Articles written by terry spencer
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 67
Sheriff: Florida supermarket shooter made Facebook threats
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The gunman who stalked and then fatally shot a grandmother and her 1-year-old grandson inside a Florida supermarket had been threatening to kill people, including children, on his Facebook page but no one reported him, a...
Vaccinations reach nursing homes as California faces crisis
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus has killed more than 110,000 people, even as the nation struggles to contain a surge so alarming it has spurred California to dispense t...
Loss of 'snowbirds' amid pandemic another hit to US tourism
PHOENIX (AP) — This is the first winter in five years that Steve Monk and his wife, Linda, haven't driven to Arizona from their home in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. They typically leave Canada to hunker down in warmer climates for six months. They c...
Trump ex-campaign boss hospitalized amid threat to harm self
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale has been hospitalized after he threatened to harm himself, according to Florida police and campaign officials. Police officers talked Parscale out of his F...
Schools mull outdoor classes amid virus, ventilation worries
It has been seven years since the central air conditioning system worked at the New York City middle school where Lisa Fitzgerald O'Connor teaches. As a new school year approaches amid the coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues are threatening...
Florida governor takes first 'baby step' to reopening state
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's restaurants and retail stores will be allowed to reopen Monday at 25% capacity, if the local government allows it, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday, as the state begins the slow climb from the economic abyss ca...
Presidential primaries in 4 states will go on as planned
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The four presidential primaries scheduled for Tuesday will go on as scheduled, after a judge in Ohio turned down a request to delay that state's election over concerns of widespread disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak....
Pence says states will receive help if coronavirus spreads
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that the federal government is prepared to assist the states if the coronavirus spreads significantly across the country — an eventuality he called unlikely. Pence told a brief pre...
Police open fire at 'impaired' driver in Mar-a-Lago breach
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Law enforcement agents opened fire on an SUV driver who smashed through two security checkpoints at Mar-a-Lago on Friday in what authorities described as the actions of "an obviously impaired" driver but not an intentional a...
'Like the world was ending': Shopping plaza blast injures 21
PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy r...
Florida deputy charged for inaction during Parkland shooting
MIAMI (AP) — The Florida deputy who knew a gunman was loose at the Parkland high school but refused to go inside to confront the assailant was arrested Tuesday on 11 criminal charges related to his inaction during the massacre that killed 17 people....
New Florida governor suspends sheriff over school massacre
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — New Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday over his handling of February's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, saying he "repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a...
5 children heading to Disney killed in fiery Florida crash
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A church van packed with children was headed to Walt Disney World when it got caught in a fiery pileup involving two 18-wheelers. Seven people, including five of the youngsters, died in the crash. On Friday, i...
Florida school massacre panel recommends arming teachers
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The panel investigating the Florida high school massacre recommended Wednesday that teachers who volunteer and undergo extensive background checks and training be allowed to carry concealed guns on campus to stop future s...
Captain retires, sergeant suspended over Parkland massacre
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida sheriff's captain who oversaw the initial response to February's Parkland high school massacre resigned Tuesday and the first sergeant to arrive at the scene has been suspended over what other law e...
Criticized deputy refuses to testify about school massacre
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — For months, members of the panel investigating Florida's high school massacre have called the sheriff's deputy assigned to guard the campus "a coward" for hiding and not rushing inside in an attempt to stop the shooter. Given a...
AP Explains: Florida's difficult, high-profile recounts
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's election started badly when Hurricane Michael disrupted early voting in some Panhandle counties. Long lines, ballot shortages and other problems followed statewide, both during early voting and on Election D...
Students say they reported threats before school massacre
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Two students told investigators they reported the Florida high school shooting suspect to an administrator for making threats but felt they were not taken seriously, a commission investigating the massacre was told T...
Florida is again at the center of an election controversy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is once again at the center of election controversy, but this year there are no hanging chads or butterfly ballots like in 2000. And no angry mobs in suits — at least not yet. The deeply purple state will learn Sa...
Florida finds itself again at center of election controversy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is once again at the center of election controversy, but this year there are no hanging chads or butterfly ballots, like in 2000. And no angry mobs in suits — at least not yet. The deeply purple state will learn S...
Parkland suspect: Voice told me to burn, kill, destroy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz told a detective that a demon in his head — "the evil side" — told him to burn, kill and destroy, and that he thought about going to a park to kill people about a week befor...
Parkland suspect: Voice told him to burn, kill, destroy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz told a detective that a demon in his head — "the evil side" — told him to burn, kill and destroy, and that he thought about going to a park to kill people about a week before 1...
Florida officials told student diversion programs often work
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The school district where the Florida high school massacre happened defended its controversial student diversion program Thursday, telling a commission investigating the shooting that the program has reduced on-campus crime a...
Union votes no-confidence in sheriff after school massacre
PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — The sheriff whose deputies responded to the Florida high school massacre received an overwhelming vote of no-confidence Thursday from the union that represents about half his sworn personnel, with the union's president calling...
Reports: Police moved past deputies to enter Florida school
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — When Coral Springs police officer Gil Monzon arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School minutes after a gunman unleashed a massacre that killed 17, he says he found two Broward County sheriff's deputies in the p...