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  • 3
    days
    ago

    Close call: Airplane makes emergency landing on busy street in Florida

    By Gilma Avalos, NBCMiami.com

    COOPER CITY, Fla. -- A small plane made an emergency landing on a busy Florida street on Saturday afternoon, officials said.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    A 1965 Mooney landed on Sheridan Street near Douglas Road around noon after an engine problem, according to the Pembroke Pines Police Department. The aircraft was making its way to the North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, officials said.

    The pilot and the passengers were not injured but the plane's wings were clipped when it ran into some trees, police said.


    See photo, read the original report at NBCMiami.com

    "It's a good day when an aircraft can land on a roadway anywhere, but especially on Sheridan Street, in the weather and the traffic that was out here and end up with no injuries," said Tom Gallagher, public information officer for Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue.

    Authorities said the four-seater aircraft was coming down the eastbound lanes that were clear at the time. Once traffic began moving on the street, though, the pilot moved the plane to the median where it struck some trees, officials said.

    "I was shopping at Publix and I saw the plane coming down and thought, whoah, that's freaky," said resident Steve Romney.

    The plane was coming from Georgia, according to police. The last-minute landing shut down the eastbound lanes for hours as authorities worked to clear out the plane.

    "It could have been catastrophic. The pilot used a lot of skill, he was evaluating the air space and his landing area on his way down," Gallagher said.

    The incident remains under investigation.

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    34 comments

    Take-offs are optional... Landings are mandatory.

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    Explore related topics: florida, plane, airplane, emergency-landing
  • 4
    days
    ago

    911 recordings, autopsies released in case of Florida mom who apparently killed four children, herself

    Recording of a portions of 911 calls made in connection with a Florida mom's shooting of four children and her apparent suicide released by Brevard County Sheriff's Dept on Friday.

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

    Recordings of 911 calls and autopsy results released Friday provide a window into the predawn chaos on Tuesday when Florida mother Tonya Thomas apparently shot and killed her four children and then killed herself, WESH Orlando reported.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Kari Huus


    Follow Kari Huus on Twitter and Facebook.



    Neighbors — a husband and wife awakened by loud banging on their door and cries for help — called police to report the disturbance.

    In conversations with police dispatchers, it became apparent that the disoriented couple had three neighbor kids outside their door in Port St. John, Fla. From the recordings –- parts of which were broadcast by WESH -- it was clear that they knew at least one of the children was bleeding, but they were uncertain who had been shot and who had a gun.


    "They tried to break in our front door to get in, I guess, to get away from her, whoever’s got the gun," the unidentified man, who apparently is sharing the phone with his wife, says on the initial call, according to the WESH video. "So I grabbed my gun and ran outside and one of them is laying there bleeding right there at our front door."

    "He's bleeding at the front door," the dispatcher repeats, and then asks: "Is he still there?"

    "No, he went back home," the man responds.

    Dispatcher: "And he went back inside the residence?"

    "I guess," the man responds in the recording on WESH. "I don't know who has the gun so I'm not walking out there."

    According to WESH's video, the man tells the dispatcher as the sound of shooting next door continued: "I'm armed, but I’m not going out there and put myself in danger."

    The woman says, her voice cracking, "I knew this was going to happen," according to the account by Florida Today.

    Later the news emerged that all of the children and their mother were dead.

    Police believe that Thomas, 33, shot to death all four of her children — Joel, Jazzlyn, Jaxs and Pebbles Johnson.

    Jaxs, 15, sustained three gunshots to his chest, two with the gun pressed up against his skin, according to an autopsy report released Friday, WESH reported. He was apparently sleeping on the couch at the time.

    Pebbles, 17, was shot three times from a distance, according to the autopsy.

    Joel, 12, was shot five times and his sister Jazzlyn, 13, had been shot seven times. The two younger children were found near each other, WESH reported, citing the autopsy.

    Thomas was found in the garage with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, it said.

    It was unclear what made the children go back to their home, where they were finally shot to death.

