Well this is awkward. Last night police detained Talya Ben-Eliezer, 39-year-old daughter of former Israeli defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, at JFK on an outstanding "no-bail warrant" out of Florida. The dual American-Israeli citizen was booked as a "fugitive from justice" on a drug charge from the Sunshine State reportedly to do with some oxycontin she bought without the proper prescription. more ›

Newt Gingrich may be trailing Mitt Romney by 11 percentage points in Florida, but don't tell whoever wrote this fresh, fly, rap song about the former Speaker of the House. more ›

A former NYPD detective was convicted of beating, raping and setting his wife on fire, after Tampa jurors refused to believe his claims that his wife and a masked man were trying to kill him. Christopher Hanney is now facing a possible life sentence for the crime. more ›

What does Newt Gingrich's 12% win over Mitt Romney in South Carolina mean? Even if Gingrich doesn't have Romney's war chest and organization for Florida's primary on the 31st, his momentum is snowballing in the state's print media, and this morning Romney admitted he made a mistake in declining to release his tax returns, and said he will make them available on Tuesday. “We made a mistake in holding off as long as we did,” the candidate told FOX News, noting that he pays a "substantial" amount of taxes. Still Gingrich can point out that in terms of percentage, he pays double what a member of the 0.01% does. more ›

Gene Hackman was airlifted to a Miami hospital earlier today after getting hit by a car while riding his bicycle in the Florida Keys. The Florida Highway Patrol tells TMZ that The Royal Tenenbaums star suffered injuries to his head and body. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, and at press time it remained unclear whether Hackman was faking his injuries as part of an elaborate plan to get back together with his estranged wife and precocious children. more ›

Rapper Rick Ross has reportedly suffered a seizure on a plane, forcing it to land. According to TMZ, Ross was on a flight going from Ft. Lauderdale to Memphis earlier today when he lost consciousness. A doctor on board administered CPR on the rapper, and paramedics frantically tried to revive him after the plane made an emergency landing. They say that as Ross was being wheeled off the aircraft, he appeared to show signs of life. more ›

If the TSA had a face we'd like to think it would be so red right now. But then we remember that the TSA just doesn't care. Because beyond the whole ongoing profiling issue, it seems that once again agents for the Administration have been caught getting paid off to let drug dealers fly freely with their wares. Authorities today announced that they've caught TSA officers in Florida in New York conspiring to ship tens of thousands of Oxycodone pills north. In total the U.S. Attorney's Office today says it has arrested three TSA officers, a Westchester County police officer and a Florida state trooper and seven Connecticut residents who bought drugs. more ›

You'd think that teachers would have figured out by now that posting on Facebook can only lead to trouble—or sexual harassment. But Florida social studies teacher Jerry Buell hasn't figured that out yet. Buell, a former "Teacher of the Year" award winner, is in trouble after he wrote on his Facebook page, "I'm watching the news, eating dinner, when the story about New York okaying same sex unions came on and I almost threw up." more ›

Did they see it coming? A fortune telling family located in NYC and Florida was busted yesterday and charged with swindling $40 million over the past 20 years from impressionable customers. According to the indictment, the Marks family has been convincing customers that "money is the root of all evil" while purging their marks of all their valuables. But hey, those $1.8 million in gold coins the family accumulated aren't going to just magically purge themselves of evil! more ›

Yesterday morning, a vacation NYC police officer was shot in the courtyard of a boutique hotel in Miami Beach. Police believe the NYPD cop and the gunman (or gunmen) traded at least a dozen shots. A neighbor said, "I was sleeping and then all of a sudden I just heared like six or seven rounds in a row... I thought it was firecrackers, because they just went 'pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.' And then it stopped, and then you heard 'pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.'...And then you didn't hear anything." more ›

Applebee's restaurants around the country have been forced to retrain their staff and enforce new beverage policies after a 15-month-old child was mistakenly served a margarita instead of apple juice. And now it looks like Olive Garden will have to do the same. A Florida mom (video below) says that her two-year-old son was mistakenly served "Tropical sangria," a mixture of juices and white wine, instead of orange juice while the two were dining at the restaurant in March. Now we just need TGI Friday's to pull the same stunt and we'll have a trend! Oh screw it, let's call it a trend anyway. more ›

Up until now, we thought that the "Flamingo Express" was just a 1961 hit single by The Royaltones (seriously), but according to Senator Chuck Schumer, it's also a dangerous prescription pill trade originating in Florida. He and three other senators are calling on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to approve a program that would better track the trade. He said, “Such a policy not only leaves Florida exposed to criminal elements in the business of trafficking controlled substances, but also has serious ramifications for the rest of the country battling abuse of prescription drugs." And don't forget about bath salts. more ›

Earlier this week, a baby grand piano left on a sandbar in Florida's Biscayne Bay puzzled people... until 16-year-old high school student Nicholas Harrington revealed it was part of his application to super competitive Cooper Union. Harrington said, "I wanted to create a whimsical, surreal experience. I don't like it be considered as a prank. It's more of a movement." But what did Cooper Union think of the stunt? more ›

Clearly hearing stories of the big-time from his pals in the Bronx toilet system, one Florida Corn Snake decided it was time for him to take his shot at fame in the big city. A Queens man found a 2½-foot-long Corn Snake hiding in his car's engine yesterday morning. His car had just been shipped up from Florida, where the snakes are common (here they're kept mainly as pets). But now that Old St. Patrick's has even more papal power, the city can get in on all that snake-banning business. more ›

