MARCO ISLAND -- A financial adviser who held one of the four winning tickets in the $100-million Florida Lotto jackpot this month gave some of his new fortune to charity Thursday.

David L. Rush, 71, of Marco Island presented three checks: $100,000 to the Salvation Army, $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Collier County and $50,000 to the Rotary Club of Marco Island.

Rush, who accepted a lump sum payment of $14,281,243.70 from Florida Lottery officials, said he will continue making sizable gifts to charities. "We're just tickled pink we could do this," he said.

A group of 26 factory workers from Dothan, Ala., came forward last week to claim another of the four shares of the $100-million prize from the Dec. 14 drawing. Winning tickets sold in Fort Pierce and Jacksonville have not yet been redeemed, lottery officials said.

Rotten teeth don't prove child neglect, court rules

SARASOTA -- A mother convicted of child neglect for not taking her 7-year-old son to the dentist was cleared Friday by the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Angela Weeks, 29, was convicted of child neglect in January for not seeking treatment for cavities in her son's baby teeth. She was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to take her children to a dentist twice a year.

The appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that prosecutors hadn't proved Weeks caused her son serious injury.

"No dentist testified in this case, and no one testified as to what could reasonably be expected from the lack of dental care," the three-judge panel in Lakeland wrote.

Prosecutors had claimed four of the boy's teeth were blackened.

75 sick cruise passengers complete their trip by bus

KEY WEST -- Officials from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines removed about 75 passengers from a ship and sent them to Miami by bus from Key West, after the guests fell ill during a four-day sail to the Bahamas, officials said.

The Majesty of the Seas, an 880-foot vessel that can accommodate 2,744 passengers, was making a scheduled stop in Key West Thursday morning when the sick passengers, many of whom had been quarantined in their cabins, were put on two Miami-bound buses.

"This was handled terribly," said Adam Hoffman, a Connecticut man who was among those put on the buses.

The cruise ended at the Port of Miami on Friday morning.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Lynn Martenstein said she could not confirm whether the passengers were suffering from a Norwalk-like virus that has plagued several cruise ships recently.

"It could be anything from guests staying out too late, drinking and eating, to the stomach flu people refer to as the Norwalk-type virus," Martenstein said. "It is not unusual. It's not a particularly high number of people."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk