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Former DCF chief gets another job with the state

By Staff and wire reports
Published February 16, 2007

Lucy Hadi, the state's top child welfare official until a Pinellas-centered ruckus over mentally ill jail inmates in the fall, is assuming a top job at the state Education Department. The former secretary of the Department of Children and Families will begin work March 1 as the department's first chancellor of workforce and economic development. She'll make $132,000 a year. Hadi resigned as head of the DCF in December, a day after Pinellas Circuit Judge Crockett Farnell fined her $80,000 for ignoring his orders to move mentally ill jail inmates to hospitals, as required by Florida law. The agency acknowledged it needed more money to accommodate more than 300 inmates statewide who needed hospital beds. Hadi is a 36-year veteran of state government.

Naval officer dies aboard assault ship

Petty Officer 2nd Class Laquita Pate James, 23, died Monday of apparent natural causes while deployed aboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, according to the Defense Department. The cause of death is under investigation. James was a Navy master-at-arms in Iraqi support operations off the Horn of Africa.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 01:48:03]