Chris Helinger News Today

The Florida Highway Patrol determined Vaughn W. Mongan was going 116 mph before he hit a house, killing a woman inside and one of his passengers.

A Pinellas protester was in jail for months. A fight against cash bail got him out. Kavitha Surana, Tampa Bay Times © Douglas R. Clifford/Times Judge Chris Helinger at an April court hearing at the Pinellas County Justice Center in Clearwater. The protester had been locked up in the Pinellas County Jail for four months. He’d been arrested during the tumultuous first week of the George Floyd protests. Police accused him of throwing rocks at the St. Petersburg Police Departme...

The protester had been locked up in the Pinellas County Jail for four months. He’d been arrested during the tumultuous first week of the George Floyd protests. Police accused him of throwing rocks at the St. Petersburg Police Department and threatening to shoot an officer. They alleged he was a leader of a group that “numbered in the dozens.” His public defender said he was innocent. Other protesters arrested in those early weeks had long since been released, many with charges dr...