Latest news with #MitchPerry
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Old National Bank shooting case allowed to move forward
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)- A Kentucky judge allows a lawsuit to go forward, which would hold several gun businesses responsible for the 2023 Old National Bank mass shooting that occurred in Louisville. Morganfield Job Corps Center confirmed to close June 30 Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry recently ruled that the case could continue, despite a federal law that gives gun manufacturers and dealers immunity from crimes committed with their products. The families of several shooting victims are suing a gun seller, distributor, and firearm accessories manufacturer in connection to the shooting in downtown Louisville. The lawsuit alleges that the gun dealer, River City Firearms, was negligent and failed to catch warning signs given by the shooter, Connor Sturgeon, before selling him an AR-15, which he would later use to kill five people at the branch. Distributor RSR Group and firearm accessory company Magpul are also part of the lawsuit. River City Firearms filed to have the case dismissed, saying the sales were lawful and done by the book. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Florida law enforcement officials express concern about scams on seniors, but offer few details
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister in Tampa on June 2, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/ Florida Phoenix) A host of top law enforcement officers briefed reporters in Tampa on Monday about their concerns about senior citizens in Florida being scammed by prisoners — alhough they offered few details. They did say that the culprits exploiting older Florida residents are state prisoners whose weapons in these cases are contraband phones, cryptocurrency, and drone devices. According to Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, a 92-year-old man has been robbed of more $800,000 over a two-year period and one of the perpetrators is an incarcerated individual. He added that more information would come later. 'We will have formal charges, but it got to the point where we started connecting the dots and realized we need to put the public on notice that a lot of these calls and outreach to seniors, it could very much be a scam,' said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon announced that in conjunction with the attorney general's office and other agencies, 'Operation Triple Threat' took place last week in three correction facilities containing approximately 3,000 inmates to search for illegal cellphones. All told, he said, officers captured 400 phones. He did not name the prisons. Nor did the Department of Corrections respond immediately to an inquiry. When asked asked how many cases involve prison inmates taking financial advantage of seniors, Uthmeier said 'at least three known cases,' although he added that no formal charges have been brought to date. 'We're still expanding to see how far it goes, but at least a few different perpetrators and likely several more than that as far as victims,' he said. Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass also appeared at the media availability. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DeSantis signs bill to allow the formerly incarcerated to obtain credits for vocational licenses
4th Street Barber in St. Petersburg. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a measure (SB 472) that ensures that credits earned from prison-based classes count toward professional licensing, providing more opportunities for the formerly incarcerated to become self-sufficient. The Correctional Education Program (CEP) within the Department of Corrections provides educational programming to inmates. The CEP provides 92 career and technical education courses in 37 vocational trades that are aligned to Florida's in-demand occupations, including barbering, cosmetology, electrical contracting, landscaping, plumbing, and HVAC contracting, according to a bill analysis. The CEP has awarded 36,689 certificates and industry-recognized credentials over the last four years. However, these certificates were largely only valid while the people receiving them were incarcerated, and they are not recognized outside of prison, according to the Florida Policy Institute. 'The measure signed [Thursday] will help remedy that by ensuring that credits earned from prison-based classes are recognized and counted toward professional licensing requirements,' said institute CEO Sadaf Knight in a statement. 'Additionally, common-sense reforms like this one that bolster workforce opportunities for returning citizens can save taxpayer dollars spent on incarceration costs by reducing the rate of recidivism.' The measure requires the Department of Corrections, in coordination with applicable licensing boards within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), or DBPR when there isn't a board, to design a program that ensures credits earned from prison classes are recognized and counted toward professional licensing requirements. The measure was sponsored in the Senate by Central Florida Republican Keith Truenow and in the House by Miami-Dade Democrat Kevin Chambliss and Seminole County Republican Rachel Plakon. 'The most important factor for reformed individuals in preventing recidivism is employment upon one's release from prison,' said Chambliss in a statement. 'For inmates that have shown that they wish to be productive members of society upon the completion of their sentence, the state has a responsibility to make their transition as smooth as possible.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Survey shows more Floridians support a property tax cut vs. sales tax
