The Sun /Sunday, January 19, 2014 STATE NEWS www.sunnewspapers.net WIRE Page 3


I STATE

 For sale: Punta
 Gorda home,
 ghost included
 PUNTA GORDA (AP)
- A southwest Florida
couple says a "harmless"
ghost is included in the
sale of their historic
home.
 Natalie and Vander
Wynn tell the Sarasota
Herald-Tribune that
they were alerted to the
supernatural presence
when they bought the
Punta Gorda home
in 2001.
 The house was built
in 1893 by businessman
James Sandlin. His family
was beset by a series of
tragedies, including
the 1909 death of his
14-year-old daughter
in an accident with a
gasoline-heated ironing
appliance.
 The Wynns and the
home's previous owners
have reported numerous
encounters with the
teenager's lingering but
generally friendly spirit.
Vander Wynn says the
ghost "adds to the value
of the house."
 The Wynns have mod-
ernized the home and are
selling it for $1.59 million.

Great white shark
tracked off central
 Florida
 EDGEWATER (AP) -
Researchers say they've
tracked a great white
shark from the waters
off Massachusetts to the
Atlantic Ocean off central
Florida.
 According to the
nonprofit shark research
group, Ocearch, the
2,300-pound shark
they've named Katherine
surfaced Saturday
morning in the Atlantic
off Edgewater inVolusia
County.
 The group has been
tracking Katherine since
August, when the shark
was tagged off Cape Cod,
Mass. Researchers tell
Florida Today that thanks
to Katherine, they're
learning that great white
sharks swim south much
faster than previously
thought.

 Wood storks
 nesting in swamp
 sanctuary
 NAPLES (AP) -Wood
storks are nesting in a
southwest Florida sanctu-
ary they had abandoned
several years ago.
 The endangered birds are
nesting in the Corkscrew
Swamp Sanctuary for
the first time since 2009.
Officials say storks have
built about 160 nests so
far at four locations in the
sanctuary.
 Sanctuary resource
manager Mike Knight tells
the News-Press that the
number of nests may dou-
ble or triple because the
birds don't all start nesting
at the same time.
 The sanctuary once was
the largest wood stork
breeding colony in North
America. The birds were
forced to find other places
to nest as their shallow
wetland habitat declined.

 Detention deputy
 charged with child
 abuse, neglect
 SPRING HILL (AP)- A
Tampa Bay-area deten-
tion deputy has been
arrested for allegedly
burning a child with a
hairdryer.
 According to the
Hernando County
Sheriff's Office, deputies


were called Friday to a
Spring Hill hospital about
a 3-year-old boy with
severe burn marks.
 The child had been
in the care of Hernando
County Detention Deputy
Cody Marrone. Their
relationship was not
immediately clear.


 Central Fla. teen
 charged after
shooting at deputy
 ORANGE CITY (AP) -
A central Florida teenager
is facing an attempted
murder charge after
allegedly shooting at a
sheriff's deputy, striking
him in his protective vest.
 According to the Volusia
County Sheriff's Office,
the Orange City 16-year-
old was a suspect in a
robbery at a convenience
store earlier in the week.
Investigators tracked the
teen to his girlfriend's
home Friday night.
 Authorities say the teen
responded to Deputy
John Vedder's commands
by firing multiple times.
Vedder released his police
dog, which bit the teen's
hand and wrist.

 Fla. to pay
 thousands of held
 up jobless claims
 TALLAHASSEE (AP)-
Florida is going to pay
thousands of unemploy-
ment benefit claims that
have been held up due to
the state's troubled new
system.
 State officials an-
nounced Saturday that
the U.S. Department of
Labor has given the state
permission to pay any
jobless claims that have
been held up for more
than seven days.
 Jesse Panuccio, ex-
ecutive director of the
Department of Economic
Opportunity, said the step
should serve as a "great
relief" to those who claims
have been not paid.
 Roughly 200,000
Floridians receive weekly
unemployment benefits.

 Bill would add
 $1 surcharge to
 cigarettes
 TALLAHASSEE (AP)
- A Florida lawmaker is
proposing the state add
a $1 surcharge on each
pack of cigarettes sold.
 Rep. Jim Waldman says
Florida's $1.34 per pack
cigarette tax is the 27th
lowest in the nation. The
Coconut Creek Democrat
proposed a bill this week
that he says would raise
an estimated $838 million
a year. He said those
funds could be used to
offset the costs of a pro-
posed reduction in motor
vehicle registration fees.

2 tons of illegally
harvested oysters
 seized
 APALACHICOLA AP)
- Two tons of illegally
harvested oysters have
been seized in northwest
Florida.
 The Tallahassee
Democrat reports
that Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation
Commission officers
in Carrabelle issued
citations Monday to five
people for 20 misde-
meanors and two boating
infractions.

Advocates say canal
 project improving
 Florida Bay
 FLORIDA CITY (AP)-
Environmental advocates
say a major Everglades res-
toration project is exceeding
expectations after its first
year of operations.
 The so-called C-11
Spreader Canal opened
in January 2013. It was
designed to plug an existing
canal and keep millions
of gallons of water from
seeping out of Everglades
National Park
 Audubon Florida officials


say the project has redi-
rected water into a slough
that leads through the park
into Florida Bay, helping
to rehydrate wetlands that
have lost too much water
to a flood control system
and other development in
Miami-Dade County.


 JACKSONVILLE (AP)
-The state attorney who
oversaw the prosecution of
George Zimmerman in the
shooting death of Trayvon
Martin says she doesn't
read newspapers and
doesn't think the public
should know any details
about a criminal case until
it goes to a jury.
 Angela Corey of the
Jacksonville-based 4th
Circuit Court discussed
her news preferences and
her opinions on Florida's
open-government laws
during an address Friday
to the First Coast Tiger Bay
Club. The Florida Times-
Union reports that Corey
declined to speak with
reporters after the event.
 According to the
Times-Union, Corey was
asked about a recent New


York Times article about a
police investigation in St.
Johns County. Corey said
she had not read the article
because she doesn't read
any media.
 "I don't read any
newspapers," she said. "My
people tell me what I need
to know."
 Corey also said that me-
dia should not be allowed
to report on high-profile
cases because they publish
details that are never heard
by a jury, such as text
messages in Zimmerman's
case that were reported
by several news outlets
but never presented as
evidence.
 "The public doesn't
need to know anything
about a case before it goes
to trial," she said.
 Corey was appointed


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special prosecutor in
Zimmerman's case. Her
office has handled other
closely watched cases,
including that of Marissa
Alexander, a Florida
woman sentenced to a
mandatory 20-year prison
sentence for firing what
she insisted was a warning
shot during a fight with
her husband. She tried
to invoke Florida's "stand
your ground" law but
the judge threw out her
self-defense claim, noting
that she could have run
out of the house to escape
her husband but instead
got the gun and went back
inside.
 Alexander now is
awaiting a new trial.
Corey has defended the
handling of Alexander's
case, saying that she


believes Alexander aimed
the gun at the man and
his two sons, and that the
bullet she fired could have
ricocheted and hit any of
them.
 The attorney who
represented Zimmerman
at trial said he thinks
public records laws work,
even if the public learns
details not presented to
a jury. Zimmerman was
acquitted at trial last year.
 "I would not want to
live in a world where
Angela Corey can charge
whatever she wants and
the public doesn't know
about it," Mark O'Mara
said. "As long as we have
an effective jury selection
process, which we do, it
shouldn't be a problem for
someone to receive a fair
trial."


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o The Sun/Sunday, January 19, 2014


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