It’s Thursday, October 15th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Coral Park Elementary School in Westchester will reopen Thursday, a day after it was forced to switch to online learning after a teacher and student tested positive for COVID-19.
For the second time in the same week, COVID-19 has forced Miami-Dade County Public Schools to temporarily close one of its schools. On Monday, it was MAST Academy in Virginia Key. School board member Dr. Marta Perez, who represents this area, told NBC 6 a teacher, and the teacher’s child, tested positive Monday. Because this teacher moves from classroom to classroom, many students and other teachers may have been in close proximity. The school shifted to online learning on Wednesday.
No. 2 - Once again, South Florida will be in the spotlight for the 2020 presidential race as President Donald Trump will be in Miami for the first of two straight days in the Sunshine State.
Trump will take part in a NBC News town hall Thursday night at the Perez Art Museum in downtown Miami. NBC said Trump would be at least 12 feet from moderator Savannah Guthrie and the audience. The town hall is the second hosted by the network featuring a major party candidate in recent days, after Democratic nominee Joe Biden took part in one on October 5th hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. On top of the events, authorities are also advising those who will be in the area to expect traffic delays and possible road closures.
No. 3 - There’s a new push for answers in a decades-old cold case out of Davie. Still the biggest mystery to solve is identifying the victim and figuring out what led up to her death.
The female victim was never identified. However, according to Davie Police, the Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was drowning and the circumstances surrounding the case suggested homicide. A lot has changed since that December day in 1975, including major developments in science and technology. This week, Davie Police released a digital image called a facial approximation of what the woman might have looked like, hoping to revive the efforts to identify her. For more, click here for a report from NBC 6’s Alyssa Hyman.
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No. 4 - Miami Beach city commissioners voted Wednesday to lower fines for people caught illegally renting their homes, condos or apartments.
Illegal renters will now face a $1,000 fine instead of the $20,000 fine, which had been in place for years. The change comes after the city lost a 2018 lawsuit with a homeowner who sued after being fined $20,000. It’s an issue that has been a cause of contention between residents who get annoyed by the noise and renters trying to make a few extra bucks. To hear from both sides, click here for the story from NBC 6 reporter Kim Wynne.
No. 5 - Thursday marks the beginning of stone crab season in Florida, but new rules will be put in place in order to boost the crustacean's population.
Some of the new rules created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission include shortening the season by two weeks and making the minimum claw size an eighth of an inch larger. Back in July, the state agency reported that stone crab fisheries were experiencing a decline in harvest likely due to overfishing. Click here for a list of all the rules you need to know before hitting the waters.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, rain chances pick up starting Thursday in South Florida ahead of what looks to be a wetter weekend across the area. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
