Florida....? oh yeah, Florida.

[China]

So here's Jacksonville's new Design plan featuring massive ‘Jax’ sculpture picked for former Jacksonville Landing site :

 

 

Looks like it says "derp"  

[skinsmarydu]

It does! But I moved to ATL not long after the original opened, and we thought it was just grand then! 

[China]

'Penis snakes' are moving into Florida: Several legless amphibians from South America have been spotted in a canal near the Miami International Airport

 

An obscure, legless amphibian, colloquially referred to by some as a 'penis snake,' is the latest invasive species to make its way to South Florida.

 

Formally known as a caecilian, these creatures are native to Colombia and Venezuela, but several have been pulled from the Tamiami Canal near the Miami International Airport. 

 

Caecilians can range in size from a few inches to five feet long and have extremely poor eyesight - their name translates to 'blind ones' in Latin. 

 

What a penis snake may look like

 

Click on the link for the full article

[MrSilverMaC]

21 hours ago, China said:

'Penis snakes' are moving into Florida: Several legless amphibians from South America have been spotted in a canal near the Miami International Airport

 

An obscure, legless amphibian, colloquially referred to by some as a 'penis snake,'…

Florida is America’s syphilitic penis, so it seems pretty fitting. They should make it their official state animal.

[China]

Man Threatened to Blow Up Disney Executives’ Homes, Ranted About Activision, Sent 186 Tweets in Three Hours: Deputies

 

A man went on a prolific tweetstorm, ranting about a video game company’s ongoing legal problems and threatening to blow up Disney executives’ homes, Florida authorities say. Deputies arrested Steven James Jordan, 31, on Thursday and booked him into the Pinellas County Jail, online records show.

 

According to authorities, Jordan made a Twitter account on Sunday, Aug. 8. It went off the rails quickly, based on the allegations. Jordan made 186 posts within three hours, deputies said in a news release. The suspect made a total of more than 200 tweets on the account, Pinellas Sheriff’s spokesperson Deputy Amanda Sinni told Law&Crime in an email. Jordan was arrested because he allegedly wrote Disney some threatening tweets, going as far as to tag them.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man pled guilty to charge stemming from pedophile hunter-style sting operation in Florida

 

A 56-year-old man pled guilty on Thursday after traveling from Minnesota to Florida for what he thought would be a sexual escapade with a 15-year-old girl, according to prosecutors. It was a pedophile hunter-style sting operation involving Miami federal agents.

 

For about three months, Richard Martin Lehner, who was married, used a dating app to communicate with a user claiming to be a teenage girl who was a virgin and lived in Palm Beach Gardens, prosecutors said.

 

Lehner bought condoms and set up a meeting on May 11 at a restaurant with a plan to have sex with the girl at Hilton Garden Inn, prosecutors said. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies were waiting to arrest him.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[China]

Tree planted in pothole in protest of road conditions

 

A Florida road is known locally for its pothole problem, and residents are tired of waiting to get the roadway fixed. So someone dug in deep to get the message across.

 

“I pulled up, and I’m like, ‘Is that really a tree in the middle of the road?’” said John Hulker, a Fort Myers resident.

 

It’s a sight you have to see to believe: a banana tree, planted in a pothole in the middle of the road.

 

 

“This is how we fix potholes in southwest Florida,” said Scott Shine, who works at the nearby business SWFL RV Rental and Sales.

 

The tree is no laughing matter, and neither is the pothole it’s growing in.

 

Cars driving down this road had to either veer left or right to get around the tree, just like they have to do if they see the pothole in time.

 

“The tree makes it harder to get around the next pothole that’s right next to it,” another Fort Myers resident Nicholas Angus said. “Because I usually just drive over the pothole, but now there’s a big tree. You can’t drive through a tree.”

 

Even in the rain, those behind the protest made sure the tree stayed in place, so their message gets through.

 

“I see a lot of cars come through here and they bottom out. You know you hear this big bang, and someone hit a hole,” Shine said.

 

Drivers in the area say it’s time to fix the potholes in the street.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[Dan T.]

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

The square grouper!

[Dan T.]

