PM Tampa Bay And Florida Headlines

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Gregory Holder, reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for misconduct. Holder used his position to try and get charges reduced against a U.S. Army Green Beret arrested for firing shots at a Tampa gas station because the two-tour veteran has PTSD. Holder will have to get ethics training.

Remains of a Lakeland teen are finally identified 41 years after he vanished. DNA testing proves a body found in a Polk County wooded area is 19 year old Mark Woodard. Woodard disappeared in 1977 after going on a road trip with a friend to pick up marijuana in Texas. No word how he died.

A Bradenton mother and her live-in boyfriend stand trial in October for the death of her 4 year old son. 33 year old Dianna Marr and 27 year old Trevor Cardarelle are charged with manslaughter after little Alexander Marr was found beaten to death at their 59th Avenue Terrace West home.

The search is on for a hit and run driver after 13 year old Nathan Nerf was struck while riding his bicycle on Clay Gully Road in Myakka City last night. The teen is in serious condition. Police have no description of the vehicle that hit the boy.

A father-son drug business is shut down in Tampa. Raids on a Paddock Glen Drive apartment and a Waters Avenue East storage unit turned up 60 thousand dollars worth of heroin and 8 thousand dollars in cash. Charged with drug trafficking and dealing are 52 year old Matthew Zimmerman and his 17 year old son Logan.

Could be the end of the George Jenkins High School choral booster club. That after treasurer Heather DeBellis wrote 11 thousand dollars worth of checks to herself out of the club’s bank account. The club has 18 hundred dollars left, and had to hold an emergency fundraiser to pay bills.

Investigators are looking for the cause of a morning fire that destroyed a building at Clives D&D Auto Salvage on Albany Avenue in Hudson.

Retail pet shops in St. Petersburg may soon be barred from selling dogs and cats. Council is considering an ordinance allowing only shelters and rescues to adopt out dogs and cats. Breeders could still sell them, but only from their homes. The idea is to stop inhumane breeders and encourage shelter adoptions. More than 40 Florida cities have similar laws.

Tampa is one of four Florida cities OK’d for flights to Havana Cuba. That means Southwest will soon offer daily non-stop service to the island nation from Tampa International Airport. Other Florida cities with airlines flying to Havana—Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Orlando. There are 12 legal reasons to travel to Cuba right now. Tourism is not one of them.

Investigators are looking for the cause of a morning fire that destroyed a building at Clives D&D Auto Salvage on Albany Avenue in Hudson.