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Screeners at Florida city can't keep up, keeping many out of event ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Hundreds of people were turned away Monday morning at a St. Augustine campaign stop featuring Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who defended his running mate's Medicare proposal. The people were not admitted to the event after security screeners couldn't clear them fast enough. At the event, Romney told Florida voters that he and Paul Ryan, tabbed as Romney's running mate on Saturday, both want to "preserve and protect Medicare." Romney said President Barack Obama's decision to take $700 billion from Medicare for his health...

Guns were to be unloaded and stored in the trunks of cars or back areas of pickup trucks, and participants were instructed to stay inside of their vehicles while the deputies retrieved the items, Johnson said. After checking all of the firearms, the sheriff's office said none of them had been reported stolen. ----------------------cut----------------- Another buyback arrives next week in Volusia County. On Thursday, Daytona Beach police will host their annual Kicks for Guns program from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the John H. Dickerson Center, 308 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. Police officials said more than 700...

Held at Palm Coast's Town Center, more than 50 weapons were turned in and exchanged for gift cards to area stores. Deputies even went to people's homes to pick up guns if asked. Those who set up the program admit most of the people who turned in the firearms aren't criminals. “We're not worried about these people committing the crimes," said Capt. Lynne Catoggio from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. "We're worried about people breaking into these people's homes, stealing these weapons and then using them in other crimes.”

DADE CITY, Fla. - Authorities say they are dealing with a serial robbery case. They say they have seen similar incidents in Pasco County, Hernando County, even Sumter County. They say the men are armed and dangerous. Although yesterday, at a store in Dade City, the clerks were ready for that danger. In a matter of seconds a quite night at the Kwick Pick Food Store turns into in a shoot out. Surveillance video shows a masked man walking in, pointing a gun at the two guys working behind the counter. But what the would-be robber didn't expect, both of...

COCOA, Florida -- The Annual Gun Buy Back is taking place in Cocoa on Thursday, August 16, 2012 with the Cocoa Police Department and Rockledge Police Department. Brevard residents have the opportunity to turn in guns in exchange for a gift card, according to Public Information Officer Barbara Matthews with the Cocoa Police Department. The Annual Gun Buy Back will begin at 7:00 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012 at the Byrd Plaza Parking Lot, located at 801 Dixon Boulevard in Cocoa. Each vehicle will have the opportunity of turning in up to two guns in exchange for a $50...

AUGUST 9--In an embarrassing screw-up, Florida prosecutors today accidentally distributed a post-mortem photo of Trayvon Martin as well as copies of George Zimmerman’s college records, material that Florida law considers confidential and exempt from disclosure. The documents were inadvertently included in supplemental discovery records distributed this morning by prosecutor Angela Corey’s office. The material was sent to a variety of media outlets, including TSG, that have paid fees to receive discovery provided by the government to Zimmerman’s lawyer. The photocopied picture of Martin was one of three taken by an unnamed witness. The photo mistakenly released by Corey is a...

*** The punches land as the narrator lists the groups of people West has supposedly wronged. *** West said the ad reflects a "sad state of politics" in the country. "The ad being run against me by my opponent's family depicting violence against women and senior citizens is reprehensible," West said. "It plays on stereotypes and fear to divide Americans, and it cheapens the very real and tragic occurrences of violence against women and seniors. The American people are suffering from crushing debt, horrific tax and regulatory policies, and epic unemployment. This classless ad shows a lack of regard for...

If America falls off the so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 2, one of the first victims could be St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, speculated in a recent report that the airport could be one of six in Florida and 106 around the country that would have to shut down because the Federal Aviation Administration wouldn't be able to pay air traffic controllers. If St. Petersburg-Clearwater International were to close, officials there said the bay area would take a big economic hit. According to a 2010 state report, the airport generated $924 million...

SARASOTA, FL. - Sarasota Police are investigating the shooting death of a Sarasota man. 27-year-old Christian Robinson of Sarasota was shot around 2 a.m. Tuesday inside a home on the 1400 block of 21st Street. According to police, Robinson entered the home on 21 Street uninvited, and began to wave a gun at three occupants of the home and telling them to get out of the house. One of the occupants of the home, 22-year-old Frank Lee Green, says he pulled a handgun from his pocket and shot Robinson.

Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association and dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills. The Project Appleseed marksmanship clinic will be held on Sept. 8-9, 2012 at the Hernando Sportsman’s Club, located at 16121 Commercial Way (U.S. Hwy. 19), Brooksville. Registration begins at 8am. The clinic starts at 8:30 a.m. and will continue until 5:00 p.m., both days. Participants are taught fundamental rifle marksmanship skills that are to allow a rifleman to be accurate out to 400 yards, with iron sights, standard rifle and surplus...

