Tampa Bay Times
At Florida's only public HBCU, students watch warily for political influence on teaching of race
- Title
- At Florida's only public HBCU, students watch warily for political influence on teaching of race
- Runtime
- 1:46
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A core mission of Florida A&M University from its founding over a century ago has been to educate African Americans. It was written into the law that established the school along with another college, in Gainesville, reserved for white students.
At Florida's only public HBCU, some students now fear political constraints might get in the way of teaching parts of their history.
A law signed last spring by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, blocks public colleges from using taxpayer money on diversity programs. It also forbids instruction of theories that "systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
The new law, part of broader GOP efforts to rein in campus efforts on equity and inclusion, has spurred protests on campus and left many students watching for signs the new guidanc...
- Title
- The ashes and DNA of ‘Star Trek’ cast members and fans are being sent to space
- Runtime
- 1:46
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- “Star Trek” stars and fans are gathering in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the overnight launch of a new rocket.
The rocket will carry the ashes and DNA from 70 people, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, into space.
It's also carrying ashes from “Star Trek” cast members James Doohan, DeForest Kelley and Nichelle Nichols, and strands of hair from three U.S. presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and George Washington.
Celestis, a spaceflight memorial company, sends small capsules containing human remains or DNA to space and either returns them to Earth, places them in orbit before they reenter the atmosphere or takes them to the moon, for prices starting at $3-thousand.
Co-founder and CEO Charles Chafer said Monday's launch is the company's first trip to deep space; he hopes the remains will travel about 205 million miles from Earth.
United Launc...
- Title
- The cross goes to John Hittos, 16, at Epiphany dive in Tarpon Springs
- Runtime
- 0:21
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- John Hittos, when asked how he prepared for the dive, said, “I prayed.” The 16-year-old is a student at Calvary Christian.
“It means a lot,” Hittos said, holding the cross in the cathedral, surrounded by peers.
“I didn’t see where the cross went into the water. I didn’t know where it was. But I had a feeling and I just went down. I couldn’t even see anything but it was in my hand,” he said. “It’s a blessing.”
Read more at tbtim.es/epiphany24
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#epiphany #tarponsprings #epiphany2024
- Title
- Tarpon Springs Epiphany cross is retrieved under blue skies
- Runtime
- 0:24
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- We’re at the 118th Epiphany celebration in Tarpon Springs. It is the largest commemoration in the Western Hemisphere of Jesus Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River, and last year drew 20,000 spectators.
The Orthros service began at 8 a.m. at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral followed by the Divine Liturgy. Around noon, clergy, parishioners in traditional garb and spectators will begin the procession to Spring Bayou for the blessing of Tarpon Springs, the highlight of this tradition for many.
That’s when 65 boys from the cathedral will climb into dinghies waiting in the bayou. Another boy is participating but not diving. The Archbishop will bless the waters before tossing a white cross into the water. The boys will dive in and try to retrieve the cross, and whoever finds it is said to receive a year of blessings.
Read more at tbtim.es/epiphany24
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- Title
- Some migrants are skipping the dangerous border journey for the Biden administration's new system
- Runtime
- 2:43
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Five years ago, Alexis Llanos and his family fled Venezuela for Colombia, escaping death threats and political persecution. The family eventually decided to cross into the U.S. illegally, heading north through the dangerous and deadly Darien Gap.
Their plans changed, though, when a friend mentioned a new migration program from the U.S. government that would allow them to stay put while they pleaded for a chance to come legally. It worked. After a four-month process that included medical exams and interviews with the United Nations and U.S., Llanos and his family - his partner, 7-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy arrived in Florida.
“It was a unique opportunity, a miracle that God prepared for me,” said Llanos, 27, during an interview with The Associated Press. “I feel blessed, grateful ... I did not want to take the risk, I would not have forgiven myself if something had happened to them because of me,” crossing the jungle.
The Llanos famil...
- Title
- Nikki Haley fends off attacks from Trump, DeSantis in closing days before Iowa caucuses
- Runtime
- 0:55
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Her GOP rivals are ratcheting up their attacks on Nikki Haley in the closing days ahead of the 2024 campaign's first votes, something the presidential hopeful says means that they see her candidacy as a threat to their own.
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- Title
- Maui's economy needs tourists. Can they visit without compounding wildfire trauma?
- Runtime
- 2:12
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The restaurant where Katie Austin was a server burned in the wildfire that devastated Hawaii's historic town of Lahaina this summer.
