Free Republic

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — A man is in the hospital with serious injuries after he was hit by an Amtrak train in Clay County. According to the crash report, at around 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday, a 72-year-old man from Orange Park was driving his SUV southbound on the railroad tracks near Allen Avenue for an unknown reason. At the same time, an Amtrak Lead Engine Charger, accompanied by a second engine towing 9 cars, was traveling northbound toward the crossing at Allen Avenue. The SUV driver stopped his car on the tracks before the train struck the front of the...

A former Florida Highway Patrol trooper was sentenced to prison after he robbed multiple Florida pharmacies in 2022, the Department of Justice said. Jesse Rance Moore, 46, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for four counts pertaining to Hobbs Act robberies and three counts for brandishing a firearm during the robberies. An FBI investigation into Moore began when word of a "masked man" robbing pharmacies in the Columbia County area spread. Moore was captured on surveillance cameras walking into the pharmacy with a gun and demanded prescription drugs such as oxycodone, OxyContin, and Percocet. After Moore held up multiple...

Florida lawmakers advanced a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit social media platforms from allowing young teens to have an account while requiring everyone else to verify their age. The measure prohibits anyone under 16 from creating a new social media account and requires platforms to delete existing accounts held by minors who are younger than 16. It also would require social media companies to delete any personal information from the accounts and for the platforms to use a “nongovernmental, independent, third-party not affiliated with the social media platform” to verify users’ age. The bill passed the Florida house with...

A Florida man has chosen the next cultural wars flashpoint he will rally behind in an effort to mobilize the 2024 US presidential electorate: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). "Such a currency would give a federal government, our federal government, the absolute control over your money," the former Wrestlemania star declared of CBDCs from a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. "They could take your money – you wouldn’t even know it was gone. This would be a dangerous threat to freedom." The busy former reality television host and American president took a moment away from his E. Jean...

Extraordinary video footage shows how two scientist parents attempted to raise their infant son alongside a chimpanzee as part of a bizarre nature versus nurture experiment in 1931. Psychologists Winthrop and Luella Kellogg conducted the study on their ten-month-old son Donald and a seven-month-old chimp called Gua at their Florida home. The couple were attempting to establish if it was possible to educate an ape and teach them to communicate as a human. snip Donald took to walking around on all fours, dragging his knuckles like an ape. He would often start biting people when he became aggressive and he...

The Eagle Police Department in Idaho apprehended three Venezuelan men in a major bank fraud operation. The suspects, Heli G. Tronconis-Atencio, 22, Cesar A. Cano-Muskus, 24, and Dioban J. Pineda-Urdaneta, 19, now residents of Florida and Utah, were arrested on Tuesday while attempting to set up fraudulent accounts at two different banks in the Eagle area, according to Eagle Police Department. The trio, now held in the Ada County Jail, faces charges of felony criminal conspiracy with bonds set at $50,000 each. Pineda-Urdaneta, in addition, is being held on an arrest warrant from Florida. This rapid development unfolded after...

CAPE CORAL, Fla. - A Florida man was arrested after he was caught lurking in a neighborhood with underwear around his neck in the same area where bonsai trees were reportedly stolen two weeks ago, according to officers. Troy Dean Stuart, 35, was arrested and charged with one count of loitering and prowling after the incident that unfolded just before 10 p.m. on Thursday in the 2000 block of Everest Parkway in Cape Coral, police said in a news release. Officers responded to a call from a neighbor who said a "prowler" was in their backyard near the dock, and...

Sean Hannity announced on Tuesday afternoon’s radio show that he is taking his talents to Florida — or, that is to say, he is officially relocating from his home in Long Island to the Sunshine State. Hannity revealed to listeners of his iHeartRadio talk show that he was broadcasting live from his new studio in Florida, where he has taken full-time residence. Hannity opened Tuesday’s show with the “breaking news,” saying: If anybody is listening to this program for any length of time, been threatening now to do this for quite a while. But we are now beginning our first...

Miami cops swarmed Bayside Marketplace on Monday night following a fight between several juveniles, police said. Around 8:26 p.m., a large group of people — some possibly armed with sticks — were involved in a fight and later refused to leave the area of 401 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami police said in an email. Dozens of units rushed to the scene, temporarily shutting down Biscayne Boulevard between Second and Fourth streets. “Some businesses were temporarily closed to allow us to clear the area,” police said. “The juveniles have now scattered and we have cleared most of the units.” SNIP

Despite months of feverish recruiting and manipulation of its numbers, United Teachers of Dade (UTD) came up short in its attempt to bring its membership up to the threshold necessary to avoid a recertification election required under terms of a new law passed by Florida’s legislature this past summer. On Dec. 19, UTD President Karla Hernandez-Mats confirmed the union hadn’t been able to persuade 60 percent of the 30,000 teachers it officially represents to become dues-paying members. A few days earlier, she claimed the union had increased its numbers to just more than 58 percent, including 800 new members. What...

