Top Orlando Area Local News Stories
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<p> Seminole County Animal Services says it captured a pet monkey late Tuesday afternoon that escaped from its home.</p><p> The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was notified of the monkey on the loose in east Sanford. FWC confirmed it is not a wild monkey.</p><p> The monkey was impounded on Sugar Maple Court, according to Seminole County Animal Services.</p><p> Investigators said the monkey's owner has a valid permit to keep the monkey. </p><p> A FWC investigator will meet with the owner on Wednesday to inspect the facility to make sure it meets the proper requirements.</p><p> For now, the monkey will remain in custody at the Seminole County Animal Services building on Bush Boulevard in Sanford.</p>
Published: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:53:20 GMT
<p> Brevard County sheriff's deputies have released the identities on Tuesday of the two women who were found dead in a Mims home Monday afternoon.</p><p> Deputies said Kathrine Myers, 65, and Jerri Brown, 50, who they believe to be related, were found dead in their home on the 1800 block Hallum Avenue, just south of State Road 46 Monday afternoon.</p><p> A family member, who detectives think is the ex-husband of Myers and father of Brown, found them and called 911. Deputies identified that man as Jerry Lee Hawkins, 69, who is still hospitalized as of Tuesday.</p><p> Hawkins was taken to the hospital because he had some sort of upper-respiratory condition. They are waiting on his test results, deputies said. He suffers from Alzheimer's and dementia.</p><p> Deputies also released the 911 calls from Hawkins after he found the women.</p><p> "Yes I need someone to come out and to find out what’s wrong with two women, I can't get them awake," Hawkins told dispatchers.</p><p> According to a Brevard County sheriff's news release, Myers and Brown were found in separate bathrooms and appeared to be sleeping. Hawkins called authorities after he couldn't wake up either of the women.</p><p> Investigators said they haven't found any physical evidence suggesting injury or traumatic death. They believe it could be illness that killed the women, but they said they don't know for sure.</p><p> The Brevard County Medical Examiner is doing autopsies, which are expected to be back in a couple of weeks.</p>
Published: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:02:55 GMT
The 8th annual "Cars for the Cure" was held February 4th at the beautiful Colonial TownPark in Lake Mary, FL. All proceeds from the event go to support the American Lung Association in Florida.
Published: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:14:28 GMT
Share photographs of your "picture-perfect" pet with ClickOrlando.com.
Published: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:49:47 GMT
<p> Four people were injured after their airboat hit a tree and overturned in the St. John's River on Tuesday.</p><p> Brevard County Fire Rescue said it happened west of Interstate 95 near the Sweetwater Boat Ramp at 7:12 p.m.</p><p> A caller told 911 dispatchers the airboat hit a tree and then flipped over. The caller said a man in his 50s was thrown from the boat when it crashed.</p><p> Three people on the airboat were taken by helicopter to Holmes Regional Medical Center. A fourth person was taken by ground to the hospital.</p><p> Their conditions were not immediately released.</p>
Published: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:52:14 GMT
<p> Volusia County parents, teachers and local officials are bringing in their ideas and concerns on how to keep students safe walking to and from school at a packed meeting Tuesday night.</p><p> Teddy bears and flowers were gathered on the ground as balloons sway in the breeze marking the area where 16-year-old Brandon Vera lost his life after he was hit by a car Feb. 2 in Orange City, sending shockwaves throughout the county.</p><p> Wilfred Vera wants parents to pressure the state into turning the stretch of road where his son died into a school zone.</p><p> "When are they going to wake up and decide lets help these kids now? I think now's the time," said Vera.</p><p> Since the beginning of the school year, 17 students have been injured walking to and from school.</p><p> Orange City mayor Tom Luptka said he's just as concerned about the troubling trend and has been researching ways to prevent another tragedy.</p><p> "I get asked frequently what's going on out there?" Luptka said.</p><p> Luptka said students need to be educated about the dangers on the roads and parents need to help deliver that message to their children.</p><p> "A lot of education program from schools and at home," Luptka said. "There's a certain responsibility has to be taken by parents here."</p><p> The mayor of Port Orange said he’s considering looking at options of installing medians on U.S. Highway 17-92 where students have to cross or a cross walk over that road.</p><p> They plan to beef up education and awareness having deputies do more classroom presentations and cracking down on speeders in school zones.</p><p> Vera's family also spoke at Tuesday's meeting. Vera's father gave an emotional speech, saying although it is too late for his son, parents can still make a change by educating their kids on crossing streets safely.</p><p> Also in the works is possibly reducing the speed limits on 17-92 in Orange City.</p><p> Check back with Local 6 and ClickOrlando.com for more information.</p>
