florida, that state officials can't quite put their fingers on. What's more, state officials say they don't have the people to hunt them down, so they want to use tax money to hire an outside company to find each building Florida has misplaced. The plan was made public by Linda South, Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services. Earlier this year, legislators handed her the job of locating surplus state-owned properties and...

WPTV: Last month, when Trevor Keezer started bringing his Bible to work, Keezer says his manager confronted him about the ["One nation under God, indivisible."] button. "That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home. So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me."

PINELLAS PARK - As Xuan-Nuong Lam Tran pulled her Mercedes ML 350 into a parking spot at a post office, another customer flung open her own car door, causing minor damage. Tran, a travel agent, might have received a ticket for careless driving that day in July and gone on her way. But she was handcuffed, humiliated and taken to the Pinellas County Jail. Her crime? Ten days earlier, according to court records, she failed to answer a charge she had watered her lawn on the wrong day. At the jail, Tran rolled her fingers in black ink, and her...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he is not flip-flopping when it comes to support of the federal stimulus package championed by Democrats, saying his comments earlier this week to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer were more about the actual stimulus legislation passed by Congress, and not the effort itself. “I think the question posed to me was, ‘Did you endorse this specific bill?’” Crist told reporters Friday after speaking to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices policy institute in Tampa. “And I said, ‘No, I didn’t,’ but the concept I thought, and still believe, was important, necessary and it helped...

Floridians so far have received less federal stimulus money than any of their fellow Americans, despite an unemployment rate here that ranks among the highest in the country and a budget crisis that few states can match... Florida received just $505 per person, which ranks last among the 50 states, all U.S. territories combined and Washington, D.C., according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of the Journal’s data. The numbers raise significant questions about the stimulus program, which President Obama said during a February stop in Fort Myers would help curtail the state’s rising unemployment rate. Florida’s unemployment rate of...

Years before Jason Rodriguez allegedly opened fire in a former employer's office Friday, he scared people with his spiral into erratic behavior. "He was a very, very angry man," said his former mother-in-law, America Holloway. She recalled Jason Rodriguez saying that "nobody liked him" at Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., an architectural-engineering firm in downtown Orlando where he worked as a draftsman until he was fired more than two years ago. In the past three or four years, 40-year-old Jason Samuel Rodriguez struggled with divorce, mental-health treatment, debt, underemployment, personal bankruptcy, and -- according to those who know him --...

TAMPA - Governor Charlie Crist stood next to President Obama in February and hailed the economic stimulus plan as beneficial for a state that is reeling from job losses and budget gaps. "We know that it's important that we pass this stimulus package," Crist said at the time . But Crist now has joined a chorus of conservatives who are bashing the bill. Crist says he only supported the $787 billion in "concept," and that he did not support the actual bill. "The concept, I thought and still believe, was important, was necessary, and has helped Florida," the governor said...

Former University of South Alabama Professor Barry Simpson, 44, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Joan A. Lenard to 63 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Simpson was previously convicted of attempting to transmit obscene material to a minor using the Internet. As part of a child exploitation investigation, an undercover FBI agent posed as a 13-year-old girl in an Internet chat room. In the chat room, Simpson approached the undercover agent and initiated a conversation. During the course of the conversation, Simpson transmitted clothed pictures of himself and sexually explicit material to...

William Kirschner, 63, of Boca Raton, FL, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp to 10 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The Court also ordered him to pay $511,033 in restitution. Kirschner previously pled guilty to mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 1341. The defendant had been charged in a one-count Information filed on August 25, 2009. As set forth in the Information and the written proffer filed with his plea agreement, in or about November 2006, Kirschner incorporated a company named Brini Trading Group, Inc., which he operated out...

A former employee of a business located in a downtown Orlando building where a deadly mass shooting took place today is suspected in the attack. Two people are dead and at least 17 were shot in the incident, which took place about noon today. The suspect, Jason Rodriguez, 40, is believed to be driving a silver, 2002 Nissan SUV with tag number D11UXR, Orlando Police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones. Police think he is armed and still in the area.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Police in Orlando say a gunman has been apprehended after killing one person and injuring five others at a downtown office building where he was let go two years ago. Police Chief Val Demings says 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez surrendered to police at his mother's home after officers saw him through a window and asked him to come out.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be distancing himself from his support for the stimulus bill Congress enacted earlier this year, but the White House isn't playing along. A day after Crist denied having endorsed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the governor's February appearance with President Obama in Fort Myers, Fla., left little doubt about his views on the law. "I think his words at that event speak for themselves," Gibbs said. "I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits that it would have and has...

