The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Florida State College at Jacksonville, and oranges are in the headlines today.Welcome to WJCT First Read, your daily weekday morning round-up of stories from the First Coast, around Florida, and across the country. We'll also preview some of WJCT's upcoming news programming.
Six-hundred people gathered in mall movie melee: Five juveniles are in custody after the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office said they used pepper spray to subdue a crowd gathered outside the River City Marketplace Movie Theater. (Action News Jax)
FSCJ legal spending tops $1 million: Officials at Florida State College at Jacksonville have spent $1.3 million in settlements and legal fees related to recent scandals. (Florida Times-Union)
Speeders get warning, lottery games instead of tickets: Police in Melbourne used their own money to purchase holiday themed scratch-off games, which they then gave to speeding drivers pulled over on Christmas in lieu of traffic tickets. (Florida Today)
Disease cuts orange crop to lowest in two decades: Florida will harvest 121 million boxes of fruit this growing season, the fewest since 1990, due in part to disease spread by insects. (Bloomberg News)
CEOs tout Florida business climate: The website of Chief Executive Magazine has ranked Florida second only to Texas for business climate in 2013. (Sunshine State News)
Few drivers cited for texting under new law: Only 28 drivers were given tickets for texting while driving since the state's ban went into effect Oct. 1. (Orlando Sentinel)
FSU's Winston wins AP Player of the Year: 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and Florida State University star quarterback Jameis Winston was named player of the year by the Associated Press. (ESPN)
Florida's second largest baby of 2013 born on Christmas: A Keystone Heights couple welcomed a 14-pound, 22.5 inch son on Christmas, the second largest baby born in this state this year. (UPI)
Today at 9 a.m. in place of First Coast Connect, hour-one of "Best of the Best: The 2013 Third Coast Festival Broadcast" with interviews from the producers of the best radio documentaries of the year.
You can get all the latest headlines online at WJCTNews.org, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter @WJCTJax. You can follow Patrick Donges on Twitter at @patrickhdonges.
