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Four and a half years after Parkland and two and a half months after Uvalde, some state leaders are convinced that more armed security are needed in schools. The leaders of the Department of Education and a state safety commission said Tuesday that a major priority will be to find ways to expand the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, which trains school employees to use guns in the event of a school shooting. The program is named after a coach and unarmed security monitor who was one of 17... Read More

A diverse group South Florida religious leaders have filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, arguing it violates freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami-Dade County on Monday, seeks to overturn the new state law, which restricts abortion after 15 weeks and provides no exception for rape, incest or trafficking. The legal action comes after the Supreme Court overturned the precedent of Roe v. Wade in June, paving the way... Read More

TALLAHASSEE — Not that long ago, millions of Florida homes and businesses had landline phones. But a new state report details the continued disappearance of what was a staple of life and how demand and competition have “exploded” for wireless and internet-based technology that most Floridians now use to make calls. Advertisement “These other modes are simply different technological evolutions of telephone service, much as connecting a call through an operator was replaced by... Read More

Editor’s note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service. Here are updates from Day 38 in the sentencing trial of confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, 23; a jury will decide if he will be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Advertisement Raw... Read More

In another sign of problems in Florida’s property-insurance market, a financial-ratings agency has withdrawn ratings for two insurance companies and downgraded another company. The Demotech agency on Monday withdrew financial-stability ratings for Weston Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and FedNat Insurance Co., according to Demotech’s website. Advertisement It also changed United Property & Casualty Insurance Co.’s rating from “A Exceptional” to “M Moderate.” The... Read More

MIAMI — It’s one of the seafood industry’s most gruesome hunts. Every year, the fins of as many as 73 million sharks are sliced from the backs of the majestic sea predators, their bleeding bodies sometimes dumped back into the ocean where they are left to suffocate or die of blood loss. Advertisement But while the barbaric practice is driven by China, where shark fin soup is a symbol of status for the rich and powerful, America’s seafood industry isn’t immune from the... Read More

With the primary elections just weeks away, some South Florida voters say they’ve received mail-in ballots — only to realize they have the wrong candidates and races on them. Debby Eisinger, who previously served as Cooper City mayor, is currently a Fort Lauderdale resident and said she was one of the people who received an incorrect ballot. Advertisement “It was mailed to my residence, but I knew it wasn’t the right precinct,” Eisinger said. “I knew who the candidates were... Read More

ExpandAutoplay Image 1 of 162 Patricia Padauy Oliver, right, and Andrea Ghersi step down from the witness stand after giving their victim impact statements during the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, August 1, 2022. Padauy Oliver’s son, and Ghersi’s brother, Joaquin Oliver, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated... Read More

TALLAHASSEE — Nearly five dozen Florida companies have submitted plans to tap into a $2 billion taxpayer-financed plan designed to shore up the struggling property insurance industry that would only save homeowners about 1% to 3% on their annual premiums. That would barely make a dent in the double-digit increases in premiums millions of state homeowners have endured for years — if those companies actually extend those savings to their customers. Advertisement The law creating the... Read More

Editor’s note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service. This story contains graphic testimony that may be disturbing to some readers. Sitting in an Uber on his way to carrying out his massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Parkland school shooter was busy on his phone looking up the music video for “Pumped Up Kicks,” a song about a gunman targeting unarmed victims, a Broward Sheriff’s detective testified... Read More