Around the state

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 7, 2000

Bush gives former senator Broward commission seat

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday appointed former Republican state Sen. Jim Scott to the Broward County Commission to replace a Democrat who is in jail.

Scott, 58, a Fort Lauderdale attorney, is the first Republican to serve on the commission in heavily Democratic Broward since 1992. He served 24 years in the Senate, including two as Senate president, before being forced out this year by term limits.

Commissioner Scott Cowan stepped down Nov. 27 after being sentenced to six months in jail for misspending campaign funds. He allegedly wrote checks to fictional people and bought furniture for his home with campaign money.

Scott will serve the two years left in Cowan's term. If he seeks election in 2002, he will have to move because he lives outside the district. As an appointee, he is not required to live in the district.

Police question Simpson about traffic altercation

MIAMI -- Prosecutors said they are waiting for police to finish their investigation before deciding whether to file charges against O.J. Simpson in connection with a traffic altercation earlier this week.

"The investigation remains open," Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office spokesman Don Ungurait said Wednesday. Detectives interviewed Simpson and his attorney Wednesday about Monday's incident, police spokesman Lupo Jimenez said. He did not know the attorney's name.

Motorist Jeffrey Pattinson, 55, accuses Simpson of reaching into his car, pulling off his glasses and causing a small facial scratch during a traffic dispute, police said.

Pattinson said Simpson stopped his Lincoln Navigator and confronted him after he honked his horn at Simpson for running a stop sign in suburban Kendall.

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