Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

News & Notes

By TIMES STAFF
Published November 29, 2005

Three weekends, three shark attacks

Another weekend in New Smyrna Beach, another shark bite. A shark bit a 23-year-old surfer Sunday near a jetty where another attack happened one week ago, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The man, who suffered cuts to his right thumb, was surfing near where a 17-year-old Winter Springs teen was bitten on the thigh Nov. 20. Another shark bite occurred the previous weekend. Volusia County had three unprovoked shark attacks last year, the most in Florida, according to the International Shark Attack File.

Miami-Dade workers' health leads to wealth

It pays not to get sick in Miami-Dade County government. Since 2003, Miami-Dade paid more than $42-million to county employees for sick time they didn't use, the Miami Herald reports. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, for example, got $217,622 when he left last year as police director, the newspaper reported. That covered 51 weeks of unused sick time. The amount is calculated at the employee's current rate of pay, even if accumulated over decades. Since 2003, 19 people got $100,000 or more. Defenders say the policy encourages productivity; critics say it's excessive. Alvarez says it's a simple deal: "It's your time. You've earned it."

NEWS QUIZ

According to the International Shark Attack File, how many unprovoked shark attacks occurred worldwide in 2004? (For you know-it-alls: How many of those were in Florida?)

Panhandle's Katrina student flood receding

Hurricane Katrina sent more than 6,000 displaced students into Florida schools, but the flood is receding, the Pensacola News-Journal reports. Schools in northwest Florida were particularly affected. Escambia County took in 985 Katrina students. That number is now down to 443. Santa Rosa County had 470; now it's 183. "They are not returning to their homes so much as they are returning to the locale where they came from," Santa Rosa School District assistant superintendent Tim Wyrosdick told the newspaper. "A lot of them still don't have homes to return to."

Ethics panel's attorney needs a lawyer himself

A Tampa lawyer wouldn't back down - even from police. Tom Scarritt, chairman of the Florida Commission on Ethics and legal counsel for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, was jailed early Sunday after getting in the middle of a neighborhood fight, police said. Despite officers' warnings to back off, Scarritt grew "very belligerent" as he spewed profanities and told officers they were "wasting their time," said police spokesman Joe Durkin. Scarritt, 48, was charged with obstructing an officer without violence, a misdemeanor. Scarritt has hired Tampa powerhouse lawyer John Fitzgibbons of Debra Lafave fame.

ANSWER

(There were 12 in Florida.)

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 17:19:03]