The Tampa Bay Lightning will face the Pittsburg Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Last night the Penguins beat the Washington Capitols 4 to 3 in overtime to advance. Individual game tickets for the games at the Amalie Arena go on sale to the general public tomorrow at 2 o’clock. The Final series schedule will be announced at a later date.
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Vice President Joe Biden will be speaking at the University of Tampa today and he’ll deliver remarks on his vision for U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere. The event is hosted by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Afterwards, Biden will head over to Orlando to attend the Invictus Games featuring competitions for wounded veterans.
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RIVERVIEW, Fla. (AP) — A Riverview convenience store owner has fatally shot a man who authorities say attempted to rob him. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office tells news outlets that the incident occurred Tuesday after 24-year-old Joel Alberto Torres tried to rob an employee behind the store. The employee told him he had no money, so Torres forced his way inside. Once inside, the suspect tried to rob the owners. One of the owners, a licensed permit holder, took out a gun and shot Torres several times. Deputies say Torres was then taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The investigation is ongoing. The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office will determine if the shooter should be charged or if he acted in self-defense.
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NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. health officials say urine testing is more likely than blood testing to detect Zika virus infection in many patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new testing guidance Tuesday, saying the virus particles can be detected at higher levels and for a longer period of time. Experts say the new guidance will make it easier to test more people for the virus. Until this week, CDC officials have said the best way to detect Zika virus is by checking a patient’s blood within a week of their symptoms appearing using a sophisticated lab test. Now the CDC is saying to use the same technique on urine.
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NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s top jobs recruiter is probably going to get a $132,500 check, even though he’s leaving his job next month. The board of Enterprise Florida is expected on Wednesday to approve a severance payment to departing CEO Bill Johnson who announced his resignation in March That was shortly after the Florida Legislature rejected Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to spend more money on trying to lure new companies to the state. Enterprise Florida’s executive committee this week agreed to offer Johnson a severance payment, even though his contract states that he is not eligible for any extra compensation if he quits voluntarily. Scott would not answer a question on whether he asked Johnson to quit.
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s citrus orange crop estimate has gotten sunnier. Yesterday, Federal agricultural officials said that the estimate for Florida’s orange crop has increased 7 percent over the previous month’s estimate. Florida orange growers now are expected to produce 81.1 million boxes in the 2015-2016 season. The rise comes primarily from an extra 5 million boxes of Valencia oranges, which now are expected to produce 45 million boxes. Florida’s citrus industry has been decimated in the past decade by the citrus greening disease.
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A former Tampa police employee has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing identities from law enforcement databases and conspiring to use information to commit tax refund fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa reported Tuesday that 53-year-old Tonia Bright must also forfeit $29,057 and pay restitution totaling $166,026. Bright worked as a civilian employee for more than three decades. Court documents say that between 2009 and 2014, Bright provided names, birth
dates and Social Security numbers on at least 10 occasions to Rita Girven, a former Tampa police informer with theft and fraud convictions on her record. Girven used the information to file fraudulent federal income tax returns and collect refunds. Girven pleaded guilty to charges last year and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
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MIAMI (AP) — Relatives of the victims of ValuJet Flight 592 will meet Wednesday in the Florida Everglades to mark the 20th anniversary of their deaths. The May 11, 1996, crash killed 110 passengers and crew aboard the Atlanta-bound plane. Some family members plan to take airboats to mourn at the remote crash site, west of Miami.
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — While the body of the widow of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse Sr. waits in a funeral home, her children are engaged in a court battle with her grandson, who was her power of attorney. The Tampa Bay Times reports Joy Culverhouse’s son and daughter want an autopsy and medical records to determine whether her brain was so damaged by age and alcohol she didn’t realize her grandson was selling off assets.