Two months later, as travelers began to trickle back to nearby beach resorts, she went to work at a different eatery. But she soon quit, worn down by constant questions from diners: Was she affected by the fire? Did she know anyone who died?
Hawaii's governor and mayor invited tourists back to the west side of Maui months after the Aug. 8 fire killed at least 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings. They wanted the economic boost tourists would bring, particularly heading into the year-end holidays.
But some residents are struggling with the return of an industry that requires workers to be attentive and hospitable even though they are trying to care for themselves after losing their loved ones, their friends, their homes and their community.
Maui is a large island. Many parts, like the ritzy ...
- Title
- US military space plane launches to orbit on another secretive mission expected to last years
- Runtime
- 1:12
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The U.S. military's X-37B space plane launched to orbit Thursday for another secretive mission that’s expected to last at least a couple of years.
Like previous missions, the reusable plane resembling a mini space shuttle carried classified experiments. There's no one on board.
It marked the seventh flight of an X-37B, which has logged more than 10 years in orbit since its debut in 2010.
The last flight, the longest one yet, lasted 2 1/2 years before ending on a runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center a year ago. Space Force officials would not say how long this orbital test vehicle would remain aloft or what's on board other than a NASA experiment to gauge the effects of radiation on materials.
The space plane took off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy at nighttime.
Built by Boeing, the X-37B resembles NASA’s retired space shuttles. But they're just one-fourth the size at 29 feet (9 meters) long. No as...
- Title
- A 6-year-old boy traveling alone for Christmas was put on the wrong Spirit flight
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A 6-year-old boy who left on a flight for the Christmas holiday to visit his grandmother in southwest Florida instead was put on the wrong plane and ended up 160 miles away in Orlando, Florida.
When the grandmother, Maria Ramos, showed up on Thursday at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers to greet her grandson who was flying for the first time from Philadelphia, she was told he wasn't on the Spirit Airlines flight.
“I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, ‘Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?’ She said, ‘No, I had no kids with me,'” Ramos told WINK News.
She then got a call from her grandson from the airport in Orlando, telling her that he had landed.
In a statement, Spirit Airlines said the boy was under the care and supervision of an airlines employee the entire time, even though he was incorrectly boarded on a flight to Orlando.
Once the m...
- Title
- Police: Helicopter crashes into canal in Miami, man dead
- Runtime
- 1:17
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Emergency workers in South Florida on Wednesday rescued two people, one who later died, from a canal after their helicopter crashed.
The helicopter, a Hughes 369 aircraft, was carrying two people from Fort Myers when it crashed into a canal about three miles west of Miami Executive Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Aerial video footage showed divers from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue searching the canal.
The two people were sent to local hospitals in Miami, where one was in serious condition and the other had non-life-threatening injuries, CBS News Miami reported.
“Unfortunately, the male succumbed to his injuries. The female is expected to survive,” Miami-Dade Police Department Detective Alvaro Zabaleta told WSVN-TV.
Officials did not identify the victims or say how they knew each other. The NTSB will identify the pilot of the aircraft.
According to investigators, witnesses said ...
- Title
- Lives torn apart by war in Africa, family hopes a new US program will help them reunite
- Runtime
- 2:14
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Worried about his mother’s health, Jacob Mabil tried for months to persuade her to start the process that would take her from a sprawling refugee camp in South Sudan where she had spent almost a decade.
He wanted her to come live with him and his young family in the U.S. But before she would agree, she asked for a promise: that he would one day also bring the granddaughters she had raised since they were babies.
Mabil, now 44, agreed, but it turned out that he could petition only for immediate family members. Though his mom joined him in Texas in 2020, his two nieces — who soon turn 18 and 19 — remain in Africa.
“That always killed me," said Mabil, whose own childhood was ripped apart by civil war in Sudan.
Now, as the U.S. government transforms the way refugees are being resettled, Mabil and his family have hope that the nieces may soon be able to join them in suburban Fort Worth. The Biden administration opened the applicati...
- Title
- In Gaza City Palestinians attend Christmas Eve mass at church where they sought shelter
- Runtime
- 1:42
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Christian community held a Christmas Eve service on Sunday in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, which they have also used as a shelter.
It is the only Catholic Church in Gaza City and a number of Christians sought refuge in the parish when the war started and hundreds of thousands were displaced to the south of the strip.
The service was held late Sunday, but details only emerged on Monday due to frequent internet outages.