Published: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:01:10 GMT
<p> Titusville detectives say they have caught the man who exposed himself to two children at a Brevard County Walmart.</p><p> Robert Walyus, 28, of Wedgefield, was arrested just after 1 a.m. Tuesday at his home in Orlando. Police said a tip from someone who saw Waylus on the news.</p><p> Police said Walyus approached two children in the toy aisle and asked if he could touch them while exposing himself to them around 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Titusville Walmart.</p><p> The children immediately ran to get an adult, police said.</p><p> One of the victim's mothers said their daughter told her she "saw his thing" and Walyus was adjusting his pants when she turned around and looked at him.</p><p> Attorney Adam Sudbury said Walyus was "staring at the 14-year-old making gestures to the 14-year-old and asking her to participate in some manner."</p><p> Images from surveillance video were released showing Walyus entering the Titusville Walmart on Saturday, according to police.</p><p> Police said they believe Walyus is also responsible for a similar incident that happened at a Titusville Publix in October 2011.</p><p> Walyus is listed as a registered sexual predator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He was convicted of lewd or lascivious exhibition to a victim under 16 years old in Orange County in 2003 and in Seminole County in 2008.</p><p> The survey also found Florida is one of the three states with the largest number of registered sex offenders with 57,896. California and Texas round out the top three with 106,216 and 68,529, respectively.</p><p> FDLE offers a registered sex offender database where you can see where registered sex offenders live in Florida.</p><p> Neighbors who live near Walyus said when he moved in five years ago, they were forced to change their lives.</p><p> "My wife can't even walk down the street, with him staring out," said neighbor Joe Blythe. "She walks the dog every night, carries a phone because of him."</p><p> Blythe said they were aware of Walyus' flyer on the FDLE sex offender database. Walyus spent several years in prison for touching himself in front of a little girl at a Seminole County McDonald's.</p><p> Walyus was released from prison more than year ago and was on probation when he exposed himself to a child at Walmart, police said.</p><p> "They ought to keep him in jail, how many times has been arrested?" Blye said. "They're going to keep running him loose before hurts somebody?"</p><p> Walyus is being held on $125,000 bond. It is unknown when he will be extradited.</p><p> Watch Local 6 for more information on this story.</p>
Published: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:53:50 GMT
<p> A new video of Casey Anthony has surfaced, according to RadarOnline.com.</p><p> The website said the footage shows Anthony talking about how she's focusing on herself and finding things she likes to do. She also mentions her new look and her new dog, named Smooch.</p><p> But at no point does she talk about her daughter, Caylee, whose body was found in a wooded area of Orange County in 2008.</p><p> In the video, Anthony reportedly has red hair and is wearing glasses, which is dated November 6, 2011.</p><p> She makes reference to someone she likes spending time with, but that person's name is edited out, the website reports.</p><p> Just last month, Local 6 found two other videos of Anthony on the Internet. In one of them, she has blond hair, and she talks about her life since being released from jail. In the second, she shows off her new nose piercing.</p><p> Anthony is currently serving probation somewhere in Florida for a check fraud conviction.</p><p> Watch Local 6 News and ClickOrlando.com for more on this developing story.</p>
Published: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:23:34 GMT
<p> Doron Lamb struggled to explain why top-ranked Kentucky could roll so easily over No. 8 Florida. It's much easier for the Wildcats to talk about their goal.</p><p> "I told somebody we were going to blow them out today. I just felt it coming," said Lamb, who finished with 18 points in a 78-58 victory Tuesday night. "I knew it was coming for some reason. I don't know why."</p><p> Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 13 points and 13 rebounds and Kentucky easily passed its toughest Southeastern Conference test to date for its 49th straight home win.</p><p> "We have this little swagger," freshman Anthony Davis said. "We just want to go out there and play hard and win. We're very capable of winning a national championship if we keep playing how we're playing."