The Latest Breaking News from Seminole County

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Seminole County School Board District 5 — Dana Fernandez and Autumn Garick — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office. 

ORLANDO, Fla. — Citing concerns about the credibility of key witnesses against him — including Seminole County’s former tax collector, Joel Greenberg — career Justice Department prosecutors have recommended against charging U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz with sex trafficking, according to a report.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg alleged far-reaching public corruption, including granting no-work contracts on the public dime, when he spoke with investigators probing the “ghost” candidate scheme that helped Republican state Sen. Jason Brodeur win office in 2020.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A jury of six people found Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris guilty Thursday of causing his cousin’s name to be falsely listed on independent “ghost” candidate Jestine Iannotti’s campaign contribution forms in 2020.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg has been named as a witness in the state’s case against an independent “ghost” candidate who ran for a competitive state Senate seat in 2020 and the Seminole County GOP chairman who aided her candidacy.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Joel Greenberg — Seminole County’s former tax collector who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and other federal crimes more than a year ago — is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Dec. 1, according to federal judge’s order signed Friday.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jestine Iannotti, the former Seminole County substitute teacher whose independent 2020 bid for Florida Senate District 9 was central to the statewide “ghost” candidate scandal, was booked into the Seminole County Jail on Wednesday morning.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jestine Iannotti, one of three “ghost” candidates who ran as independents for Florida Senate seats in 2020, has been arrested on several criminal charges, alongside a political consultant involved in launching her campaign and Seminole County’s Republican Party chairman.

Two political operatives and an independent candidate who opponents say hardly campaigned and only entered a state Senate race in central Florida in 2020 to siphon votes from a Democrat have been criminally charged

Some cooler heads have prevailed in Florida, where Seminole County School Board members unanimously voted down a proposal to cover an entire high school yearbook page in stickers to hide photos of students carrying “love is love” signs.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Seminole County high school is covering up yearbook photos of students protesting Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” bill, a move that the publication’s staffers call censorship.