Joanne Farley, 68, has always been a light sleeper. So when a man burst through her French doors last Thursday covered in blood, she was ready to defend herself. It started about 4:30 a.m. with a man using a knife to pry open a sun-room door of another home down the street in the 500 block of Arlington Road in Jacksonville. Homeowner Maya Trout, 33, fired birdshot at him after discovering the intruder when his dog started barking, police said. The wounded man ran down the hill and into the Farley home, toppling through their granddaughter’s pool floats, tossing his...

LAKE PARK, Fla. - Armed and unafraid, senior women are fired up about owning a gun. For 69-year-old Linda Lathrop that's a complete 180. "I've never owned or shot a gun until this past year," she says. Linda is part of a growing number of senior women in Palm Beach County determined to protect themselves. At the Home Safety Academy in Lake Park, the median age for students taking gun safety classes last year was 62. 4 in 5 were women. "It's no secret that seniors are targets, it's no surprise to us that so many are coming in and...

Of the 31 absentee ballots that have become the focus of an investigation into possible election fraud in Hialeah, at least one appears to have a forged signature. The ballot belonged to Zulema Gómez, 81, who entered a nursing home five months ago suffering from Alzheimer’s and a brain tumor. On the ballot’s envelope someone wrote: “The lady is my sister. I sign like this because she has arthritis + she has difficult signing. Thank you.” However, her sister, Olga Gómez, said Wednesday that she never wrote that message. Two weeks ago, she said, Daisy Cabrera took the blank absentee...

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will hold the county’s first gun buy back on Aug. 11, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Town Center. “This is a no questions asked–amnesty opportunity for anyone to turn in unwanted, operational firearms,” Fleming said. Individuals will receive a $50 gift card for each firearm turned in, up to a maximum of three. Additional guns will be accepted, but gift cards will be limited to three, while supplies last. Other weapons, such as knives, swords, brass knuckles, etc., will also be accepted. The program is being funded through a $7,000 crime prevention grant...

Candidates square off at forum Republican pledges support for medical marijuana, reproductive choice The two candidates vying for the Florida House District 120 seat took turns Monday night espousing support for gay rights, including the right to marry and adopt babies. One spoke up for the value of legalizing medical marijuana in Florida, a conservative Republican-led bastion in the deepest South. "As a pastor and member of the community, I've walked a number of individuals through the travesty of cancer," said Morgan McPherson, a former two-term mayor of Key West, at a forum held at the Conch Flyer restaurant and...

Looking to boost the quality of science education, Florida has just made it tougher for aspiring teachers to pass required certification exams. But the move to ensure that would-be science teachers know their subjects well could worsen Florida's shortage of science teachers. That could leave middle and high schools scrambling even more to find instructors for biology, chemistry, Earth-space science, general science and physics classes. .... The State Board of Education this month bumped up the scores needed to pass the teacher-certification exams in those five science fields. As a result, the passing rates for first-time exam takers are expected...

I won’t pretend to know all there is to know about guns, but I have been around guns all my life. I remember my father hunting deer and pheasant, and he had 3 or 4 guns while I was still at home. We were allowed to shoot the 22 under supervision, which I believe is a good thing for kids. They should know how a gun works, how they should be handled and respected. My late husband had a couple but he never hunted or shot. One of the guns was a 22 that belonged to his grandfather. None of...

Members of a local Black Panther group are planning a protest today after Tampa police shot and killed an armed teenager Sunday night in a Tampa Heights apartment complex. The St. Petersburg/Tampa New Black Panther Party says it expects 200 protesters to attend a rally at 9 a.m. at the Tampa Police Department headquarters on North 22nd Street. The protest is in response to the shooting death of Javon Neal, 16, who police say ran from police up a stairwell then whirled around brandishing a pistol grip, pump-action shotgun before police shot him. The shooting ignited anger among the apartment...

BARTOW -- Prosecutors say a man was legally justified when he fatally shot a 40-year-old man who barged into his Winter Haven home.

Whether it’s for an extravagant proposal or just a sing-a-long surprise, entertaining flash mobs typically lift people’s spirits. However, a flash mob in Florida on Saturday night was decidedly more sinister. A gang of about 300 teenagers mobbed a Wal-Mart in Jacksonville where they ran wild, destroyed $1,500 of property, started a food fight and fired gun-shots, according to police reports.