The Slatest

Slatest PM: George Zimmerman Arrested (Again) in Florida

George Zimmerman arrives in Seminole circuit court, June 7, 2013 in Sanford, Florida

Photo by Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images

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Zimmerman Arrested. Again: Associated Press: “The man acquitted of criminal charges in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin was arrested Monday after deputies responded to a disturbance call at a house in Florida, authorities said. Former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was being transported and booked into jail, according to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office statement. Authorities provided few other details, and it was not immediately known what charge he faced. Messages for comment left by The Associated Press with the sheriff’s office were not immediately returned.” Mug shot here.

What We Know: Orlando Sentinel: “It was not immediately clear what happened or what crime he’s accused of committing, but just before 1:30 p.m., Sheriff Don Eslinger confirmed that Zimmerman had been arrested and was being driven to the county jail in Sanford. … The Sheriff’s Office, in a short news release, reported that the agency had arrested Zimmerman after being called to a disturbance on Topfield Court in western Seminole County near Apopka about 1 p.m. Photos: Orange County jail mug shots Zimmerman’s new girlfriend, 27-year-old Samantha Scheibe, lives in the 1300 block of Topfield Court, according to an unrelated Lake Mary police report.”

Refresher: The arrest isn’t Zimmerman’s first brush with the law since he was acquitted this summer on all counts after shooting and killing Trayvon Martin. In September, he and his estranged wife were involved in a domestic dispute only days after she filed divorce papers. Zimmerman was briefly taken into police custody at the scene, but was never actually arrested (despite initial reports suggesting that he had been). It’s still unclear exactly how that domestic incident played out—including whether Zimmerman was armed at the time—and police never pressed charges against either due to an apparent lack of evidence.

It’s Monday, November 18th, welcome to the Slatest PM. Follow your afternoon host on Twitter at @Dan_Gartland, and the whole team at @Slatest.

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Cleaning Up After the Storms: Chicago Tribune: “The scale of Sunday’s deadly storms became clearer this morning: Six people dead in Illinois, hundreds of homes flattened and splintered, 81 tornadoes reported through the Midwest, 358 reports of damaging winds, 40 reports of large hail. Since 1986, there have been 194 tornado warnings issued in the month of November in Illinois: More than half of them, 101, were issued Sunday, according to the Chicago Weather Center… Hardest hit was Washington, a town of 15,000 people east of Peoria hit by an EF-4 tornado packing winds of 170 to 190 mph. Whole blocks were leveled, prompting the Illinois National Guard to send a 10-person firefighting and search and rescue team. Officials were still trying to determine the extent of injuries Sunday evening, but at least one death was reported and nearly 80 people injured.”

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SCOTUS Rejects Petition in NSA Case: New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an unusual challenge to a National Security Agency surveillance program. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed the challenge directly with the Supreme Court, arguing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had “exceeded its statutory jurisdiction when it ordered production of millions of domestic telephone records that cannot plausibly be relevant to an authorized investigation. The justices gave no reason for rejecting the group’s petition, but the unusual procedure of bypassing the lower courts probably played a role. Other, more conventional challenges to government surveillance programs are pending.”

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Princeton’s Meningitis Problem: Associated Press: “Princeton University officials are weighing whether to give students a meningitis vaccine that hasn’t been approved in the U.S. to stop the spread of the sometimes deadly disease. … Since March, seven cases of meningitis have been confirmed on the New Jersey campus with six students and a visitor diagnosed, the most recent last week. None of the cases has been fatal. … The Centers for Disease Control says the outbreak at Princeton is the first in the world since the vaccine against the type B meningococcal bacteria was approved in Europe and Australia this year, the only one for use against the strain. The vaccine is in the approval process in the U.S.”

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Man Charged in Beating of Off-Duty NYPD Officer: Gothamist: “The man accused of severely beating an off-duty NYPD officer in Queens this weekend has been charged with attempted murder. According to a criminal complaint, 29-year-old Hayden Holder had ‘a verbal dispute with the victim,’ off-duty Sergeant Mohammed Deen, before repeatedly punching Deen to the point of unconsciousness and ‘picking the victim’s head up and slamming it onto the pavement and shattered glass that is on top of the pavement.’”

That’s all for today. See you back here Monday. Until then, tell your friends to subscribe or simply forward the newsletter on and let them make up their own minds.

That’s all for today. See you back here Monday. Until then, tell your friends to subscribe or simply forward the newsletter on and let them make up their own minds.