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Looting lead to a deadly shooting overnight in Panama City. Witness Landon Swett said a man tried to steal a police car. "He yelled at me a little bit. He said, oh I’m looting and he opened the door to the police officer’s SUV with the lights going, got in it and shut the door,” said Swett. That's when Swett took his family to safety. Moments later, shots were fired.

Republicans and Democrats alike are investing heavily in wooing Florida’s Hispanic voters as they battle over the governor's mansion, a Senate seat and at least four House seats that are up for grabs in November. Florida’s diverse Hispanic community presents unique campaign challenges, as sub-blocs of Hispanic voters respond to different policy proposals and campaign styles. Democrats are hopeful they’ll be able to build on a stronger showing in the last presidential election with the traditionally Republican South Florida Cuban-American community. In 2016, Democrats won 50 percent of the Cuban-American vote, an outcome credited to millennials put off by President...

Even with the midterm elections looming, Republican leaders in Congress made clear this week they're paying close attention to a looming battle over President Donald Trump's promised border wall. On Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan predicted a "big fight" over border security on the horizon, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that the GOP is "committed" to working to secure the funding the President wants for his signature campaign pledge.

Florida Mail-In votes thus far to 10/14/2018 as posted by the Florida Secretary of State this morning at 9:25 AM (EST): Republicans - 149,205 votes cast & recorded. Democrats - 118,894 votes cast & recorded. Others - 1,866 votes cast & recorded. No Party Affiliation- 57,400 votes cast & recorded. Republicans now lead Democrats by a margin of 30,311. This report concludes the first full week of Florida Mail-In voting. Take note: Florida Early Voting in person begins on 11/22/2018. It appears that the Blue Wave in Florida is just not there. Unless a devastating, incident occurs...it is beginning to...

Senate No Toss Ups 2018 Democrats 0 Pick Ups GOP 2 Pick Ups Mo & ND

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI identified this week unmanned aerial systems, or drones, as one of the greatest national security threats to America — rating it as severe a concern as cybersecurity hacks, critical infrastructure attacks, and terrorism. While drones are often thought of as techie toys, officials are becoming increasingly worried about the threat they pose and are warning it's only a matter of time until the devices are used to drop a bomb or fentanyl powder on people in a populated area. Drones are already used by transnational criminal syndicates and drug cartels. The technology...

Florida "Mail-in" vote totals as listed on the Florida SOS Elections Web Site on the Internet, 10/13/2018. Republicans increasing their lead. Republicans - 129,154 votes cast & recorded. Democrats - 101,334 votes cast & recorded. Others - 1,623 cast & recorded. No Party Affiliation - 49,334 votes cast & recorded. Republicans leading Democrats by a margin of 27,829 votes. Republicans have led from day one and are increasing their vote lead with every passing day. However it is far too early to establish how this all ends up. We will have a much clearer picture about ten days down the...

WASHINGTON Donna Shalala may be in trouble. Shalala, a Democrat running in a district that President Donald Trump lost by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016, is trailing Republican TV journalist Maria Elvira Salazar by 2 percentage points in a Mason Dixon-Telemundo poll. The independent poll’s margin of error was 4 percentage points and included a pro-Trump non-party candidate who could siphon votes from Salazar. Salazar’s unique background as a journalist in a party dominated by President Donald Trump and her appeal with older, Spanish-speaking voters has enabled the GOP to remain competitive. Shalala, one of the most experienced first-time...

Democratic House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied an audience of supporters in Washington Thursday evening with calls to implement single-payer health care and tuition-free college – along with an appeal to stop fossil fuel production entirely. Ocasio-Cortez, who is running to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District, has made no secret of her opposition to fossil fuels. She’s called for politicians to forsake donations from the industry and is pushing a “Green New Deal” plan which entails a shift to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. But she cast her position in stark terms Thursday, during a fundraiser at a restaurant...

WASHINGTON — Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her husband terminated two Bank of the West loans on the day that her IT employee Imran Awan left Wasserman-Schultz’s laptop in a Capitol Hill office building for law enforcement authorities to find. Imran Awan was charged with bank fraud for receiving a house loan from the Congressional Credit Union on a house that he did not own. Big League Politics has exclusively obtained financial records and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings documenting the transactions of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her husband.

