Your daily look at news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today.
2ND HOLE FORMS IN TAMPA BAY-AREA NEIGHBORHOOD
A second hole has formed in the Holiday neighborhood where a hole developed in a driveway and swallowed a car. Pasco County spokesman Doug Tobin says the new hole opened Tuesday in a roadway and grew about 10 feet wide. No other cars or property was damaged and no injuries were reported. Tobin says work has been suspended on a nearby sewer lift station due to the subsurface activity. Engineers have to confirm that the depressions are sinkholes.
WINTER HAVEN MOTHER GETS 13 YEARS FOR DEATH OF SON
The mother of a 3-week-old Winter Haven boy who died in 2012 of head trauma has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. A judge sentenced 34-year-old Jessica Michelle Lentz after she pleaded no contest to aggravated child neglect and other charges. Officials say the boy, Jeffery Lentz Jr., likely suffered his injuries from being shaken, dropped or thrown.
EX-CLINIC OWNER IN MLB DRUG CASE NEEDS MORE REHAB
The former owner of the South Florida clinic that supplied performance-enhancing drugs to Major League Baseball players says he needs more drug rehab. An attorney for Anthony Bosch is asking that his sentencing in the drug case be delayed from Dec. 18 to Feb. 6. Lawyer Guy Lewis says Bosch needs a second phase of treatment for his admitted cocaine addiction. A judge must approve the request.
FLORIDA PANHANDLE MAN SET FOR EXECUTION THURSDAY
Chadwick Banks is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison in Starke for the 1992 slaying of his 10-year-old stepdaughter Melody Cooper, who was found on her knees naked from the waist down and her body slumped on her bed at a Gadsden County home. The body of her mother, Cassandra Banks, was nearby. Banks admitted to the killings and is serving a life sentence for the death of his wife. It would be the 18th execution carried out since Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011.
TRIPS AND FRIENDSHIPS PLACE FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL ON DEFENSE
Pam Bondi was easily re-elected to a second term. Now she is defending her decisions to take free trips to conferences and socialize with attorneys that represent corporations under investigation by other states. Gift disclosure records show that in the last four years Bondi accepted more than $51,000 worth of meals, hotels and free trips. The trips have been scrutinized by news outlets including The New York Times, which has noted that the one of the main outfits paying the bill for many of the trips, the Republican Attorneys General Association, receives money to pay for the trips from corporate sponsors.
