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By JOHN WAWROW (AP Hockey Writer)

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Anthony Stolarz stopped 45 shots for his seventh career shutout and the Florida Panthers became the 11th NHL team to win 10 consecutive road games, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Thursday night and taking over the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring midway through the first period and added an empty-netter. Anton Lundell scored by tipping in Matthew Tkachuk’s point shot on a delayed penalty with 2:44 left in the second period. Ryan Lomberg followed Verhaeghe’s empty-netter with a goal with 11 seconds remaining.

Florida’s win streak is tied for the sixth-longest among NHL teams in a season, and two short of matching the record held by Detroit (2005-06) and Minnesota (2014-15).

Further, in the Panthers’ past 18 road games, they have won 11 of them by at least three goals.

Combined with the Boston Bruins’ 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, the Panthers took over the No. 1 position in the Eastern Conference for the first time this season, currently owning a tiebreak advantage over the Bruins, with both teams at 74 points (a 112-point pace). They trail only the 78-point Vancouver Canucks in the NHL standings.

“We didn’t look anywhere near what we normally look like tonight. And I’m not complaining about the effort. That’s what they had to give,” Maurice said. “We just weren’t sharp or fast. But our goalie was good. And a lot of nights, that’s all that matters.”

The Panthers won on consecutive nights, following a 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh, and their road streak is the league’s second-longest this season after Los Angeles’ 11-game run from Oct. 17 to Dec. 7.

Florida improved its road record to 19-7-2, and hasn’t lost away from home since dropping a 3-1 decision at Calgary on Dec. 18. Florida’s actually been hot both home and away, going 17-3-2 in its past 22 overall.

Buffalo reverted to its inconsistencies by dropping to 9-8 in its past 17, and failing to build off a 7-0 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night. Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots in losing his sixth consecutive start and dropping to 1-6 this season.

Comrie got his first start in more than two months after the team announced a few hours before faceoff that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was listed as day to day because of a lower-body injury.

Stolarz was sharp in posting his first shutout of the season, and the second of his career against Buffalo. His best stops came in kicking out his left pad to twice stop Kyle Okposo’s attempt to jam in a rebound during a power play five minutes into the third period.

“You look at the back-to-back, you want to go out there and you want to put on a strong performance. I take a lot of pride in that,” Stolarz said a day after Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots in a 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh. “The guys were working hard for me and I try to do that in return for them.”

The Sabres also failed to finish.

Rookie Zach Benson was set up to the right of the net and missed the open side by shooting wide 7:30 into the first period. Casey Mittelstadt was set up at the left of the net and was unable to lift the puck over Stolarz’s outstretched pads. And Dylan Cozens missed scoring into an open right side by deflecting the puck back into Stolarz, who then fell on the puck.

The Sabres failed to win consecutive home games for just the second time this season.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov set up the opening goal by forcing Sabres rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson to cough up the puck in the right corner. Barkov then fed Verhaeghe, who was left alone in front.

Lundell’s goal came seconds after a delayed penalty was called against Buffalo’s Tage Thompson.

UP NEXT

Panthers: At Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

By COLBY GUY (Associated Press)

BOCA RATON — Johnell Davis scored 17 points, Alijah Martin and Brandon Weatherspoon each had 16 and No. 24 Florida Atlantic beat Temple 80-68 on Thursday night in a battle of the Owls.

FAU (20-5, 10-2 American Athletic) pulled away with an early 15-2 run. Weatherspoon hit two 3-pointers during the spree, and Nick Boyd had four 3-pointers in the half. Boyd and Vladislav Goldin each finished with 12 points.

“Weatherspoon is an emotional leader,” Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May said. “It was awesome to see him getting his production back up and I thought his three steals were the separators.”

On Sunday, FAU will be at first-place South Florida in a conference showdown.

Temple (8-17, 1-11) has lost 10 straight, last winning against Wichita State at home Jan. 7. Jordan Riley led Temple with 19 points.

Temple had a 7-0 run midway through the second half to pull with two points. Weatherspoon countered with five straight points for FAU.

FAU forward Giancarlo Rosado returned from a knee injury sustained Jan. 14 against UAB. He had two points, three rebounds and a block in eight minutes.

“It was amazing (having him back),” Martin said. “His nickname is quarterback. He is throwing that thing around, getting that chase action and stuff like that. He opens up our offense and we missed that.”

