CAIRO (AP) — An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete early today. Egypt’s aviation minister says the crash of the Airbus A320 was more likely caused by a terror attack than technical problems. There are no immediate signs of any survivors. Greek officials say EgyptAir Flight 804 made abrupt turns and suddenly lost altitude just before vanishing from radar at around 2:45 a.m. Egyptian time. Later in the day, an Egyptian search plane located two orange items believed to be from the Airbus in an area 230 miles southeast of Crete.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night 4 to 2. The Penguins now lead the best of seven series 2 games to 1. Game four will be tomorrow night, 8 o’clock, at the Amalie Arena.
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MIAMI (AP) — George Zimmerman says he’s vetting bids after closing an auction for the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin during an altercation. The former neighborhood watch volunteer, who was acquitted in the slaying, says on his blog that the sale was successful, though he gives no details and says the buyer may choose to remain anonymous. Details of the auction are unclear. The website believed to be the venue, United Gun Group, later said in a tweet that there were two auctions running simultaneously, one for pre-qualifed buyers and a “fake” one for the public. Zimmerman had set the minimum bid at $100,000 and closed the auction midday Wednesday. Critics have called it an insensitive move to profit on notoriety.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A report shows the number of boating accidents in Florida sharply increased in 2015 over 2014, despite there being a 25 percent decrease in fatalities. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say in a statement Wednesday that the 2015 Boating Accident Statistical Report reveals the state had 737 boating accidents last year. That’s 103 more accidents as compared to 2014. Fifty-five people died in 2015 as a result of those accidents.
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PALATKA, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Highway Patrol says an Amtrak train struck and killed a person who was on the tracks in central Florida. The crash happened Wednesday in Putnam County, just north of County Road 309. According to an incident report, the train’s engineer was alerted to the man on the tracks but couldn’t stop in time. There were no injuries to the 151 passengers or crew members on board the train. The name of the man hasn’t been released.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The captain of the freighter El Faro received a weather service report that contained outdated tracking information on the day before the ship got stuck in a hurricane and sank. Officials for the company Applied Weather Technology, Inc. testified Wednesday before the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation panel looking into the El Faro’s Oct. 1 sinking.
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man is accused of impersonating a U.S. senator to avoid paying off his home loan. A grand jury indicted 67-year-old Sidney Hines this week on five counts of impersonating a federal officer or employee. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Frontier Communications blamed its takeover of another company for widespread phone, Internet and television service outages in California, Texas and Florida at a legislative hearing Wednesday. The company says it inherited corrupt data in its $10.5 billion acquisition of certain Verizon businesses last month. Frontier West Region President Melinda White told California lawmakers that the data issue caused outages during the transition and an outpouring of complaints.
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — In the years since Florida’s population growth dropped to its lowest level in decades, the state’s expansion has re-bounded the most in inland communities in South Florida, the suburbs of Orlando and the Fort Myers area. Figures released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show which Florida places with populations greater than 20,000 people grew the fastest from 2010 to 2015.
