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Around the state
By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 24, 2001
Judge halts jury selection in case of ex-FBI agent
FORT LAUDERDALE -- The judge in the trial of an ex-FBI agent charged with causing a fatal wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 halted jury selection to find out if potential jurors discussed the case in a courthouse hallway.
Circuit Judge Marc Gold ordered 12 members of the original jury pool of 50 to appear before him on Monday.
"This is a very serious matter," Gold said. "My concern is whether this panel is tainted beyond what we know."
Penalties could range from fines to community service to jail time, though the judge gave no indication of whether he would apply any penalties.
Big Cypress closed to off-road vehicles
MIAMI -- The National Park Service is closing Big Cypress National Preserve to off-road vehicles for 45 days this summer to ease pressure on the Everglades reserve in a move opposed by hunters.
Off-road vehicles will be banned starting July 6 under a park management plan recently adopted in response to a congressional call for vehicle regulation in the park protecting much of the western Everglades since 1974.
"The National Park Service has a congressional mandate to restore the wilderness character of the preserve, and a period without motorized vehicles will help us meet that obligation," preserve superintendent John Donahue said in a statement Friday.
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