Florida
Florida Adds Jail Time For Speeders – Jalopnik
Four years ago, a Florida driver ran a red light at 85 miles per hour, killed an 11-year-old child who was crossing the street, and got off with a traffic infraction: Failure to stop at a red light. Prosecutors said they simply didn’t have the evidence to charge her with reckless driving, which is a prerequisite in the state for a charge of vehicular homicide. Now Florida has made a new law, defining “dangerous excessive speeding” in hopes of curbing such deaths in the future, but the law has a problem — it may not have been enough to charge Anthony Reznik’s killer.
The new law, HB 351, defines “dangerous excessive speeding” as driving “in excess of the speed limit by 50 mph or more,” or “at 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens the safety of other persons or property or interferes with the operation of any vehicle.” The punishment it lays out for dangerous excessive speeding is up to 30 days in jail and/or a $500 fine for a first offense, and going up for further offenses.
The problem
The problem with HB 351, often called the Anthony Reznik Act in its early days, is that it may not have actually done much to help Reznik himself. The law punishes drivers who hit 50 or more miles per hour over the posted speed limit, but the street on which he was killed has a posted limit of 35 mph, according to signs viewed on Google Street View. Reports from 2021 say Samentha Toussaint, the driver who killed Reznik, was traveling around 85 miles per hour when she blew the red light. The “around” here is key — at 84 miles per hour, she would not legally be dangerously excessively speeding, and would get off with the exact same ticket for running a red. Even if she had been traveling exactly 85, or 86, or higher, how would a prosecutor sufficiently prove that? Without a radar gun onsite, could anyone prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she wasn’t doing a mere 84?
The issue with HB 351 is that it dodges the core issue of vehicular homicide: The act of killing someone with a car is not, in itself, sufficiently punished. There are prerequisites, other requirements to warrant a charge, and those are how Toussaint got off scot-free for killing a child. If Florida’s legislature really wanted to protect kids like Reznik, it could simply have removed those prerequisites and instituted punishments for all car-induced killing, but it chose not to. In Florida, it’s apparently still fine to kill with your car so long as you don’t exceed 49 mph over the speed limit while doing so. HB 351 is a step in the right direction, but it’s not walking the right path.
FORT MYERS, Fla. – An injured manatee and her calf are recovering after authorities on a boat rescued them from the Orange River near Fort Myers on Thursday.
What we know:
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said its Marine Unit, Advanced Technology Support Unit, drone pilots and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helped in saving the pair after the mother was found hurt in the water and in need of medical attention.
READ: Missing Florida man found stuck in mud without food or water for days: PFD
Video shows authorities pulling the frantic manatees safely onto the boat in netting before taking them to shore.
Courtesy: Lee County Sheriff’s Office
Both animals will be taken to ZooTampa for evaluation and medical care.
What we don’t know:
LCSO did not say the extent of the mother’s injuries.
By the numbers:
As of Feb. 20, there have been 85 manatee deaths across Florida in 2026, according to the FWC. Last year reportedly saw a total of 632 manatee deaths.
Dig deeper:
Earlier this month, the FWC began investigating a spike in manatee deaths, specifically in Lee County, where officials say 25 were found dead within a week.
READ: FWC investigating spike in manatee deaths over the past week
The FWC believes these manatee deaths could be from several factors: cold stress, a lack of seagrass and polluted waterways.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Trump threatens tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba
Trump warned Cuba to reach an agreement with the U.S. after signing an executive order to impose tariffs on countries that supply the island with oil.
HAVANA (Reuters) – Four people were killed and seven others were wounded on Feb. 25 after a speedboat from Florida entered Cuban waters and opened fire on Cuban forces, who returned fire, Cuba’s Interior Ministry said.
All four dead were aboard the Florida-based speedboat, and another six were injured, Cuba said. In addition, the Cuban commander of border patrol boat was wounded, Cuba said.
The wounded foreign attackers were evacuated and received medical attention, Cuba said.
The incident took place amid heightened tension between Cuba and the United States, which has blocked virtually all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the Communist-run government. American forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Jan. 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power.
“Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in safeguarding its sovereignty and stability in the region,” the Cuban statement said.
Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Havana.
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