 

[China]

Florida Wants To Give Fishermen Another Go At The Great Big Goliath Grouper

 

Goliath groupers can be as large as a refrigerator, weigh 800 pounds, and are found prowling near Florida's coral reefs. Their large size makes them nearly fearless and easy prey for fishermen and divers with spearguns.

 

Felicia Coleman, a marine biologist and former director of Florida State University's Coastal and Marine Laboratory calls it "a big damn fish." Her husband, marine biologist Chris Koenig, says some they've studied have been 7 1/2 feet long.

 

The massive fish have been protected since 1990, after they were nearly wiped out. But now, Florida is proposing allowing the first catch of goliath groupers in more than three decades.

 

Coleman and Koenig are retired from Florida State University, but they're very much engaged in the discussions being held by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on whether to allow fishermen to once again begin taking goliath groupers. They've spent more than 20 years studying goliath groupers in Florida, Brazil and French Guyana.

 

"What we see is a population that is just teetering on the edge," Koenig says.

 

Next month, the commission will vote on a proposal to allow 200 goliaths to be harvested each year with permits awarded through a lottery. Coleman and Koenig oppose any move to reopen goliath groupers to fishing, even with strict limits. They're joined by other scientists, environmental organizations and dive groups who say the species should continue to be protected.

 

Don DeMaria is opposed to lifting the fishing ban. He's a commercial fisherman who in the 1970s used to spearfish for goliath groupers on reefs in the Gulf.

 

"They would have maybe in excess of 100 goliaths on them in the spawning season," he says. "And as more and more people got involved in it, I saw those aggregations go down to, in some instances one fish."

 

After seeing what was happening to the population, DeMaria became an advocate for goliath groupers.

 

"I'm still a fisherman," he says. "You realize it's a slow-growing, long-lived fish and you can't harvest it at that level. And in the case of goliaths, I just don't see how it can be harvested at any level at all, especially when the stock is declining."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[China]

On 9/24/2021 at 5:58 PM, China said:

Florida Wants To Give Fishermen Another Go At The Great Big Goliath Grouper

 

Goliath groupers can be as large as a refrigerator, weigh 800 pounds, and are found prowling near Florida's coral reefs. Their large size makes them nearly fearless and easy prey for fishermen and divers with spearguns.

 

Felicia Coleman, a marine biologist and former director of Florida State University's Coastal and Marine Laboratory calls it "a big damn fish." Her husband, marine biologist Chris Koenig, says some they've studied have been 7 1/2 feet long.

 

The massive fish have been protected since 1990, after they were nearly wiped out. But now, Florida is proposing allowing the first catch of goliath groupers in more than three decades.

 

Coleman and Koenig are retired from Florida State University, but they're very much engaged in the discussions being held by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on whether to allow fishermen to once again begin taking goliath groupers. They've spent more than 20 years studying goliath groupers in Florida, Brazil and French Guyana.

 

"What we see is a population that is just teetering on the edge," Koenig says.

 

Next month, the commission will vote on a proposal to allow 200 goliaths to be harvested each year with permits awarded through a lottery. Coleman and Koenig oppose any move to reopen goliath groupers to fishing, even with strict limits. They're joined by other scientists, environmental organizations and dive groups who say the species should continue to be protected.

 

Don DeMaria is opposed to lifting the fishing ban. He's a commercial fisherman who in the 1970s used to spearfish for goliath groupers on reefs in the Gulf.

 

"They would have maybe in excess of 100 goliaths on them in the spawning season," he says. "And as more and more people got involved in it, I saw those aggregations go down to, in some instances one fish."

 

After seeing what was happening to the population, DeMaria became an advocate for goliath groupers.

 

"I'm still a fisherman," he says. "You realize it's a slow-growing, long-lived fish and you can't harvest it at that level. And in the case of goliaths, I just don't see how it can be harvested at any level at all, especially when the stock is declining."

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

After 30 Years, You Can Now Catch a Goliath Grouper in Florida

 

Three decades after the state banned the harvesting of goliath grouper, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved plans that would allow about 200 of the fish to be killed annually.

 

Goliath grouper, which can grow to 800 pounds and more than eight feet in length, had been harvested in state waters since the late 1800s up until the 1990 ban.

 

Over the objections of dive operators, the commission voted to move forward with a draft rule allowing up to 200 fishing permits a year for juvenile goliath grouper, with the first harvest expected in 2023.

