Tag: florida

A MYSTERIOUS NOISE IS AGGRAVATING SOUTH FLORIDA RESIDENTS. HERE’S HOW ONE WOMAN IS WORKING TO FIND OUT WHAT’S CAUSING IT.

The cause behind a mysterious noise that has perplexed residents of South Tampa, Florida, could soon be revealed, with help from a crowdfunded effort to support scientific investigations into its cause.

Since as early as 2021, many residents in South Tampa have complained about the noise, which is often likened to a deep throbbing bass sound, the source of which remains to be identified.

Now, area residents have united behind a citizen action campaign to fund a scientific investigation into the strange, low-frequency sonic phenomenon.

Sara Healy is an administrator in a group of approximately 5.5k mothers in the South Tampa area, some of whom began complaining about the noise more than a year ago.

“The noise was first noted in the group in late 2022,” Healy told The Debrief in an email. “It’s always a hot topic of discussion any time it’s heard.”

Healy says that on January 13, 2024, many members reported hearing the noise louder and more intense than at any time before. Healy says she also experienced the low bass vibration associated with the noise for the first time, prompting her to create a separate community chat within the group to help bring a resolution to the strange sonic disturbance.

“I created a community chat within the Facebook group and people were still talking about it the next day, many of them saying we MUST get to the bottom of this noise,” Healy told The Debrief.

Enter Dr. James Locascio, Program Manager of Fisheries Habitat Ecology and Acoustics at the MOTE Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. In the past, Locascio has worked on using passive acoustic recording devices to study the sounds produced by fish that occur primarily while they are spawning.

“I had read the previous media coverage in which Dr. James Locascio said he believed it was drum fish mating noise,” Healy explained, “which he had written his dissertation on after studying the same mystery noise in Punta Gorda and Cape Coral in 2005.”

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Florida Bills Would Hide the Names of Police Officers Who Kill People 

Bills filed in Florida would allow law enforcement agencies to hide the names of police and correctional officers who kill people.

Such legislation was widely expected after the Florida Supreme Court ruled in December that police departments could not invoke Marsy’s Law, a crime victims’ rights law adopted by Florida voters in 2018, to hide the names of officers involved in deadly shootings. The ruling was much broader than expected, though, and stripped privacy protections from civilian crime victims as well.

The legislation is one of several efforts in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature to further insulate police in the Sunshine State—once lauded for its expansive public record laws—from scrutiny. As Reason reported yesterday, two other bills advancing through the Legislature would ban cities and counties from forming civilian police oversight boards.

State Rep. Chuck Brannan (R–Macclenny) filed House Bill 1605 and House Bill 1607 earlier this month. The former would expand the definition of “crime victims” to include “law enforcement officers, correctional officers, or correctional probation officers who use deadly force in the course and scope of their employment or official duties.” 

The latter would exempt records that could be used to identify and harass crime victims from the state’s public records law unless the victim opts to have it disclosed. “The Legislature finds that the release of any such information or records that could be used to locate or harass a crime victim or the victim’s family could subject such victims or their families to further trauma,” the bill says.

The bills have the backing of powerful police unions in the state as well. “For people to exclude police officers just because we wear the badge and we protect and serve, that’s not fair to us,” John Kazanjian, president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, told the Tampa Bay Times. 

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Florida Legislation Would Ban Civilian Police Oversight Boards

Two bills advancing through the Florida Legislature would ban cities and counties from forming civilian police oversight boards and dissolve already-existing boards.

The legislation, House Bill 601 and its companion Senate Bill 576, would make it unlawful for a county or municipal government to pass ordinances related to civilian oversight of police misconduct investigations or the handling of misconduct complaints against law enforcement officers.

Currently, the bills have passed several committees, and the Tallahassee Democrat reports they have the support of Republican majorities in both chambers, as well as influential Florida law enforcement groups.

The bill’s text says its purpose is to create a uniform process for how police departments handle misconduct complaints against officers, but it would also leave police departments to hold themselves accountable and eliminate 21 civilian police oversight boards operating throughout Florida.

Speaking on Tuesday shortly before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee voted to advance the legislation, state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R–Spring Hill), the bill’s sponsor, called the boards “divisive.”

“Officers have a very tough job,” Ingoglia said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that we have people second-guessing those decisions.”

