Florida
Florida man kills wife, shoots stepdaughter after fight over NFL game: ‘Don’t shoot me’
Police say Jason Kenney was drinking and watching football when he got mad at his wife, killed her and shot her 13-year-old daughter. A letter they found indicated he also was using cocaine.
Editor’s note: This story contains material about domestic violence and suicide. Those facing domestic abuse can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit its website for a virtual chat. If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services.
A Florida man killed his wife and shot his stepdaughter in the face following an argument over watching a football game, authorities say.
Jason Kenney, 47, had been drinking and watching Monday Night Football in his shed in Highland City, just east of Tampa, until about 11 p.m. on Dec. 22, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news conference the following day. Kenney then went inside his home and wanted to continue watching the game in the living room, where his wife Crystal was, Judd said.
Crystal Kenney didn’t want to watch football and an argument ensued. As the fight escalated, Crystal told her 12-year-old son to run to a neighbor’s house and call 911, Judd said.
As the boy ran out of the home, he heard the first gunshot. Responding deputies found Crystal dead inside, her 13-year-old daughter shot in the face and shoulder, and Jason Kenney gone. The infant daughter the couple shared was unharmed, and the 13-year-old survived the gunshot wound after the bullet hit the bridge of her nose and deflected through the top of her head, Judd said.
“The 13-year-old girl begged not to be shot – ‘Please don’t shoot me. Please don’t shoot me,’” Judd said. “And he shot her twice.”
After shooting his wife and step-daughter, Kenney drove in his truck toward the home of his late father in Lake Wales, and called his sister to tell her he had “done something very, very bad,” that he would be in the news and that it was the last time they would talk to each other, Judd said.
Kenney ended up in a shed on his father’s old property. Deputies tracked him down and when they called for him to come out, they heard a single gunshot. They found Kenney dead inside.
Judd said that a relative told deputies that Kenney had been beating on Crystal “for a while,” though the sheriff’s office has no records of any domestic violence calls or charges. Jason Kenney had no criminal history, Judd said.
Deputies found a letter written by Crystal and addressed to her husband in the room where her body was found. In it, she wrote: “You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God.”
Judd said the tragedy hit close to home with deputies, particularly coming three days before Christmas.
“He absolutely destroyed a family,” Judd said. “Our homicide detectives are distraught. When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under the tree, just like the nuclear family should be … and it ends up this way.”
The sheriff encouraged anyone in crisis to call 911 and ask for help. The national crisis hotline number is 988.
“How does an argument over a television program end up with a murder, an attempted murder and a suicide?” he said. “It should never happen. Call for help … Don’t hurt yourself, don’t hurt a loved one.”
Crystal Kenney’s 12-year-old son and the baby daughter she shared with Jason Kenney are now in the care of grandparents as Florida’s Department of Children and Families determines their long-term placement, Judd said.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
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