Washington, DC) – Congressman Alan Grayson issued the following statement in response to this morning's shooting: "For the second time in as many days, this country must deal with a heinous act of violence. Sadly, this time it is in the place we call home. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. As I watch the events unfold live from Washington D.C., I am convinced that members of the Orlando Police and Orlando Fire Department are doing everything in their power to tend to the wounded, ensure the safety of the public, and find the...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Officers are on the scene of a shooting in downtown Orlando Friday. According to Orlando Fire Department dispatch, several people were shot and were transported to a local hospital. The shooting happened at 1000 LEGION PL (see map) at the Gateway Center. No other details are available at this time. Click REFRESH for the latest updates from WFTV.com. Copyright 2009 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

At least eight people were injured in a mass shooting inside a downtown Orlando high-rise just before noon Friday, according to the Orlando Fire Department.According to Orlando Fire Department District Chief Michael Droege, an unknown number of people are still in the building and could be injured. He said the SWAT team is still trying to pull people out of the building.WESH 2 reporter Gail Paschall-Brown, who is at the scene on the ground, said that 15 employees came out of the building very distraught. Paschall-Brown spoke with one who said that a former employee came into the office who...

Another shooting on the very day we vote in Health Care. ORLANDO, Fla. -- At least eight people were shot inside a downtown Orlando high-rise Friday morning. Firefighters were called to Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place around 11:30 a.m. The building is near Lake Ivanhoe. All patients have been taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. At least four of the eight patients are serious trauma cases.

While roaming the grounds of the US Capitol yesterday, Kristinn Taylor obtained a list of possible democrat defectors of the now infamous “Healthcare” bill. Kristinn was asked to post this list of wobbly democrats on FreeRepublic in an effort to mobilize our forces and overwhelm these members with phone calls and e-mails asking them to vote NO on the socialization of our healthcare. We also learned that Nancy Pelosi had just scheduled the vote for tomorrow; Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM. For all those who were unable to answer the call to surround the Capitol yesterday, here is...

WEST PALM BEACH — Incited by poor graduation rates in Palm Beach County, a national civil rights group sued the state Thursday, alleging it failed to ensure that all students receive the high-quality education guaranteed under the Florida Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the school district directly last year, but the case was dismissed on the grounds that the district was not the right party to sue. Now the national and state arms of the ACLU are bringing a class-action suit against the state on behalf of Palm Beach County students and parents. The lawsuit, filed in Palm...

Isn't it funny how quickly politicians abandon their original positions after being on the wrong side of an issue is used against them? Charlie Crist is the latest culprit of the phenomenon, revisionist history. During an appearance yesterday on CNN, Crist had this to say about the president's stimulus package: "I didn't endorse it. I didn't even have a vote on the darn thing. But I understood that it was gonna pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians." Are you sure you didn't support the stimulus Governor Crist? Because if...

Interesting fun fact of the day: The G5 that Scott Rothstein flew to Morocco and back was apparently arranged for Rothstein by Blue Star Jets. Blue Star Jets is owned by Todd Rome. Todd Rome is the ex-husband of Carol Rome. Carol Rome is the current wife of Florida governor and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist. Charlie Crist is a guy who counted Rothstein as a friend and huge political donor.

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau The NRA wants to stop adoption agencies from asking prospective parents about whether they own guns, saying the question is a violation of gun-owners' rights. The National Rifle Association is pushing legislation to ban adoption agencies from asking potential parents if they have guns and ammunition in the home. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said adoption agencies are violating gun-owners' rights by asking about firearms in an adoption form. She said any request about gun ownership from an agency connected with government was tantamount to establishing a gun registry. ``Gun registration is illegal in Florida,'' Hammer said. ``An...

The White House didn't do its erstwhile stimulus ally Charlie Crist much good on Thursday. Asked about Crist's contention that he never endorsed the stimulus bill, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Crist was behind the package. "I think his words at that event speak for themselves," Gibbs said. "I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits it would have and has had for the state of Florida." One has to wonder how anxious centrist Republicans will be to get behind Democratic initiatives now that the White House has thrown one of few...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a heated race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, Gov. Charlie Crist keeps moving away from his support of President Barack Obama's stimulus package that the governor called "fantastic" and "remarkable" when lobbying for its passage. Faced with an increasingly difficult primary challenge from former House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami, the governor now claims he didn't endorse the $787 billion economic stimulus that included a generous contribution for Florida. "It seems to be the president's answer to almost every challenge that's facing our country is to spend more money," Crist said Thursday. He commented...

GOP is 'disintegrating,' Grayson says By Eric Zimmermann - 11/05/09 12:53 PM ET The GOP will soon disappear as a party, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) claimed last night. Speaking to HLN's Joy Behar, Grayson said the battle between moderates and conservative Republicans will send the party off a cliff. "I think we're witnessing the disintegration of a major political party," Grayson said. "Something that happens only about once a century." Grayson pointed to the showdown in NY-23 as evidence that "the tea baggers are no longer obeying the corporate pay masters."