There are over 100 civilian police oversight boards around the country. They vary in their scope and power, but, in general, they’re independent boards that investigate, monitor, or audit police department operations. 

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Bill banning minors under 16 from using social media passes Florida House

A bill that would ban minors under the age of 16 from using social media passed the Florida House 106-13 on Wednesday.

“We must act to protect Florida’s children from these addictive features, the mental health disorders caused by excessive use, and the risk of exposure to predatory activities,” said Rep. Tyler Sirois (R-Brevard), who sponsored the bill.

House Bill 1 would require social media platforms to terminate social media accounts of minors under the age of 16.

The bill requires that social media companies have an independent, private, third-party age verification service, that the personal data collected on minors under the age of 16 be permanently deleted, and data collected by the third party authentication must also be deleted

Parents are also empowered under the measure to bring a cause of action against social media platforms that fail to terminate a minor’s unlawful account.

Democrats argue the bill goes too far. Some Democratic members suggested less restrictive measures such as allowing parents to opt in or opt out of allowing their children to use social media.

During debate on Wednesday, several representatives spoke against the bill, with some calling it government overreach.

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Florida Senate Committee Unanimously Passes Bill To Restrict Hemp-Derived Products With New THC Limits

Ashley Guy runs a smoke shop in Tallahassee. She says she’s thrived since she moved from Seattle to Florida five years ago, with profits of more than $5 million from the sales of cannabis hemp products. But if a new proposal in the Florida Legislature passes, “this would just decimate business” she said on Tuesday.

She added that if the caps on THC—the compound in the plant associated with getting you high—on hemp products were imposed, customers would simply buy multiple packages of “gummies,” or would buy higher-dose products online from other states.

Guy and other hemp entrepreneurs are back in the legislature in 2024, fighting again to ensure they can continue to make a living in the hemp industry. But on Tuesday, lawmakers in a committee decided to impose restrictions on hemp products and substantially regulate the hemp market in Florida.

That was met with strong opposition by members of the industry, but nonetheless, the legislation (SB 1698) passed unanimously in the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Keep in mind that lawmakers in the House and Senate need to agree to be able to pass the legislation.)

The measure is being sponsored by Polk County Republican Colleen Burton.

It would make a number of changes to the hemp industry in the state, which has operated legally since 2019, shortly after the passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill. That bill made hemp production and distribution legal under federal law and allowed states to create such programs. The Farm Bill defined hemp as the cannabis plant with one key difference: hemp cannot contain more than 0.3 percent of THC.

The most lucrative part of the hemp industry has involved the production of biomass that contains cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound believed to treat health conditions like anxiety, stress, anxiety and inflammation.

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Florida Teacher Facing Federal Charges After Making at Least 28 Sex Tapes With 8th-Grade Student

A teacher in Orange County, Florida, is facing federal charges after the parents of an 8th-grade student found 28 sex videos of them together on his phone.

The teacher, Marie-Jo Gordo, was indicted on three counts of sexually exploiting a minor on Wednesday. The jury determined that she “(enticed) a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct” and then “(produced) a visual depiction of such conduct.”

The Orlando Sentinel reports, “Federal investigators said the student’s parents found video of Marie-Jo Gordo and their underage son, whom she taught in 2019, having sex in what appeared to be vehicles and hotel rooms throughout Central Florida. The videos were taken between June and September of 2023 and three were described in court filings.”

At least one of the videos was over 13 minutes long.

According to court records obtained by WESH, the sex crimes happened in hotel rooms “throughout Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.”

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Florida GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Cap Marijuana At 10% THC If Voters Approve Legalization Ballot Measure

Ahead of a potential Florida marijuana legalization vote on the ballot this November, a Republican lawmaker has preemptively filed a bill that would impose strict limitations on THC potency if the reform is approved by voters.

Rep. Ralph Massullo (R) introduced the legislation on Friday, proposing a THC cap that is significantly lower than what’s available in most state markets. It would take effect 30 days after voters pass any future constitutional amendment to enact legalization.

The bill would set a 10 percent THC limit for cannabis products that are meant for smoking and a 60 percent limit for other forms of marijuana such as extracts. Edibles could not contain more than 200 milligrams of THC, and individual servings could only have up to 10 milligrams.

