Digest

Dateline Florida

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 14, 2007

HAUNTING BEAUTY BLOOMS AGAIN IN CORKSCREW SWAMP

A rare ghost orchid, first seen in July in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, is blooming again, the Miami Herald reports. The plant is believed to grow naturally only in Cuba, the Bahamas and southwest Florida. The blossom is white and has thin, spindly stems that virtually disappear against the dark backdrop of the swamps in which it thrives, giving it the appearance of being suspended in midair. The plant is a central character in Susan Orlean's celebrated The Orchid Thief, a 1998 book about a rogue plant dealer in southwest Florida who is arrested for taking the rare orchid and other species from the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve southwest of Naples.

Miami news anchor and his TV make the crime log

It wasn't hard for thieves to guess when Charles Billi would be out. The Miami newsman anchors WSVN's weekend news shows at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. After Saturday's last broadcast, a police officer called to tell Billi his Miami Shores home had been hit. "He said, 'Charles, you're not going to like this. Your TV is in the middle of your front yard,' " Billi recounted to Florida Today. The thieves apparently dropped Billi's high-def TV after being seen by a neighbor. They took about 300 DVDs, watches, electronics and a big jar of spare change, Billi said. "Every piece of furniture was flipped upside down," he said. "They trashed the place."

Bulletproof glass steels nerves of bank's tellers

Just say no. That's what tellers at a Fort Lauderdale bank did Monday when a pair of would-be robbers demanded money. The tellers were protected by 3 inches of bulletproof glass, so they simply refused to comply and went to the back of the bank, Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Kathy Collins told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. One of the men had a .45-caliber handgun; the other was waving an AK-47, police said. They ordered everyone to the ground. When their demand for money was not met, they fled in a gold Toyota Camry.

[Last modified August 13, 2007, 23:28:06]