The Tallahassee Reports Daily Briefs: Wednesday, March 13, 2024

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LOCAL NEWS

At the March 19th Leon County Commission, elected officials will receive a a status update on the Amazon Fulfillment Center following its initial six months of operation. Get the details.

Tallahassee is the poster child for a bill limiting the ability of civilians to oversee police misconduct cases locally. The measure is on its way to Gov. Ron DeSantis, and opinion in Tallahassee is split on it.

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.”

In a recent standoff in southeast Tallahassee, new court records show that the man who was arrested allegedly yelled “shoot me” toward the law enforcement officers on the scene. Law enforcement was originally dispatched to the home as a result of a call seeing a man with a machete. The man who called the police lived at the same residence with the suspect. The man was able to show an officer text messages that the suspect sent him saying “I fooled TPD” and “Now the show is about to begin,” all according to court records. 

LOCAL SPORTS NEWS

FSU baseball beat No. 8 Florida, 12-8, Tuesday night in Gainesville, improving to 15-0 and matching the third-best winning streak to begin a season in school history. FSU’s 12 runs were the Seminoles’ most in Gainesville since a 14-6 win in 2007

FLORIDA NEWS

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody warned spring breakers Tuesday about the dangers of using illicit drugs, specifically laced with fentanyl, after a glaring Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, report showed seven out of 10 fake pills found with fentanyl contain a potential lethal dose. According to the DEA, fake pills containing fentanyl have spiked 75% in two years. The department also reportedly seized 41 million lethal doses of fentanyl in 2024.

Florida’s unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent in January, unchanged from a revised December rate, as the workforce continues to steadily grow. The Florida Department of Commerce on Monday estimated 340,000 Floridians were out of work in January, 1,000 more than in December and an increase of 37,000 from a year earlier.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said his office has engaged in a successful sex crime investigation operation, resulting in the arrest of eight suspects for online sex crimes against children. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office conducted “Operation Child Predator V” from Feb. 22-29. Of the suspects, five allegedly communicated with and solicited people they thought were children, or were adults but had access to children, online.

NATIONAL NEWS

House Judiciary Committee members yesterday interrogated Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated President Joe Biden’s handling of classified materials found in Biden’s home and office from his time as vice president.

A bill that could lead to a ban of the popular video app TikTok in the United States is expected to pass the House on Wednesday as lawmakers act on concerns that the company’s ownership structure is a threat to national security. The bill would require the Chinese firm ByteDance to divest from TikTok and other applications it owns within six months of the bill’s enactment or those apps would be prohibited. 

US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.1%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq +1.5%); S&P 500 notches record close (More). 

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