Florida Atlantic extended its home sellout streak to 17, going 16-1 during the run.

“Shoutout to our student section,” May said. “I thought the energy was off the charts again. The students are here early and add a lot of positive energy to the group.”

UP NEXT

Florida Atlantic: At South Florida on Sunday.

By TARA COPP (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — What would it mean if Russia used nuclear warheads to destroy U.S. satellites? Your home’s electrical and water systems could fail. Aviation, rail and car traffic could come to a halt. Your cellphone could stop working.

These are among the reasons why there was alarm this week over reports that Russia may be pursuing nuclear weapons in space.

The White House has said the danger isn’t imminent. But reports of the new anti-satellite weapon build on longstanding worries about space threats from Russia and China. So much of the country’s infrastructure is now dependent on U.S. satellite communications — and those satellites have become increasingly vulnerable.

It would also not be the first time a nuclear warhead has been detonated in space, or the only capability China and Russia are pursuing to disable or destroy a U.S. satellite.

Here’s a look at what’s happened in the past, why Russia may be pursuing a nuclear weapon for space now, and what the U.S. is doing about all the space threats it faces.

Both Russia and the U.S. have detonated nuclear warheads in space. In the 1960s, little was known about how the relatively new weapons of mass destruction would act in the Earth’s atmosphere. Both countries experimented to find out. The Soviet tests were called Project K and took place from 1961 to 1962. The U.S. conducted 11 tests of its own, and the largest, and first successful, test was known as Starfish Prime, said Stephen Schwartz, a non-resident senior fellow at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Starfish Prime launched in July 1962, when the U.S. sent up a 1.4-megaton thermonuclear warhead on a Thor missile and detonated it about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.

The missile was launched about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from Hawaii but the effects from the tests were seen around the equator.

“The large amount of enerqy released at such a high altitude by the detonation caused widespread auroras throughout the Pacific,” according to a 1982 Department of Defense report on the tests.

The blast disabled several satellites, including a British one named Ariel, as radioactive particles from the burst came in contact with them. Radio systems and the electrical grid on Hawaii were temporarily knocked out, said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. The debris left satellites in its path malfunctioning “along the lines of the old Saturday matinee one-reeler,” the 1982 report said.

When the former Soviet Union conducted its own test as part of Project K, it did so at a slightly lower orbit and “fried systems on the ground, including underground cables and a power plant,” Kristensen said.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a nuclear test ban treaty a year later, in 1963, which prohibited further testing of nuclear weapons in space.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined to say Thursday whether the emerging Russian weapon is nuclear capable, noting only that it would violate an international treaty that prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit.

It’s the ability to do that kind of damage that makes it logical that the Russians would want to put a warhead in space, especially if they see their military and economy weakened after fighting a U.S.-backed Ukraine for the past two years, said John Ferrari, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

A space-based weapon that could cripple U.S. communications and the U.S. economy could be an intimidating equalizer, and would just be the latest development from both Russia’s and China’s efforts to weaponize space, he said.

In the past few years China has tested a satellite with a robotic arm that can maneuver to a system, grab it, and move it out of orbit.

Russia has developed a “nesting doll” satellite that opens up to reveal a smaller satellite, and then that one opens to reveal a projectile capable of destroying nearby satellites. In 2019, the Russians maneuvered a nesting doll near a U.S. satellite.

When one of those nesting doll systems “parks next to one of our high-value NRO capabilities, they are now holding that asset at risk,” the deputy chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, said at a 2022 space conference. NRO is the National Reconnaissance Office.

Russia also generated headlines around the world when it conducted a more traditional anti-satellite test in 2021, where it shot down one of its own systems. As with the Starfish test, the impact created a large cloud of orbiting debris that even put the International Space Station at risk for awhile.

The quickly evolving threat in space was one of the main drivers behind establishing the U.S. Space Force, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Thursday. In the years since its 2019 creation, the service has focused on developing a curriculum to train its service members, called Guardians, on detecting threats from space and wargaming scenarios on what conflict in space would look like.

The creation of the Space Force elevated spending on satellite systems and defenses. Previously, when space needs were spread among the military services, spending on a new satellite would have to compete for funding with ships or fighter jets — and the services had a more immediate need for the aircraft and vessels, Ferrari said.

But there’s more work to be done, and the revelation that Russia may be pursuing a nuclear weapon for space raises critical questions for Congress and the Defense Department, Ferrari said. If Russia uses a nuclear weapon to take out satellites and that cripples the U.S. economy, does that justify the U.S. bombing Russian cities in return?

