Hurricane Charley now blamed for 27 Florida deaths
By wire services
Published August 27, 2004
Officials on Thursday added two people to the Florida death toll blamed on Hurricane Charley, raising the total to 27.
The added deaths were in Brevard County, where a man died Monday from injuries suffered in an accident involving power lines; and in Lee County, where a man died Tuesday of head wounds suffered when he was cutting on a tree and struck by falling limbs.
Judge: high speed rail repeal can stay on ballot
TALLAHASSEE - Signatures collected for a ballot proposal to scrap the Florida bullet train are valid, a judge ruled Thursday.
In 2000, voters ordered the state to build the high-speed rail project, which is in initial planning phases. But a group called Derail the Bullet Train collected enough signatures to put the question back before voters this November, arguing that it should be repealed because it will cost too much.
Train backers challenged the repeal petitions because they don't include the names and addresses of paid signature collectors, which they contend state law requires.
But Circuit Judge Kevin Davey rejected the challenge, saying it's not clear that the law requires that.
The Legislature in 1997 approved a measure that would require collectors' names on petitions, but parts of it were dependent on a 1998 constitutional amendment's passing, and it did not. Davey said the Legislature has never clarified the situation, so he let the measure stay on the ballot.
