It’s Monday, May 2nd - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Domestic workers across South Florida gathered for a march through Downtown Miami on Sunday during International Workers' Day to protest the rent hike.
Attendees said they need more rights as renters because the affordability crisis is pricing them out of their neighborhoods. Care workers and domestic workers with the Miami Workers Center say that to live in South Florida, they need higher wages and protections on the job. A report from Rent.com puts a one-bedroom apartment in Miami at $2,744 per month, up 21.6% from last year. Many say it’s just not possible to live here. Especially domestic workers who say their low wages can’t give them access to safe housing.
No. 2 - Democrat Ken Russell said Sunday he is switching from the U.S. Senate primary race against U.S. Rep. Val Demings to a run for a Miami-area congressional seat.
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Russell made his announcement via a TikTok video. Russell, a Miami city commissioner, said it's become clear Demings — who currently represents Orlando in Congress — is likely to be the Democratic nominee against incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and that he will support her. Now, Russell said he will focus on a House District 27 race against freshman GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar in one of Florida's main swing districts.
No. 3 - After an initial plan to build a new football stadium for the Miami Hurricanes in the city of Coral Gables was met with backlash, billionaire booster John Ruiz reportedly has his sights set on a new location closer to campus.
Ruiz told the Miami New Times he now wants the stadium built at Tropical Park in southwest Miami-Dade - nine miles from the school's campus as opposed to the 30 miles to UM's current home field, Hard Rock Stadium. Ruiz said he has spoken to the architectural firm that build SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California - site of February's Super Bowl LVI - about building a 65,000-seat stadium on the west side of the park located off Southwest 40th Street. Ruiz initially proposed building a stadium on the site of Coral Gables High School, which was met with opposition from the city and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
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No. 4 - Exactly 25 years after four family members were murdered at a Miramar home in what police have called one of the "most heinous crimes" in the city's history, family members and detectives are coming together for a memorial service.
Theresa Laverne, her daughter, Marie Altidore, and Marie's daughters, 6-week-old Sabrina and 2-year-old Samantha were found murdered in a home in the 8800 block of S. Crescent Drive on April 30, 1997. Laverne, 68, had traveled to South Florida from Haiti to help her 29-year-old daughter with the newborn. Laverne and Altidore had been fatally shot, and the two little girls were beaten to death. Detectives believe it was a crime of passion, fueled with rage. They said the murderer tried to stage a home invasion, but there were no signs of forced entry and no valuables were stolen.
No. 5 – The Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers will tip off their Eastern Conference semifinal series Monday night with Game 1 inside the FTX Arena.
For the third straight game, the Miami Heat will be without a player brought in this season for his playoff experience. The team announced Sunday that point guard Kyle Lowry will miss Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Forward Jimmy Butler, who missed Miami's series clinching win last Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 of their first round series, is among the players listed as questionable.
No. 6 - Just in time for National Orange Juice Day on Wednesday, May 4th, Bradenton, Florida-based Tropicana is introducing a new breakfast product that may make some people cheer and others raise an eyebrow.
Saying it will create an “unforgettable breakfast experience,” the company is introducing Tropicana Crunch, a honey almond breakfast cereal specifically made so that orange juice is used instead of milk. “Some call it weird. Some call it breakfast. We . . . didn't even know it was a thing,” the company said in a release on their website. The cereal box features a smiling orange holding a spoon and orange juice being poured into a bowl of almond cereal. Each box also comes with a paper straw. Tropicana has not said if the cereal’s release is temporary or full-time, or when or if you'll be able to buy the cereal in stores.
