Digest

Dateline Florida

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 19, 2007

Summit on global warming gains some political muscle

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming to Florida next month to "pump you up" about global warming. He will be the keynote speaker for Gov. Charlie Crist's global warming summit in Miami. In a statement, Crist said Florida is "more vulnerable to rising ocean levels and violent weather patterns than any other state." The July 12-13 summit is expected to explore alternative fuels and other technologies to help reduce greenhouse gases. Crist and Schwarzenegger also are among the 800, 000 people who have joined the Stop Global Warming Virtual March (www.StopGlobalWarming.org). It's like a protest march, but not, because it's only in cyberspace.

Thief strolls into fire station, drives away with truck

The 17-year-old had befriended firefighters at two east Hillsborough fire stations. But Saturday, officials say, he posed as an engine repair technician and swiped a fire truck from a third station. Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said someone showed up at Station 7 on Bloomingdale Avenue claiming to work for an Ocala company that services engines, then drove off in one. The engine was found Monday morning, safe and sound at a construction site at Causeway Boulevard and 86th Street in Tampa. Firefighters had treated the teen like a little brother, Yeakley said. He was charged with grand theft and making a false 911 report.

Burglary 101: If it has fangs, don't grab it

Another item for the crime-doesn't-pay file: A 20-year-old man is in a hospital after being bitten several times by venomous snakes. The Summitry County Sheriff's Office told the Orlando Sentinel that the man was bitten while stealing the reptiles from a Bushnell home. After he was bitten, the man went to a nearby Wal-Mart, where employees called for help. A subsequent search of his car revealed boxes containing two rock rattlesnakes, a rat snake, a Southern hognose and a tangerine Honduran milk snake, such as the one shown at left. Police had not arrested him Monday afternoon because he was still in the hospital receiving antivenin treatment.

[Last modified June 19, 2007, 01:07:33]