 

FWC Commissioner Robert Spottswood supports the limited harvest.

 

“This stock is rebuilding. We're hearing that it can easily sustain this very small harvest of fish. We're going to learn something from it, and more importantly, we're going to give some access that we can give safely.”

 

Dive operators including Donna Askew begged commissioners to keep the juvenile grouper from being caught, saying tourists travel to Florida to see and photograph the fish.

 

“They'll come and they'll spend the weekend diving with us and do the Goliath trips that we have. Then on Monday, they're going to Disney, they're going to SeaWorld.”

 

Fishing for goliath grouper would run annually from March 1st through May 31st in state waters outside of Southeast Florida.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by China

[China]

Officers arrest white pickup truck driver for indecent exposure in Miami-Dade

 

Detectives are searching for victims of indecent exposure after two women recorded a man who recently followed them in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck.

 

Two women, ages 25 and 27, told police officers they were traveling westbound on Kendall Drive when Rey Rommy started catcalling them.

 

“He then raised his pelvis, exposed his sexual organs, and masturbated while looking at the victims,” Detective Angel Rodriguez wrote.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Entire Universe Dunks on Florida Surgeon General After Insane Mask Standoff

 

Florida’s top medical official is once again under fire for his stance on COVID-19 safety measures—this time for claiming a face mask limits his ability to communicate.

 

Amid controversy over his refusal to wear a mask in a meeting last week with state Sen. Tina Polsky, Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo insisted in a Tuesday statement his decision to flout pandemic safety measures—despite the politician indicating she was sick—stemmed from his inability to “communicate clearly and effectively” with his face covered.

 

Dr. Jennifer Gunter, a Bay Area physician board certified in OB/GYN and activist who has written for The Daily Beast, also called out Ladapo for claiming he can’t speak in a mask—when wearing one can be a daily practice as a professional physician.

 

Click on the link for the full story

[China]

Cops: Drunk Driver Floated Egg Roll Defense

 

A Florida Woman who was pulled over early yesterday claimed that her erratic driving was “due to her eating an eggroll” while behind the wheel, according to police who arrested the motorist on DUI and narcotics possession charges.

 

Upon spotting a vehicle drifting between lanes on a St. Petersburg roadway around 2 AM Sunday, police conducted a traffic stop to “check the well being of the driver for sick, injured or impaired,” according to court filings.

 

When a sheriff’s deputy approached driver Maria Jurgilewicz, 45, “the defendant had a distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath.” Jurgilewicz, the cop added, had “difficulty following simple instructions” and “her speech appeared to be slurred and mumbled.”

 

Asked about her erratic “driving pattern” Jurgilewicz “claimed it was due to her eating an eggroll while driving.”

 

While arrest affidavits make no mention of an egg roll (or egg roll fragments) being found in Jurgilewicz’s auto, cops did seize “several different types of pills,” including the opioid Tramadol, from the car. A straw with “white powdered residue on the inside was found near the pills,” an investigator noted.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man Rides Bike Under Parking Gate At Boca Resort, It Hits Him, He Sues

 

A man riding his bicycle under an “open” parking gate at what was known as the Boca Resort and Club was hit by the gate when it closed.

 

He is now suing the resort, claiming that it didn’t maintain the gate that he drove under.

 

From the lawsuit filed by attorneys for David Whipple:

 

“On or about October 5, 2020 as the Plaintiff and his wife were riding their bicycles on the Defendant’s property and were headed to the Member’s Services Lounge, they observed the gate barrier arm in the steady upright position and had observed it in that position on several prior occasions.”

 

“The Plaintiff’s wife proceeded to ride through the access way toward Member’s Services and the Plaintiff followed directly behind her as they had done in the past, when suddenly and without warning the barrier arm came down and struck him causing him to fall off of his bicycle.”

 

“At no time prior to October 5, 2020 did Defendant warn or attempt to discourage the Plaintiff and the other resort members and guests from riding their bicycles through the access lane while the gate arm was in the elevated or “up” position.”

 

“At no time material hereto were any signs posted warning or discouraging persons like Plaintiff and other resort member and/or guests against the danger posed by accessing parking lot while the gate arm was in the “up” position and/or at any other time and/or while riding a bicycle upon the Defendant’s premises.”

 

The lawsuit claims “Boca Owner, LLC” — which owned The Boca Resort at the time — is responsible for the gate closing on Mr. Whipple.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Unavailable for comment

 

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by China

[China]

Manchineel Tree in Florida Looks Harmless, But Could Possibly be World's Deadliest Tree

 

The Manchineel tree has thin branches that are covered by waxy green leaves and little apple-like fruit, just like any other tree. 

 

However, if you eat anything from the tree, stay beneath it when it rains, use its wood to light a fire, or just touch its sap, you might be poisoned.

 

In 2011, the Guinness Book of World Records declared the Manchineel to be world's most dangerous tree. It can only be found in one state in the United States: Florida.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Tapped out: Judge spikes DeSantis' gambling plan

 

A federal court has handed Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida a sizable defeat. In a ruling that landed late Monday, a federal judge struck down the state’s $2.5 billion deal with the tribe and brought an end to sports betting in the nation’s third largest state.

 

 U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich with the District of Columbia said the compact was illegal because it allowed people to place sports bets anywhere in the state in violation of federal laws governing gambling on Indian lands. The ruling came in reaction to twin lawsuits filed by rival casino owners, longtime South Florida gambling opponents, and a statewide anti-gambling group.

 

Friedrich’s ruling also sided with gambling opponents by saying the only way sports betting could be allowed outside of tribal lands in Florida is through a citizen initiative. Voters in 2018 approved an amendment — backed by the Seminole Tribe and Disney — that said voters must approve any future expansions of casino gambling.

 

The GOP-controlled Legislature and DeSantis sidestepped that amendment by insisting the new compact was legal because the actual processing of bets occurred on tribal lands even though someone could use a mobile app anywhere in the state. Friedrich said she could not accept this “fiction” and added that “when a federal statute authorizes an activity only at specific locations, parties may not evade that limitation by 'deeming' their activity to occur where it, as a factual matter, does not.”

 

DeSantis personally lobbied lawmakers to muscle this latest deal through, which also authorized the tribe to add craps and roulette to its current casinos and build additional casinos on the tribe’s Hollywood reservation that is already home to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. But Friedrich — an appointee of former President Donald Trump — vacated the entire new compact approved in May.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Florida man charged with 600 counts of sexual assault on a child

 

A Florida man is in jail after a pastor turned him into authorities for child sexual assault.

 

31-year-old Robert Cota from Pensacola is charged with 600 counts of sexual battery and 600 counts of incest.

 

A pastor said Cota went to his church’s new members’ event and Cota asked to speak to him at the end. He said the conversation was about the church guideline book pertaining to marriage, gender and sexual conduct. The pastor stated Cota had a problem with the word “incest.”

 

The pastor said he told Cota what he was doing is not right and that Cota needed to report himself to authorities. The pastor gave the sheriff’s office a sheet with Cota’s current address and phone number that he filled out while at the event.

 

Deputies located the victim and her mother at another address. The victim stated she had been “having sex” with Cota since she was seven years old. She estimated it happened 600 times over several years.

 

The victim’s mother said she caught Cota in bed with the victim in September and confronted him about it but he would “shut down and not answer any questions.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Probation In Choke, Chomp Of Uber Driver

 

A female passenger who choked and took a chomp out of the neck of an Uber driver today pleaded guilty to a pair of criminal charges in connection with the bloody, unprovoked attack, according to court records.

 

In a plea deal, Michele Stilwell copped to battery and disorderly conduct, misdemeanors for which she was sentenced to 18 months probation. Stilwell, seen at right, was originally charged in a criminal information with battery and witness tampering, a felony.

 

Stilwell, a licensed practical nurse, was also fined $850, directed to undergo a mental health evaluation, and ordered to have no contact with Michael Hassey, the 23-year-old victim.

As reported in criminal complaints, Stilwell attacked Hassey from behind as he drove his Toyota near Stilwell’s St. Petersburg residence in mid-April.

 

 

While the car was moving, Stilwell “reached forward and proceeded to choke the victim from behind,” according to a sheriff’s deputy. As seen above, Stilwell initially choked Hassey with two hands before wrapping an arm around his throat.