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man who was seen taking a 50-pound live fish from a Bass Pro Shops on Wednesday evening, according to the sheriff’s office.

There’s been a solid trend of ambulance thefts in 2023, one we hope doesn’t continue into 2024. The latest case comes via Florida and really nobody should be shocked by that. But this one comes with an extra twist since the suspect drove the stolen ambulance right to the front doors of the sheriff’s office. Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said the whole incident started innocently enough on the night of December 9 when a deputy received a call for help from an EMS. The patient was 35-year-old Stanley Williams and was “experiencing an altered mental state” which authorities suspect was...

One of two Florida burglary grand theft suspects with a long criminal history bragged that he would be out of jail shortly after his arrest before he realized he was taken into custody in a county where the law is enforced by a no-nonsense sheriff with a tough-on-crime platform. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said his deputies spotted a stolen Dodge Ram just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The driver, identified as Tamari Lucas, 24, a Tampa resident, and a passenger eventually stopped the truck and fled on foot, authorities said. [snip] Judd said. Upon his arrest, Lucas allegedly told the...

One of two Florida burglary grand theft suspects with a long criminal history bragged that he would be out of jail shortly after his arrest before he realized he was taken into custody in a county where the law is enforced by a no-nonsense sheriff with a tough-on-crime platform. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said his deputies spotted a stolen Dodge Ram just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The driver, identified as Tamari Lucas, 24, a Tampa resident, and a passenger eventually stopped the truck and fled on foot, authorities said. Lucas was arrested but the passenger was not found, Judd...

Miami-Dade County The man set ablaze claims the incident happened after the suspect asked him for $60 to help fix her car; she, however, claims she was being sex trafficked. A Florida woman has been arrested after she allegedly set fire to her Tinder date and his car, which was "engulfed in flames." But Destiny Lenai Johnson, 25, and the man in question tell two very different stories when it comes to what went down during the November 25th incident. According to an arrest report, via Local 10, the two connected on Tinder and met up in person for the...

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Florida motorist accused of firing shots at an East Providence home before leading officers on a wild pursuit in Rhode Island last week appeared in court Monday.More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the black Nissan Armada, and several guns were also found in a backpack discarded along the chase route, according to police.Law enforcement officials brought more than 100 counts against Joshua Pavao, 43, with a last known address in Kissimmee.

A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly planning to commit a mass casualty incident at a Tesla-sponsored event hosted by CEO Elon Musk. Advertisement According to a Travis County arrest warrant, Paul Ryan Overeem, 28, was booked on suspicion of making a terrorist threat, which is a third-degree felony. Authorities said that on November 9th, the 28-year-old, going by the handle “ufotnoitalumis,” made many online threats against Tesla’s Cybertruck promotional event in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. He conveyed these messages via an Instagram exchange. The threats included: “But yeah so at teh (sic) Tesla event I’m planning to attach...

A Florida man allegedly threw a package of Oreo cookies at his wife while the two were arguing over their empty coffee maker. Deputies wrote in an affidavit that John Sandoval, 70, was arrested Saturday morning after he allegedly threw the package of Oreo cookies at his wife while the two argued over their coffee maker that had no water in it, according to FOX 35. According to Lake County Sheriff's deputies, the couple, who has been married for over 40 years, got into a verbal argument while sitting at a table. At some point, Sandoval allegedly became "aggressive" and...

When she was apprehended, Sandra Jimenez allegedly told police her boyfriend's injuries were self-inflicted. A Florida woman is facing charges of aggravated battery after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend in the eye with two rabies needles over the weekend. According to an arrest report via Fox 35 Orlando, Sandra Jimenez, 44, was cuffed on Saturday after police in Miami say she got into an argument with her boyfriend of eight years, Miguel Tellez. Police were actually called to the hospital, where they spoke with the victim. It was Tellez who claimed the pair had an "ongoing argument" about him "looking at...

A Florida man has been arrested and charged after he was caught on camera viciously punching an elderly shopper at a Walmart last month. Joseph Albert McFadden, 34, has been accused of aggravated battery on elderly after he was seen brutally punching the victim twice in his face and fleeing the scene. The unsettling attack occurred on October 11 at around 10am, as the victim, in his 80s, was leaving Walmart in Lauderdale Lakes with a shopping bag in his hands. McFadden was arrested at another Walmart in the county last week after the store's security staff identified him and...