CORAL GABLES

Weekend warriors trying to enjoy a rare day off got quite the show at Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables.

Officials have now fed more than 55 tons of lettuce to starving Florida manatees as part of an experimental program to help the animals since their natural food is being destroyed by water pollution.

The unprecedented human effort to feed starving Florida manatees has so far provided the lovable marine mammals with more than 25 tons of lettuce.

An argument in the checkout line of a South Florida grocery store escalated into a fatal shooting.

An argument in the checkout line of a South Florida grocery store escalated into a fatal shooting, as other shootings around the state took place in a sports bar and a banquet hall. One of the men pulled a gun and shot the other man.

What began as an exotic mystery has quickly turned into a battle pitting neighbors against each other.

The University of Miami will start the spring semester with remote-only classes amid surging cases of COVID-19 in South Florida.

Bad Bunny is the champion of the Billboard Latin Music Awards, taking home artist of the year honors and a whopping 10 trophies.

Federal officials say they will investigate a fiery Tesla crash that left two people dead in South Florida.

The new CDC study also found that the unvaccinated were nearly five times more likely to be infected with Covid than vaccinated people.

Residents of a condo building in Coral Gables have been told they will no longer need to evacuate their homes after emergency measures were taken over the weekend to address fears of structural concerns in the underground parking garage.

With leaders like Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, who needs enemies?

Delia Fiallo, a native of Cuba who was considered the mother of Latin America’s telenovelas and wrote dozens of the popular television soap operas, has died at her home in Coral Gables, Florida.

A veteran engineer hired by the town of Surfside plans an autopsy of the tower examining the foundation, concrete, leaks, groundwater and possible intrusion of salt water.

A man was hit on the head by falling concrete Wednesday, fire-rescue said, while working at a construction site that’s part of the $600 million Plaza project in Coral Gables.

For six years, Orlando Capote has been tilting at windmills — and backhoes — by refusing to move out of his little house as it has been engulfed by the most mega commercial development in Coral Gables history.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy reopens rapidly after being held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Miami-Dade County’s ethics commission on Wednesday dismissed a complaint that a veteran lobbyist communicated with Coral Gables officials on behalf of Wawa without registering as a lobbyist.

Photographic proof is always key.

Americans increased their spending by 0.5% in April, a slowdown after a massive gain in March which had been powered by distribution of billions of dollars in individual stimulus checks.

Election politicking behind them (or so was claimed), the newly installed city of Coral Gables mayor and commission finally did the right thing Tuesday and reversed a wrong.

There’s something about Black joy that really makes me smile.

When Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago voted against renaming a portion of Dixie Highway after abolitionist Harriet Tubman in January, he called the proposal “a pure example of playing politics.”

Standing outside one of my restaurants in Coral Gables on a sunny afternoon, I never expected it to happen: an angry man yelling racist, anti-Asian slurs at me, blaming me and my “people” for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several universities have been sued after moving to online classes and shutting down campus activities. The measure unanimously approved by the Senate Education Committee would prevent those lawsuits and would be retroactive to when the public health emergency was declared in March 2020. “The irony is, if we had required students to go to campus to finish their semester, we would have been faced with lawsuits. If we had just suspended educating our students, we would have been faced with lawsuits,” Harris said. The bill was approved the day after DeSantis signed a bill to protect businesses and health care providers from coronavirus lawsuits.

Dr. Seuss' never-before-published book, "What Pet Should I Get?" Books by Dr. Seuss have flooded Amazon's U.S. bestseller list after it was announced that six of the author's publications were being pulled over racist imagery. In total, 15 Dr. Seuss publications were in Amazon's top 20 list on Friday morning. Former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama mentioned Dr. Seuss in their previous speeches. "Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss," the statement said.

More than a dozen health insurers are launching a pilot program aimed at getting 2 million American seniors vaccinated as quickly as possible, President Joe Biden's senior advisor on the Covid-19 pandemic announced Wednesday. The pilot program — Vaccine Community Connecters — is designed to educate seniors on the vaccines, help schedule appointments for shots and arrange transportation, advisor Andy Slavitt told reporters. The White House is working with America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association on the initiative. The announcement comes as the Biden administration works to ramp up the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and get the majority of Americans as quickly as possible. This isn't the first vaccine program tailored to seniors that the federal government has touted.

