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North Miami summer program intends to prevent drowning deaths with swimming lessons for kids

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

In South Florida, everyone is surrounded by water, but there are quite a few children who don’t know how to swim. A new program honoring two brothers who recently lost their lives hopes to change that. “That’s how you blow bubbles,” said a swimming instructor. It starts with the bubbles, but it ends with knowing how to swim.“We plan to give swimming lessons from June 26 to July 26,” said Nadege Vilsaint, executive director of the non-profit Prosperity Social and Community Development Group. It’s a new free swim camp at North Miami Thomas Sasso Park.“This swimming lesson is with great honor, in memory of Andrew and Alex,” said Vilsaint. The camp was created after 13-year-old twins, Alex and Andrew Paul, who didn’t know how to swim, drowned in April.One brother fell into the lake at Arthur Woodard Park in northwest Miami-Dade. The other went in trying to save him, both ended up drowning.Through an English-Creole translator, t...

Stuck in the pattern

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

Editor’s Note….Tonight’s blog has been written by meteorological intern Tyler Hughes. ~JRWe’ve been starting to sound a bit like a broken record in the weather department – and the pattern we’re stuck in has no sign of retreating, at least for the rest of this week (I plead the fifth on the upcoming holiday… until tomorrow). Today saw some scattered thunderstorms roll through the area, and storms will continue overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning.Those showers and storms will thin out a bit throughout the morning, and we should be able to squeak out a few dry hours in the early afternoon tomorrow. Scattered showers will make a reappearance in the evening as a low pressure system centered over upstate New York continues to spin some moisture into our area.Looking ahead through the workweek, this pattern of showers sticks around, becoming more and more isolated toward the end of the week. I think Friday could stay dry for some, with jus...

Air traffic controllers union pushes for staffing solution after scathing DOT watchdog report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

(CNN) — As millions of Americans are expected to pack commercial flights over the July 4th holiday, the union representing the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers says a recent government watchdog report is proof the agency and Congress must fix a “flawed staffing model.”“The status quo is no longer sustainable,” said Rich Santa, head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The union says that Congress must “require FAA to immediately implement” new staffing standards and “conduct maximum hiring.”“There are currently 1,200 fewer fully certified controllers today compared to ten years ago,” said Santa. “FAA’s flawed staffing model and inconsistent hiring has resulted in new hires not keeping pace with attrition over the past decade.”Previous CNN reporting found that staffing issues at one key air traffic control facility in Florida triggered thousands of delayed flights over a seven-week period last summer and revealed a complaint that workers ...

Legislature moves toward stricter gun laws in wake of Supreme Court decision

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

A raft of new gun laws introduced to the Massachusetts Legislature on Monday in response to last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning some of the state’s strictest firearms licensing laws was met with swift condemnation by rights advocates.A year after the high court decided in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that most extraordinary licensing requirements were at odds with the Second Amendment, Judiciary Committee Co-chair Rep. Michael Day filed H.4420, or An Act modernizing firearms laws to the House, a more than 100-page bill which would ban the carrying of firearms in most public places without express permission and aims to fight the rise of so-called ghost guns.Gun rights advocates were swift to react with alarm.“The proposed legislation is an abhorrent anti-civil rights effort. No community in Massachusetts faces this kind an intentional bigotry and oppression from the State Government! It is simply a post Bruen tantrum, very similar to Govern...

Massachusetts man who trafficked gun that was found on 14-year-old boy and used in 4 Boston shootings sentenced to prison

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

A Massachusetts man who illegally trafficked guns into the Bay State, including a firearm that was found on a 14-year-old boy and used in four Boston shootings, has been sentenced to prison.Julius Clemente, 26, was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge to the statutory maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release, New Hampshire U.S. Attorney Jane Young announced on Monday.In February, Clemente pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking. Clemente conspired to traffic 25 firearms, four of which have since been found in Massachusetts.One of the guns was recovered from the waistband of a 14-year-old boy. That firearm was previously used in four shootings in Boston, including a non-fatal shooting of a 16-year-old.“The defendant’s criminal conduct resulted in more than two dozen firearms being illegally trafficked into Massachusetts,” Young said in a statement. “The consequences of his crime led to a juvenile being arme...

