Briefs
December 06,2001
SIMPSON SEARCH
O.J.’s name absent during hearing
MIAMI - O.J. Simpson’s name failed to surface Wednesday
during initial court appearances for eight defendants accused
of participating in an Ecstasy drug ring.
Federal agents arrested 11 people in completing a 2-year
investigation, called Operation X. Simpson, whose house was
searched Tuesday, was not among those arrested, and his lawyer
said the former football star had done nothing wrong.
The Miami Herald reported in Wednesday’s editions that
federal agents stumbled across Simpson’s voice in wire-tapped
conversations. The paper reported that Simpson was heard on
several occasions talking with a suspected trafficker about
buying Ecstasy for himself and his "lady friends."
Galanter said Wednesday that Simpson was only mentioned
once on the tape by people he does not know and that served as
the basis for the search warrant. He said his name was among
several mentioned on the wiretap.
PLANE CRASH
Small jet’s cockpit recorder blank
PITTSBURGH - The cockpit voice recorder from a private jet
that crashed on Thanksgiving Day, killing two Florida crewmen,
is blank, leaving investigators little clues to what happened
before the accident, the airplane’s owner said.
The 30-minute tape recovered from the plane’s cockpit voice
recorder either malfunctioned or was taped over, erasing what
was said before the plane veered left about halfway down the
runway at Pittsburgh International Airport, crashed into a
fence and burst into flames during takeoff.
Both men, Universal employees, survived the crash, but died
of smoke inhalation trying to escape.
JOB GROWTH
Gov. Bush praises cities for growth
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday a U.S.
Department of Labor report that ranks four Florida cities
among the top 10 in the nation for new jobs shows the state’s
job market is growing again.
"This is very encouraging news for Florida, exemplifying
our strength and the diversity of our economy," Bush said in a
statement.
The report, which covers employment and unemployment in the
nation’s metropolitan areas for the month of October, was
released last week. The data compiled to generate the report
reflect the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The monthly report listed the Tampa-St. Petersburg-
Clearwater region as leading the nation in job growth. The
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton region was ranked third, Orlando
was fourth, and Jacksonville tenth.
OFFSHORE DRILLING
Fourteen companies bid for oil leases
NEW ORLEANS - Fourteen petroleum exploration companies
issued $340.5 million in high bids Wednesday in the first sale
of federal offshore leases near the Florida coast in more than
a decade.
As the Minerals Management Service sold 95 tracts for
possible oil and natural gas production, environmentalists
promised to continue their opposition to Florida-area drilling
and said they would attempt to block production on the sites.
The area that was auctioned is at least 100 miles from the
shorelines of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi and the eastern
edge is 285 miles from Tampa Bay.
CLINIC FOUNDER
Founder of migrant health clinic hit by car
DELRAY BEACH - The founder of a free health clinic for
migrant workers was in critical condition Wednesday after
being struck by a car.
Caridad Asensio, 70, is director and founder of the Migrant
Association of South Florida and the Caridad Health Clinic,
which provides free medical, dental and vision services to
more than 1,500 migrant workers a month.
Asensio’s family said she was hit by a car in Boca Raton on
Monday night while walking from her house to a friend’s home.
No charges have been filed against the driver.
DOLPHIN DEATH
Dolphin who charmed children dies
CLEARWATER - Sunset Sam, a dolphin who provided therapy for
disabled children and learned how to paint with acrylics, has
died after 17 years in captivity.
The Atlantic bottlenose dolphin died Tuesday at the
Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Handlers were not certain of the
cause of death, but Sunset Sam suffered from chronic liver
problems which had prevented his release into the wild.
Sunset Sam had not been feeling well for the past few
months, said Dennis Kellenberger, executive director of the
aquarium who was one of the dolphin’s rescuers when he was
found beached in Old Tampa Bay in 1984.
AIR RAGE
New York man pleads guilty in incident
TAMPA - A man who disrupted a U.S. Airways flight from New
York to Tampa and threatened the "plane was going to crash"
plead guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of interfering with
a flight crew.
Manuel Soto, 41, of New York City, faces up to 20 years in
prison for the Sept. 7 incident aboard a flight from La
Guardia International Airport.
Prosecutors said Soto’s threats of the plane crashing and
his statement that he "was going to heaven because God loved
him" frightened passengers and crew members.
A sentencing date was not set.
DEATH APPEAL
Murder conviction overturned
TAMPA - A man on death row since 1984 deserves a new trial,
a Tampa judge ruled Wednesday, concluding that evidence
withheld from his attorney might have changed the outcome of
the trial.
Juan Melendez, 50, was condemned for the murder of Delbert
Baker in Polk County.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Circuit Judge Barbara Fleischer
noted that there was no physical evidence against Melendez and
that jurors did not get to hear important facts about the
state’s two witnesses, which might have discredited their
testimony.
CUBAN SPIES
Visas sought for convicted spies’ family
HAVANA - The government here said Wednesday it is seeking
U.S. visas for relatives of five Cuban agents so they can be
with them in Miami when their sentences are announced later
this month.
The announcement of the government’s visas’ request came on
a nightly state television program, which was dedicated
Wednesday to the five agents.
Four of the six visa requests made with the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana have been granted thus far, said the
program’s moderator, Randy Alonso. The relatives were not
identified and no details about their travel plans were
released.
Alonso said the first of the sentencing hearings was
scheduled for Monday. - From wire services
