It's Thursday, Feb. 10th, and NBC 6 has your top news stories of the day.
It's a warm Thursday morning with many of us well into the 70s. This is courtesy of a southeast breeze enveloping the region. Click here for your full forecast, or scroll down.
No. 1 - Three People Rescued After Being Stranded on Uninhabited Bahamas Island for Over a Month
Crews from the United States Coast Guard rescued three Cuban nationals who reportedly were stranded on a deserted island near the Bahamas for more than a month after their boat capsized and they swam ashore.
A news release said a crew from the Air Station Miami spotted the three people while on a routine patrol Monday near Anguilla Cay. Coast Guard officials say the three people told them they had been on the island for 33 days.
Read more here.
No. 2 - Parkland Dad Joins Congresswoman Calling for New Gun Control Laws
Local
As residents of Parkland approach, Feb. 14 with a sense of dread, a New York Congresswoman is talking gun control laws.
U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, (D) New York, is using this occasion, the three-year mark of the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, to introduce a package of five gun control bills, and she was joined in that effort by an activist Parkland dad.
“Since my daughter was killed, I’d love to say we’ve done some really tremendous things on a national level, but we haven’t," said Fred Guttenberg in a virtual news conference. "The truth is the epidemic of failure to deal with this issue has continued."
Read more here.
No. 3 - South Florida Homeowners Lose Thousands in Deposits, Blame Window Treatment Vendor
Homeowners say they handed thousands of dollars in deposits to a South Florida company to install custom window treatments, but the work never got done.
Local residents Adam Klein and Robert Liguori say they paid Mark Block hefty deposits that were worth more than half of the total for the projects.
“I don’t care if it is a dollar or $5,000, he needs to be stopped,” Klein said.
It’s not the first time NBC 6 Responds has heard about this business owner.
In 2019, three homeowners told NBC 6 Responds that Block took their deposits and never completed the work he was contracted for.
Read more here.
No. 4 - Vaccine Doses Increasing for Seniors on Florida's West Coast: DeSantis
Florida is increasing COVID-19 vaccine doses for seniors on the state's west coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday morning.
DeSantis held a news conference in Venice Wednesday where he announced more doses would be allocated to counties on Florida's Gulf coast, including Manatee, Charlotte and Sarasota.
Leon County leads the state with about 61% of seniors receiving shots, DeSantis said. Palm Beach County was near 50%, DeSantis said. Statewide, about 35% of Florida's 4.5 million seniors have received a shot.
Read more vaccine updates here.
No. 5 - City of Miami Again Orders La Placita to Paint Over Puerto Rican Flag Mural
Controversy is on the menu again at La Placita restaurant in the MiMo District of Miami.
The city has yet again ordered the restaurant to paint over their mural of the Puerto Rican flag. José Mendín, chef and owner of La Placita, posted a picture of the violation notice on his Instagram.
"After everything that we’ve gone through, before with the flag and now with the pandemic, after getting our business back, after getting people back to their restaurants, this is what we have to deal with right now," Mendín said. "It’s very unfair."
Read more here.
No. 6 - First Alert Weather
From meteorologist Adam Berg:
Temperatures are running very warm yet again early Thursday morning with many of us well into the 70s. This is courtesy of a southeast breeze enveloping the region. The breeze isn't strong, but just strong enough to keep the fog away for now. We will stay muggy today with only a 10% chance of showers as highs creep into the low-mid-80s. Friday offers more of the same.
Read more here.