“How do you respond to that? You have no good option,” Ferrari said. “So now it’s a question of, ‘What is the deterrence theory for this?’ ”

GAINESVILLE — Florida offensive line assistant coach Darnell Stapleton is heading to the NFL, leaving coach Billy Napier to make another key offseason hire as spring practices approach.

Stapleton’s departure to join the Washington Commanders, who announced his hiring Thursday, gives Napier options with his on-field offensive staff. Stapleton joins Dan Quinn, the Gators’ defensive coordinator in 2011-12.

Napier opted for two offensive line coaches, Stapleton and Rob Sale, during the past two seasons. The combination produced mixed results on the field and recruiting trail.

The Gators are 11-14 under Napier and did not run the football with nearly the effectiveness as 2022 with All-American guard O’Cyrus Torrence and quarterback Anthony Richardson, a future first-round draft pick with dual-threat abilities.

Florida coach Billy Napier is 11-14 with the Gators, leading to sweeping offseason changes to his staff and organization. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

The Gators averaged 4.27 yards per carry a season after averaging 5.51 yards to rank seventh nationally in ’22.

UF replaced Torrence with Baylor transfer Micah Mazzccua. Austin Barber moved to left tackle to replace Richard Gouraige, who made 41 starts, and Alabama transfer Damieon George stepped in for Barber and committed eight penalties. Neither transfer was an upgrade.

The Gators signed just one 4-star offensive line prospect in the 2024 class, 6-foot-8, 335-pound Fletcher Westphal of Virginia, No. 12 at his position according to 247Sports composite rankings. San Diego State transfer tackle Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson started 37 games for the Aztecs, splitting time on both sides, and ranked as the No. 27 offensive tackle transfer.

Meanwhile, starting left guard Richie Leonard IV transferred to Florida State, but freshman backup Knijeah Harris is poised to emerge while massive redshirt sophomore Kamryn Waites (6-8, 365) might be better at guard than tackle.

Florida offensive tackle Damieon George celebrates after the Gators’ 29-16 win against Tennessee in Gainesville. (James Gilbert/Getty)

With his offensive staff intact entering 2024, Napier did not plan to hire an offensive coordinator or play caller. On Feb. 7, he said tight end coach Russ Callaway, a former coordinator at Samford, would “acquire more responsibility” on offense.

Napier now has options.

The 44-year-old also must find a strength coach after newly hired Craig Fitzgerald left Sunday for Boston College. Fitzgerald had been on the job for a little more than a month, but has a longstanding relationship with new Eagles coach Bill O’Brien.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

Running off at the typewriter. …

Well, the ratings for last weekend’s Super Bowl are officially in and the telecast averaged 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms, making it the most watched TV show in American history.

With the Kansas City Swifties, er, Chiefs overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers shattering the old ratings record (set last year), I am reminded of a conversation I had once with legendary FSU baseball coach Mike Martin, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 79.

I was doing some research for a column several years ago on when and why  football surpassed baseball to become America’s national sport. I decided to call Martin — the winningest college baseball coach in history and an avid football fan — to get his perspective.

Martin essentially admitted to me  that his beloved baseball is too slow-paced and tranquil for today’s hectic, instant-gratification society. In today’s world, we don’t just want to watch a game. We want to experience an extravaganza of excitement, emotion, passion, pageantry, rivalry and revelry. And we want all of that in three hours or less.

And as Martin pointed out, football essentially began its ascent and started surpassing baseball with the proliferation of television sets in American homes in the 1950s.

“It’s not even close. Football is is king,” Martin told me in his folksy, fish-and-grits North Carolina twang. “Baseball is lousy to watch on TV. Baseball’s a game I can watch with my wife, and we can sit there and talk about things.”

And then he chuckled and said: “I got news for you, I ain’t talking to my wife on third-and-4.”

If you ask me, those few words — I ain’t talking to my wife on third-and-4 — perfectly explain the allure of football.

