It’s Wednesday, August 31st – and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez surrendered to police Tuesday morning to face criminal charges amid a lengthy corruption investigation.
Martinez was seen walking in to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center around 9:15 a.m. before he was booked into the facility. He's charged with unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation, jail records showed. His bond was set at $12,500. Martinez appeared in bond court later Tuesday where it was revealed he had already posted bond. He was released from jail a short time later. At a news conference Tuesday, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Miami-Dade Inspector General Felix Jimenez outlined the charges against Martinez. The statement said Martinez has been under investigation for five years, though officials said it hadn't been that long.
No. 2 - The family of a woman who died in a crash in Oakland Park opened up about their loss and about the teens who are now in juvenile detention, facing multiple charges.
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Loved ones said Maria Tellez, 35, was killed when a 13-year-old and 15-year-old escaping police crashed into her car Sunday morning. On Tuesday evening, Tellez's 13-year-old son, Mikey, answered questions about his mom’s death that no young person should ever have to address. Mikey candidly admitted he doesn’t know how to handle it. Tellez also leaves behind two daughters, 12 and 15. The oldest Samantha said when she first found out her mother died, she thought it was a bad dream. Now, she is starting to process that her mother won't get to see her live the dreams she wants to achieve.
No. 3 - The team of lawyers seeking a life sentence for the convicted Parkland school shooter paraded a family friend, a school guidance counselor, and a clinical pharmacologist before jurors Tuesday.
Day Six of the defense case began with the pre-recorded, edited video of the state’s cross-examination of Finai Browd, a long-time friend of Lynda Cruz who adopted Nikolas Cruz. Browd admitted his behavior got more disturbing and violent as Nikolas grew up forcing Lynda to wrap herself around him. The 15th defense witness was guidance counselor Jessica Clark-Flournoy who met with Nikolas Cruz in the sixth and seventh grades at Westglades Middle School. She testified Nikolas Cruz was concerned about doing well in school, but his attitude declined with his grades. The sentencing trial resumes at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
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No. 4 - Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. The last Soviet leader was 91.
The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev died after a long illness. No other details were given. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered deep condolences over Gorbachev’s death and would send an official telegram to Gorbachev’s family in the morning. Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.
No. 5 - It’s only been ten days since the statewide grand jury report was released, and the fallout has been swift and stunning.
That report recommended that Gov. Ron DeSantis remove four sitting Broward County school board members, and he did so, suspending Donna Korn, Laurie Rich-Levinson, Patricia Good and Anne Murray. Tuesday, four new faces joined the Broward County School Board: Torey Alston, Kevin Tynan, Ryan Reiter, and Manuel Serrano, each of them promising change. One after another, the four men were sworn in and instantly, radically changed the non-partisan school board, from majority female and Democratic to majority male and Republican. Including sitting board member Daniel Fogenholi, all five men were appointed by DeSantis.
No. 6 - Santa's Enchanted Forest is back for the holidays this November — but at a new location organizers say is bigger and better than years past.
After a single season in Hialeah and more than 30 years at Tropical Park, South Florida's popular holiday theme park is moving to northwest Miami-Dade, on a vacant lot near the Palmetto Expressway at 87th Avenue and 74th Street. Organizer Maritza Gutierrez said the location changed once again due to construction in Hialeah. The vacant lot is privately owned and crews were already on-site at the end of August to transform the space into a forest of lights. The site is near the Medley landfill and a waste-to-energy plant, Gutierrez said that was taken into consideration and doesn't anticipate the smell will be a problem.
