Free Republic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Why did this alligator cross the road? It was probably trying to get away from this guy. Known as the Blue Collar Brawler, Mike Dragich helped Jacksonville police and Florida Fish & Wildlife on Sunday getting a big alligator off of a Southside road. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office shared video on its Facebook page Monday. JSO “joined forces with Florida Fish & Wildlife, the Florida Hoghway Patrol and none other than local gator-wrangling legend, the Blue Collar Brawler, to wrangle this beast off the road and keep everyone safe,” the post states. “Just another totally normal day in...

A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin’s most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, the country’s military intelligence service. Some of the...

A Florida man ran down and pinned an 11-year-old girl he suspected of egging his home in a "reprehensible" confrontation that was caught on video, authorities said Monday. The girl was screaming for help and insisting she had done nothing wrong after Marius Mutu, 43, put her on the ground Saturday afternoon, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. Mutu told deputies that his apartment had been egged in recent days and that when "it happened again that day, he assumed the girl walking nearby was responsible," the sheriff's office said in a statement. He "chased her, forced her to the...

A Florida man has been indicted in Trenton, New Jersey, after allegedly boarding an Amtrak train with what authorities described as a “small arsenal” of weapons. Jeffrey O. Kennerk, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was caught on a train on Jan. 3 with assault weapons, large-capacity ammunition magazines, handguns, silencers, and a booby-trapped rifle that fired during his arrest at the Trenton Transit Center, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office said on April 16. “This defendant allegedly hauled a small arsenal of deadly weapons and ammunition through busy transit stations, and on a train filled with passengers,” Platkin said...

FSU shooter’s biological mom kidnapped him and fled to Norway amid bitter custody battle decade before deadly rampage The biological mother of accused Florida State University shooter, Phoenix Ikner, kidnapped him and fled to Norway amid a bitter custody battle a decade before the deadly shooting, court documents reveal. Eriksen and Phoenix Ikner — who at the time went by his birth name Christian Gunnar Eriksen — both have American and Norwegian citizenship. “Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement,” the affidavit stated. Christopher Ikner only discovered...

People on social media are outraged over a video reportedly taken at the scene of a fatal mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee, on Thursday, April 17. But it's not just over the alleged shooter, identified by Tallahassee police as 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner. It's over video that was seemingly shot by someone walking past a wounded, bleeding woman lying face down on the grass. Rather than stopping to help or even running away from an active shooter, as what sounds like two shots are fired in the background, the person walks by while sipping from a...

A tense and frightening moment captured on video is making waves online, showing a young fisherman’s calm response during a heated confrontation with an older man—now identified by many online as Captain Brock Horner of Tarpon Fishing Charters. “That guy needs serious help,” one user commented. “He stepped on that kid’s boat like it was nothing—completely unacceptable,” said another. “If that was my son, that man would be answering to more than Facebook comments.” Despite the threats, the young fisherman stayed composed, earning widespread support. “You handled it better than most adults would have,” one person wrote. “That could’ve gone...

People react after hearing the news that George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, in New York July 13, 2013. Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges on Saturday for the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in this central Florida town in February of last year. Worshippers at the Middle Collegiate Church hold prayer services wearing hoodies in support of slain teenager Trayvon Martin in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in his trial in New York, July 14, 2013.

There was an oft-repeated message in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday: Tariffs will raise consumer prices. The U.S. central bank raised its inflation forecast for 2025, as have many economists, due to the expected impact of a trade war initiated by the Trump administration. “A good part of it is coming from tariffs,” Powell said of the Fed’s elevated inflation estimate. “I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” Powell said. His statement comes at a time when pandemic-era inflation has gradually declined but hasn’t yet been fully tamed...

Substitute teachers usually hope to make it through the day without incident. But one woman took the wrong route to solve a dispute. And a Florida substitute teacher asked her students one question that could land her in jail. Geanene White, a 57-year-old, was called in to serve as a substitute teacher at the YMCA Tiger Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. White resorted to something not found in any teaching manual. The charter school serves students in kindergarten through third grade. White had her classroom break up into small groups to work on a project. One of the elementary school students...

A Florida man has been busted for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Trump and “launch f–king missiles” at New York City in a series of bizarre phone calls to police. Justin Blaxton, 34, of Loxahatchee, made multiple threats against the president on Feb. 26 while repeatedly calling 911 in Palm Beach, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located, according to audio released by police, CBS 12 reported. “I need a ride to the airport to be taken to The White House so I can assassinate the president,” Blaxton, who identified himself as “Justin Blaze,” told a dispatcher in one of the...