TAMPA — The remains of a local soldier killed in Afghanistan will make a final trip through Tampa today on the way to a Plant City funeral home. The casket bearing the remains of Army Spc. Eric Lembke is expected to arrive at MacDill Air Force Base about 2:30 p.m., and a procession will depart from there soon after. The procession will travel north on Bayshore Boulevard, east on Channelside Drive to State Road 60 and then east on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. The hearse will deliver Spec. Lembke to the Hopewell Funeral Home at 6005 State Road 39...

TAMPA - Charlotte, N.C.'s mayor politely suggested Monday that the Tampa Bay area was behind its competition when it comes to the transportation networks necessary for job recruitment. Then Mayor Patrick McCrory shared with 300 community leaders the experiences that led to Charlotte's recent transit-oriented success. The strong turnout for the regional transportation session provided a further example the local transit movement is gaining momentum. Hillsborough County leaders are trying to get a 1-cent sales tax referendum for transit on the November 2010 ballot. "You are taking a very courageous political step," McCrory told elected officials advocating improved transit. "You...

CHIPLEY, Fla. – A baby missing for five days was found alive and well under her baby sitter's bed, and Florida authorities said Thursday they plan to charge the sitter, her husband and the child's mother. Investigators found 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick in a box tucked under a bed surrounded by items intended to hide the child at Susan Elizabeth Baker's home near Chipley, a rural Panhandle town, Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said in an interview early Thursday. The baby was placed in protective custody. "Statistically speaking this should not have ever happened, that we found this child alive, especially...

PORT CHARLOTTE - Two men, armed with a knife and a tire iron, reportedly forced their way inside a Port Charlotte home Saturday night, only to find the occupants had guns. The botched home invasion robbery ended quickly when one of the suspects sustained a nonfatal gunshot wound to the stomach, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Authorities have arrested one man and intend to charge the other upon his release from a Fort Myers-area hospital in connection to the attempted robbery at the 21000 block of Beaverton Avenue. The incident occurred around 10 p.m. at the home of...

Rumors are circulating that Scott Rothstein, whose current whereabouts aren't known, spent a marathon 18 hours in talks with federal prosecutors last night and this morning. ​Sources say he was not only confessing to his own crimes but pointing the finger at others, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who was so close to Rothstein that he visited his home, dined with him, and attended a party at his wedding last year at the Versace mansion.

There are some amazing stories brewing on the Scott Rothstein front, but while I'm reporting those, let's look at his cars.

After pumping more than $1 million into an upstate New York House race to elect the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, the Club for Growth is on the hunt again. Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee, made it clear the PAC is looking for more GOP targets who don’t embrace the Club’s limited-government approach. Priority No. 1 is likely to be the Senate contest in Florida, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who embraced President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, is being challenged by former State House Speaker Marco Rubio. . . . . . Beyond Florida, other establishment Republicans...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who recruited Gov. Charlie Crist to run for Florida’s open Senate seat next year, said today that the National Senatorial Campaign Committee will not put money into the primary Republican battle with former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. “We will not spend money in a contested primary,” Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told ABC News.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Charlie Crist is saying he did not endorse the $787 billion federal stimulus bill, a statement that might confuse some voters. Crist appeared with President Barak Obama in February to support the bill, asked Florida members of Congress to vote for it and previously told The Associated Press that he would have voted for it if he had been in the Senate. But when the Republican governor talked about the bill Wednesday on CNN, he said he didn't endorse it. Crist told CNN he understood that the bill was going to pass and wanted to...

<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In a case being called Twittergate, a Republican Party county chairman wants to know whether state party leaders new about a fake Twitter account set up to defame him.</p>

RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. Many of the young,...

TAMPA - One photograph shows a beautiful baby girl with a fat, happy face. Another shows a dead 5-month-old with sunken eyes. She weighed 6 pounds. Her autopsy showed no body fat. Without being told it's the same child, you'd never be able to tell. When Polk County deputies responded to a call Sunday about a baby not breathing at the Lakeland home of Tivasha Logan and Chauncey Gardner, they found more beer than baby food, Sheriff Grady Judd said. There only were about 2 ounces of formula inside the one can they saw. The child, Chauntasia Gardner, was pronounced...

THE VILLAGES — The most-famous “hockey mom” in American politics is about to release her political memoir and her book tour will bring her to The Villages on Nov. 24. The second female in American history to be selected as a vice presidential running mate will hold a book signing beginning at 4 p.m. Nov. 24 at Barnes & Noble at Lake Sumter Landing. Palin’s memoir “Going Rogue: An American Life” is being published on Nov. 17. “I am sure there will be a big crowd,” said The Villages Barnes & Noble manager Cheyenne Coon, who added that those interested...

