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The News-Journals investigates bribery and Sunshine Law violations at the Escambia county government. The stories reveal that the county commissioners voted for the purchase of a dilapidated soccer complex "real-estate agent Joe Elliott, a buddy of then Commission Chairman W.D. Childers, the former Dean of the Florida senate." The county later proceeded with a second purchase from Elliott, a defunct car dealership. The land purchases totalled $6.2 million, at a time of tight budget and halt of major county projects. As a result of the publications, the Attorney General of Florida started an investigation that ended with indictments of four of the five county commissioners.