It’s Friday, October 1st - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day
No. 1 - The owners of several businesses in Little Havana — including the popular Ball & Chain — have filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Miami, alleging they weaponized city departments to run those once-booming businesses out of town.
The 66-page lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Mad Room Hospitality — which owns Ball & Chain and Taquerias el Mexicano, along with other businesses — seeks $27.9 million in damages from the city.
The lawsuit claims city leaders instituted raid-style inspections, some at peak business hours, and "deliberately crafted" city ordinances targeting Ball & Chain.
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No. 2 - A Hialeah man who's been on the run for more than four years after he set his pregnant girlfriend on fire in their Hialeah home has been arrested, authorities said.
Noel Grullon, 36, was booked into the Miami-Dade jail Wednesday night on charges of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, records showed.
The charges stem from the July 27, 2017 incident at the couple's home in the 400 block of Southeast 2nd Street.
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No. 3 - Miami-Dade Police have launched a dashboard that breaks down data involving police-involved shootings, officers' use of force, and excessive force complaints with the department.
Miami-Dade Police Spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta says they can legally only provide data on closed cases but says it’s a step in the right direction to building community trust.
“The men and women of this agency value the positive relationships that have been long established with our community through proven trust and transparency,” said Miami-Dade Police Department Director Freddy Ramirez. “This is yet another program that demonstrates our commitment to the residents and visitors of our wonderful Miami-Dade County.”
No. 4 - A mayoral candidate for the city of Miami is now wanted by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for allegedly impersonating an officer.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Frank Pichel out of the Florida Keys.
Pichel has run for Miami City Commission before and lost. He was also a Miami police officer.
He's currently qualified as a candidate for Miami mayor, with the election set for this November.
No. 5 - Florida Memorial University was founded in 1879, and it's the oldest and only Black university in South Florida.
But declining enrollment over a ten-year period and borrowing from its endowment fund perked the ears of educational accreditor Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
"The amount of withdrawal was somewhere around the area of six million dollars," Commission of Colleges. Dr. Jaffus Hardrick, FMU President said.
No. 6 - Applying to be one of the first workers at Walt Disney World, high school graduate George Kalogridis made a split-second decision that set the course for his life: he picked a room where prospective hotel workers were being hired.
Chuck Milam got a tip about a job opening from a transplanted Disney executive whose new house he was landscaping. Earliene Anderson jumped at the chance to take a job at the new Disney theme park in Florida, having fallen in love with the beauty of Disneyland in California during a trip two years earlier.