 

As Hassey sought to pull over the car, Stilwell “managed to crawl forward onto the center console...and bite the victim deeply on the neck drawing blood.” She then scratched Hassey across the chest, “causing a large red in color mark with traces of blood visible.”

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Horse head and headless alligator found in Collier County canal

 

A horse head and a beheaded alligator were both found floating in a canal in the Picayune Strand State Forest.

 

Neighbors said the dead alligator was first found fully intact two weeks ago along 62nd Avenue Southeast, near Miller Boulevard. Two days later its head was missing.

 

One local said his dad notified the State Park about it. 

 

“I really thought it was a wild boar at first and upon closer inspection I think it was definitely a horse,” said John McMillan after he spotted an animal part at the end of the canal less than a 1/4 mile away.

 

McMillan contacted FWC. 

 

“There were horses being slaughtered for horse meat and I would hate for that to be this situation,” he said. 

 

The incident was unsettling to several residents.

 

“This is kind of unnerving a little bit because now I’m going to set cameras up,” Steve Miller said, “I hope you get caught. That’s all I know… I hope you get caught.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Student athletes cry foul, ask state to investigate pop-up religious college in Poinciana

 

POINCIANA, Fla. (WFLA) — They came to Poinciana with dreams of gaining college credit and improving their grades at brand new St. Sebastian Elite College while also improving their highlight reels to earn a shot with a bigger football program.

 

But 20-year-old Carteyae Gordon from Lansing, Michigan, said there were red flags long before the team played its first and only game in September.

 

“We only had 17 players. We were sharing helmets. We didn’t have a trainer,” Gordon recalled. “We got suspicious when for our first game we didn’t have any refs. Our coaches reffed our game. It was just horrible.”

 

Even without a campus, a verification letter accepted in May by the Florida Department of Education indicates St. Sebastian met state requirements as a religious institution “and is not subject to governmental oversight” through May 31, 2022.

 

Gordon and several other former St. Sebastian recruits say Coach DeMarcus Lattier “sold the college well” as a program that would help further their college careers.

 

“He promised us he would help us get to different colleges. Basically get us some exposure,” Gordon said. “He would help us get better. “

 

Daniel Abdul, 21, of Saint Petersburg, said he started asking questions when there was a shortage of players at the first practice.

 

“I’m like, ‘Coach, is this it?’,” Abdul said. “He said we’d have plenty. He said the others were coming, the others were coming.”

 

They never came and within days of the first kickoff, the Fighting Foxes’ football season was over.

 

Then, according to Abdul, access to course work was frozen for some students who received emails from professors claiming, “no one has received a paycheck.” Abdul said around that time he was pressured to make a tuition payment.

 

“I gave him cash – $1,000, all hundreds,” Abdul said. “[I gave it to] coach himself.”

 

Lattimere did not deny taking Abdul’s cash.

 

“We take all forms of payment,” Lattier said. “We don’t have financial aid because you have to be accredited.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Florida man tortured by fiancé's cult-like 'Bath & Body Works' Christmas candle sale

 

The spirit of Christmas is in the air for one Florida couple – but Bath & Body Works only brightened up the day for one wife-to-be while her fiancé took the Scrooge approach. 

 

Allyson DeFelice puts the "fan" in Bath & Body Works candle fanatic, having a separate room in her house entirely devoted to them. 

 

 

This year she pounced on the company’s annual "Candle Day" when throngs of devotees flock to the stores to take advantage of a major discount: three-wick candles on a limited-time sale for $10.25 – nearly 60% off its regular price. Friday and Saturday marked the first year "Candle Day" stretched out over two days. 

 

DeFelice told FOX Business she was first in line at a Boca Raton Bath & Body Works at 4:30 a.m. on Friday. She spent the day at three other locations and on Saturday re-visited two of those stores. Lucky for her, she had some help: her fiancé, Andrew Bateman.

 

 

"He’s a good sport. He thinks I’m crazy. But he comes along and carries all my candles," DeFelice told FOX Business. 

 

When asked what motivated him to tag along, Bateman cited the age-old maxim: "Happy wife, happy life."

 

 

Also, golf. 

 

"She promised golf," Bateman said. "There was a light at the end of the tunnel."

 

Click on the link for the full story