Florida’s “stand your ground” law, could soon provide even more protection to people who invoke it. Senate Bill 128 protects the right of self-defense for all Floridians by correcting a misinterpretation of the “Stand Your Ground” law in the 2015 Bretherick vs. State Florida Supreme Court decision.
Florida has been a leader in giving citizens immunity in cases of self-defense. While at least 22 states have similar laws that say, people can use force — even deadly force — to defend themselves from threats, Florida could soon be alone shifting the burden of proof to prosecutors.
This bill is not a novel concept. We have a tradition in our criminal justice system that the burden of proof is with the government from the beginning of the case to the end. Continue reading
BRADENTON, Fla. — Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida businesses created 53,800 private-sector jobs in the first two months of 2017, bringing the total number of new jobs added since December 2010 to 1,346,200. Governor Scott made the announcement at Bealls, Inc. in Bradenton. The retailer, which is headquartered in Florida, has created more than 300 jobs across the state over the past two years and employs more than 8,500 Floridians.
Governor Rick Scott said, “I am proud to announce that Florida’s private-sector businesses have created nearly 54,000 new jobs in 2017. Over the past six years, we have been relentless in our efforts to make Florida the most business-friendly state in the nation because a job is the most important thing to a family. It is incredibly disheartening that politicians in the Florida House have voted to jeopardize programs that create opportunities for our families, visitors, military members and job creators. However, we will continue to fight for important economic development tools like Enterprise Florida and VISIT FLORIDA and the critical impact they have on supporting our growing economy.” Continue reading
Here’s a few (mis)quotes on ‘HYPOCRISY’
-“There are three types of people who deserve no mercy, hypocrites, fraudsters, and tyrants.(Williams)
“A hypocrite is a politician who cuts down a tree, and then make a speech for conservation from the tree stump”.(Lincoln)
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar who’s also a hypocrite!”
-Regardless of your politics, Democrat, Republican or ‘other’, when it comes to Health Care Insurance, our elected leaders and their minions, without exception, are ‘all of the above’ – Liars, fraudsters and hypocrites.
You don’t have to be that smart to figure out that, for insurance, ‘more-is-better’. Continue reading
This month I would like to again discuss a very important community/law enforcement partnership, CRIMELINE. CRIMELINE is a non-profit organization led by citizens against crime that offers cash rewards of up to $1000 to persons providing anonymous information that leads to the felony arrest of criminals and fugitives. Anonymous CRIMELINE tips are received through a secure tips line or through a secure web connection manned by a professional program coordinator. Each caller is assigned a code number for the purpose of ensuring anonymity. CRIMELINE is based on the principal that someone other than the criminal has information that can solve a crime and was created to combat the three major problems faced by law enforcement in generating that information:
- Fear of REPRISAL
- An attitude of APATHY
- Reluctance to get INVOLVED
OCALA, Fla. (March 24, 2017) – Consistent with employment trends going back at least five years, the February jobless rate dropped over the month in Citrus, Levy and Marion counties.
According to today’s employment summary by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), the unemployment rate for the CareerSource CLM region was 5.9 percent, down 0.7 percentage point since January and the same rate as one year ago.
Out of an expanded labor force of 200,814, there were 11,802 unemployed residents in the region, a drop of 1,396 over the month. While that’s 247 more than in February 2016, there were 189,012 people with jobs throughout the three counties, an increase of 2,676 since January and 6,045 more than a year ago.