Thank you and rest in peace, Mike Martin. …

Short stuff: Speaking of the Super Bowl, a 16-ounce can of beer at the big game in Vegas cost $18.90. The only people who can afford those kinds of prices are Taylor Swift, LIV golfers and Georgia football recruits. … Speaking of big money, the SEC announced that it distributed $51.2 million to each school in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Meanwhile, ACC schools are trying to pool their money so they can buy a beer at the Super Bowl. … Best pre-Super Bowl Sunday meme: “I hear Taylor Swift’s boyfriend will be attending the Usher concert this weekend.” … Why did Chip Kelly take a $4 million pay cut to leave UCLA as the head coach and become offensive coordinator at Ohio State? It’s called “gettin’ out while the gettin’ is good.” … Speaking of weird coaching moves, did you see where the Gators lost strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald, who left after only five weeks on the job to join his old buddy — new Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien. Boston College? Really? Seriously? Moral of the story: Three or four years of certain job security at BC is better than one potential year of job security in Gainesville. …

Three predictions for Sunday’s Daytona 500: (1) Bubba Wallace will win the race. (2) Toby Keith will be the most prevalent music playing in the infield. (3) A NASCAR wife in a luxury suite will get her beehive hairdo caught in a ceiling fan. … Has Shaq’s jersey retirement ceremony ended yet? … Speaking of the Shaq’ ceremony, I thought it was touching when he told the crowd, “The Orlando Magic will always have a place in my heart.” Unfortunately, they had an even bigger place in his rearview mirror. … Here’s hoping the PGA Tour cracks down on the Phoenix Open for the embarrassing behavior of so many fans last week at what has turned into golf’s version of a frat-house keg party. Can’t we have one final refuge in sports where decorum and civility is expected and drunken, obnoxious behavior isn’t accepted? … Why are so many people upset that well-known Orlando personal injury attorney Dan Newlin did a Super Bowl commercial while wearing a MAGA hat? Last I checked, it was HIS commercial and HE paid for it. However I do wonder if Newlin should have taken the old Michael Jordan approach to advertising. When asked once why he didn’t take political stances publicly, the NBA legend, Nike pitchman and closet Democrat replied, “Because Republicans buy sneakers, too.” I guess Newlin didn’t get the memo that Democrats get in car crashes and sue insurance companies, too …

Even several days later, I still can’t believe San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan took the ball first in the Super Bowl overtime despite the NFL implementing new postseason overtime rules in March 2022 that allows each team to get a possession regardless of what the team with the ball first does. Shanahan said his discussion with the team’s analytics staff had indicated it would be best to take the ball first because if both teams matched scores on their opening drives, the 49ers would get the ball to open the portion of overtime in which the first team to score would win. In other words, Shanahan was looking ahead to the third possession of overtime. Come on, dude, know who you’re playing. You’re not playing freaking Tommy DeVito and the Giants here; you’re playing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. You play to win the game in one of those first two possessions — and the way you do that is by taking the ball second so you know what you have to do to win the game. I’m not saying Shanahan suffers from a chronic case of paralysis by analysis and over-planning, but I think he already has an architect drawing up retirement-home blueprints for his unborn grandkids. …

Last word: From John McEnroe, who turns 65 on Friday: “The older you get, the better you used to be.”

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen

 

 

 

 

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI informant has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company, a claim that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.

Alexander Smirnov falsely reported to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016, prosecutors said in an indictment. Smirnov told his handler that an executive claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Smirnov in fact had only routine business dealings with the company in 2017 and made the bribery allegations after he “expressed bias” against Joe Biden while he was a presidential candidate.

Smirnov, 43, appeared in court in Las Vegas briefly Thursday after being charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. He did not enter a plea. The judge ordered the courtroom cleared after federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed hearing for arguments about sealing court documents. She declined to comment on the case.

The informant’s claims have been central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. An attorney for Hunter Biden, who is expected to give a deposition later this month, said the charges show the probe is “based on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses.”

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, called for an end to the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Raskin said the allegations from the Republicans against Biden “have always been a tissue of lies built on conspiracy theories.” He called on Speaker Mike Johnson, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Republicans “to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry.”

Comer, R-Ky., downplayed the importance of the informant, who had figured centrally to the start of the probe.

“To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023,” Comer said in a statement, referring to the form documenting Smirnov’s allegations.

The chairman said the inquiry “is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony,” including interviews this week. He said the committee will continue to “follow the facts” and determine whether to proceed with articles of impeachment against Biden.

In the indictment, prosecutors say that Smirnov had contact with Burisma executives, but it was routine and actually took place took place in 2017, after President Barack Obama and Biden, his vice president, had left office — when Biden would have had no ability to influence U.S. policy.

