Florida Sentinel Bulletin

With just two weeks until the presidential election the race for the White House is still remarkably close.

Recent polls show President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, in a neck-and-neck race.

Now, the integrity of electronic voting machines is back in the spotlight. Reports are circulating there are “dubious links” between the voting machines in some counties (Hamilton and William) in Ohio and Governor Romney.

The machines are supplied by Hart Intercivic, a national e-voting company. The Austin-based firm is partially owned by H.I.G Capital, an investment company that has business ties to Solamere Capital, Tagg Romney’s (Mitt’s oldest son) equity firm.

The suggestion is that the Romney link is at best a conflict of interest, with even the potential for bias, fraud or irregularity.

WINNSBRO, LA – Twenty-year-old Sharmeka Moffitt was reportedly set on fire by men as she walked on a park trail on Sunday night.

Moffitt was reportedly walking in Civitan Park in Winnsboro, La., when she was allegedly attacked by three men who were wearing “white hoodies.” While authorities have resisted calling the incident a “hate crime,” they say that Moffitt’s car was spray painted with a number of racial slurs, which were not specified.

Moffitt reportedly called 911 from the park at 8 p.m., after the incident, and is reportedly fighting for her life at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, La. The young woman is in critical condition.

Kevin Cobb, Franklin Parish sheriff, told the media in a press conference this afternoon, “This is a horrific event that will not be taken lightly.”

While the race of the men has not been officially confirmed, initial reports speculated that Moffitt was set on fire by the Ku Klux Klan, because she was wearing a President Barack Obama shirt.

Monday afternoon, various media reports dispelled the Obama T-shirt rumor, but have not recanted that the men did indeed have white hoodies on during the attack.

The FBI and Louisiana’s fire Marshall’s office are investigating.

INGLEWOOD, CA — A man found dead at the property where five members of a Southern California family were shot — two fatally — was believed to be the attacker because he was wearing body armor and clutching a handgun, police said.

The loaded handgun was a .38 caliber revolver registered to 55-year-old Desmond John Moses. Inglewood police say Moses set his backyard bungalow ablaze before spraying bullets at his neighbors.

Investigators suspect Moses blamed the young family who lived in the front house for an eviction notice he had received from their landlord.

The dead man had “what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head,” wore body armor and carried additional ammunition in his pockets when he was found late Saturday, a police statement said.

The shooting rampage before dawn Saturday killed 33-year-old Filimon Lamas and his 4-year-old son. The father was shielding three of his children when he was shot, Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. Lamas’ 28-year-old wife, Gloria Jiminez, was shot in both legs but managed to carry the wounded 4-year-old out of the house.

SANFORD, Fla. –  A judge ruled Friday that attorneys for a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer can inspect the school records and social media postings of the unarmed teenager he is accused of murdering.

Judge Debra S. Nelson said that defendant George Zimmerman’s attorneys need to know whether Trayvon Martin’s school records and social media postings give any evidence that he had violent tendencies.

ARLINGTON, Va – The NAACP held a press conference Friday to send out a clear message that they will continue to fight for the release of an African-American businessman who they say has been wrongly incarcerated.

It comes just two days after the disappointing news that Georgia’s Attorney General is challenging a court’s ruling that John McNeil received an unfair trial and conviction.

The case, which has drawn national attention, centers on the life sentence given to McNeil in 2006 for killing an armed trespasser at his suburban metro Atlanta home.

Speaking at the conference, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said, “If a black man in Georgia can’t defend his family” then it’s a disgrace to our Constitution.”

BROOKFIELD, Wis.  — A man police suspected of killing three and wounding four by opening fire at a tranquil day spa was found dead Sunday afternoon following a six-hour manhunt that locked down a shopping center, country club and hospital in suburban Milwaukee.

Authorities said they believed the shooting was related to a domestic dispute. The man they identified as the suspect, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, had a restraining order against him.

Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said Haughton died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found in the spa. Authorities initially believed Haughton had fled and spent much of Sunday looking for him.

BROOKLYN, NY – A woman who was eight months pregnant was found stabbed to death Saturday in her apartment, the day before her wedding, police said.

Vindalee Smith, 38, was found on the floor of her apartment in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn with a gaping wound in her neck. It wasn’t clear how long she’d been dead before the body was discovered by her landlord. Her unborn child did not survive.

There was no sign of forced entry, and no weapon was recovered, police said. Investigators are looking for a possible suspect. They interviewed her friends and family, and spoke to her fiance.

“I can’t even begin to imagine who would want to do that,” her friend, Sybil Samuel, told local newspapers. “It would be the devil, to kill a woman with a child in her stomach. They killed two people.”

Smith had four children in their teens and 20s, friends said. A baby shower had been planned for Saturday evening, followed by a small wedding Sunday. Friends told reporters that Smith had met her fiance about a year ago.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama won’t be posing for any photos in the voting booth on Election Day – he’s casting his ballot early.

Pres. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama said Monday they are both voting early, a nod to the campaign’s efforts to encourage supporters to vote absentee by mail or cast their ballot at an early voting location.

Mrs. Obama said on Twitter that she dropped her absentee ballot in the mail on Monday, telling her followers, “I couldn’t wait for Election Day!” The first lady then tweeted out a photo of her posing with the envelope holding her absentee ballot.

LOS ANGELES  — The creator of TV’s “Friday Night Lights” is accusing Mitt Romney of plagiarizing a phrase from the show to use as a campaign slogan.

Peter Berg wrote a letter to Romney on Friday saying he’s “not thrilled” that the Republican presidential candidate is using the phrase “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” on campaign posters and his Facebook page.

On the TV show, a small-town Texas football coach uses the phrase to inspire his players before taking the field.

Berg’s agent distributed the letter to the media. In it, the writer-director-actor says Romney’s politics and campaign aren’t aligned with the themes of the TV series.

Berg goes on to thank the governor for supporting the show but says, “Please come up with your own campaign slogan.”

The Romney campaign did not respond to a request for comment.