Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 39
Gunther the German shepherd spent a recent morning playing with his tennis ball, rolling in the grass, slobbering a little and napping a lot. Later, he had a "meeting" with the real estate agents selling his Miami mansion that his handlers bought from Madonna. And of course Gunther was wearing his very best faux diamond dog collar for the meeting — his real gold collar is back at his main home in Tuscany. As crazy as it sounds even by Florida's standards, Gunther VI inherited his vast fortune, including the eight-bedroom waterfront home once o...
MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say they have found the body of a missing Florida college student who disappeared a week ago. Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Saturday that authorities found Miya Marcano's body near an apartment building. The 19-year-old vanished on the same day a maintenance man improperly used a master key to enter her apartment. Her family reported her missing after she missed a flight home to South Florida on Sept. 24. The sheriff previously said Armando Caballero, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex where Marcano l...
MIAMI (AP) — Funeral director Wayne Bright has seen grief piled upon grief during the latest COVID-19 surge. A woman died of the virus, and as her family was planning the funeral, her mother was also struck down. An aunt took over arrangements for the double funeral, only to die of COVID-19 herself two weeks afterward. "That was one of the most devastating things ever," said Bright, who also arranged the funeral last week of one of his closest friends. Florida is in the grip of its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, a d...
People infected with COVID-19 were captured in a photo this week lying on the floor in pain while waiting for antibody infusions at a treatment site set up inside the library in Jacksonville, Florida. The image has become a vivid illustration of the huge demand for the once-neglected COVID-19 drugs in the states hit hardest by a summer surge of infections being driven by the highly contagious delta variant. "They were moaning and obviously in a lot of pain. They were miserable," said Luis Lopez, who shot the photograph as he waited for more...
MIAMI (AP) — A young mother had just celebrated her first wedding anniversary and was one of six members of a Jacksonville church to die over a 10-day span. Another Florida woman had just given birth to her first child, but was only able to hold the newborn girl for a few moments before dying. A California man died a few weeks shy of his 53rd birthday while his wife was on a ventilator at the same hospital in Oakland, unaware of his passing on Aug. 4. The COVID-19 death toll has started soaring again as the delta variant tears through the n...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Ten years after their first date, Debby Neal-Strickland put on a cream-colored lace gown and married her longtime sweetheart at their Florida church. Two days later, she put on a hospital gown and donated a kidney to Mylaen Merthe — her new husband's ex-wife. An unusual story? Yes. But the tale of Jim Merthe and his two wives is a testament to how love and compassion can triumph over division. Mylaen, 59, had long struggled with kidney disease. By last year, she was ghostly pale with dark circles under her eye...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jeff Lello has never been rich, but the 42-year-old could pocket $100 cash most weekend nights at the steakhouse chain where he waited tables. He always had enough money for groceries, his car and the modest Orlando apartment he rented with roommates. But when he reported for work on a Friday night in March, the manager ushered him and the rest of the staff into an office and told them they were laid off indefinitely as the restaurant, along with much of the country, shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Still w...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Are some workouts, like yoga or spinning classes, less safe than others? Should I wear a mask? Do I need more than six-feet apart in cardio classes where there's panting and heavy breathing? There are many legitimate concerns about how gyms and fitness studios can safely reopen without furthering the spread. But infectious disease experts say risk can be greatly mitigated by following some simple rules. "There may be scenarios where (the gym) can't develop a system whereby your risks are lower, so the r...
MIAMI (AP) — From Miami to Seattle, nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly are stockpiling masks and thermometers, preparing for staff shortages and screening visitors to protect a particularly vulnerable population from the coronavirus. In China, where the outbreak began, the disease has been substantially deadlier for the elderly. In Italy, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe, the more than 100 people who died were either elderly, sick with other complications, or both. Of the 21 deaths across the U.S. as of Sunday, a...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Thousands of passengers on an additional Princess Cruises ship are being kept on board while crew members get tested for COVID-19. The Caribbean Princess, on a 10-day trip to the Panama Canal, was scheduled to dock in Grand Cayman on Monday. But the Çalifornia-based cruise line said it will keep passengers and crew from disembarking, and instead will pick up test kits after notifying the CDC that two crew members had transferred from a Princess ship in California where a guest had tested positive for COVID-19. Th...
NEW YORK (AP) — Tory Burch blurred the lines between masculine and feminine at Sunday's show, reinventing the traditional power suit with a floral print, juxtaposed with tall boots to prove that dressing pretty can still exude power and strength. The designer said she wanted to challenge the norms of femininity and was inspired by artist Francesca DiMattio, who takes seemingly feminine arts like basket weaving or wedding dress beads and transforms them on strong, imposing sculptures. Models walked around the colorful sculptures throughout t...
MIAMI (AP) — Conspiracy theorists took to social media in a flurry of excitement Wednesday after a mysterious flying object resembling an orange fireball streaked across the Florida sky. The American Meteor Society reported two dozen sightings from Jacksonville to Key West after midnight and tweeted there's "no real explanation yet." Even the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office joined in on the fun after receiving reports about the mysterious lights, posting on social media that "we were not invaded last night by Martians, but we appreciate t...
