Discovered ballots won't be part of official results
By Times staff writers
Published November 30, 2004
Florida's official election results will not include the 280 votes that Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark found about two weeks after the November election.
By that time, the state canvassing board had already closed the books on the election.
Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State, said Monday that the state cannot include Pinellas' new returns because a state law prohibits it. Any votes counted after Florida's deadline should be ignored, the law says.
None of the uncounted votes in Pinellas would have changed the outcome of a race. The missing votes will be counted in races for county offices such as sheriff and county commission.
Jury still deliberating fate of ex-housing director
TAMPA - After a third day of deliberations, the jury deciding the fate of former city housing director Steve LaBrake went home Monday without rendering a verdict. So far, the 12 jurors have deliberated for about 15 hours. They return today to continue their work.
LaBrake and his wife, Lynne LaBrake, are accused of taking a series of bribes and gratuities to build a 4,200-square-foot home and, in turn, steering millions of dollars in U.S. Housing and Urban Development contracts to the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan and Ryan Construction.
