Kitchen makes game-winner, defense gets final stop, FSU heads to semis

When it mattered most, Derwin Kitchen wasn't going to be denied.

Three times during Florida State's white-knuckle thriller against Georgia Tech on Friday, the sophomore guard had a layup rejected by a Yellow Jacket defender.

But with just 9.9 seconds left in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal game, Kitchen took an inbounds pass from freshman Luke Loucks, sped toward the goal and hit a game-winning reverse layup while being fouled in the Seminoles' 64-62 win at the Georgia Dome.

It was just his third basket of the game.

"I was struggling the whole night," said Kitchen, who finished with eight points, five assists and four turnovers. "To make a big play like that for my teammates, for Luke to have confidence to pass it to me (and) just to bounce back from a terrible game — that was big."

The whole world — or at least the 26,352 in attendance Friday — expected FSU star Toney Douglas to take the game-winning shot. After all, he had 25 points in the game (on 11 of 15 shooting) and has taken, and made, virtually all of the Seminoles' big shots in conference contests this season.

Instead, the pass went to Kitchen, who attacked the basket despite his earlier struggles.

The Rev. John Hagee to Speak at Rally for Israel

The Rev. John Hagee, founder and national chairman of Christians United for Israel, will speak at "A Night to Honor Israel" at 6 p.m. Sunday at Without Walls Central Church in Lakeland. He will be joined by Ofer Bavly, Israeli Consul General in Miami.

Members of a Lakeland synagogue will participate as well. Cantor Victor Geigner of Temple Emanuel will sing the Israeli national anthem near the beginning of the service and a member of the temple will blow the ceremonial shofar, or ram's horn, Geigner said.

The rally is intended to demonstrate solidarity between Christians and Jews, said the Rev. Scott Thomas, pastor of Without Walls Central. It is the third such event hosted by the church.

"We want to let the Jewish community know we are standing with them and praying for them. ... The Bible tells us as Christians to stand for and with Israel. It's a scriptural mandate," he said. "Christianity could never stand without Judaism. The founding fathers of the Christian faith were the founding fathers of the Jewish faith."

Hagee is pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, a large Pentecostal congregation. In books and sermons, Hagee has stated that Israel is at the center of a scenario that will include the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ to Earth, a theology known as "Christian Zionism." He has expressed unequivocal support for the policies of conservative Israeli political parties in Israel's land disputes with the government of the Palestinian Authority, and his organization also lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of Israel.

Last year, Hagee was forced to withdraw his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain because of previously published comments that charged the Catholic Church conspired with Adolf Hitler "to exterminate the Jews." Hagee subsequently issued an apology.

My response:

Humph...

Not All Schools in Poverty Areas Fail, FCAT Shows

Blanton is among the poorest schools in Pinellas. Tucked along a humble stretch of 54th Avenue North between St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park, it sits next to an apartment complex offering $150 move-in specials, and backs into Copher's U Pull It, an auto salvage yard stacked high with clunkers.

Three in four Blanton students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. A growing number speak more Vietnamese or Spanish than English. Earlier this year, administrators discovered a student was coming in late because her family doesn't have an alarm clock where they live - in their car.

Shocking? Not at Blanton. The same thing happened last year.

And yet, when it comes to academics, Blanton's results are as loud and impossible to ignore as Copher's car crusher.

Six years after its F (which was changed to a D upon appeal), Blanton has earned two A's in a row. It's expecting a third after this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test season, which kicks into high gear Tuesday.

Blanton's scores outpace nearly every other high-poverty school in Pinellas. And better yet, they stack up well next to Perkins Elementary, the highly prized arts magnet in St. Petersburg that has half Blanton's poverty.

POVERTY, ADACEMICS CO-EXIST

It's commonly assumed there is an iron-clad correlation between poverty and academics. Poor school? Bad school. But in Florida, a growing number of high-poverty schools are defying public perception.

Case of 7 Killings Is Back

Seven children poisoned by insecticide.

Their father charged with murder.

A white sheriff and a white prosecutor who, the story goes, framed a poor black fruit picker and brought shame to this town.

All those lawyers making a show at the trial and all those reporters asking questions about Arcadia, a small town in southwest Florida, that no one wanted to answer.

Nobody talks much about James Joseph Richardson or those seven dead children anymore.

It all happened more than 40 years ago, and just about anybody who had anything to do with it has died or moved on.

But suspicion lingers about Richardson, even after it was proven that the murder case against him was built on lies. Some still wonder whether it was Richardson who poisoned the children's lunch in October 1967 and finessed the legal system to avoid the punishment he deserved.

And now, the case that underscored the upheaval of the civil rights era in this small town is back in court.

Richardson is the first person to apply for a settlement under a new Florida law that awards money to the wrongly convicted.

