It’s Wednesday, February 10th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Surveillance video shows the moment a driver slammed into a Fort Lauderdale man, tossing him in the air then onto the sidewalk.
The crash happened on Jan. 16th as Matthew Masters was walking his bike near NW 16th Street and 7th Avenue. The impact knocked him unconscious. A sanitation truck driver passing by spotted him and called for help. It’s a blessing he survived, despite a long list of injuries - a fractured pelvis and knee, cuts on his foot and leg, and back pain. The only evidence left after the driver took off are broken pieces of the suspect’s car, which he believes was a white Nissan Sentra. Anyone with information is asked to call Fort Lauderdale Police.
No. 2 - The Calle Ocho Music Festival and Carnaval on the Mile have been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, event organizers said.
Both Calle Ocho and Carnaval on the Mile are expected to return in March 2022. The Calle Ocho Music Festival was the first major event to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Also changes will be made to the annual Miami-Dade Youth Fair, which has been moved to the end of the year (November 18th to December 5th) in hopes of the number of COVID cases being less later in the year.
No. 3 - The hack of a water treatment plant near Tampa last week is sounding alarms across the country today.
Experts have warned for decades about vulnerabilities of utilities and other critical infrastructure. And the attack in Oldsmar last Friday is the stuff of critical infrastructure nightmares. Both the interim director of Miami-Dade's Water and Sewer Department, Jose Cueto, and his counterpart in Broward, Alan Garcia, say their systems have defenses in place to ward off or detect a similar attack. To hear why they say that, click here for the story from NBC 6 investigator Tony Pipitone.
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No. 4 - Opening arguments will begin in Donald Trump's impeachment trial after an emotional first day ended with the Senate voting to hear the case for convicting the former president of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol even though he is no longer in office.
On Wednesday, House Democrats prosecuting the case and the former president’s attorneys will lay out their opposing arguments before the senators, who are serving as jurors. The defense lost the vote seeking to halt the trial on constitutional grounds, 56-44, leaving Trump fuming over his lawyers' performance and allies questioning the defense strategy. Some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team. NBC News will provide live coverage of the trial starting at 12 p.m.
No. 5 - Looking to socialize with other kids during a pandemic that has them pretty much isolated, two teens logged onto Omegle.com - a site where they can “talk to strangers.”
Their mothers, who asked us to conceal their identities to protect their 13-year-old sons, say a friend of the boys told them they could meet new kids in the chat but didn’t warn them they could be exposed to inappropriate content. Like similar sites, you don’t have to register or identify yourself to connect to Omegle. Instead, users have to accept the terms of service. From there, it’s like a Russian roulette that randomly picks a stranger for you to chat with. To hear their warnings and how you can keep your kids safe, click here for the story from NBC 6 investigative reporter Myriam Masihy.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, a foggy Wednesday morning across parts of South Florida will give way to another hot afternoon with very little rain in sight. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
