The Cooler

Not a whole bunch for your TGIF Cooler, readers. Let's see what caught my attention in the news this morning.

A- Herald: Because criminals don't take vacations just because there aren't enough police officers.

Acknowledging it can’t hire police officers fast enough, Hollywood will now offer current officers overtime shifts to fill the gaps.

“This is an immediate fix,” said Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez, who oversees public safety.

Until the Police Department can get trained officers out on the streets, Hollywood can use the nearly $840,000 budgeted for 20 positions which remain vacant to pay the overtime costs.

B- Herald: Living in the NRA's world.

An appeals court Thursday agreed with the dismissal of criminal charges against a Miami-Dade County man who relied on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law after a confrontation with two Florida Power & Light workers on his property.

Ernesto C. Vino was sleeping in his mobile home on March 9, 2009, when two FPL workers used a ladder to climb over his fence because of unpaid electricity bills by Vino and a neighbor. The workers were supposed to try to collect money from the customers or turn off their power.

Vino, who had been a previous victim of crimes in his home, grabbed a rifle and went outside after being awakened by barking dogs. He confronted the workers with the gun and, though accounts differed, shot into the air as they left the property, according to a Circuit Court judge’s findings.

[...]

The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami on Thursday upheld a decision by Circuit Judge John W. Thornton, Jr., who found that the charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and improper exhibition of a firearm should be dismissed because of the Stand Your Ground law.

Also, however, the appeals court agreed with Thornton that Vino could be prosecuted on the charge of unlawfully discharging a firearm — because he shot the gun after learning the men worked for FPL and were not a threat.

The ruling noted that FPL has the legal right to enter customers’ property to do such things as cut off electricity, and said the utility filed a brief in the case.

C- Herald: They write letters.

Convenient position

When Republican Rep. Paul Ryan arrived in Washington, he was advocating ending the Cuban embargo. But recently during the half hour he was at Versailles, he had a divine intervention thanks to the dynamic duo and perennial Republican cheerleaders Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart. Now he’s a strong pro-embargo supporter.

At the end of the day, when he returns to his largely agricultural state of Wisconsin, he will be anti-Cuban embargo again.

Politicians come to Miami for a few minutes then exaggerate and play the vanishing act until the next election.

Jose Carlos Iglesias, Miami

D- WPLG: Life in South Florida.

MIRAMAR, Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida mother is speaking out after she was punched in the face while walking her kids to school.

Myra Williams, a single mother of five was walking her kids to school Thursday morning in Miramar.

Williams said a strange man was walking in her direction when he punched her in the face and took off running. "He just punched me right in the face and he took off running, and this was early in the morning while I’m walking my kids to school," said Williams. "He had no regards for my children and that’s not safe."

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