Nine dead, including six children, after vehicle overturns in Florida canal
(BELLE GLADE, Fla.) — Nine people are dead, including six children, after a vehicle overturned in a Florida canal, authorities said.
A lone survivor who was injured in the crash remains hospitalized, authorities said.
The incident occurred Monday evening in Palm Beach County. At approximately 7:30 p.m., authorities began receiving calls reporting a car in a canal near Belle Glade, authorities said. First responders found a vehicle upside down with only the wheels visible, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Capt. Tom Reyes.
The vehicle had been traveling westbound on Hatton Highway when, “for undetermined reasons,” the driver failed to properly negotiate a left curve in the roadway, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office’s accident report. The vehicle went off the roadway onto the shoulder before hitting a guardrail and overturning in the canal, according to the accident report.
Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. Six others were transported to a local hospital, including two via helicopter, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Five people subsequently died at the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
The deceased victims included six children — a 1-year-old girl, a 3-year-old boy, two 5-year-old boys, an 8-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy — according to the accident report. Three women — ages 21, 30 and the 56-year-old driver — were also killed, according to the accident report.
The lone surviving passenger was identified by the accident report as 26-year-old Jorden Hall. He suffered serious injuries in the crash and remains hospitalized, according to the accident report.
“We have one survivor for a total of 10 victims including babies,” the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families during this heartbreaking incident.”
Fire rescue personnel, including divers, along with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, responded to the scene, officials said.
The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cause of the crash.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — The New College of Florida is under fire after what appears to be hundreds of books that have been wiped from its collection and discarded on the street.
Social Equity Through Education Alliance (SEE), a local activist group, was alerted on Thursday by a New College student who reported seeing what they believed was up to “thousands” of books being “shoved into a dumpster” behind the college’s library.
“We basically tried to communicate to officials that there were educational nonprofits and shelters that were immediately willing to bring trucks and save all of the books … and officials refused,” said Zander Moricz, executive director at SEE.
Moricz continued, “There were Bibles, there were stories of Black authors, of Latin authors, female stories, there were LGBTQ+ and queer stories, or trans stories, all thrown into a dumpster. It sends the message that New College of Florida wants to send stories of gender and diversity to the dump, and it was so heartbreaking and also very frustrating.”
In a statement to ABC News, a New College spokesperson said it’s following “longstanding annual procedures for weeding its collection, which involves the removal of materials that are old, damaged, or otherwise no longer serving the needs of the College.”
“The images seen online of a dumpster of library materials is related to the standard weeding process,” the statement read. “Chapter 273 of Florida statutes precludes New College from selling, donating or transferring these materials, which were purchased with state funds. Deselected materials are discarded through a recycling process when possible.”
Some of the books found on the street were associated with the school’s discontinued Gender Studies program that were primarily donated and were not part of any official college collection or inventory, according to New College’s statement. When the books were not claimed for pickup from the program’s former room, the college also left them on the street, the college told ABC News.
The New College, a public liberal arts school in Sarasota, has been a target of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-“woke” policy efforts, who has said he hopes to shed the institution’s liberal reputation.
DeSantis overhauled the Board of Trustees and touted the “replacement of far-left faculty with new professors aligned with the university’s mission” with a slate of terminations in recent years as well as the elimination of positions aligned with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) standards.
“The New College Board of Trustees is succeeding in its mission to eliminate indoctrination and re-focus higher education on its classical mission,” said DeSantis in an August 2023 statement.
Some of the books that have been discarded, according to a spokesperson for New College, were from the school’s gender studies programs — which were terminated under DeSantis’ appointed Board of Trustees.
Florida officials have long been under scrutiny for restrictions and bans on books in the state amid legislation that is aimed at restricting certain topics regarding race, gender, sex and more in higher education and K-12.
The Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act restrict content on LGBTQ identities and race in schools, respectively.
Florida law also allows parents and residents to object to books and have them reviewed and potentially removed from schools.
Since the implementation of these laws, Florida has seen a rise in book-banning attempts across the state, according to the American Library Association (ALA) and free speech advocacy group PEN America.
In the first half of the 2023-2024 school year alone, PEN America found that Florida experienced the highest number of cases focused on banning materials, with 3,135 attempts across 11 school districts.
Critics — including parents, studentsand local activists — have instead led banned book campaigns to encourage the reading and distribution of booksthat have been targeted.
DeSantis later signed a bill in April he hoped would limit the amount of book objections that can be made by people who don’t have a child with access to school materials.
Parents of children in the school districts or using district materials will still be able to object to an unlimited amount of material.
DeSantis’ office said the change to these policies “protects schools from activists trying to politicize and disrupt a district’s book review process.”
Moricz and other activists were able in the end to take several books: “These were readable books. These were books that did not have tears in the pages. Have clean covers. These are books that could have been used, and it’s truly unforgivable.”
(LAURINBURG, N.C.) — A Waffle House employee was fatally shot in North Carolina by a customer who became “agitated and verbally abusive” toward employees after placing his order, according to the Laurinburg Police Department.
Officers responded to a report of shots fired shortly after midnight Friday at a Waffle House in Laurinburg, where they found 18-year-old Burlie Dawson Locklear suffering from a gunshot wound, police said.
Locklear was transported to Scotland Memorial Hospital where he later died.
An investigation revealed the suspect came to the Waffle House and ordered food, but while it was being prepared he became “more agitated and verbally abusive toward the employees,” according to police.
He walked away from the restaurant after being given his food, but turned while walking to his car and fired two shots toward the Waffle House, striking Locklear, police said.
The suspect then fled the scene, police said.
Police described the suspect is a 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 Black male with light skin, long dreads, facial hair including a beard and mustache. He was last seen wearing a dark blue hoodie, blue jeans and white shoes.
The suspect was operating a dark gray vehicle, possibly a 2014 Chevrolet, according to police.
The investigation into this incident is active and police are asking anyone with information to contact them.
(NEW ORLEANS) — Police in New Orleans are seeking two people accused of stealing human remains from an apartment.
The suspects allegedly stole “a bicycle and of a package containing the remains of a deceased person” from the apartment on July 26, according to the New Orleans Police Department. They then fled the scene, police said.
Though the incident happened in July, police released information on the case Thursday.
Police shared photos and are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying and locating the two suspects.
It was not immediately clear if the human remains have been identified.
New Orleans police did not provide further information on the circumstances of the theft when asked by ABC News.