The death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin inspired national sympathies and vigils. The impunity of his killer, George Zimmerman, however, ignited anger and concern. At the heart of the matter is this simple question: were George Zimmerman’s actions that night legally excusable, and does Zimmerman have protection under the law for shooting Trayvon Martin?
Martin’s death occurred in Florida, which has a controversial “Stand Your Ground” provision in its self-defense laws. This provision allows citizens to use deadly force when they “reasonably believe” they are in imminent danger. Zimmerman told police in Sanford, Florida that he was acting in self-defense when he confronted and shot Martin. Currently, Zimmerman still has not been arrested.
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In a last-ditch effort, the Florida Legislature gave Gov. Rick Scott one of his top priorities of the 2012 legislative session Friday night and changed the state’s no-fault auto insurance law.
The House was the first to take up the compromise bill on personal injury protection, which drivers are required to buy in Florida, and passed it on a party-line 80-34 vote.
Then the Senate started debating about 8 p.m. and at 9:25 p.m. voted 22-17 to pass the deal hammered out Thursday and Friday by lawmakers and industry lobbyists.
As insurance lobbyists watched from the Senate’s public gallery, Sen. Dennis Jones, a chiropractor, immediately tore into it, saying he was the only senator who has treated PIP patients.
“This is a very, very punitive bill,” Jones, R-Seminole, said of the compromise, which caps PIP payments for chiropractic treatment at $2,500. “You might have lower premiums because no treatment, no payment.”
But Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Chairman Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said, “We’ve got runaway attorney’s fees. We’ve got staged accidents…We have to eliminate fraud. We cannot be light on this,” he said.” This bill, this bill is the best effort that I’ve seen since this debate began.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Board of Governors can continue its investigation of how Florida A&M administrators handled concerns about hazing at the school.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Friday asked the board to suspend any investigation into hazing while it and other law enforcement agencies investigate the death of Robert Champion, a drum major in the university’s Marching 100 band.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it has agreed to consider Florida’s challenge to the Obama administration’s landmark health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The decision sets the stage for a ruling that could be as controversial and history-changing as the 2000 halt to Florida vote recounts, a decision that put then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush into the White House.
Because the Supreme Court’s hearing is likely to be held in March, a decision could be issued in June, before the court’s summer recess. And so at the height of the presidential campaign season, just before both parties’ conventions, Florida seems destined to again lead the nation into controversy.
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A federal judge has temporarily blocked a controversial Florida law requiring all welfare applicants to be drug-tested.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Scriven issued a temporary injunction Monday evening against enforcement of the law’s “suspicionless drug testing” of adults seeking federal welfare.