Additionally, the DEO reports that the Ocala metropolitan statistical area (MSA) continued to hold the fastest annual job growth rate compared to all metros in Florida in professional and business services, at 11.1 percent. The Ocala MSA had the second fastest job growth rate in trade, transportation and utilities at 5.8 percent. Continue reading
Marion County, Florida (March 24, 2017) – On Thursday, March 23, 2017, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputy at Forest High School was made aware of several individuals that had entered the campus without signing in. Kasey Kohlmaier (DOB: 06/17/1997), Thomas Arthur Smith (DOB: 01/7/1998) and a 14-year old juvenile are not students at Forest High School and they were confronted by school administrators when they were seen in the school courtyard. The three subjects then fled to their car that was parked in the student parking lot. School Resource Deputy James Long pulled his agency assigned vehicle in front of the suspects’ vehicle to prevent them from leaving the campus. Kohlmaier, a passenger of the vehicle, then fled on foot but was quickly apprehended by Deputy Long and two school administrators. During the apprehension, Kohlmaier punched Deputy Long in the face, causing his nose to bleed. Deputy Long eventually was able to secure Kohlmaier in handcuffs and detain him for responding deputies who were enroute to assist. Kohlmaier and Smith are on felony probation for six counts of burglary and are not supposed to have contact with one another as a condition of their probation. The juvenile was arrested on two misdemeanor counts.
The Marion County School Board and Marion County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind our citizens that it is not only Marion County School District Policy, but it is state law that you must sign in with school administrators before you enter a school campus. Any trespassers will be apprehended and arrested. We will continue to strictly enforce this statute in order to keep our students safe.
I have been saying for a very long time Washington has some corruption but never did I think that it was this bad. The previous administration was totally out of control. The Democratic Party is burying itself. The Republican Party is fractured into a number of power brokers, kind of like Humpty Dumpty. We are in the process right now trying to put the party back together again. People like Ron Paul are having fun making the party struggle to pass bills and move forward.
I keep hearing Trump said this and that. Everything I have heard from him has turned out to be true. Let’s just look at a few things.
Trump did not Say: You can’t have an abortion. He said you will have to pay for it yourself.
Trump did not say: Refugees are bad. He said we need to first make sure that they are not coming here to harm us.
Trump did not say: Mexican are not welcome. He said they can apply and come in the proper way.
Trump did not say: He was not taking away anyone’s freedom but he is cutting the funding on things that never should have been funded in the first place. Continue reading
Last month, I outlined the successes of the CEP’s inaugural five-year plan, Moving Forward. In fact, this plan was reached a full year early. This month’s column will be focused on outlining the recently adopted Moving Forward-Phase II plan which seeks to continue to grow and diversify the local economy.
Moving Forward – Phase II
Just like its predecessor, this plan did not just happen. It is the result of months of discussion and research by the CEP staff and Board of Directors. Once again, the Board asked economist Dr. Sharon Younger to assist them in the creation of this plan. She provided an incredible layer of analysis and detail to assist the Board including a significant amount of data on how the Ocala MSA and the CEP compare to our ten benchmark communities. Continue reading
112.8 million tourists visited Florida in 2016
FLORIDA– Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors in the state’s history with 112.8 million visitors in 2016. This is the sixth consecutive record year for visitation to Florida, exceeding the previous high of 106.6 million in 2015 by 5.9 percent. Tourism jobs also hit a record high in 2016 of 1.4 million jobs, exceeding the previous record in 2015.
Governor Scott said, “Today, I am proud to announce that Florida has once again welcomed a record number of tourists with 112.8 million visitors to the state in 2016. Visitors spent $109 billion and supported a record 1.4 million Florida jobs in 2016 – a testament to the vital importance of tourism to our growing economy. Continue reading
By A.J.(Tony) Powell
What is the answer to this question? “Who has the “right-to-exist”?
History shows that creating a “Country” is a murderous, violent, ruthless process.
It’s easy to overlook the fact that many countries in the so-called ‘Old World/Europe’ are a lot younger than the ‘good-old-USA’ in 1776.
For example-Austria in 1804; Romania in 1887; Italy in 1861; Greece in 1830; Finland in 1917 and many other across the world because, “we killed them – before they killed us!”
Usually, a new country is dominated by an ethnic, political or racial majority. But sometimes, as with Australia, New Zealand and most of the ‘new-world’ a powerful minority, invades, overpowers and exterminates the native majority.
As happened in the Americas where the local population was decimated to the extent that they were no longer ‘relevant’ to the lives or prosperity of the ‘dominators’. Continue reading
