Around the state

UF begins yearlong 150th birthday celebration

GAINESVILLE -- The University of Florida has played a pivotal role in the state's history and will continue to help shape its future, Gov. Jeb Bush told more than 600 guests Friday at the start of a yearlong celebration of UF's 150th anniversary.

Bush and NBC reporter Forrest Sawyer were guest speakers at the sesquicentennial celebration, which has "Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future" as its theme.

As Florida's flagship university, UF has played a major role in the state's economic development and will continue to do so with research, Bush said.

"With a ring of calm around it, UF seeks truth," said Sawyer, a UF graduate. "Universities are the ones who lead like flashlights into the future."

UF's beginnings trace to 1853, when East Florida Seminary opened in Ocala. After closing during the Civil War, the school reopened in Gainesville and was named the University of the State of Florida in 1903. The name was shortened in 1909.

Authorities: Couple fled order to give up children

DETROIT -- A Davenport couple ordered by a Polk County judge to relinquish custody of their five children were arrested Friday in Michigan as they tried to flee to Canada with the children, the Polk Sheriff's Office reported.

Dawnica and Bernard Morey, 31 and 29, were detained by U.S. Customs agents who were aware of arrest warrants issued in Polk County, said Carrie Rodgers, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office. They were jailed in Detroit pending a return to Florida.

The children, ranging from 2 to 9 years old, were in the custody of Michigan's child welfare agency and also were to be returned to Florida.

The couple are being investigated by St. Petersburg police in a Munchausen syndrome by proxy case, Rodgers said. The St. Petersburg Police Department would not elaborate on that Friday night.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a disorder in which parents or caregivers deliberately make children ill to draw attention to themselves.

Brenda Hornickle, a spokeswoman for the Lakeland office of the state Department of Children and Families, said state laws prohibited her from releasing specific information in the Moreys' case.

Ex-Collier official gets a year in corruption case

NAPLES -- A former Collier County commissioner received a one-year jail sentence Friday for his role in a corruption case surrounding a failed sports enterprise known as Stadium Naples.

Tim Constantine was sentenced by Circuit Judge Lauren Miller. He pleaded no contest last year to racketeering conspiracy and agreed to help prosecutors.

Constantine peddled his influence to get a $100,000 business loan from backers of Stadium Naples, a 12,000-seat arena with luxury skyboxes surrounding the 18th hole of a planned tournament golf course. It was never built.

Prosecutors had asked for 15 years in prison, saying Constantine violated terms of a plea agreement by lying during a pretrial hearing.

In August, ESPN founder William Rasmussen pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to two years of probation. He gave false promotional material for a Stadium Naples partner company to stockbrokers.

Former Collier County Commissioner John Norris, attorney Leo Salvatori and developers Renee Tolson and Paul Hardy still face charges of racketeering, bribery and money laundering.

Fraud hotline an instant hit, says attorney general

TALLAHASSEE -- An antifraud hotline set up by new Attorney General Charlie Crist received 224 calls in its first two days, even with a lack of publicity about the service, Crist said Thursday.

"Apparently we're going to have to look for more help in answering these calls. Obviously there was an overwhelming need to give the citizens of Florida an opportunity to respond to suspected fraud," Crist said.

Crist established the line when he took office Tuesday for people to report consumer fraud, corporate scams and issues like identity theft and Medicaid fraud.

"I'm not sure how people are aware of it," he said. "To my knowledge it has not been written about. I don't even know how they even know the number."

Right now two people are assigned to answer the hotline, he said. He said tips are assigned to an investigator or callers are directed to the appropriate investigative agency.

The toll-free number is 1-866-966-7226.

Couple who ran call girl ring get sentencing break

MIAMI -- A couple who admitted running a high-priced call girl operation out of a luxury hotel received reduced sentences Thursday. Judy Krueger, 59, received 21 months in prison, 30 less than she could have gotten under federal sentencing guidelines. Her companion, Eli Tish, 70, got 16 months, 10 less than the maximum.

Prosecutors urged the reduced sentences, saying that after their arrest on racketeering charges last March, Krueger and Tish helped federal agents identify and set up other members of "the Circuit," a nationwide ring of prostitutes.

Based in part on Krueger's information, the FBI and Internal Revenue Service in August leveled such charges as racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering against a dozen others across the country.

According to prosecutors, the Circuit ran exclusive brothels in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington. The call girls, shuttled from city to city, made $350 to $400 an hour.

In Miami, Krueger and Tish ran the operation out of two apartments at the Four Ambassadors Hotel on S Brickell Bay Drive.

State lifts 39-county West Nile medical alert

TALLAHASSEE -- A state medical alert for West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases that covered 39 counties was lifted Friday.

The alert was lifted "based upon a considerable drop in virus activity reported," Florida Health Secretary John Agwunobi said.

West Nile was first identified in Florida in July 2001. Since then 40 human cases have been reported, including two deaths reported last month. The disease can cause encephalitis in severe cases.

Agwunobi said people in areas with high concentrations of mosquitoes still need to take precautions, such as using mosquito repellent and eliminating stagnant water where mosquitoes breed.

-- Wire and Ledger reports

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