City councilor calls for hearing on adult fraudulently enrolled in BPS high schools

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

City Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy has called for a hearing to investigate the 32-year-old woman who enrolled in three BPS high schools throughout the 2022-23 school year.“I filed this Hearing Order and looking forward to answers from authorities about whether the children in our care were harmed in any way,” Murphy tweeted Monday morning. “Concerned that as a former (Department of Children and Families) social worker, this imposter may have had inappropriate interactions with other vulnerable children in Mass.”BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper announced last week in a letter to families that an adult had used multiple pseudonyms and a complex fraud to enroll in three high schools during the school year: Jeremiah Burke, English and Brighton high schools.The woman was ordered to stay away from BPS facilities and, along with two alleged accomplices who posed as foster parents, is under active investigation by Boston police. The woman, authorities confirmed, was ...

Mikal Bridges: Cam Johnson ‘definitely knows I want him here and nowhere else’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

Nets star Mikal Bridges said he’s doing everything to convince restricted free agent Cam Johnson to stay in Brooklyn. But Bridges doesn’t sign the checks. Nor does he have any control over competing offers.Speaking to reporters after autographing close to 200 posters and miscellaneous items as part of a community event with G Fuel just blocks away from Barclays Center, the 83-game man said he sends no shortage of reminders to Johnson, who is set to field multiple offer sheets this offseason. And some are expected to exceed the Nets’ level of comfort this summer.“Every time I talk to him it’s always that,” Bridges said on Saturday at The Vitamin Shoppe in downtown Brooklyn. “When I text him or talk to him, he knows what’s on my mind. He definitely knows I want him here and nowhere else.”The Nets hold first right of refusal with Johnson, meaning they can match any competing offer sheet he signs this offseason. However, with both th...

Prosecutors seek the death penalty against man accused of slaying of 4 University of Idaho students

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty against a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year. Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths at a rental house near the Moscow, Idaho, university campus last November. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson filed the notice of his intent to seek the death penalty in court on Monday. A not-guilty plea was entered in the case on Kohberger’s behalf earlier this year. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday. The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The slayings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.Police released few de...

Orioles prospects Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad to play in MLB All-Star Futures Game in Seattle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

The roads that Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad have taken to this point in their careers couldn’t be more different.Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, has dominated in his first year of professional ball to zoom up prospect rankings. Kjerstad, meanwhile, missed the first two years of his career after being drafted No. 2 overall in 2020 with heart and hamstring ailments, only to reemerge in the past year and zoom through Baltimore’s minor league system.Despite their differences, the two prospects will share a field next month to represent Baltimore at the 2023 MLB All-Star Futures Game — a showcase of the sport’s top minor league talent.For Holliday, the Futures Game nod comes less than 24 hours after he moved up to No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s prospect ranking Sunday night. Between Low-A Delmarva and High-A Aberdeen, the 19-year-old is slashing .325/.463/.532 — good for a .994 OPS — with 27 extra-base hits, 20 stole...

Jordan Westburg’s time arrives as Orioles promote No. 4 prospect to majors: ‘I embrace the challenge’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:25:45 GMT

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias often speaks of his desire to see prospects “graduate Triple-A” in terms of performance before promoting them to the majors. Jordan Westburg’s cap and gown at last came Monday.After more than a year of strong performances with Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles called up Westburg, a 24-year-old infielder Baseball America ranks as the No. 4 prospect in the organization and No. 46 in the sport, before Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.Before batting seventh and playing second base in his major league debut, Westburg said the wait wasn’t something he concentrated on. It showed in his play, displaying the consistency that has earned him the nickname “Captain” from other Orioles minor leaguers. In 158 games with the Tides across the past two seasons, Westburg hit .283/.366/.533 with 36 home runs and 128 runs driven in.“I trusted that it was going to come,” Westbu...