    "There’s a possibility that they were just in shock," Brevard County Sheriff's spokesman Tod Goodyear told WESH.

    Turbulent household
    Police and social workers were aware of turbulence in the home prior to the tragedy.

    Police answered a call on April 9 from Thomas that son Jaxs had battered her in a fight after she tried to get him out of bed, Florida Today reported.

    Jaxs was due in court Tuesday on the criminal charges for that alleged assault, it said.

    Records released Friday by the Department of Families and Children also show social workers had three contacts with Thomas and her children over the past decade, Florida Today reported.

    In 2000 there was a domestic violence incident between Thomas and the children's father Joe Johnson that temporarily sent Thomas to a shelter and caused the children to be removed from the home. They reunited not long after, against the advice of the agency, according to Florida Today.

    In April, Thomas told social workers that her son Jaxs had anger management problem, records show.

    However, the social work records show that the siblings talked with social workers and told them that they felt safe in the home, according to the Florida Today account.

    Family friend Rachel DeCamp said Thomas was working through a number of personal issues, the report said.

    "She was a mother dealing with teenagers. She was having some financial problems, she was on food stamps. Then the father of her children had just gotten out of jail and was trying to make amends and she didn’t want to be with him," DeCamp told Florida Today.

    Later on Friday, the husband in the 911 recordings said he and his wife had received death threats due to press reports that they had refused entry to the wounded kids. In a statement obtained by WESH, the man describes his efforts to help them before making the call, and the horror and confusion over who was doing the shooting.

    He also said that Thomas and the kids had come to them numerous times in the past for help, which they were more than willing to offer.

    "My wife and I are emotionally devastated," the man said in the statement.

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    37 comments

    I wish people would get off the neighbors case on this. He had NO idea what was going on and I know that this all happened within a matter of seconds. The three children were teenagers.

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    Explore related topics: florida, crime, kari-huus, tonya-thomas
  • 7
    days
    ago

    Physician: Zimmerman had broken nose, black eye

    Gary Green, The Orlando Sentinel / Pool via Getty Images file

    George Zimmerman appears during his bond hearing in a Seminole County courtroom on April 20, in Sanford, Florida.

    By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

    The day after George Zimmerman fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a family physician wrote in a report obtained by ABC News that Zimmerman had a broken nose, “a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury.”


    Follow @msnbc_us

    The three-page medical report is part of the discovery -- stacks of documents and CDs – currently being examined by the prosecution and the defense, ABC News reported.

    Prosecutor files evidence, witness list in Trayvon Martin shooting case

    The doctor wrote that Zimmerman, 28, made an appointment to make sure he could return to work, ABC News reported. Zimmerman, an insurance underwriter at the time, told the doctor that his lower back hurt; photos  show that he also had bruising on his upper lip.


    The report also notes that the doctor added that Zimmerman refused to go to the hospital the night of the shooting and added that it was “imperative” that he see his psychologist.

    Trayvon Martin timeline: Key events in the Sanford, Fla. shooting case

    On the night of the shooting, police officials from Sanford, Fla. said that Zimmerman told them he had used the gun in self-defense.

    After more than a month of legal handwringing, during which the case was being intensely scrutinized by the media, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder for Martin’s death on Feb. 26. The prosecution contends that Zimmerman tracked the teen, who was returning to the gated community, where his father’s girlfriend lived, after buying snacks at a corner store.

    He was charged on April 11; he was released from jail 12 days later on $150,000 bail.

    Zimmerman released on bail

    Since the shooting, debate has raged over whether Martin attacked Zimmerman before being shot, punching him in the face and hitting his head against the pavement.

    Martin’s family, pointing to surveillance video from the police station, note that Zimmerman didn’t have any apparent wounds. Zimmerman’s attorney argued that the footage was of too-low quality to determine whether he had been injured.

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    3229 comments

    If some jackass with a gun approached me with intent when I was just walking through a neighborhood, I sure as hell wouldn't just stand there and take it.