Smirnov “transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy,” the indictment said.

He repeated some of the false claims when he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023 and changed his story about others and “promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials,” prosecutors said.

If convicted, Smirnov faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

The charges were filed by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who has separately charged Hunter Biden with firearm and tax violations.

The Burisma allegations became a flashpoint in Congress as Republicans pursing investigations of President Joe Biden and his family demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the allegations. They acknowledged they couldn’t confirm if the allegations were true.

Comer had subpoenaed the FBI last year for the so-called FD-1023 document as Republicans deepened their probe of Biden and his son Hunter ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Working alongside Comer, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released an unclassified document that Republicans at the time claimed was significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden. It added to information that had been widely aired during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial involving Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens ahead of the 2020 election. After Grassley released the document, the White House said the claims in it had been “debunked for years.”

The impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son’s business dealings has lagged in the House, but the panel is pushing ahead with its work.

Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he had long warned the probe was based on “lies told by people with political agendas, not facts. We were right and the air is out of their balloon.”

A judge set a detention hearing for Feb. 20 for Smirnov, who was arrested at the Las Vegas airport after arriving in the U.S. from overseas.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE — Hemp farmers and small-business owners are pushing back against Republican lawmakers’ efforts to restrict sales of euphoria-inducing products offered over-the-counter at sites such as convenience stores and CBD shops, saying the changes would force them to shutter operations in Florida.

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill (SB 1638) that would set caps on intoxicating levels of THC in hemp-extract products and strengthen restrictions on how edible hemp products are packaged.

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Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Colleen Burton, a Lakeland Republican who sponsored the bill, has said the proposed restrictions address “health and safety” concerns that have arisen as use of products with THC has boomed.

The measure would build on a law passed last year prohibiting the sale of hemp-extract products intended for human ingestion to anyone under age 21. The law also required packaging not be attractive to children.

The current legislation targets what is known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids in hemp products that can create euphoric effects. The bill would prohibit Florida businesses from manufacturing or selling products that contain more than 0.3 percent delta-9 and place limits on other cannabinoids.

Lawmakers in 2019 authorized hemp to be grown in the state to take advantage of a federal farm law. Hemp and marijuana are cannabis plants, but levels of THC differ, with hemp having a THC level of 0.3% or less or a level that “does not exceed 2 milligrams per serving and 10 milligrams per container on a wet-weight basis, whichever is less.”

How potent should pot products in Florida be? Lawmakers are trying to set limits

The products being targeted are derived from hemp plants. Intoxicating cannabinoids can be naturally extracted from hemp plants and infused into the products to create psychotropic effects.

A House version of the bill is ready to go to the full House after it was approved Thursday by the Infrastructure Strategies Committee. Hemp farmers, manufacturers and store owners raised a litany of objections during the committee meeting.

Jammie Treadwell, co-owner of Treadwell Farms, told the committee that her family has been farming for 100 years and decided to join the hemp industry after the 2019 law passed.

“We feel like you’re pulling the rug completely out from under us, and it’s not just me,” Treadwell said.

Philip Snow, an attorney who represents hemp businesses across the country, said some of his clients relocated to Florida after states such as Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia passed similar restrictions.

“Such caps have been imposed in different states across the country … and many of those businesses died,” Snow said, “I’ve had new clients say, ‘What’s going to happen in Florida this year?’ Well, I can’t really tell you. They might move the goal posts again next year.”

Critics of the legislation maintain that it is driven by medical-marijuana operators to cut off competition in advance of a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older. The Florida Supreme Court is reviewing the proposal to determine whether it will go on the November ballot. Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, has spent $40 million on the proposal.

“There are 10 other states in this nation that either have medical marijuana and are considering recreational marijuana, where within 18 months of that happening you see language that we see before us today. It’s done in a manner to ensure that there’s no competition for when that recreational marijuana bill potentially passes,” Rep. Hilary Cassel, D-Dania Beach, said before voting against the House measure Thursday.

According to Cassel, the proposed restrictions would affect more than 10,000 businesses that generate $16 billion in revenue.

Poll finds most Florida voters back adding abortion rights, marijuana legalization to state Constitution

But House bill sponsor Tommy Gregory, R-Lakewood Ranch, said he doesn’t believe the restrictions would kill the hemp industry in Florida. He said he and other lawmakers signed off on the 2019 law authorizing “industrial hemp” believing the plant would be used for products such as textiles, rope and animal feed. Instead, hemp-based products are “really being taken for psychoactive purposes,” he said.