The parish, considered a safe place for those living there, saw two of its faithful killed by Israeli soldiers earlier this month.
Days before Christmas, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said two Christian women at the church compound in Gaza were killed by Israeli sniper fire.
The killing of the women was also referred by Pope Francis who earlier this month said “unarmed civilians are being bombed and shot at, and this has even happened inside the Holy Family ...
- Title
- Migrant caravan spends Christmas walking in Mexico
- Runtime
- 1:27
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Christmas Day meant the same as any other day for thousands of migrants walking through southern Mexico: more trudging under a hot sun.
There were no presents, and Christmas Eve dinner was a sandwich, a bottle of water and a banana handed out by a local church to some of the migrants in the town of Álvaro Obregón, in the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.
Migrants spent Christmas night sleeping on a scrap of cardboard or plastic stretched out under an awning or tent, or the bare ground.
In the morning, it was waking as usual at 4 a.m., to get an early start and avoid the worst of the heat, walking to the next town, Huixtla, 20 miles (30 kilometers) away.
At around 6,000 people, the migrant caravan that set out Sunday was the largest one since June 2022, when a similarly sized group departed Tapachula.
And like the 2022 caravan — which started as U.S. President Joe Biden hosted leaders in Los Angeles f...
- Title
- Tampa Double Tree hotel on West Cypress leveled by implosion
- Runtime
- 0:49
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The Double Tree hotel on West Cypress was leveled to the ground by an implosion early Wednesday morning.
The Florida Department of Transportation was responsible for the implosion. The property will be used as a staging area for a$1 billion construction project on the Westshore interchange that will start late next year.
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- Title
- Volcano erupts on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A volcanic eruption has started on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the country’s civil defense to be on high alert.
The eruption appears to have occurred about 1.8 miles from the town of Grindavík, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.
As the eruption spread, magma, or semi-molten rock, could be seen spewing along the ridge of a hill.
In November, police evacuated the fishing town of Grindavik after strong seismic activity in the area raised fears of an imminent eruption.
Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years.
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...
- Title
- Wolves released in reintroduction plan
- Runtime
- 1:29
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Wildlife officials released five gray wolves into a remote forest in Colorado's Rocky Mountains on Monday to kick off a voter-approved reintroduction program that was embraced in the state's mostly Democratic urban corridor but staunchly opposed in conservative rural areas where ranchers worry about attacks on livestock.
The wolves were set free from crates in a Grand County location that state officials kept undisclosed to protect the predators.
It marked the start of the most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades and a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. A judge on Friday night had denied a request from the state’s cattle industry for a temporary delay to the release.
About 45 people watched as the first two wolves — 1-year-old male and female siblings with gray fur mixed with black and brown patches — were set free. The male bolted up the golden grass, run...
- Title
- As holidays approach, migrants face eviction from New York City shelters
- Runtime
- 3:16
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- AS KARINA OBANDO WALKS HER SON TO SCHOOL, SHE KNOWS THE CLOCK IS TICKING.
THE 38-YEAR-OLD MIGRANT FROM ECUADOR MOVED INTO THE ROW HOTEL - NOW A SHELTER - THREE WEEKS AGO. BUT NOW SHE NEEDS TO FIND A NEW HOME.
HERS IS ONE OF THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT FAMILIES IN NEW YORK'S SHELTER SYSTEM THAT HAVE BEEN TOLD THEY NEED TO CLEAR OUT AND EITHER REAPPLY FOR SHELTER HOUSING OR FIND THEIR OWN IN THE COMING WEEKS.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS' OFFICE SAYS IT'S CONSIDERING A TEMPORARY HOLIDAY REPRIEVE, BUT NO DECISION HAS BEEN CONVEYED TO MORE THAN 3,000 FAMILIES THAT HAVE BEEN ISSUED NOTICES SO FAR.
THE FIRST WAVE OF NEW YORK'S MIGRANT FAMILIES IS EXPECTED TO REACH THEIR 60-DAY SHELTER LIMIT JUST DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS.
THE CITY, OVERWHELMED BY ASYLUM SEEKERS, HAS WARNED THERE’S NO GUARANTEE THEY’LL GET TO STAY IN THE SAME SHELTER OR EVEN THE SAME PART OF THE CITY.
"We are here every day. People are here every day. Even if you get t...
- Title
- Kratom's meandering trail from Indonesia to consumers in Florida
- Runtime
- 2:41
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The kratom trail starts in the verdant fields of Indonesia.
