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News: Local and state briefs
Wife of Orlando’s Pulse shooter gives interview for the first time in years
The wife of the Pulse shooter is speaking out for the first time in years, giving a greater accounting of her side of the story than she ever has publicly.
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In a new interview with Vice, Noor Salman painted a picture of a deeply abusive marriage that still offered no indication of what nightclub shooter Omar Mateen was planning. Salman enlisted family members to help get his abuses in line, which included carving up his son’s toys with a knife in a fit of rage, to no avail.
Salman has left Orlando for California, changed her name and instructed her son to tell people he never knew his father. She says she frequently goes out in a kind of disguise, attempting to look as different as possible from the photos of her that were shared on the news.
Salman was tried and acquitted on allegations of aiding Mateen’s attack, at the time the deadliest mass shooting in American history. On the day after the shooting, investigators seemingly coerced a confession out of her during an 11-hour investigation. Though she told police that she wished she could go back in time and tell people what Mateen planned to do, further investigation found that Salman would have had no way of knowing what the shooter was planning.
In her talks with Vice, she admitted she went along with the “confession” because she wanted to get out of the room. Now, she’s trying to raise her young son, who is fully aware of what his father did, and avoid being recognized.
The interview with Salman reveals a rather lonely existence, isolated from people who still refuse to be around her even after a jury cleared her name.
“I still have people that won’t associate with me even after my acquittal,” Salman said.
School board member details threats made against her for supporting mask mandate
Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins is one of several school board members across Florida who have been threatened or otherwise harassed for their support of school mask mandates. Jenkins went viral this week for explaining the threats of violence she’s received during a recent school board meeting.
In an address to the audience, she countered the line from Tallahassee that investigations into harassment are quashing the free speech rights of citizens.
Jenkins said protesters came to her home brandishing weapons, and noted that one woman coughed in her face intentionally when she confronted them. That story is backed up by a police report from local authorities. She also says one of her trees was chopped down and the letters “F U” burned into her lawn with grass killer.
“I reject that when they are using their First Amendment rights on public property, they’re also going behind my home and brandishing their weapons to my neighbors,” she said at the meeting.
An NBC News report reveals that a false report of abuse was filed against Jenkins with the Department of Children and Families, alleging she beat and burned her 5-year-old daughter. An examination found no signs of abuse and concluded that the report was further harassment.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly pushed back on federal investigations into the threats being made against school board members, and continues to fight to keep his executive order barring mask mandates in place. The Florida School Boards Association broke from the national organization to side with DeSantis.
Vermont family alleges toddler was sexually assaulted on Disney Cruise Line ship
A Vermont family is suing Disney for $20 million, saying their child was sexually assaulted while in the care of a Disney Cruise Line day care facility.
The anonymous couple claim that their toddler was assaulted aboard the Disney Fantasy during a January 2020 cruise in a lawsuit filed Sept. 22.
They say that their child, identified as R.V., was “physically restrained and sexually assaulted by a significantly older child.” They claim that Disney is at fault for understaffing their Oceaneer Club daycare, allowing the alleged assault to happen outside of supervision
The lawsuit also claims that Disney should have separated children by age group to avoid the situation they describe.
Representatives for Disney called the case baseless and said that the matter had already been investigated by local authorities.
“The plaintiffs’ first allegations were reported to the FBI, and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office investigated them and determined them to be unfounded,” said Disney Cruise Line spokesperson Cynthia Martinez in a statement. “The plaintiffs have now come back with a different story, which is equally unfounded, that another young female child acted inappropriately with their child. We will vigorously defend this case in court.”
Orlando Fringe to head back downtown for Winter Mini-Fest in January
It’s been quite a while since Orlando Fringe, the spring bacchanal of experimental theater, has called downtown Orlando home. In 2003, the long-running fest made the decision to move to Loch Haven Park. But an offshoot of the big bash is putting out-there performances back where they began. This year’s Fringe Winter Mini-Fest will bring the organization back into downtown.
The next Winter Mini-Fest will take over Haos on Church and the Floridabilt for their January event. Unlike the main Fringe, the mini-fest is much more intentional in the way it goes about putting on shows. Rather than opening up a firehose of outsider energy, Winter Mini-Fest is curated by the organizers, who invite performers they love to show off their work.
Winter Mini-Fest shows will run from Jan. 13-16, 2022. A follow-up online mini-fest will run from Jan. 19-23. Tickets to the in-person shows go on sale Nov. 19 at orlandofringe.org.
Brevard Public Schools remove graphic novel about being genderqueer
Brevard Public Schools has pulled from its libraries an illustrated graphic novel that depicts the experience of learning to exist outside the gender binary, calling it “inappropriate.” Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir was pulled from school shelves by BPS leaders and flagged so that more copies would not be purchased.
“BPS staff immediately agreed that this book violates our guidelines and that it has no place in our school district. I have directed staff to ensure there are no other similar books in our libraries,” BPS Superintendent Dr. Mark Mullins said.
