By Compiled from Times wires
Published May 14, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - The state Board of Administration agreed Tuesday to let the Florida Prepaid College Board, which has a $3.5-billion portfolio, buy tobacco stocks again if it sees them as good investments.
Such investments were banned in 1997 when Gov. Lawton Chiles was in the midst of a lawsuit that netted the state more than $13-billion from tobacco companies.
Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, who moved to eliminate the investment ban, said the state should be free to buy stocks based on potential yields.
"That doesn't mean we say, "You must invest in tobacco,' " Gallagher said. "What we are saying is, we don't believe we should tell you cannot invest in tobacco."
Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist, the other two board members, also supported lifting the ban. Bush said what's important is maximum return, not "social and political statements."
Tallahassee lobbyist Patrick Kennedy said he was disappointed with the decision. Kennedy represents the Triagency Coalition on Smoking or Health, comprising the Florida units of the American Lung Association, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.
Tom Wallace, executive director of the Florida Prepaid College Board, said about 95 percent of the board's portfolio is invested in treasury bills.
Kidnapper: Stress made me do it
MIAMI - A man who kidnapped a mail carrier at gunpoint and forced her to lead police on a chase in her mail truck testified Tuesday that he did it under the stress of threats by his ex-girlfriend to kill herself and their two children.
Nevia Abraham conceded he did everything he was charged with, but his attorney is using a rarely successful defense, claiming his actions were legally justified by necessity. Deliberations were to begin today. In his second day on the witness stand, Abraham, 38, said the only thing he had in mind was to "save the kids," his 2- and 4-year-old sons, and wasn't thinking clearly when he kidnapped mail carrier Tonya Mitchell Jan. 20.
He has said he planned to make Mitchell drive to his ex-girlfriend's house and get her to open the door, at which point he would rush in and grab his sons.
Prosecutor Bruce Brown devoted his cross-examination to showing that Abraham didn't talk about threats to his sons in the five hours of the chase and standoff and seven hours of police questioning.
Board to run Edison, Ford homes
FORT MYERS - Thomas Edison's and Henry Ford's winter homes will be managed by a nonprofit board under a compromise struck to preserve the landmarks and end a 16-month fight over the neighboring tourist attractions' future.
The deal approved Monday by the City Council appeased the New Jersey-based Charles Edison Fund, which claims ownership of about one-third of the artifacts displayed at the inventor's decaying estate and threatened to take them back if an independent board was not appointed.
The 36-member Edison-Ford Winter Estates Foundation pledged to begin raising $3-million for the estates now that the city is relinquishing control. About 325,000 people visit the attractions each year.
About $17-million is needed to stabilize the damage to homes, pool, laboratory and museum on Edison's property and restore the estate to its appearance during the Edisons' winter visits from 1886 to 1931. The Ford home is in good repair.
Mina Edison, Edison's second wife, deeded the estate to the city in 1947. In 1989, the city purchased the home of Ford, who was Edison's neighbor, friend and business partner.
