Hometown Congresswoman Val Demings was the lone Democrat sponsor of the law-and-order Blue Lives Matter Bill. This bill, also known as the Protect and Serve Act , is widely considered a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.  The Blue Lives Matter Bill calls for federal prison sentences of up to 10 years for someone who “knowingly assaults a law enforcement officer causing serious bodily injury.” Someone who attempts to kidnap or kill an officer could get life in federal prison. Civil liberties groups, such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, say the Blue Lives Matter Bill is excessive and unnecessary since every state already has strong laws on the books to protect police officers. In their rebuttal to this bill, People for the American Way , wrote it part: “This bill is being contemplated at a time when our country is in the throes of a national policing crisis, with a never-ending stream of police shootings of unarmed African Americans captured on video. Creating...

You can fight Orlando police and win. Just ask Byron Kirkland. Orlando Police Officer Kevin Lopez said he stopped Mr. Kirkland because his car’s headlights weren’t on after dark – even though dash-cam video from a police car shows the headlights were on at the time of the stop. That routine stop resulted in Mr. Kirkland going to jail. Mr. Kirkland’s crime? He tried to call 9-1-1. That’s right, Mr. Kirkland tried to call police because he said he was alarmed by Officer Lopez’s aggressive behavior. Mr. Kirkland, who is an employed father with no criminal record, wanted other police to respond to calm the situation. Click here to see and hear what Mr. Kirkland told the Orlando Police Civilian Review Board on Wednesday. Mr. Kirkland went to court on a charge of resisting arrest without violence. And he beat the charge. Keep following this case at www.32805ORLNEWS.com

Civil-rights history seldom tastes as good as a twirly frozen treat at Goff’s ice cream stand on the Orange Blossom Trail at Church Street. Many people don’t realize that Goff’s is a landmark in Orlando’s civil-rights struggle. Goff's on The Trail Back in 1950, Goff’s was known as the Creamette. The owner was a white transplant from up north who ignored the racist southern custom that required segregated service. Instead, the owner boldly served black and white customers at the same walk-up window. Harry Moore On Nov. 1, 1951 a bomb exploded at the business. The blast caused serious damage to the concrete-block building, which was later repaired. Fortunately, the explosion occurred late at night and no one was injured. Black civil-rights activists Harry and Harriette Moore weren’t so lucky. On Christmas day 1951 -- a little more than a month after the ice-cream shop attack -- a bomb exploded under the Moore home in the rural Brevard County comm...