</p><p> The Wildcats (24-1, 10-0) matched their best start in league play since 2005 thanks to three freshmen starters who have jelled into a formidable defense to go along with their high-powered offense.</p><p> "We play together so well — we enjoy playing together on offense and defense. We communicate. We just have fun out there," said Marquis Teague, who had 12 points and a career-best 10 assists. "It makes us play harder when you enjoy who you're playing with."</p><p> Davis added 16 points for Kentucky, which won its 16th straight overall and ended Florida's run of seven consecutive wins.</p><p> Kenny Boynton led the Gators (19-5, 7-2) with 18 points, but the team with the nation's most 3-pointers this season went 6 of 27 from behind the arc and shot 34.9 percent overall from the field.</p><p> One of the last remaining questions for a team that continues to believe it can play for a national championship in just under two months had been the quality of opponents the Wildcats had faced after not meeting a ranked team in over a month.</p><p> Kentucky answered it emphatically.</p><p> "The one thing I like about their team is I love their disposition on the floor," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "There's a certain disposition you have to have and I'm not talking about an arrogance or a cockiness, but there's like a focus level in terms of what really goes into winning at that level. There's a mentality there."</p><p> Florida scored the first two baskets of the second half to cut it to 38-30, but Kentucky answered with an 11-0 run sparked when Teague and Darius Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers.</p><p> Florida freshman Bradley Beal then drove to the hoop only to have Davis reject his shot and Davis swatted another from Patric Young on the possession for good measure.</p><p> Miller added another jumper and Kidd-Gilchrist spun, hit a basket and was fouled. He completed the three-point play that made it 49-30 as Florida missed eight straight shots before snapping the skid.</p><p> Coach John Calipari compared Kidd-Gilchrist to his biggest star when he coached at Memphis.</p><p> "He reminds me of Derrick Rose," Calipari said. "He's tougher on himself than I am on him. Like he came running over during the game and says to me, 'Coach, I'm sorry.' I said, 'Stop, just have fun and go play.'"</p><p> The lead reached 20 points when Lamb buried a 3 from the left corner with 11:27 left and by as many as 21 late.</p><p> "It's fun winning by 20," Teague said.</p><p> Beal scored 14 points and Young added 12 for the Gators.</p><p> "We've got time before we play them again," Boynton said. "We just have to come out and work."</p><p> Florida insisted before the game all the pressure was on the Wildcats, but this group that starts three freshmen and two sophomores doesn't appear to get rattled easily. Their only blemish is a one-point loss in December at Indiana.</p><p> Fans received a panoramic black-and-white poster of Davis stretching his arms out over a span of more than eight basketballs. When he puts his arms up, he's been almost unstoppable in leading the nation's top-ranked defense by field goal percentage.</p><p> Davis blocked four shots, leading the country with 120 and continuing to climb the SEC's season list after already surpassing Shaquille O'Neal's freshman conference record set 22 years ago.</p><p> "They are very, very good," Donovan said. "There is not one thing you do necessarily against them that is a formula to win."</p><p> Kentucky's lone problem was a slow start. The Wildcats fell behind 6-0 and missed their first seven shots before scoring nine straight points.</p><p> The game featured frenetic up-and-down play early. In one sequence, Mike Rosario went behind his back to find Young for a dunk, but Kidd-Gilchrist answered when he floated an alley-oop pass to Davis for a slam over Erik Murphy.</p><p> It was an electric — and sometimes bizarre — atmosphere among the 24,389 fans at Rupp Arena. Former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl sat courtside signing a few autographs, and at one point during free throws by Beal in the first half a fan in the student section tried to distract Beal by wearing nothing but a blue Speedo.</p><p> It didn't work.</p><p> Beal made the free throws, but Florida went more than 6 minutes without a field goal.</p><p> Teague's 3-pointer gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead with 1:38 left in the first half and Lamb hit two 3-pointers in the final minute to put them up 38-26.</p><p> "The last one going into halftime, I knew it was over after that," Lamb said.</p>
Published: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:40:31 GMT
Divorce rates continue to fall in the United States, but so do marriage rates. Find out where your state ranks.
Published: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:39:17 GMT
A long time ago (1977, to be exact) "Star Wars" was released. What are the stars of the film up to today?
Published: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT
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