Rick Scott suspended Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant following his indictment on voter-fraud charges earlier in the week. Grant, and two others are accused of intimidating and bribing voters in the 2015 election that led to Grant's victory. In six cases examined, a grand jury found that Grant, Mia Antionette Nowells and James Randolph unlawfully marked absentee ballots or forced people to vote for them, according to the 25-count indictment released Monday.here
An activist group is running a radio ad in the Tampa Bay area against St. Petersburg-based state Senator Jeff Brandes that questions his ethics. The ad from Florida Strong is called “Let’s Make a (corrupt) Deal.” It attacks the Pinellas Republican for receiving campaign contributions from companies like Duke Energy and insurance lobbyists, and then claims that he voted on issues on behalf of those companies at taxpayers expense.here
Scott signed measure HB 4009 that deletes part of state law which has prohibited the manufacturing or sale of a maritime tool known as a slungshot. The slungshot consists of a weight affixed to the end of a long cord of being wound into the center of a knot called a monkey’s fist. Although the slungshot is a maritime tool, it became an improvised and very effective weapon, widely used by street gangs in the 19th Century.
The bill removed slungshot from the definition of a concealed weapon and also lifts a prohibition of the sale or transfer of a slungshot to a minor.here
Feds target Miami-Dade city in major corruption investigation
"Dante (Starks) is the unofficial mayor of Opa-locka,” former Vice Mayor Steven Barrettsaid. “He has more power than [Mayor]Myra Taylor. He controls every department.” Now, Starks is at the center of a federal investigation that threatens to topple him and a cadre of elected leaders in the most comprehensive corruption probe in Miami-Dade in decades.rhere