​If you've flown recently, you probably have some dim memories of loose change rattling around in a plastic bin at the security checkpoint. If you're careful, you pour all those coins back into your bag or pocket before heading to the gate.

If you don't, the Transportation Security Administration keeps the change. And over a year, that change adds up to a lot of money.

We told you the story of a TSA officer who took home a passenger's $450 pen -- and now faces grand theft charges. In the case of the loose change, though, nobody's pressing charges.More >>

CandaceWest.com

Toussain Puddie

​Our cover story this week deals with a subject on which pretty much everyone has a strong opinion: the Transportation Security Administration, tasked with frisking, scanning, and searching you before you get on a plane.More >>

Hunting and fishing trips are becoming more popular for vets.

​Stalking alligators in a swamp is not the only way veterans can bond and heal during outdoor adventures in Florida. In May, the Legislature passed a bill designating certain portions of state forests hunting areas for injured active-duty military members and veterans. So far, there are six forests slated to host hunts--  Lake Wales Ridge in Polk County, Withlacoochee in the Hernando and Sumter county areas, Welaka near Orlando, Lake Talquin in Leon County, and the Twin Rivers and Big Shoals forests along the Suwannee River.More >>

In honor of Veterans Day and the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, New Times went alligator hunting with combat-wounded veterans in Melbourne. This video, produced by talented photographer Colby Katz, provides a taste of the action. Narrated by retired Army Sgt. Gary Horn, it shows retired Army Capt. Greg Amira -- who was wounded on 9/11 and in Iraq -- celebrating the first catch of the hunt.

---

Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB. Follow Lisa Rab on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo by Colby Katz

Veteran Greg Amira displays the first catch of the hunt.

​When a group of combat-wounded veterans went alligator hunting on the St. Johns River last month, ace photographer Colby Katz came along to document their journey. After you read this week's cover story on the hunt, check out the incredible slide show Katz created.

​For this week's cover story, New Times tagged along with a group of combat-wounded veterans on an alligator hunt in a Florida swamp. All the men were Purple Heart recipients injured while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. To gain perspective on their lives after the war, here are a few salient facts, courtesy of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center:More >>

Facebook

Toussain Puddie

​"I don't feel like I did anything wrong," maintains Toussain Puddie, the 30-year-old former TSA screener who took home Rick Case's pen and now faces grand-theft charges at the behest of Case and his family.

After our coverage of Puddie and his lawyer preparing to face the heavy charges, the State Attorney's Office offered Puddie "pretrial intervention," says his lawyer, Leland Garvin.

That would have let him off the hook with a clear record, except More >>

Wikimedia Commons

​Dan Christensen lost his job in the Miami Herald's Broward bureau in 2009, a casualty of rampant cost-cutting in daily journalism. Rather than throw in the towel, Christensen started his own local news site, Broward Bulldog, and vowed to continue breaking stories. "This website was the only way to do it," he says.

Now Broward Bulldog is getting some national attention. On Thursday, three days before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Christensen broke a story that had been unreported until then: A family living in a gated community near Sarasota abruptlyMore >>

Facebook

Toussain Puddie

​Toussain Puddie, the 30-year-old former TSA screener who says he mistakenly took home a Montblanc pen belonging to car dealer Rick Case, was arraigned on Monday for grand theft charges relating to the incident. Case's daughter filed a missing-property report with the Broward Sheriff's Office on June 6, and Puddie was arrested on June 22.

Now, fired from his TSA post following the arrest, Puddie says he's passing the days at home lifting weights. Meanwhile his lawyer, Leland Garvin, is mulling whether or not to request discovery documents from the state. Garvin says that these include an affidavit that Rick Case filled out after he was contacted by the State Attorney's Office.
More >>

The Montblanc StarWalker pen, allegedly taken by Puddie.

​Toussain Puddie used to work as a TSA security screener at Terminal 1 of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport -- until he told police last month that he had taken home a pen belonging to local car dealership owner Rick Case. Case decided to press charges, despite Puddie's cooperation in returning the pen.

According to police, Case was preparing to board a Frontier Airlines flight out of Fort Lauderdale on June 5 when he and his wife were selected for special TSA screening. Case removed his $450 black-and-white Montblanc pen from his pocket and placed it in a basket. His wife carried the family cat through the x-ray machine.

More >>