It’s Thursday, February 17th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Miami Beach Police are investigating allegations of battery by two women against R&B singer Chris Brown, according to reports obtained by NBC 6.
NBC 6 Investigators broke the story last week and obtained copies of the police reports which detail what both women said happened when they were with Brown while visiting Miami Beach. Both alleged assaults took place more than a year ago, with the first woman claiming she was drugged and raped by the 32-year-old singer while at a party on a yacht that was docked near Diddy's home on Dec. 30, 2020. According to a police report obtained Wednesday, the second victim said she was not comfortable at that party and decided to leave. For more, click here for the story from NBC 6 investigator Heather Walker.
No. 2 - An appeals court has granted a new trial for a North Miami Police officer who was convicted of a misdemeanor but acquitted of attempted manslaughter for shooting at a severely autistic man and wounding the man's caretaker back in 2016.
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In a ruling released Wednesday, Florida's Third District Court of Appeals overturned the 2019 conviction of Officer Jonathan Aledda in the shooting of Charles Kinsey. "It’s been a long time for Mr. Aledda and you know he’s very pleased," said his attorney, Eric Schwartzreich. "We hope this is going to end with the state either dropping the charges or alternatively Mr. Alleda being found not guilty." Aledda was sentenced to one year of probation after a jury found him guilty of culpable negligence in the July 18, 2016 shooting of Kinsey.
No. 3 - Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives early Thursday approved a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, moving to tighten access to the procedure ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could limit abortion rights in America.
The GOP-controlled House passed the 15-week abortion ban after several hours of debate between Democrats who said the measure would impose an unnecessary burden on women and Republicans who said they were protecting the unborn. Republicans in several state legislatures are moving to place new restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled it would uphold a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks and potentially overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. A decision in that case is expected later this year. Florida's bill contains exceptions if the abortion is necessary to save a mother’s life, prevent serious injury to the mother or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. The state currently allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
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No. 4 - Hollywood commissioners expressed support for beach closing hours and banning certain tents and bicycles from the beach's popular Broadwalk area.
City commissioners held a meeting Wednesday to discuss a new ordinance that seeks to close the sandy part of the beach to the public every night to "increase the safety and security of the beach by deterring nighttime trespassing and other criminal activity." The proposed ordinance sought to close the beach between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., but commissioners favored a midnight to 5 a.m. closure. In addition to the restricted hours, the ordinance sought to ban tents and canopies from the beach as well as bicycles with more than two wheels, roller skating and roller blading, citing pedestrian safety on the Broadwalk.
No. 5 - A survivor of the Champlain Towers collapse is hoping to recover something he spent years collecting.
Moshe Candiotti started collecting coins at age 10 in Israel. Later in life, he moved to Miami Beach and opened an electronics store where he collected currency from customers from all over the world. "I would give them a discount sometimes depending on the coins," said Candiotti. Now many of Candiotti's rare coins are missing. To find out what officials told him about the collection, click here for the report from NBC 6’s Laura Rodriguez.
No. 6 - If you've taken a walk or ride around Downtown Miami, you might have noticed a mix of old and new buildings.
Every day though, it seems as if more cranes are in the sky to accommodate Miami's growing population. Some fear the city’s older buildings and neighborhoods are becoming increasingly threatened by new development. Dr. Paul George, resident historian at HistoryMiami, said Miami is continuing to lose older homes and buildings because of the relocation boom during the pandemic. For more on the effort to save the buildings, click here for a report from NBC 6’s Hillary Lane.
