florida

Reality TV star Hencha Voigt and former boyfriend, Wesley Victor, are accused of threatening to release explicit images of social media star Julieanna Goddard unless she paid a ransom.

The defendants said the ruling broke their constitutional rights.

But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Charles Johnson said he was following the law.

"For me, this is like turning over a key to a safety deposit box," he said on Wednesday.

Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal, members of the once-nomadic Irula tribe, are armed with crowbars and machetes. Wearing fleece jackets and baseball caps, they slash and wade their way through the largest subtropical wilderness in the world to hunt down Burmese pythons.

Damage could be "catastrophic", the state governor said. Evacuation orders have been issued along the coast.

Matthew, with winds of 125mph (205km/h), is expected to strengthen and hit Florida as a Category Four storm, US officials say.

It has swept across the Caribbean, with the worst of the damage in Haiti.

At least 22 people have been killed in Haiti and thousands displaced. The storm has forced the presidential election there to be postponed.

Four people were also killed in the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 season around mid-afternoon on Thursday (local time) when its sustained winds reached about 120 km/h.

Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 51 of Florida's 67 counties, and Georgia governor Nathan Deal declared state of emergency for 56 counties, as residents braced for the dangerous storm.

The last hurricane to make landfall in Florida was Wilma in 2005, the hurricane centre said.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHC extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

Investigators identified Joshua James, of Jupiter, Florida, as the man who tossed the 3 1/2-foot reptile into a Wendy's last fall, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report.

He faces three charges related to the incident: Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; unlawful sale, possession or transporting of an alligator; and petty theft.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said that as of 11 a.m. Friday, the forecast showed the storm hitting the state Monday. The forecast path has Erika skirting the state's Gulf Coast and then moving up Florida's spine north of Tampa.

The next 24 hours will be critical in the storm's development, hurricane center meteorologist James Franklin said.

Marco Island police Capt. David Baer says the vandals also left at least seven pickled pigs' feet on the driveway of Walter Palmer's $1.1 million home. Baer says police have opened an investigation.

A hand-made sign criticizing Palmer was left in the yard last week. A security company has been hired to protect the property.

The Coast Guard says crews are still scouring waters from Florida to South Carolina on Friday but haven't found any new clues in the disappearance.

Fourteen-year-olds Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos of Tequesta have been missing a week. Their capsized boat was found Sunday.

The Coast Guard says it'll keep searching until it believes there's no reasonable chance the boys could still be found alive.

Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss, the spokesman for the Florida Coast Guard district, said Wednesday: "There is no plan to suspend the search today."

The crew has urged vessels in the wide expanse of the Atlantic to report any potential clues they might spot.

The vague rule of thumb is that humans can survive three days without water and three weeks without food, one expert said, but examples defying that abound — especially if people have supplies, wear life jackets or can cling to something.

By Wednesday, it still wasn't clear if 14-year-olds Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos fell into any of those categories.