The Umatilla, Florida Chief of Police has found himself in hot water this week over playing video games on the only computer in the office - among a litany of other complaints from his subordinates, who painted him as a bit of a tyrant. Police Chief Doug Foster, who has run the Umatilla Police Department for 19 years, has also been accused of using meetings to treat officers harshly, has made his staff run personal errands, took away officers' shotguns, neglected department vehicles, and required officers to submit a list of medication they were taking.

An 18-year-old former Leto High School student (Tampa, Florida) has pled guilty to charges stemming for an August 2010 plot to kill faculty and students at the high school. Austin James Cook was sentenced to two years of community control (intensive supervised house arrest) and eight years of probation. A solicitation to commit murder charge was dropped. The general consensus was that Cook committed conspiracy to commit murder, but he didn't tale a charge for that.

According to reports, between March and July 2010, Cook solicited "someone" to murder "any and all employees or student body of Leto High School." He also bragged to several unnamed witnesses that he planned to blow up Leto High School and told one witness that he wanted to 'break the record' of the Columbine and Virginia Tech killings.

Shannon Rose, the voice of EA Sports MMA, has been honored Hillsborough County, Florida for his work with Ehlers-Danlos Network CARES, a group dedicated to improving the life of those suffering with EDS, and providing research and education about the disorder. Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS - also known as Cutis hyperelastica) is a group of inherited connective tissue disorders, caused by a defect in the synthesis of collagen. Rose has lived with the disease since birth.

Jacksonville Jaguar Offensive Lineman Uche Nwaneri is a large man, clocking in at 6’3” tall and around 320 pounds, but he’s proving that his heart is big as well, as he is the host of an upcoming videogame tournament that will benefit local artists.

On October 1 at 6:30 PM, Nwaneri will host his Gaming 4 the Cause event at the Whiskey River bar and restaurant, which is located at 4850 Big Island Drive in Jacksonville. A $10 entry fee will allow attendees to play Madden NFL 11 against Nwaneri and other Jag players, as well as gain a chance to win a series of prizes.

Proceeds will go to Nwaneri’s House of Ambrose Foundation, which is dedicated to “enhancing and promoting the appreciation of arts by providing empowering opportunities for young artists to continue the exploration and perfection of their craft.”

Looks like the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) will have to update its list of U.S. colleges and universities offering videogame courses and degrees, as Rasmussen College is about to become the latest institute of higher learning to offer game-related curriculums.

This October will see Rasmussen offer Bachelor’s degree programs in Game & Simulation Programming and Digital Design & Animation at 14 campuses in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida, as well as online.

In what, unfortunately, seems to be an increasingly common occurrence, a 22-year old Florida man stands accused of using Xbox Live to manipulate a 10-year old boy into sending naked pictures of himself through the online videogame service.

Timothy Hammerstone of Polk City, Florida allegedly requested and received nude pictures from the boy and, in return, offered Xbox Live credits to his young victim, according to a story on CBS13.com. Hammerstone even went so far as to set up a new profile for his prey so that the boy’s parents wouldn’t notice anything when monitoring his activities.

Folsom Police Officer Jason Browning added, “Many parents try to protect their kids when they're online so it may be a shock just how much access gaming systems provide.”

Police warned parents to set up computers or game consoles in non-private areas of the home. Parental controls could also freeze online access from consoles. Ten years old is probably a little young to be online unmonitored, no?

It’s not quite the prerequisite one might be used to seeing for a college course: “basic knowledge of and experience playing StarCraft.”

The University of Florida is offering a class utilizing StarCraft, in order to assist in the teaching of resource management skills, a theory which Ph.D Candidate and instructor Mate Poling outlined for the Technology Review (thanks Joystiq), saying, “In StarCraft you're managing a lot of different units and groups of different capacities.”

He added, “It's not a stretch to think of that in the business world or in the work of a healthcare administrator.”

Additionally:

Poling points out that people who manage hospitals, factories, small businesses and, say, nuclear power plants all have to manage people who have different abilities, and that they might have learned a thing or two about this process from StarCraft, which demands the same kind of resource and unit management.

Authorities have arrested a 17-year old Tampa, Florida youth, who apparently expressed an interest in surpassing the death tolls of the Columbine and Virginia Tech school shootings.

Austin James Cook, according to TampaBay.com, was looking for help in his planned massacre, which he had scheduled for November 11, 2011, or 11/11/11. Authorities were tipped to Cook’s plans and began an investigation in July. The boy was arrested on Monday.

After Cook’s mother consented to letting police search her son’s room, they found an antique .22 caliber rifle, which hadn’t been fired in 40 years, a bow and arrow and “several books about firearms.” A search of Cook’s computer revealed “a Columbine video game” (Super Columbine Massacre RPG no doubt).

The wife of a Lake County, Florida police officer tried to push her husband’s buttons by taking away his PlayStation 3 and, unfortunately, succeeded all too well, with the end result that the sheriff’s deputy reportedly grabbed and choked her.

A WFTV.com story on the incident names the officer as 29-year old Gary French. His wife, a sheriff’s office dispatcher, came up with the ill-conceived plan to threaten to take away French’s PS3 following an argument. When she touched the console, he “grabbed her by the neck, put her in a choke hold and lifted her away from the PS3.”

Neighbor Joyce Roberson wasn’t impressed with French’s actions, stating, “Well him being a cop he ought to know better, that's not cool.”

Maybe videogamers really are skewing older—a 52-year old Florida man invaded a home Tuesday night demanding an Xbox 360.

Allan Crosswell (pictured) was armed with a pipe, which he threatened to use when he stormed the home, unless he was outfitted with Microsoft’s console. The residents were able to wrestle Crosswell outside, then locked the door and called police who arrested the man “without incident.”

Perhaps Crosswell was just really impressed with Microsoft’s E3 showing? Sadly, the man also had the option of picking up a current generation 360 at quite a significant discount.

UK game industry group TIGA believes that a soon-to-be-enacted tax break in Florida for game developers raises the impetus for a similar measure in the United Kingdom.

The group stated that the Florida legislation “confirmed the imperative” for competing legislation across the pond, with TIGA chief Richard Wilson stating, “The UK games industry wants to compete on a level playing field with games businesses elsewhere in the world.”

Wilson added, “Until we have TIGA’s Games Tax Relief implemented in the UK our video games industry will be at a serious competitive disadvantage.”

Florida’s plan would boost tax incentives to 20.0 percent of a qualifying production’s total budget.

The Florida House has passed SB 1752, the companion bill to HB 697 (which previously passed early last month), okaying legislation that would provide $242.0 million in tax incentives to film, television and digital media productions within the state over the next five years.

The measure passed the House 115-0 and is now just a pen stroke away from becoming law, which appears to be a mere formality, as Florida Governor Charlie Crist praised the bill, stating, “I applaud the Florida Legislature for supporting a bill that provides high-wage jobs for Floridians and aids in the diversification of Florida’s economy.”

Digital media producers within the state would be eligible for tax breaks of 20.0 percent. It’s expected that the legislation could induce up to $1.2 billion in direct spending within the Sunshine State.

A Bill that would boost tax breaks for films, television shows and videogames produced in Florida has passed the Sunshine State’s House in a unanimous 112-0 vote.

 HB 697, sponsored by Representative Stephen Precourt (R) (pictured), and Senator Mike Haridopolos (R) would escalate tax breaks for film, television and digital media productions from 15.0 percent to 20.0 percent and award an additional 5.0 percent for movies filmed during Florida’s hurricane season.