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“The plant manager has been directed not to come out and direct me as to what this mysterious protocol is that is suddenly preventing me from coming in,” Wasserman Schultz told reporters. “I gave them notification yesterday that I wanted to come and do a walk-through of the facility.” The Democratic congresswoman contrasted the experience with her trip to the same plant back in February, at which she was not informed that any notice was necessary....

NEWSWEEK: How did Florida Democrats arrive at the decision to stick with the January 29 primary date? Debbie Wasserman Schultz: The party leadership has been going through a pretty deliberative and communicative process over the last months, as well as, concurrently, the congressional delegation going through the same deliberations. We all came together in agreement that the only way to maximize Florida Democratic participation–3.4 million of them–in choosing who we believe should be the Democratic nominee was to make that selection on Jan....

“She asked me do you believe a gay person, I can’t remember all the language, ‘Do you believe it’s a choice or are they born with it?’ I said that it’s a personal choice,” Bay County School Superintendent Bill Husfelt told WMBB-TV about a question Cindy Wilker, president of the LGBTQ Center of Bay County, posed to him. Wilker originally asked Husfelt about his beliefs at a Republican roundtable dinner....

Payments have been made to a vendor named Vertol Systems Company for its services related to the migrant flights, according to data collected by the Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System. The spending was approved after the Florida Department of Transportation was able to waive a department mandate, The Miami Herald reported. The latest payments, worth $950,000 apiece, were made on October 11 and October 17. Another payment of $950,000 was made on September 21, and a total of $615,000 was paid on September 8, according to the tracking record, which showed that all the payments were directed toward “relocation services....

Jason Aaron Gibson, 40, tossed the iguana, named “Mojo,” into the alligator pen at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Animal Farm in Key West, Florida, at around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday, farm supervisor Jeanne Selandar said. “I’m still in disbelief,” she told Newsweek. “Nothing like this has happened during my 13-year tenure as farm supervisor.” Gibson’s fellow inmates reported his alleged actions, said the Miami Herald. He then admitted to throwing a second iguana to the alligator, named Irwin, on September 29....

Charles White, 40, of Zephyrhills, who was initially arrested on narcotics charges, allegedly mailed a postcard last month to associate Shaun Yeomans, 41, also locked up in the Pasco County jail over drug charges, requesting the hit of a third inmate, 21-year-old Lionel Florez, according to a complaint affidavit. When asked how the postcard was intercepted, Kevin Doll, Pasco County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Relations Director, told Newsweek: “We review all mail for inmates going in and out of the jail....

On Monday, 26-year-old Jacob Holman was arrested at his home in Clearwater, Florida, on charges of attempted kidnapping and possession of child pornography. According to Florida authorities, Holman has previous arrests for domestic assault and drug possession. He is currently incarcerated at a Pinellas County jail without bond. Clearwater police were called out to Holman’s home during a domestic dispute. When officers searched the premises, they found several items that would “aid in the facilitation of the abduction of a small child with the intent to commit a felonious act,” police said....

Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to 3412 Seagrape Avenue in Naples, after they received reports that a man was shouting in pain somewhere on the street on Sunday evening, according to NBC2 News. After officers arrived, they asked the man to step out from the port-a-potty and take a seat outside, according to the network. The man, later identified as James Gousse, told police that his foot somehow got stuck when he closed the door of the port-a-potty....

Wilfredo Erazo-Turcios, 29, of Brandenton, was convicted after a jury found him guilty on two counts sexual assault upon a child under 12 years of age, reports the Miami Herald. The jury’s deliberations lasted for roughly one hour and 30 minutes following the two-day trial and after the guilty verdict, lawyers for Erazo-Turcios waived his rights for pre-sentencing investigation. In addition to the lifetime sentence, Erazo-Turcios was also designated a sexual predator....

Last Sunday before 2 p.m. local time in Lakeland, Florida, O’Connor allegedly drove his white Dodge pickup truck onto a person’s yard, damaging their sprinkler system. The person then called the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy who responded to the call tried to talk to O’Connor, but O’Connor allegedly fled, WTVT reported. The deputy then pursued the suspect by car. They tried pulling O’Connor’s vehicle over by using their siren and patrol lights....

