MIAMI -- A mother was arrested and accused of punching her 5-year-old son's teacher in the head outside the principal's office, Miami-Dade school officials said.

Quanwanis Heath said she was upset because her son wandered away from school during lunch Wednesday. Heath and her husband found the kindergartener, who is learning disabled, walking in the street without shoes or a jacket about two hours later.

Heath later went to the principal's office at Biscayne Gardens Community School to get an explanation for what occurred. Trouble started when the mother ran into her son's teacher in the hallway.

Heath reportedly hit the unidentified teacher twice in the head and tried to kick her, said school spokesman Alberto Carvalho. Two school employees had to pull Heath, 36, off the woman.

Heath was charged with assault and posted a $5,000 bond.

The teacher was not seriously injured.

Heath said her son walked about 10 blocks, crossing busy streets. The school has launched an investigation into the incident.

Heath had complained to the school once before about the kind of supervision her son was receiving at school. Two months ago, the 5-year-old was reported missing for several hours after failing to get on his private school bus, Carvalho said. He later turned up safe.

Two killed in shooting at reputed drug house

HAVANA, Fla. -- Four people were shot Thursday in a home neighbors and police said was the center of drug activity. Two of the victims died as they were being flown to a Tallahassee hospital.

The other two victims underwent surgery. No information was immediately available on the identities of the man and three women.

The shooting occurred southeast of Havana, a small town about 14 miles north of Tallahassee.

Proposal would target DUI through blood samples

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Highway Patrol is sponsoring legislation that would force health care providers, at the request of a law enforcement officer, to take blood samples from auto crash victims to determine blood-alcohol levels.

"It is an attempt to turn the physician into a law enforcement officer of the state," said Randall Marshall, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

The new rules would apply only when serious injuries or a fatality occurred during an auto crash.

Suspect in mercy killing can post bail for release

DELAND -- An 80-year-old man accused of shooting his 74-year-old wife in a mercy killing can go home on house arrest if he can post $40,000 bail, a Volusia County judge ruled Thursday.

Leo Visco, 80, told authorities he shot his wife, Eva, in the head Dec. 26 after she begged him to end her years of suffering. Visco said he was supposed to turn the .22-caliber revolver on himself.

Investigators initially thought Eva Visco was suffering from cancer, but an autopsy found no cancer or any other terminal illness.

Phone call takes stage in abortion doctor's trial

OCALA -- An abortion doctor on trial for attempted extortion told a county official that he would agree not to open a clinic in Ocala in exchange for $1-million, according to a taped conversation played for jurors Thursday.

Jurors heard the 1998 telephone conversation between Dr. James Scott Pendergraft and Marion County Commission Chairman Larry Cretul on the second day of testimony in the federal trial of Pendergraft and his real estate adviser, Michael Spielvogel.

Pendergraft is charged with conspiracy, attempted extortion and mail fraud and could face 30 years in prison if convicted. Spielvogel faces the same charges plus two additional charges of filing a false document and making false statements to the FBI. He could face 40 years in prison if convicted.

Pendergraft has said he did nothing wrong.

Pendergraft sued Marion County and the city of Ocala shortly after the clinic opened because they wouldn't let their law enforcement officers work off-duty guarding the clinic.

Prosecutors say Pendergraft and Spielvogel attempted extortion when they told a Marion County attorney during a March 1999 meeting that they would seek damages of $100-million and bankrupt the county if a settlement wasn't reached.

Under cross-examination Thursday, Cretul conceded that he opposes abortion and believed the clinic presence in Ocala would lead to violence.

Veteran operative to take helm of Republican Party

TALLAHASSEE -- Veteran Republican operative and campaign worker David Johnson will return to the state's Republican Party as executive director at the end of this month.

He will replace Jamie Wilson, who is leaving to work in a private lobbying firm.

Johnson, 41, previously worked as deputy executive director of the state GOP, and for the past two years he has worked as a political consultant for Tidewater Consulting, running campaigns.

Graham wants voters to preserve regents

TALLAHASSEE -- U.S. Sen. Bob Graham pledged Thursday to take protection of the state's Board of Regents to Florida voters.

Graham said abolishing the Regents -- the board that administers public higher education in Florida -- would push the 10 state-run universities toward "pervasive mediocrity." Instead, Graham proposed an amendment to the state Constitution, making the board a permanent fixture in Florida.

Giving the Legislature carte blanche over funding for the universities, he maintained, threatens academic freedom and encourages infighting between state schools for limited state funds.

Gov. Jeb Bush said he's confident that a task force will provide recommendations "to protect the statewide focus of our education system, but give more authority and flexibility to our universities."

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Lucy Morgan

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