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Monday morning was a new kind of traffic nightmare in St. Johns County after St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputies say 62-year-old Samuel O’Neal Gardner pointed a gun at fellow drivers on Interstate 95 southbound around 9:30 a.m. Investigators said Monday that Gardner fired off a few shots, but they’re unsure if he aimed at other drivers on I-95. SJSO said deputies attempted to pull Gardner over on I-95 southbound, but he instead turned the gun toward deputies and led them on a chase. SJSO said Monday Gardner was airlifted to the hospital after crashing...

DeSantis, who is term limited from running in 2026, has spent weeks pitching his wife, Casey DeSantis, as a candidate to replace him.But Thursday, Trump endorsed Donalds, who has not declared himself a candidate, in the 2026 Florida gubernatorial race.“I know Byron well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a TOTAL WINNER!” said Trump, adding “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”Addressing Trump’s endorsement of Donalds Monday, DeSantis criticized Donalds for not playing a role in DeSantis’s work in Florida.His comments did not seem to phase Donalds, who took the high road.“I am honored to have...

A Collier County-based TikTok influencer known as “Island Boy” is facing charges after being caught with drugs and a firearm. According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, 23-year-old Frank Venegas was taken into custody after a traffic stop on Sunday. Officers found Venegas as a passenger in a yellow Corvette that failed to stop at a posted sign on Oil Well Road. During the stop, officers discovered a plastic bag containing white pills on the passenger side floorboard. The pills, identified as Oxycodone, were not in a prescription container, leading officers to search.

A Jewish man in Miami Beach is facing serious charges for opening fire on a vehicle after he saw “two Palestinians” inside – both of whom actually appear to be Israeli Jews. Mordechai Brafman, 27, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after he shot 17 rounds at the car with a semiautomatic handgun on Saturday night. According to American media reports, Brafman said once taken into custody that while he was driving his truck, “he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both”. Brafman was seen on surveillance video driving south on Pine Tree Drive and...

MIAMI — A man is facing charges following accusations that he opened fire on a vehicle in Miami Beach Saturday night after he saw two men in it who he thought were Palestinians, arrest documents said. Mordechai Brafman, 27, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder for the shooting. Around 9:30 p.m., surveillance video captured Brafman's truck traveling south on Pine Tree Drive and making a U-turn at 48th Street, where the victims' vehicle was stopped just north of 48th in the left lane. At that point, Brafman drove by and stopped directly in front of them...

The schemes weren’t sophisticated. Hicox worked with other law enforcement officers to set up drug busts and conduct traffic stops of known drug dealers. They’d do the bust and skim money and drugs off the top or steal them from evidence and then give them to street-level dealers to sell for them. In one instance, they stole more than 1,000 pounds of weed from an evidence locker, claimed to have burned it, and sold it. In one of the more bizarre schemes, Hickox stole a kilogram of cocaine from an evidence locker and replaced it with a brick he’d made...

A Florida man ​has been arrested for making “violent” threats against President Trump, police said. Shannon Depararro Atkins​ allegedly made posts on social media targeting the ​Commander-in-Chief. Atkins, 46, was arrested just before 7:30 p.m. Friday during a traffic stop in West Palm Beach — where he was allegedly found with cocaine, cops said. Authorities arrested Atkins after a tip, and the West Palm Beach man allegedly admitted making the “violent posts,” authorities said. “America needs one good bullet to be saved,” Atkins allegedly wrote on Facebook on Jan. 19, a day before Trump was inaugurated for his second term....

A fight broke out at a wedding at Boca Lago Country Club after two young girls cut Mark Roher in line for the buffet. Do not get between a man and his meat. When two girls cut Mark Roher in line for the carving station at a wedding at Boca Lago Country Club on Saturday, January 18, the South Florida attorney flew into a rage .The 52-year-old confronted the man that allowed his daughter and another young girl to join him in line and chaos ensued, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office police report. "The slimmer man ignored...

Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt . Photo: Fox News MediaFox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt are engaged. After years of quietly dating long distance, Hannity, 62, proposed to Earhardt, 48, over Christmas week at a church in his home state of Florida. "We are overjoyed and so thankful to our families for all of their love and support during this wonderful time in our lives," the pair told Fox News. The two added that they had the blessing and support from their children, who "couldn't be happier." Hannity shares two children, Patrick and Merri, with ex-wife Jill Rhodes,...