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado community changed forever by the attack that killed 13 people at Columbine High School moved ahead Thursday with ceremonies marking the anniversary of the tragedy while awaiting more details on what led a Florida teen "infatuated" with the shooting to buy a shotgun and kill herself in the snowy foothills nearby. Many questions remained unanswered about 18-year-old Sol Pais, but a friend disputed the contention by authorities that she posed a threat. Adrianna Pete painted a complex picture of Pais, saying s...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Two big rigs and two passenger vehicles collided and spilled diesel fuel across a Florida highway Thursday, sparking a massive fire that killed six people, authorities said. The wreck happened on Interstate 75 about a mile (1.6 kilometers) south of Alachua, near Gainesville. The flames were fed by about 50 gallons (189 liters) of diesel, authorities said. Eight other people were taken to the hospital, some with critical injuries, the Gainesville Sun reported. Emergency crews extinguished the fire and said they w...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Volunteers gathered around folding tables Friday to begin a painstaking hand recount in Florida's acrimonious U.S. Senate contest, with a goal of determining the intent of about 93,000 voters whose ballots for Republican Gov. Rick Scott or Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson could not be counted by machine. The hand recount is required by state law whenever candidates are separated by 0.25 percentage points or less. Unofficial results showed Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points, or fewer than 13,000 votes out o...
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida secretary of state ordered recounts in the U.S. Senate and governor races on Saturday, an unprecedented review of two major contests in the state that took five weeks to decide the 2000 presidential election. Secretary Ken Detzner issued the order after the unofficial results in both races fell within the margin that by law triggers a recount. His office was unaware of any other time either a race for governor or U.S. Senate in Florida required a recount, let alone both in the same election. The recount s...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The families of the 17 victims killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting will each receive $400,000 from a $10.5 million fund. Eighteen of the injured survivors will receive $1.63 million. The Broward Education Foundation and a steering committee for the victims announced Monday the breakdown of the funds that were raised through a GoFundMe campaign. Nearly 37,000 individuals and companies donated to the fund. The fund does not include the millions students have raised through March for Our Lives f...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The polarizing survivor of the Parkland mass shooting has been falsely labeled a crisis actor, vilified by the NRA and called names by TV hosts. And David Hogg isn't avoiding self-criticism in his new book. In fact, he calls himself "arrogant," ''skinny" and details his rejection by girls. Eighteen-year-old Hogg admits he was super cocky after being named debate captain at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. "I was just so narcissistic and pretentious back then, even more than I am now ... Pretentiousness was p...
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Students at more than 1,000 schools across the country are registering young voters in lunchrooms, hallways and even at upcoming graduation ceremonies in a week of activism aimed at electing lawmakers who support gun reforms in response to school shootings in Florida and Texas. David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, is spearheading the national effort along with the New York-based organization HeadCount. Hogg and organization officials say students at more than 1,000 schools in 46 s...
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are expressing outrage and heartbreak after authorities said a student killed 10 people Friday at a high school in Texas. The attack at Santa Fe High School is the deadliest school shooting since a former student was arrested in the killing of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day, a massacre that mobilized a nationwide movement for gun reform. It also came on the last day of school for Stoneman Douglas seniors, who finish c...
DENVER (AP) — A planned national high school walkout for gun control on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting Friday won't include student protests at the Colorado school that changed the way the nation viewed shootings. Just as it has done every year since the April 20, 1999, shooting killed 12 students and a teacher, Columbine High School will be closed, and students there will stick with their tradition of holding a day of service to commemorate the tragedy in a community that includes both those who have pushed for gun control a...
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — New Jersey, Colorado, Los Angeles, Raleigh-Durham — the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students reel off their upcoming travel schedule at a dizzying pace. This is their new life, traveling the country advocating for gun control, all while trying to keep up with their studies about two months after 17 people were killed in a shooting at their school. "I've been invited to synagogues and churches and colleges and high school walkouts, and it's so much, and I wish I could go to everything," said junior Jaclyn Cor...
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — They can't buy a beer or rent a car and most aren't even old enough to vote, yet the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have spearheaded what could become one of the largest marches in history with nearly 1 million people expected in Washington and more than 800 sister marches from California to Japan. In the wake of a Valentine's Day shooting that killed 17, the teens have pulled all-nighters, scheduling speakers, petitioning city councils, renting stages and walking march routes with police in a grass-roo...
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida walked out of their classrooms Wednesday and held a brief rally on the football field before making their way to makeshift memorials for their fallen classmates where they cried, embraced and passionately called for new gun control measures. It was a month to the day after a former student wielding an AR-15 assault-style rifle strode into one of the school buildings and opened fire, killing 14 students and three staff members. The Parkland protest was echoed in s...
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The political and legal fallout from Florida Gov. Rick Scott's decision to sign a sweeping gun bill into law following a school massacre was nearly immediate as the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit to stop it and political candidates in both parties criticized it. Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who's running for Florida governor as a champion of gun rights, went on Fox News late Friday night to criticize the law, which raises the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21; extends a three-day waiting p...
