State legislator being deployed to Afghanistan
By TIMES WIRES
Published November 22, 2006
Freshman Democratic state Rep. Michael Scionti of Tampa, the only Florida House member who is an Iraq war veteran, is about to get some experience on another war front. He's headed to Afghanistan. Scionti, a captain in the Army Reserve, leaves for Afghanistan Monday. He will be gone for less than a month on an intelligence mission and plans to return before Christmas. The short deployment will not affect his ability to represent District 58, he said. Scionti, who was in Tallahassee Tuesday to be formally sworn in, already has two bills in the works and is co-sponsoring another this week.
Showing off loot online not good idea
Memo to burglars: Don't photograph yourself with the loot. And if you're dumb enough to do so, don't post the pictures on MySpace. Hillsborough County deputies say that's precisely what two teens, ages 14 and 16, did after stealing guns, jewelry, computers and televisions. On Monday, deputies accused seven people - three of them minors - of grand theft in an Apollo Beach burglary. The St. Petersburg Times isn't naming the minors. The adult suspects: Jeremy A. Russell, 19, Toya D. Wingfield, 19, Ryan C. Taylor, 18, and Jamar K. Sampson, 23.
Actor claims he's unfairly targeted
He's a scapegoat, actor Wesley Snipes says. Snipes, who was indicted recently on tax fraud charges, told an Orlando newspaper columnist that he is being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors. "It appears I'm to be the scapegoat, because there's more public interest in 'celebrities gone bad' than 'rich people being taken advantage of,' " Snipes, 44, wrote over the weekend in an e-mail to Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell. Snipes is accused of fraudulently claiming refunds totaling nearly $12-million in 1996 and 1997 paid. The star of the Blade trilogy and other films was also charged with failing to file returns from 1999 through 2004. "I'm not running, I'm not a fugitive, despite the misrepresentations in the press," wrote Snipes, who is said to be in Namibia filming a movie.