JD McCormick, who represents the Florida Healthy Alternatives Association, told the House panel that hemp-based products offer a healthier alternative to alcohol or opioids. A tearful McCormick said his late father became addicted to pain medication after an injury.

“It was then I swore I would never take opioids for pain management. If addiction has not touched you or your family … it is a tragic series of emotional battles that feels inescapable,” McCormick said. “This bill, as written, will hurt Floridians who use the products for sleep assistance, pain management and the like. This bill destroys small businesses and hemp farmers around the state.”

Gregory, however, said people are “self-medicating” with products that have not been approved by federal authorities. He called the legislation “a health and safety bill.”

“There is a scientific discussion that must take place here. We do have to land on the spot that we think is appropriate,” he said.

Florida recreational marijuana amendment to get Supreme Court review

Anthony Ferrari, chief science officer of Palmetto-based Sunmed, said his company is the “second-largest CBD distributor in the entire world.” Sunmed is working with state universities conducting research on hemp products, according to Ferrari.

“We’re literally right now creating a whole situation where all of our warehouses move, all of every distribution center moves, all the jobs would be lost. We’re just asking for middle ground,” Ferrari said.

Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, urged committee members to vote against the measure.

“I am worried that people will potentially seek out other alternatives that may not be as safe, that can actually lead to a very unhealthy addiction and truly harm them,” she said.

Gregory said he was willing to talk to his colleagues about potential changes to the caps but maintained that the industry needs more regulation.

“Support it today … and then come by my office and let me know what you think the right content level is both per serving and per package that will allow consumers to get this product that they clearly want to use and yet keep Florida consumers safe,” he said.

After the committee signed off on the bill, Gregory told The News Service of Florida he didn’t believe the proposed caps would put Florida companies out of business.

But for companies that sell products that don’t meet the proposed caps, “without a doubt, it will definitely change their business model,” Gregory said.

By CEDAR ATTANASIO (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — For five years, a New York City man managed to live rent-free in a landmark Manhattan hotel by exploiting an obscure local housing law.

But prosecutors this week said Mickey Barreto went too far when he filed paperwork claiming ownership of the entire New Yorker Hotel building — and tried to charge another tenant rent.

On Wednesday, he was arrested and charged with filing false property records. But Barreto, 48, says he was surprised when police showed up at his boyfriend’s apartment with guns and bullet-proof shields. As far as he is concerned, it should be a civil case, not a criminal one.

“I said ’Oh, I thought you were doing something for Valentine’s Day to spice up the relationship until I saw the female officers,’” Barreto recalled telling his boyfriend.

Barreto’s indictment on fraud and criminal contempt charges is just the latest chapter in the years-long legal saga that began when he and his boyfriend paid about $200 to rent one of the more than 1,000 rooms in the towering Art Deco structure built in 1930.

Barreto says he had just moved to New York from Los Angeles when his boyfriend told him about a loophole that allows occupants of single rooms in buildings constructed before 1969 to demand a six-month lease. Barreto claimed that because he’d paid for a night in the hotel, he counted as a tenant.

He asked for a lease and the hotel promptly kicked him out.

“So I went to court the next day. The judge denied. I appealed to the (state) Supreme Court and I won the appeal,” Barreto said, adding that at a crucial point in the case, lawyers for the building’s owners didn’t show up, allowing him to win by default.

The judge ordered the hotel to give Baretto a key. He said he lived there until July 2023 without paying any rent because the building’s owners never wanted to negotiate a lease with him, but they couldn’t kick him out.

Manhattan prosecutors acknowledge that the housing court gave Barreto “possession” of his room. But they say he didn’t stop there: In 2019, he uploaded a fake deed to a city website, purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to himself from the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, which bought the property in 1976. The church was founded in South Korea by a self-proclaimed messiah, the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

Barreto then tried to charge various entities as the owner of the building “including demanding rent from one of the hotel’s tenants, registering the hotel under his name with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection for water and sewage payments, and demanding the hotel’s bank transfer its accounts to him,” the prosecutor’s office said in the statement.

