Around the state

Keep juvenile programs funded, advocates urge

TALLAHASSEE -- A parade of advocates and teens pleaded with a state Senate committee Thursday to fund programs designed to prevent juvenile delinquency and turn around teens in trouble.

Senators on the Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee said they support the programs and suggested the message be carried to the House and governor.

In his recommended $50-billion budget, Gov. Jeb Bush has proposed making substantial cuts to prevention programs and eliminating nonresidential programs for juvenile offenders. House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, meanwhile, has said the state can take care of its most pressing needs without raising taxes. The Senate has said it will look at all options, including proposals that might bring more money into state coffers, but can't act alone.

The president of the Florida Association of Counties told the subcommittee that counties will have to pick up $85-million worth of juvenile justice programs under the governor's proposal.

"It's a tax increase," said Chuck Dunnick, a commissioner in Osceola County. "I think you ought to visit the governor," Sen. Victor Crist, committee chair, told one official concerned about the proposed cuts.

Sens. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, and Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, suggested people also carry their message to the House. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, promised that the Senate would do all it could.

'Rough spot' noticed a day before fatal derailment

WASHINGTON -- The day before an Amtrak Auto Train derailed on a curve near Crescent City, the crew of another passenger train noticed a "rough spot" in the curved track but didn't report it, according to National Transportation Safety Board documents released Thursday.

Four passengers were killed and 36 seriously injured when 21 train cars derailed April 18.

Much of the investigation has focused on the condition of the CSX tracks, which had needed frequent repairs at that spot.

The engineer and assistant engineer of the Silver Meteor, which passed over the same area a day earlier, said the track caused their engine to rock and "seemed to be out of line to the outside of the curve," investigators wrote.

"Both crew members indicated that they mentioned it out loud to each other but didn't believe that it was serious enough to report to the train dispatcher," they said.

Former U.S. Sen. Mack backs McCollum's bid

Republican Bill McCollum picked up a high-profile supporter of his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign Thursday: former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack.

"At this important juncture in our nation's history, it is critical that President Bush have a conservative voice in Florida he can count on, and I believe strongly Bill McCollum is that voice," said Mack, whose seat McCollum tried to capture in 2000 but lost to Democrat Bill Nelson. "Bill McCollum will win and win big, and he deserves to."

Mack will be McCollum's honorary campaign chairman.

McCollum, a former congressman from Longwood, faces a likely primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who has nearly $2-million in a campaign account.

Both Republicans say they are likely to run for the seat even if it means facing Bob Graham, the Democratic incumbent considering a run for president.

Man killed in Polk after chase was from Tampa

LAKE WALES -- Authorities on Thursday identified a man who was shot to death in Polk County Tuesday afternoon at the end of a multicounty chase of two robbers that began in Orange County.

He was Gregory Michael Verzino, 34, of Tampa, who had an extensive arrest record in Hillsborough County.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to search for Verzino's cohort, who is thought to have committed more crimes since, including a carjacking and an armed robbery Thursday in Orange County. He is still unidentified.

The pursuit Tuesday began after two men robbed two stores in Orange County. Driving a stolen car, then a hijacked pickup, they were chased through Osceola County, then into northeastern Polk County, where the chase ended and Verzino was gunned down by Osceola deputies as he jumped from the vehicle brandishing what turned out to be a BB gun.

The second man eluded a large manhunt in the area, then carjacked a van in a supermarket lot near the Osceola-Polk county line Wednesday, officials said.

-- Staff, wire and Ledger reports

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