Florida
Were any Florida ice skaters on the Washington DC plane that crashed? What we know
On Wednesday night, the unthinkable happened when a passenger plane with 60 passengers and four crewmembers aboard crashed into an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport and fell into the frigid Potomac River.
American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, attempted to land and collided in midair just before 9 p.m. with the Blackhawk helicopter, which was carrying three people. Officials announced Thursday morning that they believe there were no survivors and 28 bodies have been found so far in the massive search effort, complicated by the river’s near-freezing water and low visibility.
Among the people on board the plane were a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, according to a statement from U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s American governing body. Some skaters competing at the event had Florida ties.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. A group of Russian figure skaters and other Russian nationals were also on board and Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that renowned Russian figure skaters Evgenia and Vadim Naumov, 1994 world pairs champions, were traveling as coaches.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the most prestigious event for American figure skating and the final event before the World Championships, were held in Wichita from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, awarding national championships in four categories — Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Pairs and Ice Dance — in junior and senior levels. According to U.S. Figure Skating, nearly 150 up-and-coming athletes stayed after the event for the National Development Team, an advanced training program for young skaters held Monday and Tuesday.
These are the current U.S. skaters with Florida ties.
Timmy Chapman, 24, of Orlando
Partnered with Ellie Korytek of Los Angeles, California. They began their partnership in March 2022. They were the U.S. junior champions in 2023 and 1st in the 2025 U.S. Pairs Final.
Korylek and Chapman competed in the Senior Pairs competition of the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita, and came in 7th, earning a score of 57.54.
It is not yet known if either skater was on the flight.
Valentina Plazas, 24, of Pembroke Pines and Maximiliano Fernandez, 29, of Miami
Teamed up in May 2020, Plazas (born in Bogota, Colombia) and Fernandez (born in Hialeah, Florida) were the first U.S. pairs team with both partners of Latin descent to compete in the World Championships. They were 14th in that, 3rd in the 2024 U.S. Championships, 2nd in the 2023 Golden Spin of Zagreb and 5th in the 2023 U.S. Championships, among others.
Plazas and Fernandez did not compete in the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita. Both skaters have posted messages on social media about the flight.
“My heart breaks for the skating community right now,” Plazas posted on X, formerly Twitter, Thursday morning. “The moment i heard i only imagined all the athletes and families coming back from the camp. This is a shock to the system”
Fernandez can also be marked safe. He posted “Prayers to all those on Flight 5342” last night, and “Just devastating. Praying for everyone who was on board” Thursday morning.
Annabelle Morozov and Jeffrey Chen trained in Estero
Morozov, 23, and Chen, 22, are from New York City and Fremont, California, respectively, but they trained in Estero.
They began their partnership in May 2024 and were 1st in the 2025 U.S. Ice Dance Final and 2nd in the 2024 Lombardia Trophy.
Morozov and Chen competed in the Senior Ice Dance competition of the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita, and came in 10th.
Has there ever been a similar tragedy in the figure skating community?
On Feb. 15, 1961, a plane carrying the U.S. national team U.S. national team to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia crashed en route from New York City, USA to Brussels, Belgium. 72 people were killed.
The U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund was established to offer skating and academic scholarships to promising members of the national figure skating community in tribute to the lives lost in the crash.
(This story was updated with new information.)
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Florida
‘A buzzing hive’: Florida Tech relaunching underused CAMID space as Vertex, a high-tech hub
During Florida Institute of Technology President John Nicklow’s interview activities leading up to his April 2023 hiring, he toured CAMID, the university’s sprawling 100,494-square-foot manufacturing-design complex on Palm Bay Road.
“Initially, I was so excited. ‘We have this facility out here, and it’s fantastic.’ And then I went inside — and I thought, ‘It’s half empty,’ ” Nicklow recalled.
“And it could be so much more,” he said.
To that end, Florida Tech has relaunched the underutilized Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design as Vertex, a new “applied innovation hub.” Rather than function as a traditional academic building, Vertex’s office space, manufacturing and clean rooms will host business tenants, contracted research and development work, facility rentals, workforce training and more.
“If we do our jobs right, and you come back a year from now, this place is going to be a buzzing hive,” Vertex Executive Director Samantha Miles said, seated in a second-floor conference room inside the complex.