Halfway around the world, farmers brave the early morning heat and pluck leaves from tropical evergreen trees. Then they’re crushed, milled and packaged — destined for mammoth cargo ships to begin their monthlong journey to America.
That’s where the secrecy begins.
Kratom can make nearly a dozen stops — from Georgia to Colorado and back again — where it is blended, cooked and packaged before powdered and potent versions land in gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops.
By the time these products reach Florida consumers, suppliers and manufacturers have taken elaborate measures to evade regulators and avoid detection, a Tampa Bay Times investigation found.
Reporters analyzed thousands of pages of records to piece together a first-of-its-kind examination of kratom’s supply chain, focusing on one of the country’s most popular brands.
- Title
- As dangerous kratom products go unregulated, lobbyists write the laws
- Runtime
- 2:57
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that more than 580 people in Florida have died from kratom-related overdoses during the past decade — even as the industry has touted the safety of its products. Most of the deaths were caused by a fatal mixture of kratom and at least one other substance, but 46 people overdosed solely on the herb. Relatives of overdose victims said they had no idea the substance could be deadly.
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- Title
- Florida residents seek solutions amid rain shortages
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- In Florida, this year has been a tale of two states as far as rainfall totals, with the southeast coast deluged by sometimes-record rainfall and much of the Gulf of Mexico coast facing a major precipitation deficit.
Counties up and down Florida’s west side are under new water use restrictions, especially in one area where the water table has gotten so low that wells could dry up. And now Florida's wettest season is over until late spring.
“You know, as the climate changes, we’re going to have to adapt to these extremes,” said Dan Durica, a board member at Tampa’s Sweetwater Organic Community Farm. “And so you have to know how to deal with like the boom and bust of the, like, climate chaos.”
For most people, the restrictions affect lawn and landscape watering — which accounts for about half the water used daily in the affected areas. For example, in three counties around Tampa Bay watering is only allowed one day a week depending on...
- Title
- Mom says daughter in St. Petersburg had seizures after she took kratom
- Runtime
- 1:28
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Jessica Speranza started taking kratom, a psychoactive powder from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree, to help with chronic pain. After her kratom use started, she began having seizures, her mother said. She was rushed to the hospital multiple times, but doctors couldn’t identify the cause. Further tests were scheduled in the summer of 2021. Before she could go, Speranza had another seizure, overdosed on kratom and died.
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- Title
- Broward County father died from a kratom-only overdose in 2021
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Jonathan Dampf battled depression and anxiety and began using kratom, believing the herb could help him. In April 2021, Dampf died inside his Margate home after taking a lethal amount, according to a medical examiner.
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- Title
- Kratom tied to nearly 600 overdose deaths in Florida, probe finds
- Runtime
- 3:47
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that more than 580 people in Florida have died from kratom-related overdoses during the past decade — even as the industry has touted the safety of its products. Most of the deaths were caused by a fatal mixture of kratom and at least one other substance, but 46 people overdosed solely on the herb. Relatives of overdose victims said they had no idea the substance could be deadly.
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- Title
- Sea turtles experiencing 'cold stun' flown to rehab in Florida
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Fifty-two endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles are rehabbing at four facilities in Florida following a flight on a private plane from the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts.
The turtles arrived in Tampa on Tuesday, and 16 were sent to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, officials said in a news release.
All of the turtles were experiencing a condition known as “cold-stun” from the frigid New England waters.
The other turtles were taken to Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, The Florida Aquarium in Tampa and Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Jupiter.
Sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles and adapt to the temperature of their surroundings.
During prolonged exposure to icy water temperatures, their circulatory systems slow down and the turtles are unable to swim or function properly.
The turtles will continue rehabbing at the aquarium, where guests are welcome to visit and watch their journey.
Eventual...
- Title
- Clearwater Police ticket abortion protestor 29 times for repeatedly violating vehicle safety zone
- Runtime
- 1:20
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Anti-abortion protester Nicholas Bosstick, 26, is shown in Clearwater Police Department body camera footage outside Bread and Roses Women's Health Center on Nov. 4. Police have issued Bosstick 29 citations totaling $11,662 for violating the city's vehicle safety zone at the clinic, which prohibits protesters from entering the driveway or 5 feet of sidewalk within either side of the driveway. Bosstick was arrested eight times for violating the buffer zone after warnings and citations, but in October, Pinellas Pasco State Attorney Bruce Bartlett advised he would not prosecute obstruction charges stemming from the incidents. As a result, Police Chief Eric Gandy said officers will rely on citations for enforcement of the buffer zone and no longer make arrests of repeat violators.