Front of the Florida Capitol Building, taken on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continued his full-fledged campaign on Friday to get the Florida Legislature to back his idea of providing immediate targeted property tax relief this year to Floridians, and for lawmakers to jettison their proposed sales tax cut. Speaking in Tampa earlier this week, the governor declared that any tax package sent to his desk that features a sales tax component would be 'dead on arrival.' That comment has now led to an apparent breakdown between legislative leaders in trying to come together on the state budget, which forced them late last week to extend the legislative session into June. DeSantis and Hernando County Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia said in Tampa this week that they have encountered very few members of the public who say they'd rather have a cut in the sales tax vs. property taxes, and a public opinion survey of Floridians released on Friday seems to back up the anecdotal evidence. In the survey of 1,200 Floridians taken in April for the James Madison Institute, 46% said they support eliminating property taxes while 32% supported reducing sales taxes. Another 12% said they preferred keeping things status quo. When asked whether they support eliminating property taxes by expanding the homestead exemption for primary residents, 65% said yes while just 24% opposed that proposal. Another 11% were unsure. However, following that question up, 60% said that they were concerned about how elimination of property taxes would affect potential cuts to local services, such as law enforcement and public schools. Only 33% of voters said that they were not concerned about that outcome. If policymakers want to eliminate property taxes, they would need to raise $43 billion (or $2,015 per Floridian) to maintain public services now funded with property tax revenue, the Florida Policy Institute recently wrote in a report titled, 'A Risky Proposition.' House Speaker Daniel Perez said last week that because the Florida Constitution prohibits the Legislature from exercising direct control over property taxes, any such reform would need to go before the voters on the November 2026 ballot. That's why, he said, there is a need for his Select Committee on Property Taxes to study the issue. The 37 lawmakers on the committee will prepare a Joint Resolution by this fall to allow lawmakers to put the question on the ballot next year. It would require 60% support to pass. DeSantis has said that the committee has been set up to fail, noting that Perez appointed several 'far-left Democrats' who the governor predicts will end up voting against such a proposal. The James Madison Institute survey was conducted by Targoz Market Research of 1,200 voters, 43% of whom said they were Republicans, 33% Democrats, and 23% independent voters. It has a +/- margin of error of 2.77%. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The failed Florida election bill that angered voting rights and voting integrity advocates alike
Former St. Lucie County Republican supervisor of elections candidate George Umansky addressing a crowd in Pinellas County on April 24, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) An election bill requiring new Florida voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship failed to advance in the just-concluded regular legislative session, drawing sighs of relief from both voting-rights and voting-integrity groups, although for different reasons. The measure arose shortly after President Trump issued his executive order requiring voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. 'This bill fully answers the president's call,' said Lee County Republican Persons-Mulicka when introducing her proposal (HB 1381) before the House Government Operations Subcommittee on April 1. The bill would have mandated that all voter registration applications, including any with a change in name, address, or party affiliation, could only be accepted after the Florida Department of State verified that the applicant was a U.S. citizen in one of three ways: The applicant's voter record indicated that his or her legal status as a U.S. citizen had been verified. The applicant's legal status as a citizen was matched against records of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles or U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Or the voter showing one of seven identification sources, such as a driver license, a U.S. passport. or a birth certificate. Critics noted that the provision removed several previous categories to verify voter identification, such as a debit or credit card, student identification, or retirement cards. 'It's not just an issue for noncitizens,' said Brad Ashwell, Florida state director for All Voting is Local Action. 'If the bill had passed, after Oct. 1 any of us who are renewing IDs due to an address change, a party change, a name change, would all have to show proof of citizenship. And it had a list of IDs to do that are pretty cumbersome and that a lot of people don't have — like a passport or an original copy of a birth certificate.' The bill resembled the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month with four Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting it, Ashwell said. One of the talking points that critics formed in that debate was how the bill would potentially disenfranchise married women who changed their last names. An estimated 69 million American women and 4 million men lack a birth certificate that matches their current name, according to the Center for American Progress, a progressive group. What about passports? In Florida, approximately 40% of the voting population, or around 8.1 million citizens in the state, lack passports, also according to statistics provided by the Center for American Progress. Voting integrity activists also had major problems with the bill. 