It’s Monday, July 19th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - A boat sank off Pompano Beach near Hillsboro Inlet after it began taking on water Sunday.
A witness says he believes 14 people who were on the boat were all rescued. It happened around 4:30 p.m. about three miles offshore. One witness said the boat ran over its anchor line, which brought it under water. Broward Sheriff's Office and Good Samaritans responded first and handled the search and rescue. To see the wild moments caught on camera, click here for the story from NBC 6 news.
No. 2 - Police have made an arrest in the case of an elderly woman who had more than $25,000 worth of jewelry stolen from her Miramar home after the suspects posed as FPL representatives.
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Police have charged Rachel Demitro with several counts, including burglary, grand theft and violation of her probation for her role in distracting the victim. Dimitro was arrested Thursday after being part of a duo with a man, 58-year-old Bob Ely, who committed a similar distraction scam on an elderly couple in Margate. The incident from June 25th in Miramar was caught on 81-year-old Diana Reeves’s doorbell camera, showing one man asking her questions about power in the home and luring Reeves outside while police say another man went inside the home. For more on both cases, click here for the story from NBC 6 anchor Johnny Archer.
No. 3 - After a week of protests and rallies, residents across South Florida continue to show their support for the anti-government protests in Cuba with events scheduled Sunday across both Miami-Dade and Broward counites.
In Little Havana, two different demonstrations convened at the same spot near SW 13th Ave and 8th Street. Most were Venezuelans who say they stand with the Cuban people calling for an end to the authoritarian regime. The other group mobilizing for change on the island nation is “Students for a Free Cuba." This organization was founded about a year ago by high school and college students. In Tropical Park, a family friendly 'Niños For Cuba' rally took place. In Pembroke Pines, supporters gathered outside Sergio’s Cuban Restaurant. Saturday, a land and sea rally for Cuba took place at the Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard. Miami Police had closed off Biscayne Boulevard from Northeast 6th Street to 8th Street to traffic.
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No. 4 - Investigators looking into the cause of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside released several new photos and video from the site Friday, the first images up close of debris being held as evidence that may help determine the cause of the tragedy.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology said their work is now focused on ensuring information and evidence is identified, collected and preserved. As part of evidence identification, the NIST team has collected more than 200 building elements including columns, beams and pieces of concrete slab from the June 24th collapse. All items that have been collected are currently being preserved by the Miami-Dade Police Department. Experts from FEMA, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and Florida State University are part of the efforts at the site, where the remaining tower of condos was demolished on July 4th. A national construction safety team is being assembled by NIST to lead the technical investigation.
No. 5 - Pandemic restrictions on Florida-based cruise ships will remain in place after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a previous ruling that sided with a Florida lawsuit challenging the regulations.
The one-paragraph decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, just minutes before a Tampa judge’s previous ruling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention restrictions was set to take effect. The judges’ issuance of a temporary stay keeps the CDC regulations regarding Florida-based cruise ships in place while the CDC appeals the June decision by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday. The lawsuit, championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, claims that the CDC’s multiple-step process to allow cruising from Florida is overly burdensome, harming both a multibillion-dollar industry that provides some 159,000 jobs and revenue collected by the state.
No. 6 - Tennis player Coco Gauff has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be competing in the Tokyo Olympics, where she was expected to lead Team USA.
Gauff, 17, announced the news through her own social media on Sunday, where she wished the rest of the team luck on the international stage. This would have been Gauff’s first Olympic appearance after a series of notable appearances in Grand Slam tournaments over the past few years. “It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future,” Gauff wrote.