Born in Melbourne Beach and hired in November, Miles previously held leadership positions with a research company and a business school in Dubai in the United Emirates; served as student experience coordinator at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia; and held student-centric posts at Florida Atlantic University.
“Right now, we’re in a big transition period. Because not only are we improving the space and making it more industry-facing, we’re redesigning our labs. We’re redesigning our communal spaces. We’re upgrading our equipment A-to-Z,” Miles said.
As of today, Vertex houses CAMID, the Florida Tech Research Institute and four businesses: the Larsen Motorsports jet dragster racing team; SafeSky Systems USA and Zeal OTM (drone and surveillance companies); and Solar Transport Systems (a solar-powered electric car company).
Miles said unused second-story space above the Larsen Motorsports shop is under construction for future drone testing and for a composites laboratory. This area will also house ASCEND, an acronym for AeroSpace Cybersecurity ENgineering Development. In June, Florida Tech announced it will receive $5 million in state funding for ASCEND.
“A pet peeve of mine is when we’ve not capitalized properly or fully on an asset — in this case, space. And so, that was the idea: How could this best be used to serve our community, to serve the institution?” Nicklow asked.
Intersil donated building, land in 2013
Vertex is located off the intersection of Palm Bay Road and Robert J. Conlan Boulevard, about a 3½-mile drive from the Melbourne-based STEM university campus.
Harris Semiconductor constructed the building in 1977. It later housed Intersil Corp. integrated-circuit and telecommunications facilities for government, defense, aerospace and commercial programs until 2009 — the building was known as Fab 54.
In September 2013, Intersil donated the complex and five acres of land with nearly 300 parking spaces to Florida Tech — a gift valued at $13.1 million. This large-scale donation occurred during a Florida Tech expansion era when the university added facilities and programs on- and off-campus.
Florida Tech’s nearby Panther Bay apartment complex had just opened that year on Palm Bay Road, a little more than a mile to the west. And the new Panthers football team also debuted in September 2013 with a 20-13 win over Stetson at Palm Bay High’s Pirate Stadium. The football program got dropped for fiscal reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida Tech announced a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration in October 2015 to open the former Intersil complex as CAMID. Installed equipment includes computer-driven manufacturing equipment like a prototype fabrication bay, microelectronics tools, water-jet and plasma metal-cutting bays, and 3D printers.
Jason Jones operates SafeSky Systems USA and Zeal OTM, and he builds drones inside Vertex. He displayed a black quadcopter drone that recently flew over flame-blackened wildfire areas near Pasadena, California.
“With what we’re doing and the way the center’s growing, it gives us capabilities that we never thought we’d have,” Jones said.
Vertex to open for tours on March 28
Florida Tech officials will offer free tours of Vertex during an Innovation Ecosystem Expo from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 28.
The address is 2495 Palm Bay Road N.E., and the public is invited. The expo includes an indoor-outdoor showcase featuring booths from Vertex partners, along with 30-minute workshops.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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Florida
Florida man set to be executed for murder of woman, granddaughter in 1993
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of murdering a woman and raping and killing her 8-year-old-granddaughter in Seminole County in 1993 is set to be executed next month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Edward James, 63, on Tuesday. James is scheduled to be executed on March 20 at Florida State Prison.
On Sept. 19, 1993, James brutally attacked 8-year-old Toni Neuner, who was staying at the home of her grandmother Betty Dick, before he murdered the 58-year-old woman as well. James had been renting a room in Dick’s home.
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According to court records, James strangled Neuner before raping her vaginally and anally and then throwing her body across the room. The young girl suffered grievous internal injuries and was strangled to death.
James then went to the bedroom of Neuner’s grandmother, intending to have sex with her. Instead, he stabbed her more than 20 times with two different knives, records show.
James pleaded guilty to the murders, as well as charges of child abuse and kidnapping, and pleaded no contest to other charges he said he could not remember.
His execution would be the state’s second so far this year. Earlier this month, James Dennis Ford was put to death for the murder of a couple in 1997 in Charlotte County.
___
Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Florida
Florida Bill Highlights Homegrown Cannabis Controversy
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Nearly half of states that have legalized cannabis do not permit home marijuana cultivation.
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A Florida bill to allow the limited home cultivation of medical marijuana highlights a controversial aspect of the legalization era: in many jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis, it is still illegal for adults to grow their own weed at home.