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- Title
- For decades, a Florida woman had no sense of smell. Can she get it back?
- Runtime
- 6:52
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Barbara Walker lost her sense of smell at age 21, after a car accident — just as she was starting to find herself. Barb’s loss left her with a sense that something profound was missing: “I never felt whole.”
The science of smell has shown it’s intimately tied to essential elements of everyday life: safety and taste, mood and memory.
When Barb thought she might be beginning to smell again, she became obsessed. She ordered smell training kits, joined support groups, sniffed her way through parks and stores. Her bathroom became a laboratory of lotions and soaps. She studied olfactory science, explored experimental surgeries, a bionic nose — anything to finally feel complete.
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- Title
- Haley wins backing from powerful Koch network
- Runtime
- 2:38
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network, formally endorsed Nikki Haley's presidential campaign on Tuesday, promising to commit its nationwide coalition of activists — and virtually unlimited funds — to helping Haley defeat former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary contest.
“AFP Action is proud to throw our full support behind Nikki Haley, who offers America the opportunity to turn the page on the current political era, to win the Republican primary and defeat Joe Biden next November,” AFP president and CEO Emily Seidel wrote in a memo announcing the group's decision.
“She has what it takes to lead a policy agenda to take on our nation’s biggest challenges and help ensure our country’s best days are ahead. With the grassroots and data capability we bring to bear in this race, no other organization is better equipped to help her do it.”
The endorsement may help Haley address one of her biggest ...
- Title
- Tensions simmer as newcomers and immigrants with deeper US roots strive for work permits
- Runtime
- 2:15
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- In New York, migrants at a city-run shelter grumble that relatives who settled before them refuse to offer a bed. In Chicago, a provider of mental health services to people in the country illegally pivoted to new arrivals sleeping at a police station across the street. In South Florida, some immigrants complain that people who came later get work permits that are out of reach for them.
Across the country, mayors, governors and others have been forceful advocates for newly arrived migrants seeking shelter and work permits. Their efforts and existing laws have exposed tensions among immigrants who have been in the country for years, even decades, and don't have the same benefits, notably work permits. And some new arrivals feel established immigrants have given them cold shoulders.
Thousands of immigrants marched this month in Washington to ask that President Joe Biden extend work authorization to longtime residents as well. Signs read, “Work permits for all!...
- Title
- Sea turtle nests break records on US beaches, but global warming threatens their survival
- Runtime
- 2:27
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Just as they have for millions of years, sea turtles by the thousands made their labored crawl from the ocean to U.S. beaches to lay their eggs over the past several months.
This year, record nesting was found in Florida and elsewhere despite growing concern about threats from climate change.
In Florida, preliminary state statistics show more than 133,840 loggerhead turtle nests, breaking a record set in 2016.
Same for green turtles, where the estimate of at least 76,500 nests is well above the previous mark set in 2017.
High sea turtle nest numbers also have been reported in South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, although not all set records like Florida, where Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, said the number of nests is remarkable this year.
“We had more nests than we had ever seen before on our local beaches,” said Perrault, whose organization ...
- Title
- A Salmon fishery in a Florida warehouse
- Runtime
- 2:45
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- If it still seems strange to think of fish growing on farms, it shouldn’t.
Aquaculture has been the fastest growing food sector in the world for decades, and people now eat more farmed fish than wild fish.
The industry has had to grow. Demand for seafood is soaring and will continue to rise. But the oceans are giving up all they can: Production of wild fish has been flat since about 1990.
Fish farming and shellfish production usually spew far less greenhouse gas emissions than production of beef and other animal protein, but aquaculture can still cause serious environmental problems.
In a warehouse near Miami, large indoor tanks are designed to mimic the natural environment of salmon by establishing the right temperature, the right salinity and the right lighting.
The idea: Grow the salmon indoors to reduce exposure to parasites, warming waters and algae blooms that threaten the fish grown in farms in open waters near s...
- Title
- Man detained as two Florida deputies seriously injured after being intentionally struck by car
- Runtime
- 1:08
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A Florida man intentionally drove into two sheriff's deputies on Thursday, badly injuring them before a third deputy arrested him, authorities said.