Scott Rothstein is meeting with federal prosecutors tonight, according to numerous sources, and criminal charges appear imminent in the apparent Ponzi scheme that exceeds $400 million.

Amid rumors that prominent Broward attorney Scott Rothstein has returned to town and may try to go to his law firm, Fort Lauderdale police on Tuesday surrounded his firm's building at 401 E. Las Olas Blvd. On Monday, the politically influential firm attempted to oust Rothstein amid a criminal investigation into his business dealings. The investigation into Rothstein, a major fundraiser for Gov. Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and other major politicians has left candidates in the lurch and the law firm reeling. The firm -- Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler -- was a top sponsor of a Fort Lauderdale...

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010. Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and...

Borrowing from Ron Paul, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson kicked off a "money bomb" today, and by his telling, it's going really well. As of 4 p.m., Grayson's Web site shows $433,000 has been collected, exceeding a stated goal of $400,000.

When a political party is out of the White House and in the minority on Capitol Hill, it's time for licking wounds. But it's also time to think ahead to who the next leaders of the Republican Party will be. Some of the main Republican contenders — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — are well-known. Others, like Florida Rep. Marco Rubio, aren't. Rubio, a conservative outsider and former speaker of the state House, is challenging former Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. There's an open seat next year because of...

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced that defendant Jorge Delgado was sentenced on October 29, 2009 to two years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Delgado previously pled guilty to aiding and abetting an attempt to possess ecstasy with the intent to distribute. During the time at issue, Delgado was a Miami-Dade Police Officer assigned to uniformed road patrol. This charge arose from an undercover investigation...

Miami, Florida (CNN) -- He lies in a bed on a balloon-type mattress, to reduce pressure on his burned body. He is covered with bandages; a ventilator breathes for Michael Brewer because he can't do it for himself.

The single biggest threat to Charlie Crist's political future probably isn't his U.S. Senate primary rival, Marco Rubio. It's former Gov. Jeb Bush, who could give Rubio an enormous boost if he chose to. A new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll underscores how much Bush's shadow still looms over Florida almost three years after he left office: Forty-six percent said they would rather have Bush leading Florida today, while 41 percent said Crist. More striking, 71 percent of Republicans would pick Bush as governor today, while only 22 percent of Republicans said they would pick Crist over Bush....

Excerpt: And when Republicans demanded an apology, guess what? He said no! No apology for you! What’s more, he twisted the knife by apologizing instead to the people who died because they didn’t have health insurance! Do you understand how scary this man is? HE COMMUNICATES WITH THE DEAD!

Sanford Bishop (GA-2) WASHINGTON OFFICE 2429 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC 20515-1002 Phone- (202) 225-3631 Fax- (202) 225-2203 ALBANY OFFICE 235 Roosevelt Avenue Albany Towers, Suite 114 Albany GA 31701 Phone: (229) 439-8067 Fax: (229) 436-2099 COLUMBUS OFFICE 18 Ninth Street, Suite 201 Columbus, GA 31901 Phone: (706) 320-9477 Fax: (706) 320-9479 THOMASVILLE OFFICE 137 East Jackson Street, Thomasville, GA 31792 Phone: (229) 226-7789 Fax: (229) 226-7860 Contact him http://bishop.house.gov/display.cfm?section_id=13 Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sanford-Bishop-Jr/18910585219 Dan Boren (OK-2) Muskogee Office 431 W. Broadway Muskogee, OK 74401 (918) 687-2533 (918) 686-0128 fax Claremore Office 309 W. 1st Street Claremore, OK 74017 (918) 341-9336...

The death of a rapper whose body was found at a teenager’s birthday party in Holiday is being investigated as a homicide.

Oct 30, 2009 — “Plant fossils give first real picture of earliest Neotropical rainforests,” announced a press release from University of Florida.  The fossils from Colombia show that “many of the dominant plant families existing in today’s Neotropical rainforests – including legumes, palms, avocado and banana – have maintained their ecological dominance despite major changes in South America’s climate and geological structure.” The team found 2,000 megafossil specimens from the Paleocene, said to be 58 million years old.  This is only 5 to 8 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs according to conventional dating.  “The new study provides...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando police said that intruders broke into a home Friday night and gunshots were exchanged, putting the entire neighborhood on edge. The home invasion happened on Mary Church Court at Prince Hall Boulevard in the Richmond Estates neighborhood, police said. Officers with the Orlando Police Department cleared the scene at about 11 p.m. Investigators took pictures of where stray bullets hit the side of homes nearby. Several officers looked through the trash of one home on Mary Church Court. Police said that just before 8 p.m., three armed men pulled up to the home, the homeowner saw...