Author: Ed Cohen

Starting this month, Covenant House Florida — located in Orlando — said it will begin phasing out its emergency shelter. The organization said it has been providing resources to housing insecure youth since 1995. Covenant House said the closure is associated with the cost to operate the shelter. In a statement, Covenant House said it “made the difficult decision to close its emergency residential shelter due to financial considerations, but will continue serving young people experiencing homelessness in Orlando and Central Florida by providing other critical outreach, workforce, and supportive housing services. The restructuring will allow CHF to effectively meet…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war with Disney overshadowed his foreign visit to Jerusalem on Thursday, as he responded to questions about the entertainment giant’s lawsuit against him by saying it lacks “merit.” “I don’t think the suit has merit. I think it’s political,” DeSantis, a Republican, said when asked at a news conference about a new lawsuit by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The company is accusing DeSantis and his political allies overseeing the company’s special taxing district of violating the company’s “federal constitutional rights.” Disney, DeSantis said, is “upset that they are actually having to live by the same rules as…

Multiple tornadoes were reported in Florida and Georgia on Thursday, as a new storm brings a severe weather threat and possible tornadoes to Texas. Seven tornadoes were reported in the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia on Thursday. A large and “extremely dangerous” tornado was confirmed west of Tallahassee Thursday afternoon. Major damage to homes was reported in Hosford in the area. Straight-line winds gusted to 76 mph near Panama City, Florida, as severe storms progressed east across the southeast Big Bend. A 33-year-old man from Illinois was struck by lightning on a pier in Panama City Beach midday Thursday, police…

Two back-to-back federal court decisions may have dealt a lethal blow to recent proposed class actions that sought interest on property insurers’ late claims payments. But the rulings have left some insureds and their attorneys feeling that they’re seeing another example of how Florida law seems to have stacked the deck against policyholders. Even the judge in one of the cases noted that the law is clear, but wanting, giving him little choice but to dismiss the lawsuit while highlighting problems with the statute. “For better or worse, plaintiffs are right to point out that (the statute) will, at times,…

New York City socialite Patty Raynes was found dead in her Florida home by her housekeeper Thursday morning, Page Six reports. The 70-year-old, who was immortalized by Andy Warhol in the 1985 portrait “Patty Raynes and Son,” was hospitalized last week after suffering severe asthma, her rep told the outlet, adding that she was having difficulty breathing at the time. An official cause of death has not been released. Raynes was the eldest daughter of oil tycoon Marvin Davis. “On behalf of the Davis family, we are heartbroken by the untimely passing of our dear Patty Davis Raynes,” her mother,…

A Florida man has been arrested in connection with a gunfire incident in Manchester earlier this week. Luis Rodriguez, 33, of Orlando, Florida, was charged with felony reckless conduct and falsifying evidence. Police had released a photo of a silver Mercedes-Benz they said was seen fleeing an incident on Feb. 13 in which a truck was hit by gunfire in the area of Granite and Barr streets. Investigators determined that Rodriguez was the driver. Police are asking anyone with further information to call them at 603-668-8711, or to contact the anonymous Manchester Crimeline at 603-624-4040. Source: unionleader

Florida schools continued to place high in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of online programs, according to results released Tuesday. For online bachelor’s degrees, the University of Florida ranked No. 1 for the second year in a row and the University of Central Florida ranked No. 8. In a related category that ranks programs on how well they serve veterans, the University of Florida also ranked No. 1 for online bachelor’s degrees, while Daytona’s Embry-Riddle University ranked No. 2. More than 1,800 programs submitted data for evaluation across disciplines including psychology, business, education, criminal justice, engineering and nursing.…

A burglary suspect has been dubbed the “pooping perpetrator” after detectives made a disgusting find at the scene of the crime. Facebook video screengrab A Florida burglary suspect has been dubbed the “pooping perpetrator” after detectives made a disgusting find at the crime scene. The suspect dropped a DNA sample in the worst possible way, according to the Fort Myers Police Department. “Saturday, January 21st at approximately 2:30 am, (a) male broke into Joe’s Crab Shack, located at 2024 W. First Street,” police reported in a news release. “The male climbed through a small window. He broke and stole multiple…

A federal judge is expected to decide the future of the county’s redistricting maps on Monday. Right now, it remains up in the air how Duval County districts will be drawn. This decision will have a big impact on whether Jacksonville will lean Republican or Democrat. The redistricting maps will also impact how school board districts are divided which can be concerning if those boundaries are drawn to favor one political party. Multiple organizations including the NAACP, the ACLU and the Northside Coalition spoke out against the proposed redrawn maps, calling it unconstitutional and saying that it favored one political…