The Tallahassee Reports Daily Briefs: Tuesday, March 12, 2024

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LOCAL NEWS

Ben Wilcox, the research director for Integrity Florida, told Tallahassee Reports that questions raised by a story about City Commissioner Jack Porter’s travel expenses were “legitimate” and “deserve answers one way or another.”

The Tallahassee Police Department daily crime incident reports indicate there were 13 auto burglary incidents on March 10 & 11. Get the details.

Review the news briefs from the final Tallahassee Charter Review Committee meetings addressing commissioner pay, city districts and ethics board authority.

An “all clear” was given at James A. Shanks Monday in Gadsden County afternoon after a bomb threat was reported at the school, according to the Gadsden County School District.. A spokesman for the school said after school activities were canceled and there’s an ongoing investigation into the threat. In a social media post, the district said emergency personnel were on scene and followed law enforcement protocol.

Recent court documents revealed new details regarding an incident that occurred Friday, leaving a Tallahassee Police officer injured. The officer was making an arrest for trespassing at a local hotel when a brawl between the officer and the suspect broke out. It led the offcier to sustain a gunshot wound to the hand by his own gun. Once the suspect was taken into custody, court records indicated he made several comments, stating “the officer shot him with a taser, he took the officer’s handgun and then threw it in the ditch.” As a result of the incident, the suspect faces a felony attempted murder charge and has no bond.

FLORIDA NEWS

Florida received another strong economic report for January 2024, doubling the national private sector growth rate and remaining below the national unemployment rate for the 39th straight month. Florida’s private sector added 37,900 jobs in January, a rate of 0.4%, twice the national rate. The office of the Governor noted that Florida’s hospitality industry continued to grow even with Florida’s E-Verify law in place. 

The NAACP Leader Derrick Johnson is calling on black college athletes to reconsider attending predominantly white colleges in Florida as a result of the University of Florida nixing their DEI office. In his letter to current and future student athletes of the NCAA, Johnson said Gov. Ron DeSantis has made “no effort to conceal his administration’s devaluation of Black America.”

NATIONAL NEWS

A coalition of progressive groups is asking U.S. President Joe Biden and other Democratic Party officials to not accept endorsements or contributions from a pro-Israel group and its affiliated super PACs.The “Reject AIPAC” coalition, which includes congressional group Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America group, is directed at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and affiliated groups. AIPAC, a political action committee, and the groups have already spent millions of dollars in the 2024 U.S. elections cycle.

When the U.S. Postal Service launched Project Safe Delivery last year, officials pledged they would be “doubling down” on their efforts to combat growing rates of letter carrier robberies. The crackdown has led to hundreds of arrests, and robberies slowed toward the end of the year. But, overall, the number of postal carriers who were robbed in 2023 rose again.

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