The Hillsborough County deputies were answering a call from a woman who said her adult son was acting irrationally and she was afraid of him, Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference.
The 28-year-old man was sitting in a running car outside his home in the Tampa suburb of Brandon and took off when the deputies tried to make contact with him.
The driver returned a short time later, sped up and rammed the deputies, pinning them against a patrol vehicle, the sheriff said.
Both suffered severe leg injuries but are expected to survive.
The deputies were identified as Carlos Brito, 39, and 31-year-old Manny Santos.
Chronister said the suspect got out of the car after slamming into the deputies and attempted to enter his house, but another deputy who had arrive...
- Title
- This Florida racehorse got a second chance
- Runtime
- 4:31
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Adopted off the race track in winter of 2022, War Feather was a lot to handle. His anxiety and fear of people made it difficult to retrain him for other equestrian events.
Tampa Bay Times Editor Justine Griffin adopted him with the hope to retrain the Thoroughbred. He was renamed Wyatt and slowly learned to trust people.
His progress was so astounding he was able to compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover held annually in at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.
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- Title
- Some houses are being built to stand up to hurricanes and sharply cut emissions, too
- Runtime
- 2:19
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson's home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground.
But Paulson's home, with a rounded shape that looks something like a ship, shrugged off Category 5 winds that might otherwise have collapsed it.
Her house lost only a few shingles, with photos taken after the storm showing it standing whole amid the wreckage of almost all the surrounding homes.
Some developers are building homes like Paulson's with an eye toward making them more resilient to the extreme weather that's increasing with climate change, and friendlier to the environment at the same time.
Solar panels, for example, installed so snugly that high winds can't get underneath them, mean clean power that can survive a storm. Preserved wetlands and native vegetation tra...
- Title
- Florida’s rescued corals return to the sea
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- For nearly four months, Cynthia Lewis has overseen a lab in the Florida Keys housing more than 5,000 refugee corals rescued from scorching offshore waters.
Her staff at the Keys Marine Laboratory on Long Key have faced swirls of heartbreak and hope since mid-July — when a mass coral evacuation began.
Heartbreak came in those first few weeks when scores of elkhorn and staghorn corals arrived at the lab, bleached or dead, as an unprecedented marine heat wave swept through offshore coral nurseries. Temperatures pushing the mid-90s arrived sooner than anticipated and caught the restoration community off-guard.
And then came the hope, however fleeting, that the first-of-its-kind evacuation and rescue operation was helping keep many corals alive. Corals regained their color and strength and in recent days have passed veterinarian health inspections.
On Monday, a restoration team took roughly 360 corals from the lab and drove them north t...
- Title
- Tampa International Airport tests electric air taxi for first time
- Runtime
- 0:39
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Tampa International Airport is aiming to make electric air taxis a possibility.
On Thursday, the airport hosted Florida’s first test flight of an electric vertical takeoff and landing plane, more commonly known as eVTOLs or electric air taxis.
It was also the first demonstration in the U.S. at a major airport, which officials said was symbolic of the region’s history as the birthplace of commercial flight.
“This is going to be a reality for us very soon,” said Tampa International Airport’s chief executive Joe Lopano.
Flying taxis are intended for shorter- or medium-range travel as destinations within a city or between a metropolitan center and its suburbs, whether for passengers or cargo. The hopes of this technology is to reduce traffic congestion and lower emissions.
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- Title
- What’s up with the circus in Tropicana Field’s parking lot?
- Runtime
- 0:43
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A crew of about 15 workers were perched on top of the colorful, football field-sized tent on Wednesday, cleaning it for the opening of the Garden Bros Nuclear Circus Humans Gone Wild, to be held in the parking lot at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg this weekend.
“They do this at least once a month,” Michelle Wiertalla, the box office manager said of the work crew. “It was really dusty in the last town, got to have it looking fresh.”
Garden Bros boasts the “largest big top arena” and the “largest circus on Earth.” The near two-hour production features special effects and concert style sound and lighting with over 60 performers like the human cannonball, aerial artists and the wheel of death. A kids fun zone has a circus pony, a giant slide, a bounce house and face painting.
There will be two shows on Thursday and Friday and three shows on Saturday and Sunday.
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- Title
- Man rescued from crashed plane in the Everglades
- Runtime
- 1:05
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A man was rescued after a small plane crashed into the Florida Everglades in far southwestern Broward County Tuesday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration tells WPLG Television that the crash in the Everglades west of Hollywood, Florida, happened around 2 a.m. after the plane reportedly took off from the Okeechobee area.