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    Explore related topics: florida, trayvon-martin, george-zimmerman
  • 15
    May
    2012
    11:30am, EDT

    Florida mother kills 4 children, then herself, deputies say

    Tonya Thomas shot and killed her four children, ages 12-17, before turning the gun on herself. Authorities said three of the kids had sought help from a neighbor when Thomas called them back home and fired the fatal shots. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

    By Jim Gold, msnbc.com

    Updated at 6:20 p.m. ET: A Florida mother killed her four children and then shot herself Tuesday morning as Brevard County, Fla., deputies closed in on her Port St. John home, authorities said.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Deputies said the mother, identified as Tonya Thomas, 33, sent a warning text message to a friend before the shootings, but the friend didn’t see the text until later.


    Three of the children, at least one already wounded, fled to the home of a neighbor who had been awakened by gunfire, but Thomas immediately called the children back and killed them, sheriff’s spokesman Tom Goodyear said.

    The neighbor called 911 as they left his home, Goodyear said.

    See the story at NBC station WESH of Orlando

    Tim Shortt / FLORIDA TODAY

    Brevard County sheriff's investigators say a mother took the lives of her four children during an early morning confrontation, calling three of them back into her home to fatally shoot them before turning a gun on herself, law enforcement sources report.

    “She was very calm,” Goodyear said of the neighbor’s report. “She called them back and they walked back to the house.”

    Arriving deputies found one of the children, Pebbles Johnson, 17, lying in the front yard of the Bright Avenue home and spotted a person at the front door, Goodyear said. The person ducked back inside after seeing deputies, he said. The teen was declared dead when she was transferred to an ambulance.

    As a SWAT team arrived, officers heard gunshots inside. SWAT officers entered through a back sliding door just before 7 a.m., and found Thomas and three other children dead. They were identified as Joel Johnson, 12, Jazlin Johnson, 13, and Jaxs Johnson, 15.

    Goodyear said the children’s father, who was separated from the family, had been notified of the deaths.

    Also, a friend of Thomas told police she texted him during the night that she wanted to be cremated with her four children, Goodyear said. However, the friend did not see the text until after he woke up Tuesday morning and the incident was over. The friend, who was not identified, called police after seeing news of the deaths, he said.

    Goodyear said police previously responded to the Florida “Space Coast” home, about 15 miles south of Cape Canaveral, for domestic disturbance calls involving Jaxs Johnson. He said the most recent call was about a month before Tuesday’s shootings.

    "The cops have been called to that house many times because the kids were terrorizing the neighbors," neighbor Travis St. Peter told NBC station WESH.

    Goodyear said that of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had no motive for the killings.

    Follow Jim Gold on Facebook here.

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    1135 comments

    Florida, the new "Wild West" in the South........Ya'll come back now, Ya hear!!

    Show more
    Explore related topics: florida, murder-suicide, port-st-john
  • 14
    May
    2012
    9:49am, EDT

    Trayvon Martin's mom gets 8 months paid leave in donations

    Two mothers, separated by space and time, but linked by a similar loss, met today to share their sadness and their stories of battles against injustice. Doreen Lawrence lost her son to a racist gang in London, while Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, lost her son to a shooting in Florida. ITV's Geraint Vincent reports.

     

    By NBCMiami.com

    The mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin will be able to take about eight months of paid leave after her fellow Miami-Dade County employees donated some of their vacation time, according to reports.

    Sybrina Fulton, a 23-year veteran of the Miami-Dade County housing authority, received $40,825 of donated vacation time, The Miami Herald reported.

    For more, visit NBCMiami.com.



    Follow @msnbc_us

    The donations came after the county commission approved a resolution authorizing employees to donate their vacation time to Fulton or Yolanda Knight Evans, Trayvon’s aunt and a customer service representative, the newspaper said.

    Trayvon Martin's parents take justice campaign to London

    According to the Herald, 192 county employees donated some of their hours to Fulton, adding up to 1,362 hours or 34 paid weeks off. Seventy employees donated to Evans.

