Two Pasco County mothers are charged with neglect in the separate drowning deaths of their 2 year olds. 27 year old Roxann Potts of Hudson was arrested after her young son drowned in a pond outside their home April 27th. And 26 year old Selina Warner of New Port Richey was arrested after her young son drowned in a pond outside their home April 21st.
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The Florida fund that helps private insurers pay out claims after a hurricane is in the best shape ever ahead of storm season. Estimates show the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund will have $17.4 billion available this year. This marks the first time the fund has more money than it would need to pay out if storms racked the state. The estimates are expected to be formally approved Thursday by a panel overseeing the fund. The financial health of the fund is important because the state can impose a surcharge on most insurance policies to replenish it if the money runs out. The fund has grown because Florida hasn’t been hit by a hurricane since Wilma in 2005.
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The bodies of a man and a woman have been found inside a car in rural Zephyrhills. The car was parked near Handcart Road and Wright Lane. Authorities have not said yet who the man and woman are, how they knew each other, or how they died.
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A man has been found murdered on Tangerine Parkway NE in Winter Haven. Polk County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating.
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An Englewood woman has pleaded guilty to her role in the suffocation death of a 6 year old boy. 22 year old Ashley Cole did nothing to stop her boyfriend from sitting on his son on the couch so he could continue playing video games with her without interruption. She could get 30 years in prison. The boy’s father, 31 year old James Dearman, is charged with aggravated assault.
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Police bust up a New Port Richey human trafficking ring. They say 59 year old Clent Ruffin recruited strippers from U.S. 19 clubs, got them hooked on drugs, and then forced them to have sex with clients in exchange for more drugs. Ruffin was already in jail on drug charges when police found out about the prostitution business he was running too.
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(UPDATE) Online gun market UnitedGunGroup.com has picked up bidding on the Zimmerman gun.
An online auction for the gun that former Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin appeared to have been halted Thursday, with the weapon’s listing removed from the auction site. It was not immediately clear why the website, GunBroker.com, took down the listing. Zimmerman has said he was defending himself when he shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old. The shooting sparked protests and a national debate about race relations.
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Jesse Kingsinger probably should have just let police arrest him when they showed up overnight at his Long Lake Circle home in Lakeland on a disturbance call. But he ran out of the house and into a nearby lake. Moments later, an alligator bit three-quarters of one of Jesse’s arms off. Police caught up to him near a sign that read “Caution! Alligators frequent this area.” Kingsinger is now hospitalized for treatment of the arm he lost and the mental illness he suffers.
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A 61 year old man was killed after he blew a stop sign at Fort Dade Avenue and Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville this morning and got T-boned by a Hernando County Sheriff’s patrol car. The deputy suffered minor injuries.
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Don’t be fooled by a real-looking Publix coupon that’s turning up all over the web and social media. It promises 75 dollars off a purchase of 80 dollars or more. Publix says it’s fake and is investigating who is responsible for it.