11 Florida State coasted to an 88-71 win over Miami on Wednesday night. In addition to sweeping the regular season series, Florida State set an all-time mark with its seventh consecutive win. The defeat against Florida State was Miami’s third straight by double figures. UP NEXT:Florida State: the Seminoles will seek another regular season sweep and conclude a three-game road trip Saturday at North Carolina. Florida State defeated the Tar Heels 82-75 Jan. 16 in Tallahassee.

FILE - Residents wait to be cleared after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at The Palace assisted living facility, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – More than 2 million people in Florida have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with most age 65 and older, according to numbers released Monday by the state Department of Health. Florida topped 2 million people vaccinated on Sunday, with the total at 2,016,291. That included 1,322,426 people who had received first doses of vaccines and 693,865 who had completed two-dose series. Ron DeSantis focused on vaccinating seniors, 1,481,132 of the people who had been vaccinated were age 65 and older. “A third or more of the seniors in Florida have gotten one shot,” DeSantis said Monday during an appearance in Miami.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The National Guard is sending airmen from the 125th Fighter Wing to assist with COVID-19 vaccinations at Jacksonville’s only state run-site. Sixty airmen will help vaccinate those eligible to get the shot at Regency Square Mall. They’ve provided a variety of support, including testing, screening, food distribution and traffic control support. “The opportunity to serve our citizens is the very reason that I chose to enlist in the Florida National Guard. Regency opens at 9 a.m. and will vaccinate those 65 and up and health care workers until 5 p.m.

Moskowitz said that if Florida had the supply, it has the capacity to administer as many as 250,000 doses a day. Supply continues to be the number one issue facing vaccine rollout. “They know it’s a supply issue. Every state knows it’s a supply issue. You know it’s a supply issue,” Moskowitz said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – State health officials in Florida say if coronavirus vaccine doses at state vaccination clinics are set to expire and have gone unused, the state will immediately relocate the doses. The Florida Division of Emergency Management press secretary gave the example of doses hours away from spoiling being delivered to long-term care facilities or to another site in the area. Medical workers at the state vaccination clinic at Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville asked bystanders in the parking lot on Jan. 21 if they wanted to be vaccinated. AdFlorida Department of Health in Duval County officials could only speak for the Prime Osborn vaccination site, which is only administering second doses of the Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. UF Health epidemiologist Chad Neilsen says planning for unused doses on the brink of expiration is a dilemma medical institutions across the country are facing.

That is the largest gain among the 50 largest U.S. housing markets. As for the next-hottest housing markets, Phoenix came in second, with 69% of those surveyed saying it would outperform the national average, followed by Nashville, with 67%, Tampa, with 60%, and Denver, with 56%. While these markets are expected to see the strongest value gains, other former hot spots have fallen far out of favor. The three markets most likely to underperform, according to Zillow's survey, are: New YorkSan FranciscoLos Angeles The panelists who participated in the survey do expect these markets to see some growth given the overall housing demand nationwide. Prices are being driven by high demand and short supply, and, more recently, by an improved economic outlook driven by progress on Covid vaccinations.

Ron DeSantis said stories of the rich flying to Florida, getting vaccinated and returning home are overblown. He said a registration system could help alleviate the strain counties are now under as they deliver vaccinations. Since then, the governor has sought to widen the number of vaccination sites. Although some snowbirds who own homes in Florida say they have gotten vaccines while here in the Sunshine State. At some vaccination sites, seniors have had to be turned away because vaccine allotments had dried up.

When it comes to mental and emotional health, older adults in the United States are showing resilience and persevering despite struggles with loneliness and isolation, the latest self-reported results in an ongoing study suggest. About half as many older adults now report they are very happy or extremely happy, and an increasing number report occasional feelings of depression or isolation. Other interesting findings from the responses:—About one-fifth of older adults in the study said they’d had no in-person contact with family and friends outside their own households during the pandemic. —At the same time, at least half of older adults “have not reduced their frequency of in-person contact with friends and family not living with them" since the pandemic began. “There’s a lot we don’t appreciate about how well people do cope with age,” said Hawkley, who specializes in researching loneliness and social isolation in older adults.

