Your daily look at news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today.
JUDGE CONSIDERS DEAL FOR MOTHER WHO DROVE KIDS INTO OCEAN
A Florida judge will consider a deal for a mother who drove her kids into the ocean in her minivan during a hearing in Daytona Beach. Under the proposed terms, Ebony Wilkerson will plead not guilty by reason of insanity to three counts of child abuse and prosecutors will drop three counts of attempted murder.
FEDS END PROBE INTO FLORIDA BRIGHT FUTURES PROGRAM
The U.S. Education Department has concluded that Florida did not violate anti-discrimination laws by using standardized test scores to award Bright Futures scholarships. The department’s Office for Civil Rights found insufficient evidence that the college schohlarships effectively discriminated against Hispanic and African-American students.
SENATOR: USAID’s CUBA HIP-HOP PROJECT ‘RECKLESS’
A U.S. agency’s secret infiltration of Cuba’s underground hip-hop scene to spark a youth movement against the government was “reckless” and “stupid,” Sen. Patrick Leahy said after The Associated Press revealed the operation. On at least six occasions, Cuban authorities detained or interrogated people involved in the program; they also confiscated computer hardware that in some cases contained information that jeopardized Cubans.
HOUSE ETHICS PANEL ENDS SEX HARASSMENT PROBE OF REP. HASTINGS.
The U.S. House Ethics Committee is taking no further action against Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida in an alleged sexual harassment case. The ethics panel said there is insufficient proof that Hastings sexually harassed a former aide.
ULTRALIGHT-LED WHOOPING CRANE MIGRATION FINISHED
The annual winter migration of endangered whooping cranes to Florida has been completed with the help of ultralight aircraft. Seven young canes arrived Thursday at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge along Florida’s northern Gulf coast. They followed two ultralight aircraft for 63 days and 1,100 miles from Wisconsin to Florida.