Former Yankees catcher Jim Leyritz was acquitted today of a DUI manslaughter charge, stemming from the 2007 car collision which left one woman dead. Leyritz was found guilty of a lesser misdemeanor DUI charge, for which he faces six months in prison. On Dec. 28, 2007, after celebrating his birthday club-hopping in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Leyritz was in a car crash with 30-year-old Ann Veitch. Blood alcohol tests showed that both Veitch and Leyritz, who denied responsibility for the crash back in 2008, were under the influence. Leyritz settled the civil suit earlier this year, and will pay $1,000 a month for 100 months to Veitch's family. more ›

You may recall that in the summer of 2009, The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. opened in Florida with an elaborate water filtration system (enclosed behind a glass wall in the restaurant) that was said to replicate water that flows from the tap in Brooklyn, thereby giving the bagels that distinctive NYC flavor and texture. "By the time it gets past our systems, it's Brooklyn water," declared the man who built the filtration system. But the bagels have proven so popular that now another company is using the system to make "authentic 'New York Style' pizza," and the owner of the bagel company is suing. more ›

Of course, Pastor Terry Jones wasn't going to let go of his time in the spotlight. Now the leader of a tiny Florida church claims that he may not cancel his September 11 Koran burning after all. He told reporters, "We're definitely going to think it over and reconsider it. Now we're in somewhat a state of limbo, and we have to rethink of course our position." more ›

The Rye Town Hilton in Westchester is a popular local destination for Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations; it was also the site of the grisly murder of Florida multimillionaire businessman Ben Novack Jr last year. Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment yesterday accusing his wife, former stripper Narcy Veliz Novack, of plotting and aiding in the murder: "She opened the door for the attackers and during the assault, went so far as to provide them with a pillow to place over her husband's face as he was being beaten to death," said US Attorney Preet Bharara. more ›

Gulf oil spill day 75: It's going farther than we thought. The latest NOAA findings show that the Florida Keys, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale have a 61%-80% chance of oil impact, thanks to the looming threat from the Loop Current. However, they insist that doesn't mean the oil will necessarily wash ashore. They say their findings mean "that oil or streamers or tar balls are likely to be in the general vicinity (within 20 miles of the coast)." Good news? more ›

More details have emerged about Mets pitching ace Johan Santana's alleged sexual battery incident. According to the Smoking Gun, Santana admitted to police in Florida that he had engaged in consensual sexual intercourse with the unnamed woman near a golf course last year. more ›

Mets ace Johan Santana was accused in a police report last year of sexual battery, according to documents unearthed by TMZ today. The two time Cy Young award winner wasn't prosecuted, since detectives did not believe there was enough evidence to pursue the case. more ›

Though the latest NOAA oil spill trajectory says oil is at least 100 miles off the shore of Florida, but this video from the Huffington Post begs to differ. Filmed just 20 miles southeast of Pensacola, the National Wildlife Federation found fish struggling to survive. They even spotted a blacktip shark, which is classified as a near-threatened species. more ›

Former Yankee Jim Leyritz has settled the civil suit stemming from his 2007 crash that killed another driver, 30-year-old Ann Veitch, in Fort Lauderdale, FL. According to the Miami Herald, "Leyritz's insurance will pay $250,000, Coffey said. Leyritz himself will pay $1,000 a month for 100 months, starting April 15, 2011. Most of the money will go into a restricted trust account for Veitch's children, daughter Kayla, 15, and son Julian, 7, Coffey said. A small percentage will go to their father." Blood alcohol tests also showed that both Veitch and Leyritz, who denied responsibility for the crash back in 2008 , were under the influence. Leyritz's criminal trial is scheduled for July. more ›

Because of Obama's tough stance on Israel, New York's 3rd favorite mayor Ed Koch says he regrets traveling to Florida to spread Obama's gospel to the Jews during the campaign. Koch told the Post, "I think I did it successfully. He told me I did and then he sought to betray the state of Israel in my judgment." Though Koch was initially "weeping" at the president's stance, he said today, "He's backed off of that now and I take him at his word. But I do feel somewhat disquieted." Someone please get him a box of Kleenex. more ›

Gov. Paterson should be investigated for possibly misusing $1,800 in campaign funds at a Florida Ritz Carlton, a good government group alleges. According to the Daily News, the New York Public Interest Research Group wants the Board of Elections to study campaign credit card charges made at the resort in 2008 and determine if they were "personal in nature and not appropriately expensed to the campaign." In a long-awaited Times story on Paterson's purported laziness, the Governor said he went to Florida to meet with possible campaign donors, but added: "I have a cousin who's ill in Sarasota. I went down to see my cousin." He also said he spent time poolside, and noted it "was kind of vacation-oriented." more ›

Notable consultant-for-hire and possible amnesiac Rudy Giuliani has bought a little $1.4 million place for himself and the wife in Florida. The condo is located in a "swanky" Palm Beach building called the Southlake. The Guliani's also own a Palm Beach Towers condominium, which they bought in 2004 for $410,000. Although Giuliani has not said anything about retiring from his lucrative consulting gig (and numerous television appearances), we kind of imagine it'll be like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer retired to Florida and runs for condo board president of Del Boca Vista phase III. more ›

The commissioner of the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has agreed to give back $2,800 after skirting taxes by claiming two residences as her permanent address—one of them in Florida. While working for the city, Commissioner Carole Post had been declaring Florida residency and taking advantage of a tax exemption intended for full-time Florida residents, allowing her and her husband to avoid some taxes on their multimillion dollar West Palm Beach property. more ›