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6 Things to Know – Your Top Stories For Wednesday, December 19

What to Know

  • It’s Wednesday, December 19th – and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day.

It’s Wednesday, December 19th – and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day.

Weather wise, the warmer weather returns to South Florida with high temps in them low 80s ahead of another front that could bring potential serious storms Thursday night.

No. 1 - The man in the video that shows a Miami Beach police officer knocking him unconscious spoke out about the punch, claiming he did nothing at that restaurant to deserve being knocked out.

Another Miami Beach officer came forward last week with the video of the Dec. 3 incident at the Pelican Hotel that shows the encounter between Officer Adriel Dominguez and Lowell Poitier.

No. 2 – Residents in one Southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood are on alert after a large python was found in the area. Officials have not confirmed whether a nest has been found where the animal may have laid eggs.

No. 3 - A man convicted of killing two Waffle House employees in Broward County will remain on death row.

Gerhard Hojan was previously sentenced in 2003 following a 9-3 jury recommendation. Recent changes in state law require a unanimous jury recommendation for the death penalty, and that's what a new jury decided after being empaneled in October.

No. 4 - Cuba's government said Tuesday that language promoting the legalization of gay marriage will be removed from the draft of a new constitution after widespread popular rejection of the idea.

Gay rights advocates had proposed eliminating the description of marriage as a union of a man and woman, changing it to the union of "two people ... with absolutely equal rights and obligations." That change drew protests from evangelical churches and ordinary citizens in months of public meetings on the new constitution.

No. 5 - U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is calling on Florida officials to formally pardon four young African-American men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman nearly 70 years ago.

The Florida Republican made the request Tuesday on the floor of the Senate. Florida's incoming agriculture commissioner, Democrat Nikki Fried, has already pledged to push for a posthumous pardon

No. 6 - Federal court records show a Florida man duped a Texas school district into transferring nearly $2 million into an account he controlled and used the money to purchase a pricey BMW and Rolex watches.

Records show 61-year-old Donald Howard Conkright of Big Pine Key was arrested Dec. 13 and charged with wire fraud.

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