UCF to study possibility of starting medical school
By Times Staff and Wire Reports
Published November 15, 2003
ORLANDO - University of Central Florida leaders are examining the possibility of building a medical school.
"We simply need a medical school to be the kind of player we need to be in the biotech and biomedical fields," university president John Hitt told the board of trustees Thursday.
Hitt conceded it would be "an expensive and costly proposition." Experts are divided on whether Orlando needs a medical school, and UCF officials may have a tough time convincing state lawmakers of the need.
"How many more medical schools do you need?" said Senate President Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican. "We're bereft of funds as it is."
UCF now has an agreement with the University of South Florida to let students study three years in Orlando and the final four at USF's medical school in Tampa.
Besides public medical schools at Florida State, USF and the University of Florida, privately run University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale have medical degree programs.
Rubio secures support for speakership in 2007-08
TALLAHASSEE - Florida House Majority Leader Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, has secured enough votes from fellow lawmakers to become speaker in the 2007-08 term if Republicans maintain a majority in the House, members said Friday.
Rubio, a 32-year-old lawyer, would be the first Cuban-American speaker in Florida history and the first speaker from Miami-Dade in 30 years. He would succeed Allan Bense of Panama City, who takes charge a year from now.
Rep. David Simmons, R-Longwood, was one of several rivals for speaker who ended his campaign and urged his backers to support Rubio.
"A lot of people are relieved that the race is over and we can get on to the important policy decisions," Simmons said. "It was a distraction."
Simmons said some lawmakers were initially reluctant to support Rubio because he is from a county seen as too powerful already. But Rubio was aware of that perception "and is going to be extra careful to assure equity for the entire state," Simmons said.
Rep. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, said the momentum shifted to Rubio this week after his chief rival, Rep. Dennis Ross of Lakeland, ended his quest for the speakership. Ross said he decided the grueling campaign for speaker was taking too much time from his family and his law practice.
Woman gets probation in day care drugging case
ORLANDO - A former day care worker will be on supervised probation for four years for giving prescription cough medicine to two infants to quiet them down.
Gloria Saunders, 56, of Apopka, a former worker at First Baptist Church of Apopka Christian Education Ministry, pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of a child Thursday. Orange Circuit Judge Frederick Lauten withheld an adjudication of guilt, and prosecutors dropped a third charge of delivery of a controlled substance.
Lauten also ordered Saunders not to have unsupervised contact with children under age 14 and said she cannot work in a place where the supervision of children is involved.
Another worker at the day care center said she saw Saunders give two fussy infants the cough medication containing codeine in August 2002. The medicine had been prescribed for a teenager.
The infants did not suffer any known ill effects.
Man charged in boating death of environmentalist
WINTER HAVEN - A man faces a reckless driving charge for the boating death of an environmentalist who helped found Florida's Sierra Club chapter.
Floyd Tucker, 53, was charged Nov. 3 in the death of Richard Coleman, who died July 18 after his boat collided with one being driven the opposite direction by Tucker in a narrow channel of the Dead River between Lake Hatchineha and Lake Cypress on the Polk-Osceola line. Coleman's three passengers, including his daughter, Jessica, were injured.
Besides his work with the Sierra Club, Coleman, 59, was credited with championing the Kissimmee River restoration.
Man who killed prankster in his yard is charged
WEST PALM BEACH - A Boca Raton man charged with manslaughter in the death of a teen prankster posted $15,000 bail and was put under house arrest Friday.
Jay Steven Levin, a 40-year-old accountant, fatally shot a 16-year-old who was playing a late-night prank in his neighborhood Oct. 24.
Mark Drewes and a friend were knocking on doors and running away. According to a sheriff's report, Levin said he was groggy from sleep when he answered the knock at his door armed with a handgun and mistook the 6-foot-2 teen for a burglar. Drewes was shot in the back as he ran, the report said.
Levin will be allowed to leave his home for his job.
Former lawmaker to enter Women's Hall of Fame
TALLAHASSEE - Mary Grizzle, a former Pinellas County lawmaker, will be inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame Monday.
Grizzle served in the Florida House from 1963 until 1978, when she was elected to the state Senate. She left the Senate in 1992.
A staunch supporter of environmental protections, Grizzle, 82, lives in Belleair Shore. She was the first Republican woman elected to the Legislature and the first woman to serve in a leadership position.
Grizzle will be joined by two other Hall of Fame inductees: singer Gloria Estafan of Miami and Sarah Ann Blocker, the late founder of Florida Memorial College.
Ceremonies honoring the three will be at the Capitol. They were selected by Gov. Jeb Bush from 10 women nominated by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.
Man gets life for murder using gift-wrapped bomb
JACKSONVILLE - A former air traffic controller was sentenced to life in prison Friday for delivering a bomb wrapped in Christmas paper to the doorstep of his ex-wife, who died when it exploded as she unwrapped it.
Circuit Judge Waddell Wallace followed the wishes of the jury that convicted William Joe Jarvis, 42, of first-degree murder on Oct. 10 in the January 2001 death of Lillian Jarvis, who was living with her parents.
The Hilliard man also received three other life sentences on convictions resulting from the fire and injuries to other family members.
Prosecutors claimed Jarvis killed his wife to avoid alimony and child support payments.
