2 accused of hanging antisemitic banner on Florida overpass surrender to face charges
Two people accused of hanging banners with swastikas and antisemitic messages on a Florida highway overpass have surrendered to face charges of violating a new state law that makes it a crime to display images on a structure without permission.
Florida man arrested in neo-Nazi banner display
A man arrested this week in Brevard County is accused of hanging swastikas and other antisemitic banners above Interstate 4 near Orlando, what the Florida Department of Law Enforcement described was in violation of a state law signed this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Disney countersues in Florida court after oversight board pushes for judgment
The Walt Disney Company on Thursday filed a countersuit against the DeSantis-appointed board overseeing Disney property in Florida court, alleging breach of contract, and asked the court to declare the company the winner in this part of the ongoing feud between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Slain Florida man’s ex-wife arrested over murder-for-hire plot
Detectives arrested Shanna Gardner-Fernandez on Thursday in Washington after a grand jury indicted her for the murder last year in Florida of her ex-husband, who she had been fighting with over the custody of their twins since their divorce in 2015.
Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme
A central Florida art museum that was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings has sued its former executive director and others, claiming they were part of a scheme to profit from the sale of the fake artwork.
Florida school board reverses decision nixing access to children’s book about a male penguin couple
Months after access to a popular children’s book about a male penguin couple hatching a chick was restricted at school libraries because of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law, a central Florida school district says it has reversed that decision.
DeSantis’ retaliation against Disney hurts Florida, former governors and lawmakers say
Saying Gov. Ron DeSantis has followed the autocratic examples of governments in Russia and China, a group of mostly Republican former high-level government officials has called the Florida governor’s takeover of Disney World’s governing district “severely damaging to the political, social, and economic fabric of the State.”
SWAT team kills suspect after 2 Orlando police officers shot during traffic stop, authorities say
Two Orlando police officers were shot and critically injured Friday night during a traffic stop connected to a Miami homicide investigation, prompting a massive search for two culprits, authorities said.
Historically Black fraternity drops Florida for convention because of DeSantis policies
The oldest historically Black collegiate fraternity in the U.S. says it is relocating a planned convention in two years from Florida because of what it described as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration’s “harmful, racist and insensitive” policies towards African Americans.
DeSantis proposes Disney trial schedule that puts start date in 2025, after elections
Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis have asked that a trial involving Disney be postponed until the middle of 2025, well after the GOP presidential nomination race wraps up and voters have picked a winner in the November 2024 general election.
DeSantis files motion to dismiss Disney’s federal lawsuit against him
The Walt Disney Company has no basis for suing Florida’s governor in federal court over actions taken to reform the special district that governed Disney property, according to a new motion filed in the lawsuit between Florida Governor and Ron DeSantis, according to ABC News and Local 10 News partnerWKMG.
Pulse nightclub victims remembered on 7th anniversary of massacre
Across central Florida, the 49 victims killed and dozens more survivors of the massacre at a gay-friendly nightclub were remembered with the unveiling of a 44-foot (13.4-meter) -wide mural and an overnight vigil at the site of the Pulse club on the seventh anniversary of the tragedy.
WATCH: Grown man has meltdown over crying baby on Fort Lauderdale-bound flight
We’ve all been there. You’re on a flight and a baby starts crying. Instead of putting up with it or empathizing with the family, one man on a Fort Lauderdale-bound flight decided to throw a fit, which got him kicked off the plane.
‘Shame on them!’ Families of Pine Hills shooting victims accuse DeSantis, Scott of exploiting deaths
The families of two of the three victims in a string of Pine Hills shootings last week took time Thursday to talk about their loved ones publicly for the first time, but also to criticize Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott for attacking Orange-Osceola counties’ attorney general in a “coordinated effort to paint a false narrative.”
Police: Man’s Orlando area deadly shooting spree was ‘random’
Deputies released a body-cam video on Thursday showing deputies arresting a 19-year-old man who had shot and killed a woman before shooting four others Wednesday in Pine Hills, an Orange County community northwest of Orlando, according to deputies.
Police: Video shows deputy arrest man, 19, who killed girl, reporter, woman in Orlando area
Deputies released a body-cam video on Thursday showing deputies arresting a 19-year-old man who had shot and killed a woman before shooting four others Wednesday in Pine Hills, an Orange County community northwest of Orlando, according to deputies.
Universal raises hourly wage to $17, setting pace for parks
Universal Orlando Resort plans to raise its starting minimum wage by $2 to $17 an hour, becoming the wage leader among the big theme parks in central Florida, just as its crosstown rival, Walt Disney World, is in contract talks with service worker unions who are pushing to increase the starting hourly wage from $15 to $18.
DeSantis-Disney feud continues to heat up; Governor claims company ’will pay its debt’
Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Ocala on Wednesday where he answered questions about a bill that was introduced Monday, which would give Florida control of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, changing its name to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Universal moves to build rail stop in Orlando’s tourism hub
Universal Orlando Resort on Thursday filed paperwork and pledged 13 acres for a commuter rail station that could link the seventh busiest airport in the U.S. with the heart of the tourism district in one of the top travel destinations in the world.