Jailed for more than two decades, he stands to gain more than $1 million - $50,000 for every year he spent in prison.

Opposing him, just as they did in 1967 and 1989, when he was set free, are prosecutors with the State Attorney's Office. They are pointing to a provision in the new law that says the wrongly convicted must prove their own innocence to receive a payment.

It is nearly an impossible standard, especially in a case this old. Evidence was destroyed years ago and most of the witnesses are now dead.

Richardson's lawyer, Robert Barrar Jr., wonders: "How do you prove a negative? How do you prove that something didn't happen?"

You can start with the baby sitter.

Read the rest.  Really interesting story. 

Fla. Hopes For Better Schools Are Erased

Gov. Charlie Crist's promise to boost money for Florida's schools has been shattered by the state's worsening economy.

New forecasts show that the values of homes, businesses and condos continue to slide dramatically, especially in Southwest Florida.

And with the slide in real estate values comes less money in property taxes for school districts - as much as $1 billion less.

That all but wipes out Crist's pledge to spend $183 more on each student next year.

And it is one more sign that Crist's optimistic budget is crashing against economic realities, rendering his proposed $66.5 billion spending plan irrelevant to the GOP-controlled Legislature.

My response:

I just refuse to give in to the doom and gloom. We'll be ok. Most of the stuff we spend money on is stupid anyway. The first thing we need to cut are those ignorant teachers who can't string a decent sentence together but have the nerve to try to teach English. Get rid of low performing teachers and pay high performing teachers better. Then tell these Teacher Unions to kick rocks.

Man Up, Michael Steele

Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP.

Steele rejected the idea, saying, "I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party."

"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele told CNN. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."

Um huh...and today he apologized to Rush like a big sissy. Michael Steele makes me sick. Man up, Mike. Seriously.

Parks & Crump Win A Big One In Imperial Polk County

A civil court jury this week found that Mike Cochran, a Lakeland police officer, was negligent when he shot Reginald Jackson in the neck in 2001.

The jury awarded Jackson $550,000 in the case Wednesday.

Jackson's lawyers said the city would be liable only for $100,000 under the state's sovereign immunity clause. Lawyers hadn't decided Thursday whether they would file a petition with the state Legislature for more money.

"I think the verdict reflected the recklessness of officer Cochran," said Daryl Parks, one of Jackson's lawyers. "It was a tough case. They did everything in their power to stop us."

The Lakeland Police Department did not return calls for comment.

The incident began in the parking lot of Church's Chicken restaurant, 213 W. Memorial Blvd., in October 2001, when Jackson was issued tickets by Cochran for a tag violation and for not placing a passenger younger than 3 years old in a child restraint device.

Cochran told Jackson to make a phone call and get a child seat before leaving the parking lot of the restaurant.

About 15 minutes later, Jackson left and headed west on Memorial Boulevard.

But he was stopped by Cochran about a block later.

Jackson got out of his car and ran, despite Cochran's orders. The two ran around a building and Jackson got back in his car, according to Ledger records.

Police said Jackson repeatedly "lurched" the car toward Cochran, who yelled for him to stop.

At the time, a police spokesman said Cochran feared for his life and fired a single shot, striking Jackson in the neck. The child, the son of Jackson's girlfriend, was not injured.

Jackson was treated at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and taken to the Polk County Jail.

Jackson was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the State Attorney's Office later dropped the charges.

Parents of former FSU football player seek state compensation for his death

A claims bill for the family of Devaughn Darling will make another attempt to get through the Legislature this session, eight years after the Florida State University linebacker died during off-season drills.

So far Wendy Hunter, Darling’s mother, and Dennis Darling, his father, have been paid $200,000, the most allowed under state law. The state’s sovereign immunity requires legislative approval for payments greater than that.

The parents and FSU settled a lawsuit in 2004 that would pay them $2 million for Darling’s death, but each year the claims bill has been brought up it’s been pulled before a vote could be taken. This year could be especially challenging for claims bills in general since lawmakers will have to make severe cuts to balance the budget.

“This has been lingering for quite a while,” said Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, sponsor of the Darling claims bill (SB26). “It’s an issue of fairness to the family.”

Lawson said despite the state’s poor financial condition, claims bills such as this one should pass because “they are nonrecurring dollars.”

Hunter, who has long criticized the fact the bill hasn’t gone through the Legislature, could not be reached for comment.

Yolanda Jackson, who is lobbying for the Darling claims bill, said she is hopeful the bill is passed, but has yet to know what Senate and House leadership plans to do with such bills this session.

“With the budget the way it is, I’m not sure,” Jackson said.

Both House and Senate leadership spokeswomen said how the claims bill process and what claims bills will be voted on this session is still under discussion.