13-year-old Max Thomas Taylor and 14-year-old Brian E. Cano, both of Celebration, were taken into custody after investigators were able to identify them as suspects in the shooting incident on April 24.

The victim told deputies that while driving to her home on Wilde Drive, just be fore 6:30 p.m., she head a loud pop and felt something strike her face. Her driver side window was shattered and there was a hole in the bottom half of her vehicle.

The woman told deputies, one of her sons, sitting in the back seat at the time of the shooting, got out and began chasing after a possible suspect, but was unable to locate him.

Investigators were able to identify Cano and Taylor, students at Celebration High School, as possible suspects.

Deputies identified Cano as the shooter after interviewing people knowledgeable about the incident. Taylor was identified as being at the scene and withholding information from detectives.

Detectives recovered the bb gun used in the incident.

Both Taylor and Cano were booked into the Orange County Juvenile Detention Center.

Photo of suspect # 1

Police said, the 86-year-old woman was approached today, in the Publix Supermarket on Belville road, by a black female who asked for a ride to Sam’s Club. The elderly woman agreed and that’s when a black male suspect appeared to assist with the scam.

At some point the woman went to the Wells Fargo Bank at 1300 Belville Road and withdrew over $10,000 and gave it to the suspects. The exact sequence of events remains murky, as the woman is confused, police said.

Suspect # 1 is described as a black female, 5’3” – 5’5” tall, heavy set with black hair. She was wearing white slacks, white sandals and a blue blouse.

Suspect # 2, described as a black male, is of thin build, dark complexion with short brown hair and was clean shaven. He was wearing a black skully cap, black pants and a black windbreaker.

Image of suspects vehicle

Both suspects were last seen leaving the area in a 2010 or 2011 white 4 door Nissan Altima.

Police said, a BOLO has been issued for both suspects.  A $2,500 reward is being offered for their arrest and conviction.

Anyone with information on the identity of the two suspects is asked to contact Detective Raymond Ousterman at oustermanr@dbpd.us or (386) 671 – 5206.

A father placed more than three ounces of marijuana in his child’s backpack and dropped him off at school,  St. Petersburg police said.

The 6-year-old child arrived at the Campbell Park Elementary School on Tuesday and showed off his ‘goods’ to a teacher, tampabay.com reported. Police called it a felony case of show and tell.

The drugs belonged to the boy’s father, Larry Cornelius Stephens, 25, who was arrested and charged with child abuse adn possession of marijuana with intent to sell, police said, tampabay.com reported.

 Read More Here.

“Here in Florida, we’re seeing some strong numbers that show positive momentum for the state’s housing recovery and our economy,” said 2012 Florida Realtors President Summer Greene, regional manager of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Florida 1st in Fort Lauderdale.

The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in April was $144,350, up 10.2 percent from the year-ago figure, according to data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department, and vendor partner 10K Research and Marketing. The statewide median for townhome-condo properties was $108,000, up 16.1 percent over April 2011.

Statewide sales of existing single-family homes totaled 17,544 in April, down slightly, 0.7 percent, compared to the year-ago figure. Looking at Florida’s year-to-year comparison for sales of townhomes/condos, a total of 9,765 units sold statewide last month, down 4.9 percent from those sold in April 2011.

In April, there was a 5.8-month supply of single-family homes in inventory and a 5.7-month supply for townhomes/condos, according to Florida Realtors.

“The housing numbers for the state of Florida continue to signal recovery,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo. “Sales in 2012 are above where they were in 2011, a harbinger of a third straight year of improvement. More importantly, pending sales are up dramatically, and inventory is still falling. Financing constraints still mean that a significant percentage of these will not lead to closed sales, but with the numbers up, we are confident that closed sales will continue to rise.”

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama will return to Orlando in June. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) announced today, Mr. Obama will address the nation’s Latino leadership at the organization’s 29th Annual Conference on Friday, June 22.

Mr. Obama’s address will occur during a three-day convention of nearly 1,000 Latino public officials at the Disney Contemporary Resort.

“We’re pleased that the President of the United States will be joining our nation’s Latino leadership at this historic event,” said Sylvia R. Garcia, NALEO President. “With the changing demographics and the growing Latino population, this conference is an opportunity for the President to address key elected officials and leaders regarding the Administration’s efforts to address the unique issues and challenges facing the Latino community today.”

In February earlier this year, Mr. Obama was in Isleworth near Orlando, at the home of NBA player Vince Carter for a fundraiser, which netted over $2 million.