The announcement of the removal of a book about coming to terms with identity and sharing with friends and family came shortly after National Coming Out Day. — Alex Galbraith
New election law brings increased costs, reduced service
Election supervisors in some Florida counties say they will need thousands of dollars in additional funding to meet requirements of a new election law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
To cover the additional costs, at least one county is reducing the number of ballot drop-off boxes, making voting less convenient.
Despite conducting a seemingly flawless presidential election last year, the law known as Senate Bill 90 changes how elections in Florida will be handled, including controversial changes involving ballot drop-off boxes and vote-by-mail ballots.
In a survey of supervisors of elections offices across Florida, a dozen respondents confirmed they expected to spend a combined total of $164,390 more next year to meet the new law’s requirements. More than half of Florida’s 67 elections offices either didn’t respond to questions about the new costs they might face under the law, declined to answer questions or weren’t sure about any impact on their budgets.
Under the new law, ballot drop-off boxes can only be utilized during early-voting hours. Boxes must be located at either a county’s elections office or early-voting sites. The law further mandates that ballot drop-off boxes be guarded by an employee of the elections office when in use. — Natalia Galicza, Fresh Take Florida
A Senate Republican filed an elections bill Monday that would prevent ranked choice voting in Florida.
Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, filed the measure (SB 524) for consideration during the 2022 legislative session, which starts in January.
In part, it would prevent the state and local governments from using ranked choice voting, which involves voters ranking all of the candidates when casting ballots. If no candidate receives a majority in the initial tally, the candidate with the fewest votes drops off. Votes for that candidate then shift to other candidates. The process continues until a candidate has a majority.
The issue has arisen in places such as Sarasota, where voters in 2007 approved moving to ranked choice voting. But the city has not started using it, and Secretary of State Laurel Lee has said it is not allowed under Florida law, according to local media reports.
A political committee known as Floridians for Free and Fair Elections has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow ranked choice voting in the state. But as of Monday, the state had received only 16 valid petition signatures for the initiative, according to the Florida Division of Elections website.
Vacation rental issue re-emerges in Legislature
Florida lawmakers appear poised to again debate the regulation of the vacation-rental industry.
Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville, last Monday filed a bill (HB 325) that is the latest version in a long-running battle about issues such as how much authority cities and counties should have to regulate vacation rentals. Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, filed an identical bill (SB 512) last Friday. Lawmakers will consider the measures during the 2022 legislative session, which starts in January.
The bills say, in part, that the regulation of online vacation-rental platforms “is pre-empted to the state,” which would take away local authority to regulate platforms such as Airbnb. It would allow local governments to require the registration of vacation rental properties. Cities and counties have fought past vacation-rental bills, arguing that they should have regulatory authority.
Motorists could face higher gas prices
Though gasoline prices remained relatively steady last week, the AAA auto club said Monday that Florida motorists could again see rising costs when they fill up their tanks.
AAA said crude-oil and gasoline futures prices increased last week and that wholesale gas prices reached a level that could lead to motorists paying an average of more than $3.20 a gallon.
“It appears the pain at the pump is going to get worse before it gets better,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a prepared statement. “Florida drivers are likely to face another round of rising prices, as global supply concerns keep upward pressure on the price of crude. It’s unclear when the relief at the pump will come, but these elevated prices at the pump are likely to linger through the winter months.”
AAA said Monday the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Florida was $3.18, up a half-cent from a week earlier. The average price was $3.10 a month ago.
State heads off debt collectors on ‘overpayments’
Gov. Ron DeSantis called last week for indefinitely keeping debt collectors away from Floridians facing “overpayment” notices on unemployment aid received during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis directed Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle to ask state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to defer referrals to collection agencies of all non-fraudulent debts owed on unemployment benefits from March 1, 2020, to Sept. 4, 2021.
“To be clear, this request must not apply to overpayments related to fraud, and DEO (the Department of Economic Opportunity) must continue to vigorously investigate fraudulent overpayments and ensure individuals be held accountable for their fraudulent actions,” DeSantis wrote to Eagle.
Since March 15, 2020, the state has distributed nearly $31.77 billion to more than 2.4 million claimants. While most of the money came from the federal government, more than $7.3 billion was state money.
The state hasn’t put an overall total on the overpayments issued.
Lawmakers to again weigh college president search exemption
After the idea was narrowly defeated in April, a Senate Republican last week filed a bill that would provide a public-records exemption for information about applicants to become presidents of state universities and colleges.
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed the proposal (SB 520) for consideration during the 2022 legislative session, which starts in January. A version of the bill passed the House in April but fell one vote short of passing in the Senate. Public-records exemptions need the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate, and the measure died in the Senate on a 25-14 vote.
Supporters of such an exemption have long argued that the requirement to disclose “personal identifying information” about applicants to become university and college presidents could drive away good candidates.
Opponents have argued that the proposal would conflict with the state’s longstanding open-government laws and would prevent the release of potentially important information about qualified candidates who applied for positions but were not chosen.
Under Brandes’ bill, identifying information about finalists would be disclosed. — News Service of Florida
