ATLANTA (AP) — Travelers taking to the skies for the Memorial Day weekend say security lines are moving faster than expected after weeks of costly delays at U.S. airports. The Transportation Security Administration says bomb-sniffing dogs are being used at busier airports to help speed up lines. Travelers screened by dogs are not being required to remove their shoes or take laptops out of carry-on bags. At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, known as the world’s busiest, all 16 lanes at the main security checkpoint were open this morning.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president. Trump was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP today they will support him at the convention. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president. Trump has reached 1,238. With 303 delegates at stake on June 7, Trump will easily pad his total, avoiding a contested convention this summer.
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The deep unpopularity of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has led to an unprecedented level of excitement at the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominating convention in Orlando this year. Libertarian officials said Friday as the four-day convention began that 985 delegates and 344 alternates were attending from all 50 states, a record. They also say dues-paying members have increased by 30 percent since the beginning of the year. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, are considered front-runners.
Not running for office, but mingling with the crowd were Iron Man and Frozen’s Elsa, who were attending a comic-book convention at the same resort.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2 to 1. The Penguins now advance to the Stanley Cup Finals against the San Jose Sharks.
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MIAMI (AP) – U.S. government forecasters expect a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season, after three relatively slow years. But they also say climate conditions that influence storm development are making it difficult to predict how many hurricanes and tropical storms will arise over the next six months. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s season outlook calls for 10 to 16 named storms, with four to eight hurricanes. The 2015 season was slightly below average with 11 named storms. It’s been over a decade since we had a hurricane make landfall here in Florida.
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KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has less than half of the special traps that will be part of the frontline for detecting the Zika virus in mosquitoes because of a backlog at the manufacturer. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said Thursday that state workers had ordered more than 300 of the traps but so far have gotten only about 120 traps. The remaining 190 traps are on back order. Putnam says he’s not concerned yet because state workers placed the order months ago and Florida is at the top of the list of recipients. The Florida Department of Health has tracked 158 cases of the Zika virus in the state. All of the cases are related to travel.
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16 students have been disciplined in the South Fort Myers High School bathroom sex incident. Lee County School District spokeswoman Amity Chandler said Wednesday that the punishment ranged on several levels. She didn’t specify what punishments were handed down. The discipline followed the discovery that multiple male students engaged in sexual activity with a female student in a restroom on May 17. Now advocates for the girl, including her mother, have come forward with the disturbing information that she was a victim of sex trafficking. She allegedly ran away at the age of 13 and was held captive for nearly two years until she was rescued.
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MIAMI (AP) — A hearing is set in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of Cuban migrants seeking to remain in the U.S. after they climbed onto a lighthouse several miles off the Florida Keys. An attorney for the migrants says he’s hopeful a Miami federal judge will order at Friday afternoon’s hearing that the Cubans remain under U.S. control until the matter is settled. The 21 migrants are on a Coast Guard cutter. Under the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are usually allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally returned to the communist island. The lawsuit claims the 136-year-old American Shoal lighthouse on a reef off Sugarloaf Key should qualify as U.S. territory so the migrants can stay. U.S. officials disagree.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — With relations between the U.S. and Cuba improving, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club is working toward relaunching a race to Havana. The Tampa Bay Times reports for nearly three decades, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club sponsored a boat race to Havana that brought international exposure to both cities.