Jose Angel Rodriguez

​Boynton Beach Mayor Jose Angel Rodriguez was arrested today on three charges -- one of them a felony -- alleging he used his power as mayor to prevent authorities from investigating an abuse incident he was allegedly involved in.

"The probable-cause affidavit states and alleges that Boynton Beach Mayor Jose Angel Rodriguez used his position as mayor to obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation against him," Palm Beach State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Teri Bramhall says. "The investigation involved allegations of abuse and was being investigated by the Department of Children and Families and the Boynton Beach Police Department. It is alleged that Mayor Rodriguez contacted both the Boynton Beach Chief of Police and the Boynton Beach Interim City Manager for the purpose of obstructing the investigation."

Read the police report after the jump:

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Editorial cartoon from the Palm Beach Sun

​Was it the West Palm Beach cop-beating scandal? The steady exodus of prosecutors from his office? Or perhaps his spotty luck prosecuting corruption in the Riviera Beach Police Department?

Michael McAuliffe cited none of these setbacks in his official statement this morning saying he won't be seeking a second term as Palm Beach state attorney. But inquiring minds will certainly be gossiping for months about why the ambitious prosecutor bowed out of the race.

"Just announced McAuliffe will not seek reelection.... there is a god..... now it's Ric's turn," More >>

More journalists will be out of work.

​The Palm Beach Post laid off "more than" 20 people today, adding to the more than 300 jobs the newspaper cut three years ago.

With papers across the country shrinking, shifting, and shutting down, Post Publisher Tim Burke blamed the economic downtown for the latest cutbacks.

Insiders say four of the employees worked in editorial. We'll update if/when more details become available.

UPDATE: Read Burke's memo to employees after the jump:
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PBSO

Pablo Valenzuela, after his arrest in 2008.

​Days after recommending that two former West Palm Beach police officers who repeatedly kicked a handcuffed suspect in the head should not face felony charges, the prosecutor handling the controversial case resigned from the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office. More >>

​UPDATE 2: We've checked out the information about Edgar Bushey; find it after the jump.

UPDATE: The scene is reportedly clear, and the surrounding streets will reopen.

Police in West Palm Beach are investigating reports of a suspicious U-Haul truck on Banyan Boulevard.

According to the Palm Beach County Clerk's office, Banyan Boulevard has been closed to traffic, and the Federal Courthouse in the area has been evacuated.

Video of the scene shows the U-Haul truck has a sign on the side saying "Google Edgar Bushey" and underneath that says, "Frank Baker, PBSO, lied and did no investigation."

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Broward Sheriff's Office

Steven Feagin

​The Broward State Attorney's Office has confirmed to the Pulp that sexual assault charges have been dropped against Steven Feagin -- the former Deerfield Beach High School football standout who went on to play running back at the University of Illinois -- in an alleged rape that took place on June 10, 2007.

Feagin, now 41 years old, was arrested in September 2008 after the Broward Sheriff's Office said the "accused serial rapist" had sexually assaulted one woman in Pompano Beach and three others in Illinois -- all of the women having blond hair and blue or green eyes.

"He might have thought he had gotten away with committing numerous rapes, but 15 years after assaulting his first victim, good police work and technology have landed him in jail," the sheriff's office said at the time of his arrest.

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​UPDATE 2: A female clerk who was among the three people shot has died.

UPDATE: Three people were shot this morning, including the suspect, according to the sheriff's office. They are all currently at a nearby hospital. We'll post a full update once more details are released.

Three people were shot in an apparent robbery of a central Broward check cashing shop around 9:30 a.m. today, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

BSO information officers are currently gathering details of what happened.

The location of the shooting is a place called the Check Cashing Store at 2927 W. Sunrise Blvd. in an unincorporated area of the county.

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Montimere came clean after posing as Jerry Joseph.

​Guerdwich Montimere, the former Dillard High School basketball player who moved to Texas when he was 22 and reinvented himself as a 16-year-old, came clean in the legal sense yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child -- for having sex with a 15-year-old girl he dated while attending a Texas high school -- and three counts of tampering with government records. The judge sentenced him to three years in prison, with credit for the year he's already spent in jail.

But for this bizarre sports scandal, which rocked the small town of Odessa, Texas, and bewildered the basketball community in Fort Lauderdale, perhaps the most significant moment in the courtroom came when Montimere told the judge his real name. Previously,
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streetcorner.com.au

​An argument at a Lauderdale Lakes bar early this morning led to 12 people being shot, two of whom died, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

The BSO's Dani Moschella tells New Times they got a call at 3:19 a.m. about a shooting at the South Rock Lounge Bar & Grill, described as "a popular but typically peaceful Caribbean strip mall bar."

The gunman allegedly pulled out a gun on an unarmed man during an argument, when one of the bar's private security guards pulled out his gun and ordered the man to drop his, police say.

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PBSO

​Palm Beach Sheriff's Office Lt. Michael Morris -- AKA "Big Mike" -- was allegedly doing a favor for a friend when he tossed out a handful of traffic tickets last November. But the good deed ended up landing the Belle Glade district commander in hot water, charged with felony official misconduct.

The strange tale begins on November 5, 2010. Just before 11 p.m., Jamie Evans, 24, the daughter of the woman who does public relations for Belle Glade, was stopped by another sheriff's deputy for a traffic violation. Deputy Samnang Ith issued five citations against Evans, according to a probable-cause affidavit in the case, although it's unclear what laws Evans was accused of breaking.

Evans was upset by the incident. She later told her brother -- who happens to be a PBSO homicide detective -- that "she was stopped for no reason" and that Ith was "rude," the affidavit says.
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