Members of Congress are speaking more like high school sophomores, according to the findings of a new study.

The study, undertaken by the Sunlight Foundation, found that the level of discourse has dropped roughly one grade level since 1995.

Read More Here.

Gov. Rick Scott

The current purging of Florida voter rolls began with a question asked by Gov. Rick Scott.

Last year, Scott asked the former Secretary of State Kurt Browning whether there were non U.S. citizens on Florida’s voter rolls and if those people were voting, myfoxorlando.com reports.

That conversation set the ball rolling and state officials began to work on identifying ineligible voters.

Data analyzed by the Times/Herald found that 6,934 people were removed from the rolls in the first four months of 2012, following felony convictions and that Democrats were three times more likely to be removed than Republicans.

Read More Here.

After two years in the making, the ordinance to create a domestic partnership registry, will provide protections for gay couples and unmarried straight partners.

The Health, Education and Life Protection or HELP Ordinance, has gone through changes and now include provisions creating a countywide domestic partnership registry.

HELP is expected to be approved today and once passed, gay and straight couples that register under the City of Orlando’s DPR will have their relationships recognized countywide and have access to enforceable and vital protections anywhere in Orange County.

HELP’s anticipated passage comes just four days after Volusia County Council members voted to create Central Florida’s first countywide registry.

Since the City of Orlando’s registry was created last November, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Gulfport, Belle Isle, Sarasota, Pinellas County, Volusia County and Orange County have all begun the process for adopting a domestic partnership registry.

Angel Perez

Kissimmee police are asking persons who might have been victimized to come forward, after a local pastor was arrested for sexual activity with a minor.

45-year-old Angel Perez, pastor at Templo Pentecostal Puerto De Salvation, was taken into custody and charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, police said.

A 16-year-old boy from the church told police when he spent the night at the pastor’s residence in September and October last year, Perez touched him inappropriately while he slept. The boy also said, this occurred on three separate occasions.

Police said, Perez was uncooperative when investigators attempted to interview him. He was taken into custody on May 10th.

Kissimmee police are asking anyone who may have been victimized by Perez or has knowledge of other victims to contact the Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit at 407-846-3333, by e-mail at seeitsayit@kissimmee.org or CRIMELINE at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477). Calls made to CRIMELINE remain anonymous

(Photo: Thinkstock/Comstock/Thinkstock)

The site, floridapathtosuccess.org, was rolled out one week after the State Board of Education moved to drop the passing score on FCAT Writing, due to the more than 60 percent failure rate statewide.  But officials said it was in the works prior to the poor results being made public.

On the home page, Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson explains that, scores dropped this year because of the more demanding standards that were introduced in FCAT 2.0. Raising standards and measuring students’ progress is a critical part of the education process, he adds.

Robinson also touts the $1 billion added to the state budget for schools next year “to help students and teachers master our new higher standards.”

As if in anticipation, answers to some questions are already provided on the new site. This one caught our attention:

Q: Isn’t toughening the standards without giving kids more help and resources to meet them just setting them up to fail?

No. Florida would never pursue a system that would set its children up for failure. Florida education leaders, including our commissioner of education, school superintendents, school principals and school boards are committed to providing teachers and students the resources they need to be successful in the classroom. Struggling students have access to a host of help and support, summer Reading camps, longer school days, after school tutoring, and individualized education planning involving their parents and teachers.

There is a bit more to the answer about needing the raise the bar and the fact that Florida has not established new achievement levels in reading and mathematics for more than 10 years.

But the answer to this particular question could hardly be credible. While lawmakers did add $1 billion in additional funding toward public schools, these sums fall far short of what’s needed to restore the severe cuts to education over the recent past.

Whereas per student public schools funding was $7,143 in 2007-2008, that’s now $6,366 in 2012-2013. Moreover, according to the data, state education spending cuts in 2011-2012 alone caused a $575 per student reduction in school spending. The upcoming budget will restore only one-quarter of that loss.

Also in the new budget beginning in July, other educational, mentoring and tutoring programs were slashed or kept at the same level as the previous year, without any provision for growth.  Higher education and student financial aid programs, such as Bright Futures Scholarships have been cut.  Historically Black Private Colleges will also receive less funding in the new fiscal year.  And public schools received $0 for fixed capital cost!

So yes, parents and all Floridians, should be more than a little bit concerned that, the introduction of tougher standards without proper funding to assist kids in meeting those higher standards, will more likely than not result in failure.  Surely, this is not the way to compete with the rest of the nation and create a world class education system for the 21st Century.