    The time off is in addition to the $100,000 raised at rallies and online that the family plans to use to form a criminal justice advocacy foundation in Martin’s name.

    George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin, also raised more than $200,000 on a website to pay for his legal defense, according to his attorney.

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    429 comments

    Nothing like exploiting a sons death for personal gain. Maybe Al and Jesse can give you some suggestions on where to take that undeserved vacation.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: florida, trayvon-martin, george-zimmerman, sybrina-fulton
  • 11
    May
    2012
    7:01pm, EDT

    Report: Online vendor sold Trayvon Martin gun-range targets

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

    An online vendor who said he was capitalizing on controversy around the shooting death of Trayvon Martin told WKMG-TV in Orlanda that he rapidly "sold out" gun-range targets made to resemble the teen.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Kari Huus


    Follow Kari Huus on Twitter and Facebook.



    The targets did not picture 17-year-old Martin’s face, but instead portrayed a hoodie sweatshirt, a style that has become iconic since his death, with crosshairs drawn over the chest. The figure is shown holding a packet of Skittles candy and a beverage can, the video report showed.

    Martin, who was unarmed, was walking to his father's house carrying Skittles and a can of ice tea after going to a store when he was shot to death by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman during a scuffle.


    Prosecutors waited weeks before charging Zimmerman, who argues that the shooting was self-defense, with second-degree murder.

    The Feb. 26 killing in Sanford, Fla. has sparked a furious debate about race, justice and guns.

    Mark O’Mara, the attorney representing Zimmerman, told WKMG that the product advertisement, which has since been removed, represented "the highest level of disgust and the lowest level of civility."

    In the ad, the seller professed to support Zimmerman and "to believe he is innocent and that he shot a thug," the WKMG report said.

    When contacted by a TV reporter, the seller who — would not disclose his identity — wrote in an email that the main motivation for selling the targets was "to make money off the controversy." The ad, described as being on a popular firearms auction website, later disappeared from the Internet.

    Watch the Top Videos on msnbc.com

    Meantime, Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton released a video on YouTube calling for prevention of "senseless gun violence" and reevaluation of "stand-your-ground" laws like the one in Florida that allows the use of deadly force in response to perceived threat of death or serious injury, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.

    "This will be my first Mother’s Day without my son Trayvon," Fulton says in the video. "On Sunday I’m going to say a prayer for other mothers across America who share this unbearable pain."

    Trayvon Martin's parents take justice campaign to London

    Follow Kari Huus on Facebook

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    229 comments

    Those targets should be stapled to the chest and back of this jackass and his customers.

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    Explore related topics: florida, guns, kari-huus, trayvon-martin, george-zimmerman
  • 11
    May
    2012
    1:29pm, EDT

    Marissa Alexander gets 20 years for firing warning shot after Stand Your Ground defense fails

    By Gil Aegerter, msnbc.com

    Marissa Alexander, whose case brought allegations that Florida's Stand Your Ground law is being unfairly applied, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after being convicted of three counts of aggravated assault after firing a warning shot during a dispute with her husband. 


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    The case sparked a confrontation between a congresswoman and the prosecutor after the sentencing in Jacksonville, Fla., WJXT-TV reported.

    Alexander, 31, claimed she fired a shot from a handgun into the wall to protect herself during a confrontation with her husband, who she said had abused her, WJXT reported. Two children were with him when she fired a shot in his direction, and she was charged with three counts of aggravated assault. 


    Her attorneys claimed self-defense and cited the state's Stand Your Ground law, which gives people some protection from prosecution for using potentially deadly force in cases in which they feel their life is threatened. The law came under nationwide scrutiny during the Trayvon Martin case, when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot an unarmed teen and authorities waited weeks before charging him.

    theGrio: Allegations of abuse

    But a jury agreed with prosecutors that the law didn't apply because she left during the argument, got a gun and returned to confront him, WJXT reported. 

