Oil Companies Plan: Drill In Florida Panther Habitat

Matthew Schwartz, a transplanted Brooklynite, fell in love with the South Florida wilderness. After learning what the oil industry has planned for the region - plans that he says threatened the Florida panther to a greater degree than first believed, Schwartz began researching the number of official permits were issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He was concerned enough that he plans to attend a meeting in Naples on March 11 to discuss oil well wast water with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, one of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times' blogs reports.

Among some of his findings, Schwartz discovered that the Dan A. Hughes Co. of Beeville, Texas has leased the mineral rights on approximately 115,000 acres from Collier Resources, including a well next to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The lease also includes large portions of the panther refuge, as well as part of the Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Schwartz also found two more leases issued by Collier Resources.

To read the article on the Broward/Palm Beach New Times' blog in its entirety, click here.

School Bus Driver Credited For Helping Save 6-year Old

A St. Johns County School District bus driver alertness helped keep a 6-year-old safe recently, possibly saving the child's life. Driver Bill Buckley was approaching the first-grader's bus stop when a car driving behind the bus sped up to pass the bus, which already had its stop signals out and red lights flashing. Meanwhile, the first-grader ran into the street toward the bus, according to The Florida Times-Union. Buckley laid on the horn to alert the child, who stopped. Buckley's actions "saved his (the child's) life," according to his mother, Joy McMillen.

Buckley, who joined the district's transportation department on Jan. 29, 2013, has been honored by the school district.

To read The Florida Times-Union's article in its entirety, click here.

Probation For 'Affluenza' Teen After Fatal Crash

A Texas teen was sentenced to 10 years' probation in a drunk-driving case in which four people were killed. Prosecutors had asked Judge Jean Boyd to sentence Ethan Couch to 20 years in jail on charges that two people were severely injured, The Florida Times-Union reports. However, Couch received no jail time.

A defense expert testified that the teen's wealthy parents "coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility," naming the condition "affluenza." Defense attorney Reagan Wynn said that his client was "misunderstood."

To read the Florida Times-Union article in its entirety, click here.

Bitcoin Exchange CEO Arrested At JFK

The CEO of Bitinstant was arrested at JFK airport Sunday and charged with money laundering, according to Business Insider. Charlie Shrem, 24, of New York, New York, along with a co-conspirator, is accused of trading more than $1 million in bitcoins to Silk Road users, who then used the bitcoins to purchase illicit items, including drugs.

Shrem, who is also vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, and Robert Faiella, an alleged underground Bitcoin exhanger, are among the widening circle of arrests in the case, according to Forbes Magazine. Bitcoin payment processor BitInstant was Shrem's startup and had received $1.5 million in start-up funding "in an investment round led by Bitcoin moguls Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss," according to Forbes.

To read the Business Insider article, click here. To read the Forbes article, click here.

New Voting Rights Bill

A bipartisan group of legislators plans to announce the introduction of The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 in Congress today. The new bill is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder which invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the American Civil Liberties Union reports.

Last year's ruling invalidated "the coverage formula that determined which states and political subdivisions were subject to the law’s preclearance requirement," the ACLU release stated. Because the ruling did not strike down the preclearance requirement itself, it opened the door for Congress to "devise a new formula and other mechanisms" to protect minority voters' rights.

The bipartisan group includes Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT.), among others.

To read the release in its entirety, click here.

Scott Requests SCOTUS To Weigh In On Drug-Testing

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to fight a Miami federal judge's ruling on drug-testing state employees. During Scott's first year in office, he issued an executive order for state agencies to conduct random drug tests of state employees. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 79 sued on the grounds that it was unconstitutional, the Orlando Sentinel reports. In 2012, a Miami federal judge ruled that the order violated state employees' Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.

To read the Orlando Sentinel article, click here.

Franklin McCain Dies, Part of Greensboro Four

Franklin McCain, who, with three other college students, helped touch off the American civil rights movement, has died of respiratory ailments. He was 73. The Greensboro Four sat down at a Woolworth's lunch counter, knowing that they would not be served, The Washington Post reports.

The four were college freshmen at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, and included Mr. McCain, his roommate, David Richmond, and their friends Ezell Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil when they sat at the Woolworth's lunch counter on Feb. 1, 1960.

To read the entire article, click here.