Multiple evacuation orders will come into force on Monday as officials warn of dangerous storm surges, strong winds and driving rain in Florida and the Carolinas as Dorian slowly crawls towards the coast. The Category 5 storm has registered sustained winds of up to 185 miles per hour, and is among the most powerful hurricanes ever observed in the Atlantic Ocean, The Washington Post reported. It would be natural to feel helpless in the face of such raw power....

John McCarthy told a school in Gainesville that it had 24 hours to address an incident to which his son had been bullied, or he would take action. McCarthy wrote his intentions on Facebook Thursday after an alleged third bullying attack, according to a Gainesville Sun report. “A group of kids cornered my son in the pool during gym calls (sic), splashed him and assaulted to the point of busting a blood vessel in his eye, giving him a black eye and almost drowning him,” McCarthy wrote in a post that has since been deleted....

The standoff began when Indian River County Sheriff’s deputies made a third visit to Kifer’s home. Kifer had either been drunk or high the first two visits, the Miami Herald reported. On the third visit, deputies learned that Kifer had a knife and made threats to hurt someone over the phone. Kifer saw the deputies and took off running, but soon reemerged with a small hatchet. He took off running again, this time with sheriff’s deputies trailing him as Kifer ran back into the house....

Donald Williams, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder of 32-year-old Maribel Rosado Morales following the shooting at around 8 a.m. on Monday at a house in Indiantown. Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said at a press briefing that there were six children inside the home at the time of the shooting. None of the children, aged between 10 and 17, who were inside the home were injured as a result of the shooting....

The Sunshine State had previously been deemed “leans Republican” by Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. But on Thursday, the forecaster updated its 2020 Electoral College analysis to move Florida into a “toss-up” category. The shift comes as Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, dominates the polls. According to the election forecaster, Biden has not trailed Trump in a survey of the swing state since mid-March....

Police arrested 33-year-old Neely Petrie-Blanchard in Lowndes County, Georgia on Monday after witnesses reported seeing her threaten the life of 50-year-old legal theorist Chris Hallett with a gun while standing in his kitchen on Sunday night, according to police reports cited by The Daily Beast. Hallett, who has no known legal degree or training, was allegedly advising Petrie-Blanchard about how she might regain legal custody of her twin daughters. Although it’s unclear how Petrie-Blanchard initially lost custody of her daughters, she had been arrested in March for kidnapping them from their grandmother....

Those with ties to Florida’s immigration business community who have long supported Republicans said they are furious with Scott, one of the Sunshine State’s newest members of Congress, and the Republican Party’s refusal to support legislation that would make inroads with Latino voters just months before a major election. Instead, they said, they want Scott and other GOP lawmakers to take a cue from Florida’s other Republican senator: Marco Rubio....

BeckyJack’s Food Shack in Spring Hill, Florida, announced to patrons that it does not require masks with the post, showing the sign. “A friendly reminder that we DO NOT require Face Masks,” the post says. BeckyJack’s owner Jesse Fox told Newsweek in a phone call that the post was not a sign that the restaurant has up on display, but that will change soon, as he has ordered one for the Food Shack....

“The SEC Made 527.4 Million in Total Revenue and Players Ain’t Get A Penny. Modern Form Of Slavery,” Tabor wrote in a since-deleted tweet. MORE: 16 questions for 2016 | Herbstreit blames O’Bannon for video game’s absence Tabor’s tweet was in response to a USA Today Sports audit of a Southeastern Conference tax return, which revealed the conference made $527.4 million in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2015. That figure represents a 60 percent jump since the conference debuted its new television network....

The ruling came from Second Circuit Judge John Cooper and is effective immediately. The decision prevents the state of Florida from banning mask mandates and ends sanctions against several school districts that have already implemented such mandates. Cooper’s ruling is the latest chapter in the fight between state and various local school districts that want to implement mask mandates in schools while Florida continues experiencing a surge of COVID-19 infections attributed to the Delta variant....