TALLAHASSEE The oldest and largest psychiatric hospital in Florida was left inaccessible as Hurricane Michael carved its path across the Panhandle, knocking out power and ripping buildings to shreds. The storm’s eyewall passed right over the town of Chattahoochee, leaving it and the hospital “entirely cut off,” state emergency officials said Thursday. The hospital was not evacuated ahead of the storm. Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, which had about 975 residents and about 325 staff staying inside, was left with only emergency radios as a means to communicate with first responders. The hospital had backup power and water systems that...

TALLAHASSEE When Floridians head to the ballot box in November, they will encounter a list of candidates asking for their vote for seats in the state House to the U.S. Senate. Among the choices they must make will also be one of the longest lists of proposed constitutional changes in decades, from betting on dog racing to implementing a ban on public officials lobbying for six years after they leave office. The 12 constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot are the most since 1998, when the state’s Constitution Revision Commission — which meets once every 20 years — put nine...

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said in a recent interview that he hopes somebody runs against President Trump in the 2020 election, and that Trump supporters' continued chants of "lock her up" — typically in reference to Hillary Clinton — are "disturbing." In his retirement interview with C-SPAN, Flake said the chants, which were sparked by Trump's campaign and have continued throughout his presidency, are more concerning than the controversial things Trump says. "The disturbing thing isn’t so much what [Trump] says anymore, it’s the cheers from people behind him and the chants of, 'Lock her up!' for example that’s just...

America the Beautiful sings of "purple mountain majesties," but after deadly Hurricane Michael passed through Florida's panhandle, it was the skies that turned an eerie purple.... Reporters and residents shared images of post-storm skies ranging from a light lavender to a deep violet, and it turns out there's a scientific explanation for the unusual hues.

Democratic House candidate Donna Shalala is in a dead heat with Republican challenger, Maria Elvira Salazar, in the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District, according to a new poll. Shalala trails Salazar by two percentage points, according to a Mason Dixon-Telemundo 51 poll published by the Miami Herald on Thursday. Forty-four percent of likely voters in the district said they would support Salazar, while 42 percent said they would support Shalala, a difference that falls within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Thirteen percent of likely voters said they were undecided. Salazar, a popular Cuban-American...

Russian women are arriving in the U.S. on visas to give birth to dual-citizen babies. The women are traveling to Miami with help from agencies that assist them in finding apartments, doctors and even obtaining visas, services that could total up to $100,000, NBC reported.

Does anyone know if Democrat, Senator, Bill Nelson is actively supporting and campaigning for Democrat, Mayor, Andrew Gillum in the Florida Governor race? Gillum, who is a known Progressive, Socialist, Communist, Racist, Jew & Israel Hater, Democrat who, IMHO, is the not best place for Senator, Nelson to hang his hat on, during his very close and tight campaign against, current Florida Governor, Republican, Rick Scott. Any inputs, one way or the other. Go Scott, Go DeSantis, Go, Mast (18thFLCD), Go GOP, Go, GPTV, Go Trumpo MEGA rallies, Go, MAGA!!!

Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor and gun-control activist Emma González says that she now fears being recognized in public and driven off the road by gun enthusiasts. A new Vanity Fair profile piece on the 18-year-old activist published Tuesday was promoted by the magazine on social media with a quote about her newfound fame.

So various counties in FLorida are reporting the return of absentee ballots by mail. Last day to register was 10-9-18. Pinellas County which has an almost exactly equal number of R's and D's, so far with 2.5% returned show that 42.5% are Republican Ballots while 37% are Democrat; the rest Independent. This is a great indicator of overall intensity and gives an idea what the breakdown of turnout will look like. Pinellas is a key for the state, if Scott and Desantis win Pinellas they will almost assuredly win the state.

Although a year ago I signed Jo-Ann Golden's petition to restore the voting rights of convicted felons who have completed their sentences, I have changed my mind. At that time my feelings were, if you've done the crime and you've done the time, your rights should be restored. However, after much thinking about it, the law on the books is good as it stands. We all know that convicted felons repeat crimes that get them back into prison. "The most common understanding of recidivism is based state data from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, stating that...