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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A controversial effort to strengthen self-defense arguments for people who shoot bears on their property is headed back to the Florida House.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 24-12 on Wednesday to approve a bill (HB 87) that critics contend will result in increased deaths of the once-threatened species.
The House passed the bill last week. But the Senate made a change to make clear the self-defense protections wouldnât be available to people who lure bears with food or in other ways for purposes such as training dogs to hunt bears. The change means the bill will have to be considered again by the House.
Bill sponsor Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, said the bill is needed because of an increase in bears venturing into residential areas of his sprawling North Florida district and that current law has a âlittle bit of ambiguity.â
Read: New Florida bill proposes to allow homeowners to kill bears without a permit
âThis isnât a mandate by any stretch of the imagination,â Simon said. âIf a bear shows up in your home, or on your porch, youâre not obligated to shoot that bear.â
The proposal, in part, says people would not be subject to penalties for killing bears if they âreasonably believed that his or her action was necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or herself or to another, an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to a pet or substantial damage to a dwelling.â
People who shoot bears would be required to notify the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission within 24 hours and show they did not intentionally place themselves or pets in situations where they needed to kill bears. Also, people would not be allowed to possess or sell bear carcasses after the killings.
Several Democrats who opposed the bill argued the state should do more to focus on other ways to limit human-bear interactions, such as expanding efforts to prevent bears from being attracted to trash in residential areas.
Read: Alaska-native Kodiak bear cubs found roaming on Florida road
âWe know this is a gun-happy culture,â Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said. âAnd giving them the permission to shoot is what this bill is doing, instead of taking every single precaution that we could possibly take to prevent the taking of a protected species and potentially other human life.â
Similar bills did not pass in recent years. But the issue gained traction during this yearâs legislative session after Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith in September said his rural community was âbeing inundated and overrun by the bear population.â
Bill supporters argued the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hasnât changed its approach to human-bear interactions, which includes its BearWise program. The program outlines steps such as telling people not to feed bears, to clear grills, make trash less accessible, remove bird feeders when bears are active and to not leave pet food outside.
Read: Bear caught on camera breaks into Lake Nona familyâs shed, steals snow cone syrup
The House voted 88-29 to pass the bill last Thursday.
The state had about 4,050 bears, according to a 2017 estimate by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the most recent available.
The numbers had fallen to between 300 to 500 in the 1970s, but the species was able to rebound while listed as threatened by the state. That designation was lifted in 2012 when a new management plan was approved.
Since that time, the state has held a single bear hunt. In 2015, the state held what resulted in a two-day hunt in four parts of the state, with 304 bears killed — 16 short of the so-called âharvest objectiveâ expected over seven days.
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Entertainment
MIAMI (AP) — Two South Florida police officers claim Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s recent action thriller “The Rip” used too many real-life details in its fictionalized narrative, causing harm to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to a defamation lawsuit.
Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit in Miami federal court earlier this month against Artists Equity, a film production company owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings don’t say how much the officers are suing for, but the civil complaint says they’re seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, as well as a public retraction and correction.
“The Rip” features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house. Parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case, where police found over $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker in a Miami Lakes home.
An attorney for Artists Equity declined to comment when reached Monday by The Associated Press. But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ demand letter, Leita Walker, an attorney for Artists Equity, wrote that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or portray real people, which had been stated by a disclaimer in the film’s credits.
Although Smith and Santana aren’t named in the film, the lawsuit claims that Santana was serving as the lead detective assigned to the real case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team. The film’s inclusion of real details about the case gives the impression that the characters are based on the plaintiffs, the suit said.
And this, the lawsuit claims, has given friends, family members and colleagues the impression that the plaintiffs committed the criminal acts that appear in the film, which include (SPOILER ALERT) conspiring to steal seized drug money, murdering a supervising officer, communicating with cartel members, committing arson in a residential neighborhood, endangering the lives of civilians, repeatedly violating core law-enforcement protocols and executing a federal agent rather than making an arrest.
Walker wrote in March that the plaintiffs haven’t even identified which particular character is supposed to be based on Smith or Santana, so even if “The Rip” was actually about a real-life narcotics team, there’s no way to connect any of the characters to the plaintiffs.
“The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan, debuted in January on Netflix. It’s currently rated 78% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Brevard County couple gets married in NICU after birth of premature twins
A Florida couple, told they may not be able to have children, welcomed premature twins and had an impromptu NICU wedding.
Provided by AdventHealth for Children
Ben and Danielle Cassidy were told they likely wouldn’t be able to have children.
But this year they will celebrate Mother’s Day just months after having an impromptu wedding in the AdventHealth for Children hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit shortly after Danielle gave birth to twins prematurely — a week before the Palm Bay couple was scheduled to get married.
Both babies, Joshua and Rhett, are doing well despite arriving nine weeks ahead of schedule on Jan. 19, 2026, just one day after their scheduled baby shower. With a proper wedding out of the question with two premature babies in the NICU, a nurse took action.
Issabel Kenkel, the nurse behind the ceremony, said she was already in wedding planning mode for her own upcoming nuptials when she found out the Cassidy family’s ceremony would be interrupted.
“I couldn’t just let them do something small. They needed decorations and something fun, so I spoke to the music therapist and the chaplain,” Kenkel said. In short order, a wedding was being planned for their hospital room and the couple was saying their vows in the company of their safely delivered newborns.
“When we found out we could request staff members to be on our team, that’s when we requested Issabel and having that kind of consistency from someone who has such a big heart and is so kind,” Danielle said.
The hospital ceremony was all the more special because of the Cassidy family’s own health struggles.
“I have five autoimmune diseases and didn’t really think I would have kids. It’s been a rough journey. When Ben and I met, we were floored at how much a miracle it was to have kids,” Danielle said.
Ben, who battled and beat cancer, said he was worried that his prior treatment would result in negative health outcomes for his future children. Having twins for him was an unexpected blessing.
“When we found out we were pregnant, we found it so shocking. We said, wouldn’t it be great if it was twins? It filled out our hopes and dreams list,” Ben said. “They’ve been miracles for sure.”
The Cassidy couple said there was so much fear and uncertainty when their twins were born nine weeks early. Being able to get married right away just made them feel all the better about the future.
“It was nice getting married because we didn’t have to wait any longer to make it official. It made it that much harder for her to get rid of me,” Ben said.
“The unknown made it scary,” Danielle added. “We had no idea how long we would be in the hospital. Our wedding was going to be at the beach with immediate family and parents. Having NICU babies, we realized we’d never be able to get to the beach. It was really special having the people who care for our babies be part of the ceremony.”
The couple hadn’t even planned to have a band at their wedding ceremony and now the hospital’s music therapist was performing live for them and the chaplain was conducting the ceremony, something nurse Kenkel said was just part of her job.
“The babies are going to have the best outcomes if the families are taken care of and going home happy,” she said. “Being in the NICU is already so stressful. This is just one more thing I could do to take care of my patients.”
Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. X: @tyler_vazquez.
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