It’s Tuesday, January 25th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Dr. Jose Dotres has been chosen as the next leader of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The school board selected Dotres, an assistant superintendent in Collier County, late Monday after an hours-long public meeting. Dotres will succeed outgoing Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who is leaving to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District. Dotres is a Miami Senior High School graduate and has been a teacher, a principal, a regional superintendent, and chief of staff to Carvalho. The school board gave potential new superintendents one week to apply for the job and received 16 applicants, which was whittled down to three finalists last week.
No. 2 - A psychiatric patient who escaped a Miami-Dade hospital ran onto Florida's Turnpike and got hit by a truck, shutting down the southbound side of the highway for hours, police said.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
The incident happened before 4 p.m. on Monday. Video from Chopper 6 showed the traffic being diverted to Bird Road. Cellphone video provided by Only in Dade shows Miami-Dade officers chasing a man in a hospital gown at the side of the road near the Turnpike. The man is a patient at Kendall Regional Medical center who escaped the psychiatric facility and became violent with hospital staff, police said. The man was hit by a truck and was taken back to the hospital, where he remains in stable condition.
No. 3 - All monoclonal antibody sites in Florida have been shut down until further notice after the Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency authorizations for two COVID-19 antibody drugs, the state's health department announced.
The FDA said Monday the antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly should no longer be used because they are unlikely to work against the omicron variant that now accounts for nearly all U.S. infections. The U.S. government temporarily stopped distributing the two drugs in late December, as omicron was racing across the country to become the dominant variant. But officials resumed distribution after complaints from Republican governors, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed that the drugs continued to help some omicron patients.
Local
No. 4 - COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are starting to fall about as fast as they surged six weeks ago.
In Florida, cases are the lowest since Christmas and hospitalizations are down about 10% what they were five days ago. South Florida is on the back end, which is a relief to many. But parts of north Florida and the Panhandle are still seeing increases as well as other parts of the country and the world. As long as the virus keeps spreading, Dr. Randy Katz, Associate District Medical Director for Emergency Services for Memorial Healthcare System, says there will be more waves. Click here to find out why in a report from NBC 6’s Marissa Bagg.
Get updates on COVID-19 in your inbox. Click here to sign up for our weekly coronavirus newsletter.
No. 5 - Bahamian authorities say a cruise ship that was set to dock in Miami this weekend remained in the Bahamas on Monday, avoiding a U.S. judge’s order to seize the vessel.
Crystal Cruises had announced last week that it was suspending operations through late April, canceling or cutting short itineraries for the Crystal Symphony and two other ships. Sgt. Kareem Woods with the Royal Bahamas Police Force said the Crystal Symphony is still docked in Bimini and that authorities currently do not have plans to seize the vessel. The arrest warrant for the ship is part of a lawsuit over $4.6 million in what the suit said is unpaid fuel. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Miami on Saturday. But a federal judge issued the warrant for the ship Thursday.
No. 6 - Bad Bunny announced a 29-stop stadium tour Monday, complete with performances across the United States and Latin America.
The Puerto Rican reggaeton artist and rapper will kick off his 2022 stadium tour in Orlando, Fla. at Camping World Stadium, according to a press release. The world-renowned star is slated to make stops in Miami, Chicago, New York and other U.S. cities before heading to Latin America on Oct. 21. Bad Bunny is set to perform in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium on Aug. 12. Tickets for the stadium tour go on pre-sale Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 12 p.m. Tickets will be available to the general public on Friday, Jan. 28 at 12 p.m.