'There were multiple things in there that appeared good at first glance but, when you read the details, weren't good at all,' said Deb Monks of the group Defend Florida, which held town hall meetings throughout the state discussing the bill. 'I call it window dressing. Some were positive, but if you really looked in it, it didn't accomplish what we needed.' Monks said her organization had more involvement with bills filed in the House by House Republicans Berny Jacques (HB 831) and Webster Barnaby (HB 1203) plus several by Miami Sen. Ileana Garcia (SB 1330, SB 390, SB 394 and SB 396). 'Those fully addressed the citizenship issues as well as cleaning up the voting rolls,' Monks said. None of them received a hearing. The citizenship bill also called for replacing the existing ballot machine recount and audit process with an automated, independent pre-certification vote validation process for every vote cast in every election — the first state in the country to do so, Persons-Mulicka boasted. The likely software that supervisors of elections would need to accommodate that change would be ClearAudit, which creates an image of every paper ballot and lets election officials quickly call up ballots with questionable markings to verify votes. However, not every county in the state uses the ClearAudit technology, which is produced the company ClearBallot. That was a problem mentioned by both voting rights and voting integrity advocates. 'My issue with that is economic — the only way that they're going to be able to comply with that law is if they get software that allows them to audit every precinct for every vote before the certification deadline,' said Ashwell. 'So, if they can't do that, it's going to delay the certification deadline and that's a huge problem. If they do get the software to do that, it wouldn't be a problem, but that costs money, and my understanding is that only about 2/3rds of the counties have that software at this point.' 'The way that we feel, we don't need another machine,' added Cathi Chamberlain of the voter integrity group Pinellas Watchdogs. 'We want to get rid of the machines, so we're really strong on that. We saw what VR [Systems] did in the last election, so these systems are not really reliable. We don't trust them at all. Clear Ballot is extremely expensive, especially for your smaller districts that can't afford that, not just the machines, but the upkeep as well.' A glitch in VR Systems' machines delayed results in the August primaries last year. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of State told the Phoenix that the agency was looking into how many counties use ClearAudit, but did not provide those numbers before this story was published. Not all conservatives were critical of the measure. 'Section 6 [of the bill] authorizes data sharing with other states to purge deceased or ineligible voters, and Section 8 leverages federal jury data to flag ineligible voters,' said Karen Jaroch of Heritage Action. 'That's smart, practical reforms to protect every lawful vote.' Meanwhile, election-related bills sponsored by Democrats and voting rights advocates predictably went nowhere, with none of them getting a hearing. Those advocates' favorite bill encompassing an assortment of provisions was packed into the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Florida Voting Rights Act (SB 1582/HB 1409) originally sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Geraldine Thompson, who died just weeks before the session began (Jacksonville's Tracie Davis later become the Senate sponsor). The 113-page omnibus measure proposed a variety of changes, including establishing Election Day as a holiday and authorizing same-day voter registration. It would have required counties with histories of voter suppression to get pre-clearance before making voting changes (a provision of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2013). It also would have repealed recent laws on vote-by-mail and created a database for felons to determine whether they have had their voting rights restored. Realizing the bill would never get a hearing on its own, Orange County Democratic Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis opted to insert the entire measure onto Persons-Mulicka's bill as an amendment when it came before its sole committee hearing last month. It was voted down by the GOP-dominated committee. Both sides say they expect a version of this bill to be resurrected next year. While Persons-Mulicka was unsuccessful in moving this measure, she was also the sponsor of one of Gov. DeSantis highest priorities this year. That would be HB 1205, a proposal designed to reduce fraud in the signature petition process with citizen-led constitutional amendments, a bill that critics say will make it much harder to get such measures on the ballot. Florida voters have already shown that they want only U.S. citizens to vote in state elections. A 2020 constitutional amendment calling for that was approved by more than 79% of the electorate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
