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Erin Brown, a teacher in St. Johns County, Florida, typically keeps a gay pride flag hanging up in her classroom. As the faculty sponsor of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at her high school, she wants her students to know they are safe with her. This year, Brown found herself quietly repurposing the flag. Advertisement No longer on full display, it now hangs as a “rainbow background,” partially obscured among posters, photos, a calendar and other trinkets on her class bulletin... Read More

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two areas — one weather system in the east Atlantic and one in the Caribbean. As of 8 a.m. Saturday, meteorologists gave the system in the east Atlantic a 30% chance of forming into a tropical depression or storm in the next five days and a 10% in the next two. According to the National Hurricane Center, conditions could become more favorable for development early next week as it moves through the central and western... Read More

Anyone who’s ever heard the deep rumble of a spaceship’s takeoff knows a rocket launch is a sensory-rich experience. That’s part of the reason why a group of 40 blind veterans are heading to Kennedy Space Center next week to experience the Artemis I launch in person, in coordination with Wisdom 4 The Blind and NASA. Advertisement The group will be “able to hear it and feel the ground shake as this new rocket, which is one of the largest rockets ever built, will lift off and take... Read More

Florida college students are back on campus just as monkeypox is spreading quickly in the state, including among young adults. But while universities are posting information and offering flyers about the disease, few are prepared for a campus outbreak. They have yet to announce how they plan to isolate students with the virus and help them keep up with classes, and few have acquired the Jynneos vaccine being used for people at high risk of monkeypox. Advertisement Monkeypox most... Read More

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a grand jury up on its recommendation Friday afternoon to remove four Broward School Board members after a scathing report that accused them of having “engaged in acts of incompetence and neglect of duty.” The removals are effective immediately for the four sitting members: Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Laurie Rich Levinson and Ann Murray. The School Board members were notified of their terminations by email Friday. Advertisement There was a fifth member... Read More

In remaking the Broward School Board on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis turned to four Republicans — two of whom have School Board experience and the kind of insider knowledge that could help them effect change in the problem-plagued School District. The Republican governor has now appointed five of the nine School Board members in the overwhelmingly Democratic county. Advertisement “They’re all excellent picks,” said state Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, said about Friday’s... Read More

The postal worker who was mauled by five dogs in North Florida and eventually died from her injuries had South Florida ties, attending elementary school in Plantation and high school in Fort Lauderdale, according to her obituary. Pamela “Pam” Rock, 61, died Monday at the University of Florida Shands Trauma Center, one day after being attacked and mauled by five dogs in Interlachen, in Putnam County, which is about 45 miles east of Gainesville and about 70 miles southwest of... Read More

PLANTATION — A woman was sentenced to more than four years in prison Friday after pleading guilty in May to stealing nearly $300,000 from a senior couple in Plantation, officials said. Sherri Lynn Smith, 52, was sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release after embezzling the money from the bank account of a senior couple, who are both in their 90s, while working as their caretaker, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of... Read More

A Broward Sheriff’s deputy faces charges of grand theft after police said he kept about $1,600 during an “undercover integrity check operation.” Deputy Michael Spencer, 49, has been employed with the Broward Sheriff’s Office since December 2001. He was suspended without pay after his arrest Friday, the Sheriff’s Office said. Advertisement Spencer was arrested by the Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Unit about 1 a.m. Friday before his shift at Fort... Read More

TALLAHASSEE — As Florida medical-marijuana companies continue to rake in cash with a growing clientele, Gov. Ron DeSantis says they need to pay more to do business in the state. “I mean, these are very valuable licenses,” the governor said Tuesday. “I would charge them an arm and a leg. I mean, everybody wants these licenses.” Advertisement DeSantis’ administration, however, has dragged its feet on complying with a state law requiring the Department of Health to effectively... Read More