Rescue crews sent to the scene found the man sitting on the wing of the plane.
He was later hoisted to a rescue helicopter.
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- Title
- Tampa Halloween weekend shooting: 2 dead, man arrested
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Police in Florida say they've arrested a suspect in the mass shooting on a Tampa street overnight.
Two people were killed and 18 injured after a fight erupted between two groups. Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw says a 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the shooting early Sunday.
He's charged with second-degree murder. Officers responded to the shooting just before 3 a.m. in Tampa's Ybor City area.
Bercaw says it's an area with several bars where a large number of late night revelers had gathered.
Investigators say they believe there were at least two shooters, but Bercaw had no information about whether further arrests were expected.
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- Title
- Hillsborough County schools put marching bands to the test
- Runtime
- 1:03
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- On Saturday night, Hillsborough County high school students battled for bragging rights while showing the mettle behind their schools’ music programs.
At the heart of a band’s success are relentless teamwork and the discipline of coordinated movement synchronized to music selections to create stunning audio-visual performances on a football field.
This year’s event, at Gaither High School in Tampa, hosted 2,741 performers from 27 high schools who performed for parents, faculty and a panel of judges.
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- Title
- Maine's governor says at least 18 people were killed and 13 were injured in shootings in Lewiston
- Runtime
- 1:23
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Maine’s governor says at least 18 people were killed and 13 were injured in shootings in Maine, and state police have issued a murder warrant for the suspect, who is still at large. Gov. Janet Mills made the remarks at a press conference Thursday.
A man shot and killed the victims at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston and then fled into the night, sparking a massive search by hundreds of officers while frightened residents stayed locked in their homes Thursday under a shelter-in-place advisory.
Mills said the shooting suspect, Robert Card, is considered armed and dangerous.
“This city did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind, on its sense of security,” she said.
A police bulletin identified Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack in Lewiston that sent panicked bowlers scrambling behind pins, into corners and a back room when shots rang out around 7 p.m. Wednesday. Card was descr...
- Title
- Mike Johnson is the latest GOP nominee for House speaker
- Runtime
- 1:25
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker desperate to unite their fractious majority and end the chaos, just hours after an earlier pick abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from Donald Trump.
Johnson of Louisiana, a lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, becomes the fourth Republican nominee in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockey for power.
When the House convenes at noon Wednesday ahead of a floor vote, Johnson, who won the majority behind closed doors, will need almost all Republicans in the public roll call to win the gavel.
“Mike! Mike! Mike!” lawmakers chanted at a press conference late Tuesday night, surrounding Johnson and posing for selfies in a show of support.
Three weeks on, the Republicans have been frittering away their majority status — a maddening embarrassment to some, democr...
- Title
- Hurricanes are now twice as likely to zip from minor to whopper than decades ago, study says
- Runtime
- 1:33
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify from wimpy minor hurricanes to powerful and catastrophic, a study said Thursday.
Last month Hurricane Lee went from barely a hurricane at 80 mph (129 kph) to the most powerful Category 5 hurricane with 155 mph (249 kph) winds in 24 hours. In 2017, before it devastated Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria went from a Category 1 storm with 90 mph (145 kph) to a top-of-the-chart whopper with 160 mph (257 kph) winds in just 15 hours.
The study looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971. It found that in the last 20 years, 8.1% of the time storms powered from a Category 1 minor storm to a major hurricane in just 24 hours. That happened only 3.2% of the time from 1971 to 1990, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports. Category 1 hurricanes top out at 95 mph (153 kph) and a hurricane has to have at least 111 mph (178 kph) winds to be...
- Title
- See inside the Orchid Show 2023 at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Selby Gardens has the largest scientifically documented collection of living orchids in the world. The Orchid Show highlights orchids from the collection on display in the Tropical Conservatory and features an exhibition of images and artifacts that tell the history of the gardens in the Museum of Botany & The Arts. On view now through Nov. 26 at the downtown campus.
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- Title
- Venezuelan migrants who are applying for temporary legal status in the US say it offers some relief
- Runtime
- 2:21
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The lives of several hundred thousand Venezuelans living in the U.S. could change now that President Joe Biden’s administration is offering them temporary legal status.
The Homeland Security Department announced last month that it would grant Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans. That makes it easier for them to get work permits.