Florida Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters filed the bill to legalize limited home cultivation of medical cannabis earlier this month. Under SB 546, registered medical marijuana patients aged 21 and older would be allowed to obtain a certificate from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services permitting them to grow up to two cannabis plants at home for personal use.
“People want to have the ability to grow it themselves,” Gruters said, according to a report from Florida Politics. “If you have an ID card, why should we not allow that? It’s probably a good idea. We can still make it regulated and limit the amount.”
But cannabis policy reform advocates say that the bill is too restrictive because it limits home cultivation to two plants per household, regardless of the number of patients who live there.
“Two plants for multiple patients? The math is not mathing,” Chris Cano, executive director of the Suncoast Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told the Florida Phoenix.
“Elected officials need to address the chronic debilitating conditions of medical cannabis patients in a serious manner,” Cano added. “Clearly, the good senator is no expert on the needs of a truly sick patient or the amount of cannabis one needs to consume when suffering.
Marijuana plants grow in a home garden.
getty
While acknowledging that “any legislative conversation about home growing in Florida is a welcome development,” long-time cannabis activist Steve DeAngelo says that “SB 546 as currently drafted needs more work.”
An accomplished home and commercial grower, DeAngelo was recently named global ambassador of Blimburn Seeds, a Barcelona-based company that supplies cannabis seeds to gardeners in the U.S. With the experience of talking to thousands of cannabis patients and growing an untold number of plants over the years, he says that Florida’s bill is simply not a viable option for most patients.
“The two-plant limit ignores both patient needs and agricultural realities. Inevitably, no matter the skill of the gardener, some plants fail– and the yield from a two-plant harvest is unlikely to be sufficient to last most patients the twelve weeks it will take to grow their next crop,” DeAngelo says in a virtual interview. “And what about elderly couples (or others) who both need cannabis? Their allotted amount of cannabis would be cut in half, just because they live in the same residence.”
Consumers Want To Grow Their Own Weed
Public opinion research shows strong support for legalizing home cultivation among cannabis consumers. A survey conducted by The Harris Poll last year on behalf of Barcelona-based Royal Queen Seeds found that 81% of cannabis consumers agree all Americans should have the right to grow marijuana at home. Just over a quarter (26%) of cannabis consumers said that they had grown cannabis at home, while a fifth (21%) of those who haven’t grown at home said they would like to try.
The survey revealed different reasons that consumers choose to grow their own cannabis, including a third (34%) of home cultivators who said they feel safer consuming homegrown marijuana over commercially available products. Nearly half said growing their own weed gives them a sense of confidence (49%), joy (48%) or pride (46%), or that they do so simply because it is fun (47%). Nearly as many said home growing is more cost-effective than purchasing at dispensaries (43%), while 39% said the quality of the cannabis flower they grow at home is better than store-bought weed.
Opponents of legalizing home cannabis cultivation argue that allowing citizens to grow weed will help fuel the underground cannabis market that persists despite the legalization of regulated sales. Others believe allowing personal cultivation poses a threat to children who may be able to gain access to home gardens.
Cannabis activist Steve DeAngelo
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DeAngelo, however, says that cannabis cultivation should have never been outlawed in the first place.
“The right to grow is a natural right. And when I talk about natural rights, I’m talking about the kinds of things that Thomas Jefferson talked about in the Declaration of Independence,” he says. “That we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. Natural rights pre-existed any government, and any good government, any decent government, is created to protect those natural rights. Mother nature gave us the right to grow cannabis and nobody, no government, no person, no corporation, has the right to take that away from us.”
But in nearly half of the states with legal marijuana, medical cannabis patients do not have the option of growing their medicine at home.
“Out of 38 states that have legalized cannabis for medical or adult-use purposes, 17 of them entirely prohibit home growing,” DeAngelo says. “And this includes places like Illinois and New Jersey and Florida, where massive amounts of cannabis are being grown by large businesses, in Florida in particular. And yet, home growers are subject to ridiculous penalties.”
“Whatever you do in the privacy of your own home is your own business,” he continues. “And if there’s evidence that people are putting cannabis into the stream of commerce without appropriate licensure, then that is a civil matter, and they should be civilly sanctioned for doing business without an appropriate license. But nobody should ever be prosecuted criminally for growing cannabis in their own home.”
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