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    Last week, State Attorney Angela Corey, who is also handling the Zimmerman case, said she personally met with Alexander and reviewed the evidence in the case, WJXT reported. She said she offered Alexander a three-year sentence before trial, despite the case qualifying for a 20-year minimum mandatory sentence. 

    The case has sparked rallies on Alexander's behalf, and WJXT described a heated scene outside the courtroom after the sentencing:

    "Three years is not mercy and 20 years is not justice," U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown told Corey in an animated confrontation in the hallway. "If there ever was a stand-your-ground case, it was this one."

    ... She said she has been in contact with some of the best domestic violence attorneys in the country and will be involved in the appeals process.

    "This is the beginning, not the end," Brown said of Alexander case. "Clearly there is institutional racism."

    At issue in the case were Alexander's actions leading up to the firing of the shot.

    Alexander has said that 36-year-old Rico Gray had physically abused her in a dispute on Aug. 1, 2010. She testified that she fled into a garage and got a gun, but was unable to leave the home because the garage door was stuck. She testified that she went back into the house, where Gray was with his two sons, and fired the shot.

    But Corey argued that Stand Your Law did not apply because Alexander acted in anger. The judge agreed, saying that by returning to the house, she showed she was not in fear for her life.

    Gray had been arrested twice on domestic battery allegations, but Alexander had been charged with domestic battery four months after the shooting, Jacksonville.com reported.

    The 20-year sentence was a mandatory minimum under Florida's "10-20-Life law," which mandates sentences for crimes involving a firearm, the Grio.com reported.

    After the hearing, Alexander's attorney, Kevin Cobbin, said the Stand Your Ground law isn't always applied fairly, NBC station WLTV reported.

    "The law was made for people like Ms. Alexander," Cobbin said. "They did not make it for people running around on the streets shooting people. They made it for women in their homes trying to defended themselves against abusive mean men."

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    809 comments

    This is another prime example why this law should be abolished. Its crap all around.

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    Explore related topics: florida, crime, featured, stand-your-ground, marissa-alexander, trayvon-martin, george-zimmerman
  • 11
    May
    2012
    12:45pm, EDT

    FBI seeks help on case of Florida's Turnpike gunman

    By Donna Rapado and Brian Hamacher, NBCMiami.com

    MIAMI -- The FBI is asking for the public's help in identifying the suspect behind the shooting of two South Florida officers on Florida's Turnpike, as the wounded cops remained hospitalized Friday.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Photos released by the FBI Friday show the armed suspect during the robbery of a Pembroke Pines barbershop shortly before the Thursday afternoon encounter on the Turnpike near Hollywood Boulevard.

    Meanwhile, Key Biscayne Officer Nelia Real reamined at Memorial Regional Hospital and will remain sedated for the next week after she was shot in the neck by the gunman.


    Watch for updates on the original report at NBCMiami.com

    Real will be kept sedated until doctors can establish the extent of the wounds in her neck and facial area, Key Biscayne Police Chief Charles Press said Thursday.

    An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, identified Friday as Assistant Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez, was also shot in the shoulder and taken to Memorial Regional Hospital but his injuries are non-life threatening.

    Martinez, a 10-year veteran with ICE in Miami, was listed in stable condition Friday.

    Officers from several local, state and federal agencies spent late Thursday and early Friday visiting the wounded officers following the dramatic encounter.

    Authorities say the incident began with a carjacking near 75th Street and Northwest 27th Avenue in Miami-Dade around 2:20 p.m., followed by an armed robbery at a barber shop in the 1400 block of S. Palm Avenue in Pembroke Pines.

    According to FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Donovan, shots were fired during the robbery, before the suspect carjacked a second vehicle, a G-35 Infiniti, which he drove onto the Turnpike and crashed into another car.

    Officials believe that after the crash, he started walking on the Turnpike looking for another car to help him get away.

    Real, a 16-year veteran of the Key Biscayne department, was off duty and on her way home when she stopped to help with what she believed was just a car crash, Press said.

    Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

    After she was shot, Real was rushed to the hospital by a man believed to be with the Broward Sheriff's Office, Press said. He said Thursday that they're cautiously optimistic for her recovery.

    "She may owe that officer her life. His quick action rushing her to the hospital knowing that traffic was going to be terrible and rescue getting there could have taken a long time, it was something that he felt he needed to do, and obviously she is in good hands now," Press said. Real was holding her neck and talking when she entered the emergency room.

    Martinez, who works in enforcement and removal operations, was also just responding to the crash.

    The suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Donovan said.

    A third officer, a BSO deputy from Dania Beach, was also hospitalized after she broke her leg in a separate car crash while en route to the scene.

    The incident brought rush-hour traffic to a stop on the Turnpike, with numerous police vehicles on the scene just south of Exit 49, the Hollywood Boulevard exit. Traffic had been backed up to Griffin Road on the southbound side of the Turnpike, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

    Some drivers and commuters stood outside their cars on the highway, unable to go anywhere, aerial footage showed.

    The Turnpike was closed on the southbound side from I-595 and on the northbound side from the Miami-Dade County line, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

    It finally opened up early Friday, just in time for the morning commute.

    The FBI is handling the investigation into the shooting. Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call the FBI at 305-944-9101.

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    2 comments

    be easier to id him with a picture!

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    Explore related topics: crime, florida, gunman, floridas-turnpike
  • 10
    May
    2012
    2:44pm, EDT

    Alleged Florida white supremacist leaders: We're 'being persecuted'

    Osceola County Jail via Reuters

    Patricia and Marcus Faella, reputed leaders of the white supremacist group American Front, deny they were planning for a violent race war.

    By James Eng, msnbc.com

    The reputed leaders of a central Florida white supremacist group accused of planning for a “race war” say they are proud Americans who are being persecuted for their beliefs.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Marcus Faella, 39, and his wife, Patricia Faella, 36, told News 13 they had no intentions of being violent toward anyone.

    Interviewed at their compound in St. Cloud in rural Osceola County, Fla., the Faellas acknowledged their ideas are different than others, the TV station reported Thursday.


    "At this point, it looks like we are being persecuted for our politics," Patricia Faella told News 13. "I am really -- we are out here because something does make us uncomfortable, but we are not trying to bother anyone else. We are just trying to be left alone."

    Marcus Faella said he and his wife are proud Americans, according to News 13.

    The Faellas are among at least 11 people connected to the Florida branch of a skinhead group called the American Front arrested in the past week. They are accused of felony conspiracy and hate crimes, including taking part in paramilitary training on the Faellas’ compound in preparation for what Marcus Faella believed was “an inevitable race war,” according to court documents.

    A government informant infiltrated the group during the two-year investigation and said members trained with AK-47s, shotguns and explosives at the Faellas' fortified barbed-wire compound. According to a court affidavit, American Front members discussed acts of violence that included causing "a disturbance” at City Hall in Orlando and attacking a rival skinhead group during a May Day rally.

    Patricia Faella denied the group was planning a race war. "Some symbols mean something from one person to the next," she told News 13. "All we are asking you is to reserve judgment."

    The Faellas were arrested Friday and released from the Osceola County Jail after posting $500,000 bond each.

    Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

    The father of another defendant, Richard Stockdale, 23, of St. Cloud, said the charges against his son are “fabricated and trumped-up.”

    “I know my son is a good kid, and his friends are nothing but prideful Americans,” Richard Stockdale Sr. told The Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday. “I can’t wait to hear what (authorities) have. It’s all been blown way out of proportion. It’s amazing that when you say hooray for the white man, you go to jail.”

    Patty Kenny, the mother of defendant Christopher Brooks, 27, of St. Cloud, told FloridaToday.com her son was "a very good kid, respectable."

    "I knew about the tattoos, I knew about him, but I didn’t know about the command post and the guns and the stuff they’re saying is happening," she said.

