Posted: Mar 02, 2013 2:26 PM ESTUpdated: Mar 02, 2013 10:16 PM EST
 
Torres, 25, was released from the Charlotte County Jail after posting a bond of $29,500.
PORT CHARLOTTE (FOX 13) -Deputies in Charlotte County confiscated over 400 pounds of marijuana from a grow house in Port Charlotte late Thursday.

A pair of Bradenton residents was arrested on a variety of charges including trafficking in an illegal narcotic. Elier Enrique Torres-Milian and Yudelky Cabrera Perez were booked into the Charlotte County Jail and released after posting a bond of $29,500 each.

According to a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office report detectives in the department's Narcotics Division received a tip that a strong odor of marijuana was emitting from 18099 Bly Ave.

A search warrant was executed and detectives and members of CCSO's Street Crimes Unit knocked on the door. Torres-Milan, 25, answered but quickly slammed the door and attempted to go back inside.

Perez, 33, then slammed the door shut but deputies managed to kick it in to gain access to the residence. The suspects were handcuffed, placed into custody and removed from the home.

A search revealed two rooms containing hydroponic cultivation equipment. One of the rooms contained 61 large cut pot plans and an additional 169 ‘starter' marijuana plants.

Both contained the sophisticated devices employed to produce high-grade cannabis.

Deputies confiscated the larger plants for evidence and destroyed the equipment. A pick-up truck and a 2011 Dodge Charger were also seized.

Torres-Milian and Perez were both charged with Trafficking in Marijuana, Cultivation of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Resisting Arrest.

Charlotte County Bill Prummell, who took over the office in January, says his agency will continue to target similar operations.

"This is only the beginning," Prummell said of the bust. "Since I took I reorganized the Special Investigations Division to include a supervisor of Narcotics, members of the Street Crimes Unit, a K9, and use of the Veri-Plate System that scans and records license plates on vehicles. We are targeting the worst of the worst."




Read more: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/21443907/grow-house-bust-yields-400-pounds-of-marijuana#ixzz2MgLf5kbs 
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PORTLAND, Ore. –  An Oregon sheriff has sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden saying his department will not enforce any new gun laws it considers unconstitutional.

Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller, in his letter dated Monday, said politicians are "attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims" by supporting laws that would harm law-abiding Americans. The sheriff said he took an oath to support the Constitution, and laws preventing citizens from owning certain semi-automatic firearms and ammunition magazines would violate their rights.

"We are Americans," Mueller wrote. "We must not allow, nor shall we tolerate, the actions of criminals, no matter how heinous the crimes, to prompt politicians to enact laws that will infringe upon the liberties of responsible citizens who have broken no laws."

Mueller told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Albany, Ore., that he felt compelled to make his views known because sheriffs have not had much of a say on the vice president's anti-gun violence task force. Mueller said his constituents have been repeatedly asking his deputies about what will happen if new gun restrictions are adopted.

"We're restricted and prohibited from enforcing all types of federal laws, including immigration laws," he said Tuesday. "It would be unreasonable for anyone to think that I would enforce a federal firearms law."

The sheriff figures Biden probably won't even receive his letter, but "it needed to be said, so I said it."

"I tried to be as respectful as possible, but I also needed to get my point across," Mueller said.

Mueller said some other sheriffs expressed support for his stance, but he does not know of any who have pledged to take similar action in regard to potential gun laws. Holly Russell, executive director of the Oregon State Sheriff's Association, did not respond to phone and email messages left late Tuesday afternoon.

Linn County is largely rural and politically conservative. Fewer than 40 percent of its registered voters supported President Barack Obama in November. Mueller said most households in the county have guns.

Though the letter might add fuel to an already hot topic, Mueller said he wishes people could have a civilized discussion about the issue, rather than resort to threats and name-calling. He said he doesn't think the vice president is a bad person; he just doesn't like the path he appears to be on regarding gun laws.

"We don't have to be jerks to each other over it," he said. "If old Joe wants to come out here to Linn County, we'd have a good conversation."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/15/ore-sheriff-says-wont-enforce-new-gun-laws/#ixzz2I9QiEVx8

The Senate approved a scaled-down package early Tuesday morning aimed at halting historic tax hikes for most Americans and postponing across-the-board spending cuts, just hours after Congress missed a midnight deadline for action.

The Senate voted 89-8 in favor of the package, which was hastily pulled together after a late-night deal between White House and Senate Republican negotiators.

