Florida

I wrote this a long time ago, and then forgot to post it.

Over the years, access is being lost to many recreational and other areas in Barbados.
Beaches and cliffs that we could once access, are now blocked. This is happening all over, but here are four instances off the top of my head:

• Cluff’s on the North Coast in St. Lucy
• Ragged Point on the East Coast in St.

(Read the full post about ‘Barbados - Public Rights-of-Way being Blocked’…)

TAMPA — Prosecutors received permission today to make inked impressions and photographs of the feet of Edward Covington, the man accused of killing a Lutz woman and her two children earlier this month.

Authorities found the mutilated bodies on May 12, Mother’s Day. They say Covington admitted to the triple homicide on May 14.

Crime scene technicians located a footprint in blood on the floor of the master bedroom in Lisa Freiberg’s mobile home.

(Read the full post about ‘Prosecutors to photograph accused killer’s feet’…)

TAMPA — One of the boys accused of vandalizing two Riverview cemeteries overnight Sunday said today that he is sorry. "I’m sorry to all of the families," said the 14-year-old Riverview boy, who was arrested late Monday. A 15-year-old Tampa boy also was arrested. The Times is not naming them due to their ages. The 14-year-old appeared in juvenile court this morning. A judge will hear the 15-year-old’s case later. They both face juvenile sanctions for two felony charges of criminal mischief and damaging a tomb or gravestone. Authorities say they upset dozens of graves at the Serenity Meadows and Hackney cemeteries, toppling tombstones and destroying personalized memorials just hours before a planned Memorial Day service. (Read the full post about ‘Teen apologizes for cemetery vandalism’…)

A Brooksville man was killed after he was ejected from his vehicle while driving along Ridge Road in New Port Richey, according to a Florida Highway Patrol news release.

Stephen Jones Jr., 43, was driving east along Ridge near Airway Blvd. around 12:45 a.m. when he lost control while driving into a curve, authorities said. The move forced Jones’ Chevrolet onto the shoulder of the road before it rotated then overturned.

Jones was ejected. Pasco County Fire Rescue officials pronounced him dead at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation and troopers ask any witnesses to contact FHP Cpl. E.W.

(Read the full post about ‘Fatal crash reported in New Port Richey’…)

TAMPA — A Dixie County man was killed Monday after falling from the bed of a pickup truck driven by his mother, Hillsborough sheriff’s officials said.

Terry Fellhauer, 27, of Old Town, was sitting in a plastic patio chair in the back of the Chevrolet truck while his mother, 46-year-old Marilyn Wadsworth, drove west on Memorial Highway near Kelly Road around 9:30 p.m., sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

"For some reason he stood up as the vehicle was moving, he lost his balance, fell onto the pavement and died right there," Callaway said.

Callaway said speed was not a factor.

(Read the full post about ‘Man killed after falling out of pickup truck’…)

TAMPA — Reyline Redner, daughter of strip club impresario Joe Redner, was arrested during a prostitution sting along Nebraska Avenue early this morning, police said. Redner, 38, entered an undercover officer’s car around 1:30 a.m. and offered oral sex in exchange for $30, Tampa Police Sgt. Linda Mitchell said in a news release. Because she has more than three prior convictions for prostitution, Tuesday’s arrest boosts Redner’s latest charge to a felony, according to the release. Jail records show she is charged with offering to commit prostitution and criminal transmission of HIV. Bail was set at $4,000. (Read the full post about ‘Strip club owner’s daughter nabbed during Tampa prostitution sting’…)

County Administrator Bob Weisman is proposing to eliminate county commissioners’ coveted but controversial “discretionary funds” — accounts used to shower money on local concerns ranging from band uniforms to streetlights.

The decision could spark an election-year fight among commissioners over whether to risk public backlash and override Weisman.

In an interview Wednesday, on the eve of today’s release of property values that will show the first countywide decline in nearly two decades, Weisman said the $1 million savings from axing the accounts would be used to stave off deeper cuts to programs like Palm Tran buses and parks maintenance. (Read the full post about ‘Budget cuts could hit home for Palm Beach County officials’…)

Boca Raton - Proposals for a $20 million Pine Crest School expansion were approved unanimously by the City Council on Wednesday, despite the fact that their neighbors thought the new facilities would be too close for comfort.

Nearly 100 representatives of both the school at 2700 St. Andrews Blvd. and the adjacent 311-home Timbercreek development packed City Council chambers to say their piece.

The school’s proposal includes a new two-story Lower School building, administration building and a hotly contested maintenance building, among other facilities.

“We are trying to be good neighbors, but they aren’t neighbors to us,” said Timbercreek resident Denise Frain. (Read the full post about ‘Boca Raton City Council OKs Pine Crest School expansion plans’…)

When Nathan Stephens graduated from medical school this week, the burden of four years spent in late-night study sessions lifted from his shoulders. But in its place settled a new weight.

Nearly $300,000 in student loan debt.

Like many students at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Davie, Stephens thought he wanted to become a primary care physician — the type of family doctor who builds lifetime relationships with patients and is in short supply nationwide.

Yet now, as Stephens looks at how much money he owes and the rising cost of living, he’s changed his mind and picked a better-paying specialty: emergency medicine. (Read the full post about ‘Medical school debt drives many new doctors away from family practice’…)

DANIA BEACH - It was supposed to be a forum for Suez Energy North America to explain in detail its proposed deep water port off the coast of Fort Lauderdale and let residents know their fears about safety, the environment and terrorism are unfounded.

But during an open house gathering on Wednesday night, about 150 residents and officials from Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Oakland Park and Galt Ocean Mile protested the construction of a gasworks, where giant tankers would deliver highly flammable liquefied natural gas, which would then be transferred to South Florida in a pipeline.

During the informal meeting, hosted by Suez Energy at the International Game Fish Association headquarters, those in attendance said they fear the Calypso Deepwater Port might catch fire, explode and endanger the region’s densely populated coastline.

They also expressed concerns that the offshore shipping operation might hinder their view of the distant horizon and could be a terrorist target.

Broward County Commissioner Ken Keechl said the concerns are real and told Suez officials that he resented any implication that people who are alarmed by the project “are acting irrationally.”

“Other than the expansion of the south runway at the airport, I’ve never seen an issue create such dissension so quickly,” he said, referring to neighborhood opposition at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Christine Teel read a resolution the city passed last week, opposing the project.

“We believe the concerns of the public are very real,” she said.

Pio Ierace, president of the Galt Mile Community Association, who organized a busload of residents to attend the meeting, said studies show that if the gas is somehow ignited, it could develop a fireball that could endanger coastal residents.

“Our fear is very simple,” he said.

(Read the full post about ‘Gasworks off coast worries South Florida residents’…)