Víctor Macedo says he can now earn a living “as God intended.” He dreams of opening a bakery.
He and his wife and two children have been living in Florida for nearly two years with the support of family and friends.
They fled Venezuela after receiving death threats for opposing the country's socialist government.
Like Macedo, Venezuelan Deisy Mori and her family crossed the border illegally, surrendered to U.S. authorities and requested asylum.
Many Venezuelans have applied for asylum, but the process is slow and can take more than four years.
-...
- Title
- See early drone footage of tornado damage in Pinellas County
- Runtime
- 0:22
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Tornadoes hit the Tampa Bay area early Thursday morning, damaging some areas of Clearwater and Dunedin. Further to the north, Citrus County also reported damage from a tornado.
Tampa Bay Times journalist Max Chesnes flew a drone over some of the damage. Here’s what he captured.
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- Title
- Tornado warning issued for parts of Pinellas, Hillsborough
- Runtime
- 0:35
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A tornado warning was issued Thursday morning for portions of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties that will last until noon, according to the National Weather Service.
The warning, which means a tornado could be imminent, came hours after twisters sliced through portions of the Tampa Bay area early Thursday morning, damaging homes and businesses across the region.
The early morning storms pushed tornadoes through areas like Clearwater and Dunedin around 2 a.m., tearing through buildings and leaving debris. Farther north, the Citrus County School District closed schools Thursday after the west side of the county experienced “significant damage,” officials said.
The National Weather Service has so far confirmed that at least two tornadoes touched down, one in Pinellas County and the other in Citrus County. Weather service survey teams are out assessing damage and looking for evidence that could confirm any additional tornadoes, said Rick Davis, a...
- Title
- Florida town rounds up swans for annual health check up
- Runtime
- 1:51
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The city of Lakeland, Florida held their 43rd annual swan roundup at Lake Morton on Tuesday. City employees took to the lake in boats to capture the population of 50 swans so they could be given wellness exams through My Pet's Animal Hospital, which has donated their services.
The lake's current swan population started in 1957, when a mated pair of swans was donated to the city by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Today, the city budgets about $10,000 each year to care for and feed the swans, which have become emblematic of Lakeland. Images and statues of swans can be seen throughout the town.
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Instagr...
- Title
- Amazon launches test satellites for its planned internet service to compete with SpaceX
- Runtime
- 1:14
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Amazon has launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service.
United Launch Alliance's Atlas rocket blasted off Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the two test satellites.
The liftoff marked the start of Amazon's goal to improve global broadband access with an eventual 3,236 satellites around Earth.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has a head start over Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, who has his own rocket company.
SpaceX has already launched more than 5,000 of its internet satellites, known as Starlinks, using its own Falcon rockets.
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- Title
- 150-year-old Florida Keys lighthouse illuminated for first time in a decade
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A 150-year-old beacon that helped guide ships through the treacherous Florida Keys coral reefs before GPS, sonar and other technology made it obsolete is shining again as part of a national effort to save historic lighthouses that have dotted the U.S. coast for more than a century.
An Islamorada community group that is spending $6 million to restore and preserve the Alligator Reef Lighthouse turned on its new solar-powered lights on Saturday to remind the public about the effort.
“Alligator Lighthouse was lit in 1873 and it stayed lit until about 2013, and then it went dark for 10 years,” said Rob Dixon, the executive director of Save Alligator Lighthouse, which took over the lighthouse's title in late 2021. “And now our Statue of Liberty is lit once again.”
The lighthouse is named after the USS Alligator, a Navy schooner that ran aground on the reef in 1822 and sank.
Alligator and five other aging lighthouses off the Keys wer...
- Title
- Coral researchers see 'mass mortality' amid Florida Keys bleaching crisis
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Battered by heat, washed out to a bleached, white hue and ravaged by disease, corals offshore of Key Largo used what little energy they had left to spawn the next generation that could save their populations.
These elkhorn and staghorn corals — recognized by their iconic branching arms that provide habitat for hundreds of species — are some of the most vulnerable among reefs.
Just weeks after spawning season, more than 90% of those parent corals are dead.
Elkhorn corals are already considered “functionally extinct” in the upper Keys, and other elkhorn and staghorn populations in the Florida Reef are following suit, according to Liv Williamson, an assistant scientist of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami. That means there are a small number of individual corals left in the only living barrier reef in the continental United States — the world’s third-largest. It stretches about 360 miles from Dry Tortugas National Park...