    "As far as I knew these were just friends that he hung around with,” Kenny told FloridayToday.com. “I feel like if I was on the side of the road in the middle of the night I could call the friends up and they would come and help me out."

    Earlier: Reputed white supremacists accused of planning race war

    "They’re more survivalists than terrorists,” Brooks' father, Thomas Kenny, told FloridaToday.com. “They want to be able to live off the land. I don’t  see them wanting to terrorize people or starting wars."

    Meanwhile, some American Front backers are trying to muster support online for those arrested.

    A petition called “Free Richard 'Adam' Stockdale and the AF 11” was started by a person using the name Jbug Garrean. “The media is spinning this story to make it appear as if these people were plotting 'Terroristic Attacks,' when in all reality all these people are guilty of is being white,” the petition states.

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    123 comments

    In this country can believe whatever you want. You can take any position you want. People will hold it against you when you preach hate. Speech is free but not without consequence. BTW, you weren't arrested for your beliefs but for your actions and intent.

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  • 9
    May
    2012
    8:12pm, EDT

    Florida teacher suspended for making students wear 'cone of shame'

    By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

    A Florida high school teacher was suspended for allegedly making her students wear a wide-brimmed, plastic dog collar as a form of discipline, the Tampa Bay Times reported.


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    In a stern letter sent to Zephyrhills High School science teacher Laurie Bailey-Cutkomp, Superintendent  Heather Fiorentino wrote that she would recommend Bailey-Cutkomp be fired.

    "I am very concerned that you used this collar to punish and embarrass students in front of their peers," Fiorentino wrote.


    Bailey-Cutkomp allegedly gave students the option of wearing the collar or sitting at the tardy table if they arrived late to class. Eight students ended up wearing the collar, the superintendent said.

    Read Superintendent Fiorentino's letter

    Fiorentino described the cone as a “collar used to prevent animals who have had surgery from licking their wounds” and said the collar was inspired by the popular Pixar movie, “Up,” in which a pudgy golden retriever named Dug is forced to wear a “cone of shame.”

    Bailey-Cutkomp had shown the movie to her class on the days before and after spring break, Fiorentino wrote. Bailey-Cutkomp had told administrators she did so because attendance is typically low on those days and she did not want her students to fall behind.

    Dug, a golden retriever mix from the Pixar movie, "Up," was forced by other dogs to wear a dog collar, which he called "the cone of shame."

    When students expressed interest about the cone of shame after seeing the movie, Bailey-Cutkomp, who has a veterinary background, explained that its proper name is an Elizabethan collar. (The name is a nod to Elizabethan times, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, when the monarch and her subjects wore fashionable “ruffs,” or puffy, lacy collars around their necks.)

    Administrators found out about the cone of shame after students posted photos of each other wearing the dog collar to Facebook.

    “When asked how you selected students to wear the collar,” Fiorentino wrote in her letter, “you explained that you initially used it to redirect student behavior.”

    Bailey-Cutkomp did not immediately reply to a message requesting comment sent to her work e-mail.

    Related story: Cops say girl, 12, made to wear diaper in public after 'F'

    Bailey-Cutkomp’s use of the dog cone is a variation of the dunce cap, which was a large piece of paper fashioned into a cone and placed on a child’s head. Children who had greater difficulty learning or paying attention were most often deemed the dunces.

    Typically, the child was then made to stand in the corner of the classroom as a form of humiliation.

    The dunce cap went out of fashion in the 20th century, according to wisegeek.com, and modern educators find there are few, if any, benefits to public humiliation.

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    • Principal: Errors get Nevada high school ranked 13th in US

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    40 comments

    Oh no, god forbid someone gets embarrassed, this teacher must be hitler's equivalent, what an evil person trying to use shame as a form of disciplining when we all know that everyone should be treated like theyre special. What a bunch of wusses we're raising in this country.

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    Explore related topics: education, florida, teaching, discipline
  • 8
    May
    2012
    10:23am, EDT

    Zimmerman's not guilty plea accepted in Martin case arraignment

    ORLANDO SENTINEL / POOL

    George Zimmerman is seen during his bond hearing last month in Sanford, Florida.