This would create serious logistical and commercial problems for any adult-use market, and it’d likely be met with significant pushback from consumers, advocates and stakeholders if enacted. Cannabis flower that’s sold at the average recreational retailer or medical dispensary typically hovers around 20-30 percent THC.

That’s true of Florida’s existing medical cannabis market, too. And because Massullo’s bill only addresses “potency limits for adult personal use,” the proposal could create further complications by having two different sets of THC rules for patients and consumers.

Florida’s medical cannabis dosage limits—which were revised under controversial rules adopted in 2022, despite pushback from then-Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D)—are not based on the percentage of THC in a given product.

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Florida dive team claims it’s finally solved mystery of Orlando woman, 47, who vanished 11 YEARS AGO while driving home from McDonald’s date with a man she met on SpeedDate.com – as they discover van at the bottom of a pond near Disney World

A Florida-based search team claims to have found the body of a mother of three who went missing over a decade years ago after meeting up with a man she met online.

Sunshine State Sonar announced the discovery of Sandra Lemire’s remains in a van that sunken into a pond near Disney World.

In a Facebook post, the group claimed to have found the 47-year-old’s body as well as her personal belongings.

Lemire was last seen in May 2012. She hailed from Michigan but moved to Florida to care for her grandmother, Pauline Varner.

‘If she said she was going shopping and would be back in an hour, she would be back in an hour,’ Varner told the Orlando Sentinel after Lemire’s disappearance.

Police said the mother of three was heading to Kissimmee to link up with a man she met on a now-defunct dating website, SpeedDate.com.

Lemire’s son, Tim Lemire, Jr. told WXYZ that he had discouraged her from meeting up with strangers.

‘I told her from day one just quit it, just meet the guy the old-fashioned way, not online,’ he said.

Lemire’s loved ones feared the worst when she did not return home, not even to pick up insulin for her diabetes.

Video surveillance showed that Lemire did meet with the man, a manager at a local McDonald’s, for about two hours. Police ultimately ruled out the man as a suspect.

The 47-year-old was last seen driving her grandmother’s 2004 red Ford Freestyle van.

Sunshine State Sonar claimed the car was a match to the one they found in the lake, including the license plate.

They revealed that the search had taken place across 17 months as they combed 63 bodies of water with detectives from the Orlando Police Department.

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Florida Officials Arrest Two People Accused Of Falsifying Signatures For Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative

Florida officials say they’ve arrested two paid canvassers charged with allegedly falsifying signatures on petitions to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s 2024 ballot.

As the state Supreme Court weighs a legal challenge to the ballot measure that was brought by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said in a news release last week that two individuals are facing multiple felony counts of submitting falsified petitions.

FDLE said that three canvassers are being prosecuted on fraud charges, including one person who was involved in petitioning for an unrelated gambling-related initiative. The department said that “circulators submitted dozens of falsified marijuana and gambling initiatives petitions,” without specifying how many signatures may have been impacted.

“The Florida Constitution is a sacred document by which Florida’s government, voters and citizens are adjudicated,” Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said. “Florida Law lays out a detailed process by which issues can be submitted to Florida’s voters for consideration before they are added to Florida’s Constitution.”

“To fraudulently misappropriate this process for personal gain is not only illegal but also violates the trust of law-abiding Floridians across the state,” he said.

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Mormon church now owns $2BILLION of US farmland, with more acreage than Bill Gates and China combined: Huge land grabs in Nebraska and Florida spark backlash from local farmers

The Mormon church has sparked a fierce backlash from local farmers after snapping up around 370,000 acres of prime ranch land in Nebraska, with the Utah-based religion now owning at least $2billion of agricultural terrain across the country, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly known as the Mormon church, has bought more land than anyone else in the state over the past five years, according to The Flatwater Free Press.

It now owns an estimated $134million worth of agricultural land in Nebraska and is on track to surpass CNN founder Ted Turner as the single largest landowner in the state if it continues its spree at the current rate.

But the church has provoked the ire of the Nebraska Farmers Union, whose president John Hansen told DailyMail.com that its land grab was driving up prices and forcing out local farmers.

‘It’s not fair competition when folks bring in that much outside money and bid against local farmers and ranchers,’ he said.

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