MIAMI – The FBI says a 41-year-old Miami attorney is a “serial bank robber" who tried to rob five banks in the last three weeks before being arrested on his way to another bank. A police detective spotted Honaker driving in Coral Gables on Tuesday evening and took him into custody, the Miami Herald reported. I have a gun.” When the teller said she had trouble with English as an excuse to talk to a manager, Honaker left the bank. On Oct. 10, Honaker asked for $50s and $100s again at a Chase bank in Coral Gables. Five days later, Honaker’s note confused the teller at the HSBC branch in Coral Gables.

Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty ImagesA top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the agency is seeing a "distressing trend" in the United States' coronavirus outbreak. "Unfortunately, we are seeing a distressing trend here in the United States," he told reporters on a call. Health officials and infectious disease experts fear the situation could become dire as flu season begins and hospitals risk reaching capacity. Butler said the U.S. will likely have a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine "very soon," adding that he is "cautiously optimistic" a vaccine will be available in limited quantities by the end of the year. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on the same call that Pfizer and Moderna, front-runners in the Covid-19 vaccine race, are "very close if not fully enrolled in their trials."

Until the pandemic upended the operations of American companies, from factories to family diners, weekly jobless aid applications had never exceeded 700,000 in the U.S. They’ve topped 700,000 for 26 consecutive weeks. An extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits ran out July 31, squeezing households that had depended on the beefed-up payments. President Donald Trump issued an executive order Aug. 8 providing a scaled-back version of the expanded jobless aid. Most states signed up for federal grants that let them increase weekly benefits by $300 or $400. The extra $600 in weekly jobless benefits didn’t replace all her lost income but helped.

REUTERS/Marco BelloWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruled on Sunday that the state of Florida cannot force felons to pay legal fines and other fees before allowing them to register to vote. The state may disenfranchise felons and impose conditions on their reenfranchisement. Whatever might be said of a rationally constructed system, this one falls short in substantial respects, said Hinkles ruling in the Northern District of Florida. A group of Floridians and voting rights organizations sued Republican Governor Ron DeSantis last June, arguing that the law amounts to an illegal poll tax. The Republican-led Florida Senate drew up the payments bill just months after Floridians approved a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a victory for retailers, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up an appeal in a battle about the city of Coral Gables’ attempt to ban the use of Styrofoam food containers. The decision effectively let stand a ruling last year by the 3rd District Court of Appeal that upheld the constitutionality of state laws that blocked a 2016 Coral Gables ordinance on polystyrene, commonly known as Styrofoam. As is common, the Supreme Court did not explain its reasons for declining to hear the case, but the decision was unanimous. The Attorney General’s Office backed the retailers in the case, including filing a brief in November at the Supreme Court. The case focused heavily on a wide-ranging Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill that lawmakers passed in March 2016.

(Reuters) - Four people died in a shootout following the theft of a United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) truck and an attempted jewelry store robbery in a Miami suburb, the FBI and police said late on Thursday. The incident began with an attempted robbery of a jewelry store in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, in the citys famed Miracle Mile shopping district about 4:15 p.m. At least one bullet hit Coral Gables city hall, breaking a window and the building was put on lock-down, police said. The two thieves were shot and killed, FBI agent George Piro told the media. Two civilians were also killed, the UPS truck driver and a bystander, said Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak.

Police pursuit of a carjacked UPS vehicle ended in a shootout on the streets of South Florida Thursday that left four people dead Thursday, including two suspects, officials said at a press conference. At approximately 4:36 p.m., the suspects hijacked a UPS vehicle, and led police on a high-speed chase through multiple counties, Piro said. The chase came to an end after the driver of the UPS vehicle was forced to slow down due to traffic. Police surround a UPS truck in South Florida on Thursday, December 5, 2019. UPS told CBS News that one of its employees was killed in the shootout.

Shutterstock via CNNTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Coral Gables has gone to the Florida Supreme Court in a legal battle about whether the city should be able to ban the use of Styrofoam food containers, according to documents posted Monday on the Supreme Court website. The 3rd District Court of Appeal in August overturned a ruling by a Miami-Dade County circuit judge who had found three state laws unconstitutional and determined Coral Gables was not prevented from enacting the Styrofoam ban. Coral Gables approved a Styrofoam-ban ordinance in February 2016, and the Florida Retail Federation and Super Progreso, Inc., later filed the lawsuit challenging its legality. The appeals court said the three state laws at issue in the case are unambiguous and "expressly preempt the city's polystyrene ordinance." As is common, the city's notice of taking the case to the Supreme Court does not detail arguments Coral Gables will make.