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• Save PIP

  Craig Cannon | May 15, 2007 8:21 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  The Florida Legislature adjourned last month without resolving the problem of mandatory personal injury insurance for motorists--PIP. For people injured in car crashes who do not have health insurance, PIP is the only source of money to compensate emergency rooms and doctors for the care they must provide. Florida's 35-year-old PIP statute is set to expire in October unless something is done in...

• $12 Million Slip and Fall Verdict

  Craig Cannon | May 02, 2007 3:47 PM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  A Hampton, Virginia jury awarded a Williamsburg woman more than $12.2 million in a slip-and-fall case. In August 2003, Annette Ritzmann was walking into what was then a Miller Mart on the corner of Lafayette Street and Richmond Road to buy a newspaper and pay for gas when she slipped on a small puddle caused by a leaky awning. She landed on her chest and chin, and a witness would later say the...

• Car Crash Kills Driver

  Craig Cannon | May 01, 2007 4:29 PM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  A 19-year-old Silver Springs man died Sunday after a two-car crash. The crash occurred at the intersection of Northwest 145th Avenue Road and County Road 326. After the car crash Joshua Joseph Stacy was transported to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Stacy was driving a 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier at the time of the crash. Stacy was traveling south on...

• Two Killed in Crash with Semi

  Craig Cannon | April 28, 2007 8:29 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  Two Ocala women who had just left a bar died in a fiery head-on collision with a tractor-trailer. The women were driving on the wrong side of U.S. 301. The collision occurred just before 11 p.m. two miles south of Citra. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they saw flames shooting 20 to 25 feet in the air. The truck and the Jeep Wrangler the two women were in were engulfed in fire.The...

• Woman Killed by Van

  Craig Cannon | April 27, 2007 7:48 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  A New Smyrna Beach woman was killed Wednesday afternoon after getting off a Votran bus on South Dixie Freeway. Shelby Kane, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses said Kane had just gotten off a southbound Votran bus and was crossing the four-lane street when she was hit by a van. Kane was apparently headed to the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library, when the crash occurred. A...

• Hit and Run Driver Leaves Ocala Teen in Coma

  Shannon Weidemann | April 26, 2007 2:27 PM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  A 14-year-old girl from Ocala was hit by a car while walking on her street. The accident left her in a coma. The driver of the car did not stop and fled the scene. The police believe she was hit by the side view mirror of the car. Another driver was able to provide police a description of the car. Florida Highway Patrol troopers said they believed the car was missing a windshield wiper and...

• No Penalty for Nursing Home Abuse

  Craig Cannon | April 25, 2007 8:43 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  Federal health officials impose only minimal penalties on nursing homes repeatedly cited for mistreatment and abuse of patients. As a result, some nursing homes go in and out of compliance with federal standards. Those nursing homes pose a continued threat to the health and safety of patients."Some of these homes repeatedly harmed residents over a six-year period and yet remain in the Medicare...

• Traffic Signals to Prevent Car Accidents

  Craig Cannon | April 20, 2007 8:28 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  As a result of concerns over car traffic conditions in The Villages, a community development district board is openly in favor of installing traffic signals at the intersection of Morse Boulevard and San Marino Drive. The board expressed disappointment when professional traffic engineers recommended not to install traffic signals at the intersection. All five board members are concerned about...

• Motorcyclist's Death Blamed on Drunk Driver

  Craig Cannon | April 18, 2007 10:13 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  On October 19, 2006, the night before the official start of Biketoberfest, Clifford L.R. Atkinson, 68, was killed when his motorcycle collided head-on with a car on State Road 100 in Flagler County west of Bunnell. After completing its investigation, the Florida Highway Patrol is blaming the driver of the oncoming car, Bunnell resident Michelle K. Bohn, 36. Bohn was driving west when she crossed...

• Tort Reform Hurts Injured

  Craig Cannon | April 17, 2007 8:24 AM | 0 CommentsGainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach, FL

  Tort reform hurts everyone - not just the injured. Just because you have not been injured in a car accident or at work does not mean that you never will be. If you are injured do you want your ability to be compensated for that injury to be significantly limited? Well, Tort Reform does.Under the direction of former Governor Jeb Bush, the Florida legislature implemented a widespread attack on...