The Tallahassee Reports Daily Briefs: Friday, March 29, 2024

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LOCAL NEWS

Almost three months into 2024, the number of crime incidents reported by the Tallahassee Police Department is down when compared to 2023. The daily TPD incident reports indicate that the total number of incidents through March 21 is down 9.3% when compared to the same period in 2023. Tallahassee Reports’ last report indicated the total number of crime incidents was down 9.7% The numbers show that property crime is down 11.3% and violent crime is down 4.6%.

The logjam between the city of Tallahassee and its firefighters may be breaking up. A special magistrate held a mediation on the firefighters’ proposed one-year contract on Wednesday. And on Thursday, a second negotiation took place on a three-year contract that could follow the first.

Former Jefferson County Clerk Kirk Reams filed a motion Tuesday demanding a speedy trial. He faces charges of grand theft over $100,000 and scheme to defraud in excess of $50,000. He is one of three men charged by FDLE after being accused of misusing more than $800,000 in taxpayer funds in September. A hearing is scheduled for Monday to consider Reams’ speedy trial request and to set a trial date.

LOCAL SPORTS NEWS

No. 17 Florida State (21-3, 4-3 ACC) defeated Louisville (16-10, 2-5 ACC) 8-3 Thursday evening at Dick Howser Stadium to take game one of the three-game series. Designated hitter Marco Dinges paced the Seminole offense, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs and five RBI. Game 2 is tonight at 6:00 pm. 

FLORIDA NEWS

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation (HB 621) making it easier for police to remove squatters from a residence. During a bill signing ceremony in Orlando, DeSantis said the bill, which passed through the Legislature unanimously, was needed to crack down on a scourge affecting states led by Democrats, such as New York and California.

A three-judge federal panel Wednesday rejected a constitutional challenge to a congressional redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature in 2022, saying opponents did not prove lawmakers acted with a “racially discriminatory purpose.” The decision was the second time in less than four months that courts have upheld the map in cases focused on the overhaul of a North Florida district that in the past elected a Black Democrat. The state’s 1st District Court of Appeal on Dec. 1 backed the plan — a decision that has been appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation revising the individual size requirements for wine containers on Thursday. The bill, HB 583, sponsored by Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, allows exceptions for the sale of wine in a glass container holding 4.5 liters, six liters, nine liters, 12 liters or 15 liters. Currently, the sale of individual wine containers holding over one gallon of wine is prohibited in the state.

NATIONAL NEWS

Rebuilding Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge could take anywhere from 18 months to several years, experts say, while the cost could be at least $400 million — or more than twice that.

Former cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for crimes connected to the collapse of the now-defunct trading platform FTX. The 32-year-old MIT graduate was found guilty in November on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering; he had faced a maximum sentence of 110 years.

Dengue cases in the Americas were up three times higher in January through March compared to the same period last year. The news comes as Puerto Rico issued a public health emergency this week over the mosquito-borne illness, infecting 100 million to 400 million people annually.

US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.1%); S&P 500 up 10.2% over the first quarter of 2024, marking best first quarter since 2019 (More). 

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