For the near-term, it appears a tax hike will technically go into effect on Jan. 1, as the midnight deadline was missed. In total, $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts are scheduled to hit in the new year unless and until the legislation is finalized. 

But the goal in Washington is to produce a bill that could patch up the problem in the coming days, sparing most Americans from any major or lasting blow to their paychecks.

The bill now goes to the House side, where its chances are unclear. The House is expected to come back into session at noon on Tuesday.

Senate leaders, though, hailed the deal as an “imperfect” but vital solution to the fiscal crisis. 

“The president wanted tax increases, but thanks to this imperfect agreement, 99 percent of my constituents won’t be hit by those hikes,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said.

President Obama praised Senate lawmakers for passing the bill, imploring the House to do the same. 

"There’s more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I’m willing to do it," Obama said in a statement. "But tonight’s agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans." 

Senate leaders assembled the vote after a marathon weekend of talks during which Vice President Biden and McConnell did much of the hard bargaining. After the White House and Senate Republicans agreed to the framework, Biden was brought in once more to sell the deal to reluctant Senate Democrats Monday night.

Under the proposal, current tax rates would be extended for everyone except families making above $450,000 -- up from President Obama's earlier threshold of $250,000. The bill would also extend long-term jobless benefits for a year and address other expiring provisions like the estate tax.

The late-night deal ironed out the last major sticking point between the two sides -- what to do about the $110 billion in automatic spending cuts set to kick in starting in January.

Officials said the two sides agreed to postpone the cuts by two months, in exchange for a 50-50 mix of revenue increases and spending cuts. Of those cuts, half would come from defense and half would come from other budgets.

Fox News has also learned the deal contains a repeal of an ObamaCare program called the CLASS Act. The provision, which would set up a government-run long-term care program, was never actually implemented amid concerns that it couldn't generate enough revenue to sustain itself.

The big question is whether the Senate plan can pass the House -- and if so, when. The longer the stalemate drags on, the greater the risk for the economy and taxpayers.

House conservatives were already voicing frustration about the lopsided ratio of tax increases in the plan, as compared with net spending cuts. One estimate showed the bill includes $620 billion in tax hikes and $15 billion is spending cuts. As one House Republican told Fox News, "I cant imagine a ratio such as that warming our fiscal hearts." 

House Republican leaders made clear they were reserving judgment on the package. The House GOP leadership team said any decision on whether to accept or amend any Senate-passed bill would not be made until the House and the American people “have been able to review the legislation.”

On the other side, Democrats had complained about the move to raise taxes only on those making over $450,000, though it wasn’t enough to hold up the Senate vote.

"Looks like a very bad deal the way this is shaping up," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said earlier in the day. Harkin voted against the bill, as did Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rand Paul, R-Ky.;  Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

But all sides were stressing the urgency of the situation.

Of the looming tax hike, Obama said: "Middle class families can't afford it, businesses can't afford it, our economy can't afford it."

The tax hikes, combined with the spending cuts, could trigger another recession if they are not dealt with soon, economists warn. The fiscal deal, though, still pushes off a permanent decision on the spending cuts until two months down the road, when lawmakers could find themselves in a similar position – only this time, with the debt ceiling playing a far more prominent role.

Fox News' Ed Henry, Chad Pergram and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/01/senate-leaders-aim-for-vote-on-fiscal-crisis-deal-as-congress-misses-deadline/#ixzz2GjMoJPQq

The wife of a Florida millionaire who vanished six months ago says she is stuck in financial limbo as police try to figure out if she is a widow or an abandoned wife.

Guma Aguiar, a 35-year-old Brazilian-born oil and gas magnate, was last seen June 19 driving his motorboat through Port Everglades. Since he disappeared, Aguiar’s wife, siblings, mother and an uncle have all been fighting over his $100 million fortune, according to the Orlando Sentinel

With no body turning up, it could take five years for Aguiar to be declared legally dead. In the meantime, Jamie Aguiar, who reportedly had threatened to divorce her husband and had tried to challenge their prenuptial agreement, may be forced to continue fighting his legal battles without him, the paper reported.

“It's a very difficult time,” Jamie Aguiar, 33, of Rio Vista Isles, Fla., told the Sentinel. “I try and count our blessings every single day and try and think of what I'm grateful for.”


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/27/wife-missing-fla-millionaire-wonders-if-abandoned-or-widow/#ixzz2GGj2VDhm

This comes due to the mass shooting in Newton, Conn.
Obama announces Vice President Biden will run this Gun Control Task Force.