http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2009 MiamiHerald.com Florida 60 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:09:19 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1138047.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1138047.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT The phone calls clamored in from Miami, Europe and Australia to the line of a tiny office near Perez's Produce and Pig Farm. Is it true? they asked the receptionist. Do you have really have Bubbles, Michael Jackson's old chimpanzee, there in. . . how do you pronounce the name of that town? http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136924.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136924.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT The Miami Herald earned eight prizes from the Florida Society of News Editors on Friday, including top honors for a series examining breakdowns in Miami-Dade's transit tax. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136894.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136894.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT State legislators can't take even a bottle of water from lobbyists, but the ban on gifts won't stop enterprising lawmakers from fishing elsewhere for lobbyists' money. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136889.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1136889.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:39 EDT State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is the top fundraiser in the governor's race, but her financial report released Friday suggests she's in damage control over her use of state airplanes. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135277.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135277.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:00 EDT Florida's surgeon general says the state is preparing for massive swine flu immunizations, starting with schoolchildren, as the Obama administration urges states to prepare for the likelihood that the virus might worsen in the fall. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1138028.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1138028.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT Compared to kudzu, the infamous vine that ate The South, Old World climbing fern may be an obscure pest plant. But they're a lot alike. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138247.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138247.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:07 EDT A jury has determined that the organizers of the 2006 Florida Ironman were not responsible for the death of a 35-year-old Montana man who collapsed during the race. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138245.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138245.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:07 EDT Necropsies will be performed on a pair of pygmy sperm whales found stranded off Florida's southwest coast. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138244.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1138244.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:07 EDT Florida authorities are awaiting the extradition of a man who fled to Kentucky after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend's father to death. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137739.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137739.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:17 EDT Florida law enforcement officials said Saturday that the people who killed a couple in their Panhandle home last week as their children slept appeared experienced. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137705.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137705.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:47 EDT A private prison company with a history of problems in Texas has caught the attention of state officials with a $7.5 million contract to run a new psychiatric hospital near Houston. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135198.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135198.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT The Florida economy may be in the dumps, but Charlie Crist's campaign fundraising machine is humming along. Crist announced Thursday that in just 50 days he raised an eye-popping $4.3 million for his U.S. Senate campaign. That not only dwarfs the previous Florida U.S. Senate fundraising record set by Republican Mel Martinez -- $1.7-million in his first fundraising period in 2004 -- but it highlights the huge hurdles for Crist's Republican Senate rival Marco Rubio, who raised just $340,000 in the... http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135191.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135191.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT A multipronged legal battle erupted Thursday over the growing colony of sex offenders forced to live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135302.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135302.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT In an exceptionally rare ruling Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ordered that a Death Row inmate be set free because there wasn't enough evidence to convict him of murdering a Fort Lauderdale pawnshop worker. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135202.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135202.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT Florida will soon start sending some of the state's worst drivers back to school. A new state law will require any motorist convicted of three crash-related moving violations over a three-year period to take a behind-the-wheel education course and pass a driving test, just like a teenager. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135205.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135205.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT Since imposing emergency sprinkling restrictions during a drought two years ago, South Florida water managers have been moving toward making the twice-weekly limits permanent. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135208.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135208.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT The search for a new chancellor got a front-runner Thursday when former education commissioner and lieutenant governor Frank Brogan applied to lead Florida's state university system. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135369.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1135369.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs letter pledges free medical care and treatment for former patients who have tested positive for HIV or hepatitis since being exposed to endoscopic cleaning mistakes at three VA hospitals, including one in Miami. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1133648.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1133648.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT Florida's top financial officer blasted state regulators for striking a deal that allowed flamboyant banker Allen Stanford to open a Miami office to sell investments and move vast amounts of money offshore -- without government oversight. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1112825.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1112825.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Florida's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who is running for governor on a platform of fiscal discipline, has logged hundreds of flights on state planes, often including side trips for her and family members to their home near Tampa. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1107991.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1107991.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT A crucial document in the criminal case against former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom is one spare page: three typed lines, a handwritten note in the margin and the number 1, circled. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1105949.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1105949.html Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT The FBI has begun investigating a web of political and personal connections that have already resulted in state indictments of former House Speaker Ray Sansom and two associates, sources told the Herald/Times Bureau. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1095081.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1095081.html Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT State Sen. Steve Oelrich believes he may have been the first casualty in the crossfire from Florida's Republican primary for U.S. Senate, after Gov. Charlie Crist's veto of a non-controversial bill Oelrich sponsored. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1093337.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1093337.html Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT All bets are off. The Seminole Tribe is not likely to approve a gambling deal under terms set by the Florida Legislature, the tribe's attorney said Thursday, citing provisions that could increase costs and competition. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1086743.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1086743.html Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Florida, famous for shipping orange juice all over the country, may yet be known for a very different kind of export: criminals. With the inmate population hovering around 100,000 and the state lacking money to build new prisons, the Legislature has given the corrections department the authority to ship inmates to other states for the first time. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1083694.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1083694.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:25 EDT The fourth African-American to ever sit on the Florida Supreme Court formally took his seat Friday in a ceremony that helped cement Gov. Charlie Crist's reputation as a centrist. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1080463.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1080463.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT The state's decision to consider a no-bid contract extension for a controversial human-resources company has renewed criticism from a leading state senator who says privatization initiatives have cost taxpayers $200 million with little to show for the money. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1076942.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1076942.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday signed into law one of his top priorities of 2009: a bill that allows all 11 state universities to increase tuition by as much as 15 percent a year. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1076955.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1076955.html Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday approved changes to Florida growth laws that supporters say will strengthen the economy and opponents predict will increase urban sprawl and traffic gridlock. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1072715.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1072715.html Fri, 29 May 2009 03:01 EDT When Gov. Charlie Crist proudly announced that he was vetoing a pay cut for 28,000 state workers, there were some salaries he couldn't save from the budget ax: his own, state Cabinet members' and those of about 1,000 judges, prosecutors and public defenders in the state. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1069508.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1069508.html Thu, 28 May 2009 07:55 EDT A grand jury investigating Ray Sansom's ties to a Panhandle college issued a second round of indictments Wednesday, accusing the ousted House speaker of lying about a developer's plans to store aircraft in a taxpayer-funded building. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1069053.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/1069053.html Thu, 28 May 2009 03:01 EDT Breaking a pledge against raising taxes, Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's $66.5 billion budget into law Wednesday and barely used his veto pen. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137566.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137566.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:27 EDT About 400 divers and snorkelers had to get wet to listen to a radio station's broadcast in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137541.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137541.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:59 EDT NASA has scrubbed space shuttle Endeavour's scheduled launch after nine lightning strikes were reported near the pad. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137464.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137464.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:15 EDT The operator of one of the trains involved in a fatal monorail collision at Walt Disney World has issued a statement expressing his condolences to the victim's family. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137403.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137403.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:40 EDT Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford is firing a police officer who shot an unarmed burglary suspect from behind. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137377.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137377.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:25 EDT A Florida woman faces manslaughter charges after two teens left a party at her house and died in a car crash. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137333.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137333.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:35 EDT A federal proposal would open a vast sweep of forest and swamp on both sides of Alligator Alley to hunting and off-road vehicles. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137313.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137313.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:05 EDT No tickets matched all five "Fantasy 5" numbers, meaning the 275 tickets with four numbers correct are worth $555 each, the Florida Lottery said Saturday. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137311.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1137311.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:00 EDT No tickets matched the four winning numbers plus the Mega Ball number, so the jackpot rolled over to an estimated $2 million in the Mega Money game, the Florida Lottery said Saturday.