Digest

Dateline Florida

By Times Wires
Published September 13, 2007

Student runner's deathruled accidental drowning

The 15-year-old honors student whose body was found in a Davie lake after a cross-country meet drowned. "There is no question that this was an accidental drowning," Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County's chief medical examiner, told the Miami Herald. "We found sand in the mouth and upper airway." Corey McKenzie likely suffered from heat exposure or heat stroke and went into the lake to cool off, he said. When he tried to get out, he became tangled in the mud and perhaps lost consciousness, Perper said, adding that the teen could have been disoriented. There was no trauma to his body. Davie police say McKenzie started the race with his teammates and was last seen Monday at the 1-mile mark.

State, Brevard County are on her no-fly list

Update on the bizarre space love triangle: The military has entered a protective order that forbids former astronaut Lisa Nowak from going to Brevard County - home to the woman she's accused of at-tacking - for any reason. The order also prohibits Nowak from coming to Florida except for court, the Associated Press reported. Nowak, 44, is accused of driving from Houston to Orlando to confront Colleen Shipman over a love triangle also involving ex-astronaut Bill Oefelein.

A burning desire to kill cockroaches backfires

Two boys, ages 8 and 10, ended up burning down their grandparents' Broward County home over the weekend as they tried to burn cockroaches using rubbing alcohol and a lighter, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The extermination experiment went awry when the boys' bed caught on fire. Flames engulfed the bedroom and spread throughout the house, which did not have a smoke detector. No one was hurt. The boys most likely will be required to attend a youth fire prevention and education program, officials told the newspaper.

Correction

The Palladium Theater was donated to St. Petersburg College. A story in Tuesday's Times was incorrect on this point.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 00:24:27]