Nation & World Glance
Florida stopped doing gun permit checks for more than a year
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — For more than a year, Florida failed to do national background checks that could have disqualified people from gaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
The lapse, revealed in an internal report that was not widely known about until Friday, occurred during a time period when there was a significant surge in the number of people seeking permission to legally carry a concealed weapon. Florida does not allow the open carry of weapons, but more than 1.9 million have permits to carry guns and weapons in public if they are concealed.
The state ultimately revoked 291 permits and fired an employee blamed for the lapse after an inspector general’s report detailing the problem was sent in June 2017 to top officials in the department who oversee the program. The Tampa Bay Times was the first to publish information about the report, which pointed out that the state failed to check the National Instant Criminal Background Check System from February 2016 to March 2017.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a Republican running for governor who has touted his efforts to make it easier for people to obtain concealedweapons permits, said the state did conduct its own criminal background checks on those applying for permits during that time period.
Putnam blamed the problem on the negligence of a department employee.
Grim task as forensic experts ID Guatemala volcano victims
ESCUINTLA, Guatemala — Forensic experts worked Friday on the grim task of identifying dozens of bodies charred beyond recognition by the eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, a disaster that has left at least 110 confirmed dead and nearly 200 still missing.
Even as search and recovery efforts were suspended for a second day amid dangerous new volcanic flows and dwindling hopes of finding survivors, about 15 forensic experts worked at a makeshift morgue in a warehouse in the southern city of Escuintla.
The corpses arrive wrapped in sheets and plastic, blackened and often missing extremities, filling the cavernous, metalroofed warehouse with the unmistakable stench of death. Some still had hair; others did not.
First, the experts check for anything that could help identify the bodies, such as clothing that hasn’t been burned off by flows said to have reached temperatures as high as 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit (700 C).
Later, they will take genetic material from the bones — the only option available — and compare it to blood drawn from people with missing relatives. The bones can also yield information to help determine age and gender.
DAVIE, Fla. — A woman who disappeared while walking her dogs near a Florida lake Friday was bitten and likely killed by an alligator that was later captured, wildlife officials said.
A necropsy confirmed the gator bit Shizuka Matsuki, 47, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said in a statement. The statement said officials believe Matsuki was killed and were searching for her body. Commission spokesman Rob Klepper said they were able to positively identify the woman from evidence collected from the necropsy of the alligator, but he wouldn’t specifically say what that evidence was.
A witness told authorities he saw the woman walking two dogs and then noticed the dogs alone, barking near the water. One of the dogs had a fresh injury, a gash on its side, said Davie Police Detective Viviana Gallinal.
The witness called police when he couldn’t find the woman, Gallinal said. Earlier news media reports indicated the witness reported seeing the gator drag the woman into the water.
Police did not immediately clarify the discrepancy.