Virginia Brown-Waite is an American politician who served as U.S. Representative for Florida's 5th congressional district from 2003 until 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party and a founder of Maggie's List.
Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and past employees and members of the Jenkins family. Publix operates throughout the Southeastern United States, with locations in Florida (867), Georgia (212), Alabama (90), South Carolina (69), Tennessee (58), North Carolina (54), Virginia (20), and Kentucky (1). Kentucky is the most recent addition to the Publix footprint, with the company's first store in that state having opened on January 10, 2024, in Louisville.
The Terri Schiavo case was a series of court and legislative actions in the United States from 1998 to 2005, regarding the care of Theresa Marie Schiavo, a woman in an irreversible persistent vegetative state. Schiavo's husband and legal guardian argued that Schiavo would not have wanted prolonged artificial life support without the prospect of recovery, and in 1998, he elected to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo's parents disputed her husband's assertions and challenged Schiavo's medical diagnosis, arguing in favor of continuing artificial nutrition and hydration. The highly publicized and prolonged series of legal challenges presented by her parents, which ultimately involved state and federal politicians up to the level of George W. Bush, the then U.S. president, caused a seven-year delay before Schiavo's feeding tube was ultimately removed.
George W. Greer is a retired Florida circuit judge who served in Florida's Sixth Circuit Court, family law division, in Clearwater, Florida. He received national attention in 2005 when he presided over the Terri Schiavo case.
James David Whittemore is a senior United States District Judge presently serving in the Tampa division of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He was previously a Florida state trial court judge, a federal public defender, and an attorney in private practice who won a criminal case before the United States Supreme Court. As a federal judge, Whittemore presided over a number of high-profile cases, including a lawsuit against Major League Baseball to challenge its draft procedure, and the Terri Schiavo case, after the United States Congress had specifically given the Middle District of Florida jurisdiction to hear the seven-year-long fight over whether the brain-damaged Schiavo should be taken off life support.
The Palm Sunday Compromise, formally known as the Act for the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo, is an Act of Congress passed on March 21, 2005, to allow the case of Terri Schiavo to be moved into a federal court. The name "Palm Sunday Compromise" was coined by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, referring to it having been passed on Palm Sunday.
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches, of both the United States federal government and the State of Florida, were involved in the case of Terri Schiavo. In November 1998 Michael Schiavo, husband of Terri Schiavo, first sought permission to remove his wife's feeding tube. Schiavo had suffered brain damage in February 1990, and in February 2000 had been ruled by a Florida circuit court to be in a persistent vegetative state. Her feeding tube was removed first on April 26, 2001, but was reinserted two days later on an appeal by her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
The case of Terri Schiavo became the subject of intense public debate and activism.
Nicholas Anthony Bollea, known as Nick Hogan, is an American reality television personality known for his appearances on the reality show Hogan Knows Best alongside his father, mother, and older sister.
Pamela Jo Bondi is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A Republican, she served as the 37th Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office.
John Henry Browne is an American criminal defense attorney practicing in Seattle, Washington. Browne is known for his zeal in defending his clients, his flair for garnering media attention, and for being known as the “plead guilty to avoid the death penalty” lawyer. He has represented defendants in a number of high-profile cases, including serial killer Ted Bundy, Colton Harris-Moore, Benjamin Ng and Martin Pang. He has tried over 250 criminal cases to verdict. Browne and his actions have been the subject of some controversy, and he has sometimes been criticized for his peculiar and combative style both in and out of the courtroom. He is particularly known for obtaining sympathetic treatment for his clients by shifting the focus away from the serious crimes that were committed by arguing for consideration of the background of the defendant and the circumstances in which the events took place.
Barry Cohen was an American criminal defense, personal injury, civil and qui tam attorney in Florida's Tampa Bay Area. Cohen was hired by the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) to represent the family of Ibragim Todashev, an unarmed Chechen shot to death while being questioned by the FBI in relation to the Boston Marathon bombing. He was known for his aggressive legal tactics. He died of leukemia in 2018.
Harriet McBryde Johnson was an American author, attorney, and disability rights activist. She was disabled due to a neuromuscular disease and used a motorized wheelchair.
Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.
On the evening of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompanied his father to visit his father's fiancée at her townhouse at The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford. On the evening of February 26, Martin was walking back to the fiancée's house from a nearby convenience store. Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, saw Martin and reported him to the Sanford Police as suspicious. Several minutes later, an altercation happened and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in the chest.
The 2014 Florida Attorney General election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Attorney General of Florida. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi ran for re-election to a second term in office against Democrat George Sheldon and Libertarian Bill Wohlsifer.
Arthur Lee Bentley III is an American lawyer who was the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida from 2014 until 2017. In January 2018, he joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, a law firm which has an office based in Tampa, Florida.
Julie Jenkins Fancelli is an American heiress and conservative political donor. She is an heiress to the Publix supermarkets fortune and a member of America's thirty-ninth richest family. Fancelli's organizational efforts and donations played a decisive role in the January 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally at The Ellipse that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
