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Friday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Task Force: 'Stand your ground' law should stand
The Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection released its report on the controversial "Stand Your Ground" law, and it recommends that the law not be overturned. The Task Force delivered their final report Friday morning to the Florida Senate President, Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and the Executive Office of the Governor. [Source: 13News.] An excerpt from the report:
- The Task Force concurs with the core belief that all persons, regardless of citizenship status, have a right to feel safe and secure in our state. To that end, all persons who are conducting themselves in a lawful manner have a fundamental right to stand their ground and defend themselves from attack with proportionate force in every place they have a lawful right to be.
- The Task Force recommends the Legislature examine the term “unlawful activity” as used in Chapter 776...
The rest of the report is here (PDF format).
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The past five years have seen the re-emergence of bus transportation, with a number of companies providing intrastate bus travel on comfortable coaches with competitive fares, more routes and a focus on speed and convenience. |
Cuba's Raul Castro mentions possible retirement
Cuban President Raul Castro has unexpectedly raised the possibility of leaving his post. During a joint appearance with visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday, Castro said, "I am going to be 82 years old. I have the right to retire, don't you think?" The Cuban leader is scheduled to be sworn in to a new five-year term on Sunday. Castro urged reporters to listen to his speech that day. [Source: AP]
Public smoking ban in Florida introduced by new Senate bill
Florida's Senate Regulated Industries Committee unanimously approved a smoking ban in outdoor spaces by empowering local cities and counties to pass stricter smoking laws than the state. Although the measure passed unanimously on Thursday with the support of health organization such as American Heart Association to the Moffitt Cancer Center, there was some pushback from one interest group: restaurants. [Source: Huffington Post]
» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming next week to FloridaTrend.com:
- Guy Harvey and the Art of the Deal: Fish painter Guy Harvey wants to push his brand nationally. Can he pull it off?
- The 2013 Florida Legislative Preview: A roundup of what interest groups, lawmakers and the governor are seeking from the annual legislative session -- from fast-track foreclosures to education.
- Advocacy Report: Meet Florida's top lobbyists
- Update on the Wekiva Parkway: Work is underway on the $1.7 billion Wekiva Parkway northwest of Orlando. The parkway is the final link of a beltway around Orlando's urban core.
» You'll find all these stories first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.
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Good weekend to visit a top beach Trip Advisor has named nine of Florida's beaches to their "Top 25 Beaches in the United States" list. Below is how Florida's beaches ranked:
[Photo: Tampa Bay Times]
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2. Siesta Key Public Beach, Sarasota (shown in photo at left)
Today's Daily Pulse was compiled by Joyce Edmondson
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