Man suspected in Florida serial rapes convicted in attack

A man suspected of being the “pillowcase rapist” in connection with a string of South Florida rapes back in the 1980s was convicted Wednesday in one of the attacks. Miami-Dade County jurors found Robert Koehler, 63, guilty of sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary. He faces up to life in prison at sentencing on March 17. […]

After 18 years, $1.5B dike repair done at Lake Okeechobee

After 18 years, a $1.5 billion project was officially completed Wednesday to repair the sprawling dike around Florida’s Lake Okeechobee that protects thousands of people from potentially catastrophic flooding during hurricanes. The Herbert Hoover Dike project overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was completed three years ahead of schedule and at a savings […]

After bomb threat, flight from Florida to Philadelphia to finally depart

A Frontier Airlines flight to Philadelphia from Florida will finally take off Wednesday morning, hours after a bomb threat. Frontier flight 2346 was supposed to leave Palm Beach International Airport on Tuesday evening. But investigators say a passenger on board said he had a bomb in his bag. The Palm Beach Sheriff’s office found nothing, […]

Ukraine war moves ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 90 seconds to midnight

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the specter of nuclear weapon use, Earth crept its closest to Armageddon, a science-oriented advocacy group said, moving its famous “Doomsday Clock” up to just 90 seconds before midnight. “We are really closer to that doomsday,” former Mongolian president Elbegdorj Tsakhia said Tuesday at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ annual announcement, […]

US proposes annual COVID shots for most Americans

U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. This means Americans would no longer have to keep track […]

Florida execution set for man in woman’s 1990 slaying

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Monday for a man who was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman after escaping from custody while serving a life sentence for killing a Lee County deputy. Donald David Dillbeck, 59, is scheduled to die on Feb. 23 by lethal injection for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann […]

Legal and LGBTQ-advocacy groups are prepared to fight a move by Gov. DeSantis to deny Medicaid coverage for treatments for transgender people.

Florida runs up tab in Medicaid transgender case

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has authorized more than $1.3 million for legal and expert-witness fees in the state’s effort to ban Medicaid coverage of treatments for transgender people, a review of state records by The News Service of Florida shows. The Agency for Health Care Administration, which largely oversees the Medicaid program, last year issued […]

Florida Supreme Court keeps 15-week abortion limit in place

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday rejected requests to halt a law that prevents abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Justices, in a 4-1 decision, turned down a motion by seven abortion clinics and a doctor for a stay of a ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal that kept the law in place. […]

Crash

Official: 7 killed in two shootings in California community

Seven people were killed in two related shootings Monday at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm in a coastal community south of San Francisco, and a suspect was in custody, officials said. San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President Dave Pine says four people were killed at the farm and three at the trucking […]

Off-duty Florida officer kills gunman in videotaped shooting

An off-duty police officer fatally shot a gunman during a confrontation outside a South Florida supermarket Saturday night in an encounter captured on video. Cellphone videos posted on Twitter showed the man in the parking lot outside a Publix supermarket in Homestead holding a gun and firing four shots into an SUV that he says […]