Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

White nationalis­t Richard Spencer still plans to visit UF

- The Gainesvill­e Sun

her lingerie 2-minute video.

The video’s release comes just as Stanton leads the major leagues with 51 homeruns this season.

Marlins fans may remember Panterra from her visit to Marlins Park in May 2016, when she threw out the first pitch for the game against the Washington Nationals.

But the California native is probably best-known for her Twerking videos on YouTube.com. She also had a role in Tyler Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” last year and recently completed work on the sequel, according to IMDB.com.

Panterra and Stanton are just friends, according to TMZ.com, which posted the video Thursday. for the

GAINESVILL­E — White nationalis­t Richard Spencer intends to come to Gainesvill­e, whether he has a permit or not.

“I can confirm we are coming to the University of Florida, regardless,” said Cameron Padgett, who organizes speaking events for Spencer. “Hopefully it’s in a controlled environmen­t, like the Phillips Center.”

Earlier this month, the school denied a permit filed by Padgett for Spencer and others aligned with Spencer’s National Policy Institute to speak Sept. 12 at the Phillips Center.

City officials and local police said they have been preparing as if the group plans to speak, though there hasn’t been confirmati­on.

Padgett said he has hired an attorney to review the University of Florida’s cancellati­on to see if it violates their right to speak. If efforts to use the Phillips Center fail, he intends to show up to speak somewhere else on powerful hurricane for several days,” forecaster Eric Blake wrote in the advisory.

Irma bulked up so quickly because it moved slower and further to the south than had been expected, allowing it to stay longer over the warm ocean and away from drier air to the north, the hurricane center said.

The storm is projected to reach Category 4 strength by next week. A storm of that strength has winds from 130 to 156 mph.

It’s too early to know whether Irma will pose a threat to Florida or the campus.

Gary Edinger, an attorney for Padgett, in a letter dated Wednesday urged UF to avoid a lawsuit by allowing the event to go forward, adding that Spencer’s National Policy Institute is willing to consider a different date, time or venue and also to cover some security costs.

He indicated he would likely file a federal suit within days if UF did not agree to host the event.

“We were informed late this afternoon that representa­tives of the organizati­on have retained legal counsel and plan to pursue efforts to hold this event as originally requested,” UF President Kent Fuchs said in a statement sent out to the university community late Wednesday.

Under UF policy, “Demonstrat­ions may be held anywhere on the campus, so long as they do not disrupt the normal operation of the University or infringe on the rights of other members of the University community, except that no demonstrat­ions are permitted inside University buildings.”

U.S., but all interests in the eastern Caribbean should monitor its progress, said AccuWeathe­r hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski.

“It is way too soon to say with certainty where and if this system will impact the U.S.” Kottlowski said.

Irma’s general path and the steering winds guiding it should put the storm close to the Leeward Islands and then perhaps Puerto Rico and Hispaniola toward the middle of next week, according to AccuWeathe­r meteorolog­ist Brian Thompson.

Elsewhere, the hurricane center has issued its final advisory on what is now Tropical Depression Harvey, which was located over central Louisiana early Thursday.

One other system is being watched — an area of low pressure that could form over the southweste­rn Gulf of Mexico by the weekend. Currently, it has a low chance of developing into a tropical cyclone during the next five days.

A tropical cyclone can take the form of a tropical depression, tropical storm, or hurricane. counties. Ayala’s spokeswoma­n, Eryka Washington, declined to say whether the death penalty will again be an option but said they will not seek to get the 29 cases back at this time.

“With implementa­tion of this panel, it is my expectatio­n that going forward all first-degree murder cases that occur in my jurisdicti­on will remain in my office and be evaluated and prosecuted accordingl­y," Ayala said in a statement. She will introduce the attorneys at a press conference this morning.

A governor’s spokeswoma­n declined to say whether he will still transfer future cases to a different prosecutor, saying that Scott had no other details about the panel save for a short statement released to reporters.

“State Attorney Ayala needs to make it clear that her office will seek the death penalty as outlined in Florida law, when appropriat­e,” said John Tupps, a governor’s spokesman. “State Attorney Ayala’s statement today leaves too much room for interpreta­tion.”

Thursday’s Supreme Court opinion sided with Scott by a count of 5-2. Supreme Court Justice C. Alan Lawson, writing the majority opinion, rejected Ayala’s argument of prosecutor­ial discretion.

“By effectivel­y banning the death penalty in the Ninth Circuit — as opposed to making case-specific determinat­ions as to whether the facts of each death-penalty eligible case justify seeking the death penalty — Ayala has exercised no discretion at all,” Lawson wrote. “Ayala’s blanket refusal to seek the death penalty in any eligible case, including a case that ‘absolutely deserve[s] [the] death penalty’ does not reflect an exercise of prosecutor­ial discretion; it embodies, at best, a misunderst­anding of Florida law.”

The next steps in a pending federal lawsuit will depend on how Scott will treat her decision to establish the panel, said her attorney, Roy Austin Jr.

Ayala, who took office in January, announced March 16 that she will not seek the death penalty for anyone as the region’s top prosecutor. She said research showed the death penalty was unevenly applied, put families through decades-long ordeals, and did not deter serious crimes, among other reasons.

She did not publicly express any opinions about the death penalty during her campaign, in which she defeated incumbent State Attorney Jeff Ashton in an August 2016 primary open only to registered Democrats. Ayala did not face generalele­ction opposition on the November ballot.

Scott responded to her March announceme­nt by signing executive orders taking death-penalty cases away from her office and assigning them to State Attorney Brad King of Ocala, starting with the case of Markeith Loyd, accused of first-degree murder in the killings of his pregnant exgirlfrie­nd, Sade Dixon, and an Orlando police officer, Lt. Debra Clayton.

Among those who lauded Thursday’s court decision were Orlando Police Chief John Mina, who said Loyd’s crimes “are the very reason we have the death penalty as an option under the law,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said Ayala’s "unconscion­able decision to never seek the death penalty will not be tolerated."

Civil rights attorney Shayan Elahi, who wrote a brief in support of Ayala’s position this spring, said the court’s decision deals a blow to prosecutor­ial discretion — the idea that state attorOsceo­la neys should be able to decide how to pursue their cases independen­tly and without political interferen­ce. Placing more power with the governor may open the door to future meddling with criminal cases, he said.

“This doesn’t just do damage to the scope of prosecutor­ial discretion and the principal of it, but to the democratic process,” Elahi said.

Justice Barbara Pariente cited similar principals in her dissent, with which Justice Peggy Quince concurred.

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