Central Florida

A central Florida police officer has been fired following a coworker’s complaint that he mocked her concerns about the coronavirus, hugged her against her wishes and misled investigators who probed the allegations against him, according to records. An internal investigation by the Longwood Police Department found Cpl. David Hernandez was “not fully forthcoming and not truthful” when questioned about...

A Florida waitress who noticed bruises on an 11-year-old boy flashed him a handwritten note asking him if he needed help, and when he nodded yes, she called the police, authorities said. “Do you need help?” the note said. Orlando police credited Flaviane Carvalho, a waitress at Mrs. Potato Restaurant, with coming to the boy’s aid on New Year’s...

A German shepherd helped firefighters find his owners’ two young children as flames ripped through the family’s central Florida home, authorities said.

One of the original ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ was arrested Wednesday in Kissimmee after 26 years on the run.

A 33-year-old orangutan granted legal personhood by a judge in Argentina is settling into her new surroundings at the Center for Great Apes in central Florida.

One man’s case illustrates troubling uncertainty in a transplant system run by government contractors that are under fire for letting potentially usable organs go to waste. The Associated Press took a close look at that system and calculated that some of those agencies are securing deceased donors at half the rate of others — even as 113,000 people linger on...

The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality, according to Census Bureau figures. Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states among the leaders of the increase, even though several wealthy coastal states still...

Scientists say Hurricane Dorian washed out to sea more than 8,000 sea turtle nests from a Florida wildlife refuge.

President Donald Trump appeared to show a Hurricane Dorian map which was doctored to show the hurricane possibly passing into Alabama. Trump had tweeted that Alabama was in the storm’s path.

After days of claiming without evidence that Alabama was projected to be hit by Hurricane Dorian, President Donald Trump displayed an apparently doctored map in the Oval Office on Wednesday that showed Alabama to be within the storm’s path, NBC News reported. The map Trump displayed was the same as a model produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

Hurricane Dorian has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm as it lingers over the Bahamas.

Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm Sunday, its record 185 mph winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines as hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and shelters. Dorian slammed into Elbow Cay in Abaco island at 12:40 p.m., and then made a second landfall near Marsh Harbour at 2 p.m.,...

News outlets say 25-year-old Jaelyn Alexander attempted to carjack the victim on Tuesday in Orlando before he realized that he couldn’t drive the manual transmission car and stealing another vehicle and fleeing.

Three years after a gunman massacred 49 people and wounded many others at a gay nightclub in Florida, the anniversary was observed Wednesday with somber memorial gatherings and proclamations, including one that had to be issued twice.

Members of central Florida’s congressional delegation are introducing legislation that would designate as a national memorial the gay nightclub where 49 people were massacred three years ago by a supporter of the Islamic State. U.S. Reps. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy said Monday at a ceremony outside the former nightclub that the designation will preserve and protect Pulse nightclub for...

Members of central Florida’s congressional delegation are introducing legislation that would designate as a national memorial the gay nightclub where 49 people were massacred three years ago by a supporter of the Islamic State. U.S. Reps. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy said Monday at a ceremony outside the former nightclub that the designation will preserve and protect Pulse nightclub for...

Authorities in Florida say lightning struck a motorcyclist on a Florida interstate, causing a crash and his death.

Pardeep Singh Kaleka has surveyed the landscape of an America scarred by mass shootings. Seven years ago, a white supremacist invaded a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and killed six worshippers — among them Kaleka’s father, who died clutching a butter knife he’d grabbed in a desperate attempt to stop the shooter. Now, whenever another gunman bloodies another town, Kaleka posts...

Friday’s mass shooting in Virginia Beach is reigniting debate over gun laws. Twelve people were killed when a city employee opened fire in a government building. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that more laws aren’t the solution. Presidential candidates, however, are calling for action.