“As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the City’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Located a block from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, the New Yorker has never been among the city’s most glamorous hotels, but it has long been among its largest. Its huge, red “New Yorker” sign makes it an oft-photographed landmark. Inventor Nikola Tesla lived at the hotel for for a decade. NBC broadcasted from the hotel’s Terrace Room. Boxers, including Muhammad Ali, stayed there when they had bouts at the Garden. It closed as a hotel in 1972 and was used for years for church purposes before part of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994.

The Unification Church sued Barreto in 2019 over the deed claim, including his representations on LinkedIn as the building’s owner. The case is ongoing, but a judge ruled that Barreto can’t portray himself as the owner in the meantime.

A Unification Church spokesperson declined to comment about his arrest, citing the ongoing civil case.

In that case, Baretto argued that the judge who gave him “possession” of his room indirectly gave him the entire building because it had never been subdivided.

“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto said. “And I never made a penny out of this.”

Barreto said his legal wrangling is activism aimed at denying profits to the Unification Church. The church, known for conducting mass weddings, has been sued over its recruiting methods and criticized by some over its friendly relationship with North Korea, where Moon was born.

He said he has never hired a lawyer for the civil cases and has always represented himself. On Wednesday, he secured a criminal defense attorney.

Christine LeShay King recently returned home — literally and figuratively — to the place where she achieved much success.

King, 53, competed in the Delray Beach Senior Games at Atlantic Community High School and brought home gold medals in both the shot put and discus for the 50-54 age group. King, employee engagement administrator for the city of Delray Beach, said she enjoyed her experience.

“Winning both events at the Delray Senior Games felt great,” said King, a Riviera Beach resident, who competed in her first Delray Beach Senior Games last year. “I didn’t have a shot or discus, so they let me borrow them. It has even sparked interest among my former track team members. It was an incredible experience.

“Before the 2023 Delray Beach Senior Games, I had not thrown the shot or discus competitively since my senior year in high school, which was back in 1989,” said King, who is a 1989 graduate of Atlantic Community High School. “So, naturally, I had some doubts and uncertainties leading up to the games, but as soon as I stepped onto the circle, it all started to come back to me. “

King, who grew up in Delray Beach, still holds school records in both the shot and discus. She also attended Pine Grove and Carver Middle.

“The games were held at my alma mater, Atlantic High School,” King said. “That made it even more special. It felt like a family, united by our shared love for the sport and our desire to push ourselves beyond our limits.”

After the Delray Senior Games in 2023, she went to the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh and won a gold medal in the discus last summer.

“I guess I got bit by the bug because I am now a member of USA Track and Field Masters,” King said. “Participating in the Delray Senior Games exceeded my expectations in every way. Initially, I thought it would be a one-time opportunity to see if I still had what it takes to compete. However, it turned out to be a transformative experience that ignited a newfound passion within me.”

Christine LeShay King shows off her recent medals from the Delray Beach Senior Games and her National Senior Games gold medal. (Ditmar Ingram/Courtesy)

She also recently participated in both the USATF SE Region Master Indoor Championship and USATF Florida Association Indoor Championship.

“It was truly a memorable event for me,” King said. “I am proud to say that I won three gold medals in the shot put, weight throw and super weight throw.

“Being able to be a part of this incredible group of seniors who have dedicated themselves to staying active and healthy is something I am truly grateful for,” she said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to participate alongside them and learn from their wisdom and experience.”

The 34th annual games began with the basketball skills on Jan. 8 and continued through Jan. 24 at various locations throughout Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. The competition is open to both residents and nonresidents.

The Delray Beach Senior Games gives people who are 50 or older the chance to revel in the spirit of goodwill, good sportsmanship and good health, win medals and advance to the Florida Senior Games every December. This year’s Senior Games will take place in Pasco County from Dec. 1 to 10.

“It was another successful Senior Games,” said Rashod Smith, athletics recreation supervisor III for the city of Delray Beach. “The city of Delray Beach Parks and Recreation loves hosting this event because it generates the youthfulness in our senior population. They are still able to go out there and compete, which is very inspiring.”

The age divisions are in five-year increments unless otherwise noted in the event description, starting at 50-54 to 90 and up. Competitors can enter any of the six competitive events — basketball skills, golf, archery, pickleball, track and swimming.

Custom medals were awarded to first-, second-, and third-place winners in each age division for each event.

But it was more than the competition for King.

“The Delray Senior Games have not only provided me with a platform for competition but also a chance to connect with a community that has been a source of inspiration and support,” she said. “I am honored to be a part of this incredible journey with them.”

Visit delraybeachfl.gov.

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