    By NBC's Jamie Novogrod and NBCMiami.com's Brian Hamacher

    George Zimmerman’s not-guilty plea on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin was accepted Tuesday afternoon at his Sanford, Fla., court arraignment, which the defendant did not attend.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Judge Kenneth R. Lester set a date for a so-called docket sounding 8:30 a.m., Aug. 8. That’s when a trial date will be set unless Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark  O'Mara, asks for a continuance.

    Also on Tuesday, O'Mara in two filings waived Zimmerman's right to a speedy trial and said he needed more time to prepare his defense for trial. Zimmerman otherwise is guaranteed under Florida law the right to a trial within 175 days of his arrest.


    Zimmerman remains free after posting $150,000 bond.

    O'Mara, who also did not attend Tuesday's arraignment, earlier filed a written plea of not guilty and waived Zimmerman's appearance at the arraignment. Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda also did not appear in court Tuesday.

    Lester addressed Zimmerman's case moments after taking the bench.

    It was the first order of business on a busy day in Lester's court as 170 defendants were answering charges Tuesday afternoon.

    Read the original story at NBCMiami.com

    According to police, Zimmerman, 28, has said he was acting in self-defense in the Feb. 26 shooting of Martin, 17, in a Sanford gated community.

    Authorities didn't charge Zimmerman in the shooting of the Miami Gardens teen for more than six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin's parents and civil rights groups.

    Zimmerman is at an undisclosed location but is being monitored by authorities with a GPS device. He has surrendered his passport and must observe a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew under the terms of his release.

    George Zimmerman's attorney defends move as a counter to fake sites. WESH's Cara Moore reports.

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    947 comments

    I think Mark is wise to keep his client under wraps. Their could be people who have been planning for this aaraignment to try to follow and kill him. Dont forget their have been bounties put on him though the justice dept ignored them. Also, Zimmerman might be a little naive about running his mouth. …

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    Explore related topics: crime, florida, trayvon-martin, george-zimmerman, zimmerman, trayvon
  • 7
    May
    2012
    6:37pm, EDT

    Guess the most porn-crazy city in America (hint: M-I-C, K-E-Y ...)

    WESH-TV

    By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

    When it comes to porn, there's nothing Mickey Mouse about the hometown of Disney World.


    Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.


    In its April edition, Men's Health magazine ranks the nation's 100 "smuttiest" U.S. cities. Not only did Orlando, Fla. — home to Walt Disney World and SeaWorld — finish No. 1, but Florida headed the list of smuttiest states.

    Read the full article at Men's Health

    "It seems that while tourists line up at a kid-friendly fantasy world, the locals prefer one in which Snow White and the dwarfs whistle while they... well, you know," the magazine offered.


    Tampa, Fla. — where the Republican National Convention will take place this summer — came in at No. 8. But Democrats shouldn't make fun. The home of their convention — Charlotte, N.C. — is No. 5.

    Watch US News videos on msnbc.com


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Men's Health said it based its rankings on the number of X-rated DVDs bought, rented or streamed, as compiled by AdultDVDEmpire.com; the number of adult entertainment stores per city, as monitored by StorErotica.net; the rate of porn searches, via Google; and the percentage of households that subscribe to Cinemax, the bluest of the cable movie networks.

    The Top 10:
    1. Orlando, Fla.
    2. Las Vegas
    3. Wilmington, Del.
    4. Raleigh, N.C.
    5. Charlotte, N.C.
    6. Minneapolis
    7. Atlanta
    8. Tampa, Fla.
    9. Anchorage, Alaska
    10. Austin, Texas

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    315 comments

    Austin comes in at number 10, eh? Forbes.com just named us as the fastest-growing city in the country, for the second year in a row, as well. I guess everything is growing in Austin! :-P

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    Explore related topics: mens-health, florida, orlando, pornography
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