Free Republic

Florida banned gay marriage in 2008ORLANDO, Fla. —The Orlando City Council is throwing its support behind a lawsuit challenging Florida's gay marriage ban. .......... The city is filing a "friend of the court" brief that is supporting a lawsuit by the city of Miami Beach that seeks to invalidate the marriage ban.

Updating our previous story about a fifth grader told by his teacher he could not read his Bible during free time, school lawyers for Broward County Public Schools have now gotten involved and changed their story. They now say that the time in question is not free reading time, but instead Accelerated Reader Program time. During this period, students can only read certain approved books, and the Bible is not among them. Hence, Broward County Public Schools will continue banning the Bible.

Chris Sevier, a man from Florida, believes he should be allowed to wed his Macbook. Mr Sevier argues that if gays should be allowed to marry, then so should other sexual minorities. Mr Sevier states he has fallen in love with a pornography laden computer. “Over time, I began preferring sex with my computer over sex with real women,” he told a court in Florida. This appears to be not a passing holiday romance, but a lifelong commitment.

A poll released Monday shows that 88 percent of Florida voters support allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes, bolstering the arguments of advocates who have placed a constitutional amendment on the November ballot seeking legalization. The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, indicates widespread support across political and demographic lines — Republicans and Democrats, men and women, young and old — for legal medical marijuana if it is prescribed by physicians. The constitutional amendment needs approval from 60 percent of voters to pass.

This week Liberty Institute continued to fight for 5-year-old Gabriella Perez, who said a school employee told her not to pray over her meal. The school purportedly apologized to the family after Liberty Institute became involved but now seems to be making unfounded public attacks on the girl and her family. As a result, Liberty Institute sent the school another letter—this time demanding corrective action—and it is continuing its defense of the young girl and her family. According to the Perez family, their 5-year-old daughter bowed her head over her food during lunch. A school employee instructed her to stop,...

Officials at Broward County Public Schools banned a fifth grader from reading the Bible during “free reading” time, according to lawyers from the Liberty Institute who are threatening to sue the school for violating the First Amendment.

A fifth grade worksheet in Florida declares that the Federalists were different than the anti-federalists because they “believed in a strong national government that would have power over the states.” The Federalists believed in a central government, but it was to be a “limited government.” The anti-federalists believed that there should be no central government, and pushed for full sovereignty of the states. The Federalists, according to the worksheet, included “John Adams, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton.” While it is true that the Federalists wanted a central, or a “general,” government, the worksheet does...

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL (WFLA) - Our 8 On Your Side story about a New Port Richey soldier who says his home has been taken over by squatters is striking a nerve in the community and now, the squatters are moving out. The house of Army Spc. Michael Sharkey sat almost empty early Thursday morning after two squatters said they moved out the day before. Two dogs left in the house were barking all morning and one of them got out. After an '8 ON YOUR SIDE' investigation, Julio Ortiz and his girlfriend started packing up their belongings at the...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — With a round pool in the backyard, a Mercedes and a boat in the driveway and a greenhouse and an aviary nearby, the Florida house doesn’t look like it was owned by someone who qualified for public assistance. But it was. While living the life of luxury on a 1-acre manicured lot, Gloria Valle-Clas collected between $305,000 and $377,000 in food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid benefits. Using two separate Social Security numbers and as many as 12 aliases, she duped government agencies into sending her monthly assistance checks and picking up her medical bills...

The alleged victim reported to police that on April 1 at approximately 9 p.m., she visited Lockette's apartment. Kaepernick and Patton were also there. She said she mixed drinks and prepared shots for them and was told that in order to drink the shots, she had to "hit" the bong, which contained marijuana, according to the police report. She said to police that she began to feel light-headed and went to a bedroom to lie down. Kaepernick, with whom she said she had a previous sexual relationship, followed her into the bedroom. They did not have sex, she told police....

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,A Florida man had a very specific request when he asked a judge to switch up his public defender. Gustav Potthoff, who is accused of attacking his roommate with a butter knife because he thought he looked like Jesus, told an Orange County judge that he deserves to “be with someone of my own kind." Potthoff is an atheist. "It's just my human rights and everything else," said Potthoff. "I'm allowed to be with someone of my own kind." The judge told the 51-year-old that if he wants an atheist attorney, he’s going to have to pay for...

Man started fire to burn bugs in 'deplorable' apartment, report states A man pulled from a fire on Sunday night told authorities that he started the blaze accidentally — while trying to burn the bugs in his apartment, the Orlando Police Department said. Orlando police and fire crews were called to the fire at an apartment building on Lakeview Street, near Lake Concord just north of downtown Orlando, about 11:30 p.m. The man was rescued from his burning apartment and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation, according to Orlando police. An officer who checked...

A 49-year-old woman found herself in a pile of trouble after investigators linked her to apparent human poop in an elevator at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in downtown Fort Pierce. The case against Patricia Ann Jamison, of Lake Worth, got rolling March 7 after court security staff learned of what looked to be "human fecal matter in the corner of the left public elevator by the buttons," according to recently released St. Lucie County Sheriff's records.

Iguanas invade Cape Coral, Florida neighborhood: Reptiles dig seawalls causing safety concernSome residents in Southwest Florida are worried about an iguana invasion in their neighborhood. They say the creatures are digging up holes behind their seawalls -- a major safety concern for some homeowners. Now, some residents are going to great lengths to try and get them out of the neighborhood. "We're really scared," said resident Judy Ross. The reason for Ross' fear? "I'm getting a little bit afraid of the large ones like this one that must five, they're measured from head to tail, he must be five feet...

The names of the six-member jury panel that acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin have been made public for the first time, after a new court order, records show. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, who had previously ordered the jurors' identifying information be kept confidential, granted access to the names in a ruling March 21.

A recently revealed video shows a Florida woman's bizarre attempts to train a wild alligator she nicknamed Puppy Puppy. Residents of a senior residence community in Port St. Lucie say they would watch in horror as the unnamed neighbor routinely fed the beast from the edge of a backyard lake and flailed wildly when it came too close. While they once watched the woman's strange behavior from afar, neighbors say the situation came to a head when the gator scrambled up to a patio hoping to be fed a steak from the grill. 'She would bring food back and forth...

This happened to me on SR 41 in Tampa on Monday March 24th. This pathetic excuse for a human being tailgated me for about three minutes. After about a minute, and me shaking my head, I pulled out my phone and started recording. I couldn't move over because there were trucks in the right lane, and I sure as heck wasn't going to speed on a rainy day with the roads being as slick as they were. I was turning left in about a half-mile when this happened. Now bear in mind, that this guy had already passed a truck...

A man and animal rescuers saved a coyote that got stuck in high water. Watch the dramatic footage.

A Boca Raton woman caused $1,260 in damage after she destroyed the back of a taxi cab, and then lunged at a police officer who was responding to the incident, according to Delray Beach police. Brenda Haggerty, 51, started kicking the credit card machine in the back of a cab at about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday in the 1000 block of Wallace Drive. When the driver, Destine St. Surin, got out of the car because he was frightened, she moved to the front of the car and started ripping out the car's meter, according to an arrest report.

Witnesses said a woman set a man's car on fire in Jacksonville after he refused to buy her a McFlurry at McDonald's.WFTV obtained video of the incident that happened on Sunday. Witnesses said the woman was angry after she asked for a McFlurry and the man she was with refused to buy her one. They said the woman grabbed the man's keys and headed to his car. One witness said she saw her pour alcohol and gasoline on the man's car, light it on fire, and then run off. People nearby tried to help him put the flames out....