Here are some of the top stories from the past week you may have missed from NBC 6 News:
Charter Schools in South Florida Reopen With Distance Learning
Charter Schools USA had initially said it would physically open its South Florida schools, but this week officials announced that in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, the COVID positivity rates are still too high to reopen safely.
“The reality is that we’re in a very hard-hit area and we had to put the safety of everyone first, but we also have to realize that children most of the time learn best in a classroom,” said Jon Hage, CEO of Charter Schools USA.
The company operates 92 schools in five states, with 14 in South Florida serving about 18,000 students. Like the district schools, the CSUSA schools will reopen with distance learning only. Teachers will be instructing from their empty classrooms.
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Frontline Nurses Get New Apartment After Home Destroyed in Fire
A community came together to help two nurses and their family after their southwest Miami-Dade home was destroyed in a fire.
Last week, the Apathy family was out eating dinner at a relative's home when the fire happened. Their dog, Mack, died.
Ayleen and Ryan Apathy, both nurses at Mercy Hospital, have been been dealing with pandemic on the front lines. They explained to NBC 6 this blow was hitting especially hard during an already difficult year.
Steven Ferreiro, a local teen, saw the family's story on the news and on social media and connected with them via his non-profit called Helping Others and Giving Hope.
Camera Near PortMiami Takes Livestream Viewers Under the Sea During Quarantine
If you have yet to stumble on the Coral City Camera, a 360-degree underwater camera located along the shoreline of PortMiami, then you probably haven't met Oval, a tailless doctorfish who may just be the most famous wild fish in the world.
"Oval is the star of the show," said Colin Foord, the marine biologist who set up the camera in 2019. "We saw her the first day we put the camera underwater. Almost every single day Oval comes through, and everybody is always looking for her."
The Coral City Camera streams live 360 degrees, 24/7 on its website and YouTube. It was installed at the east end of PortMiami, about 10 feet deep, as part of a "hybrid art-science research project" to study the city's biodiversity and provide people with a "fish-eye view into the urban marine ecosystem that has developed around the human-made shorelines of Miami.
Porn, Rap Interrupt Zoom Hearing of Twitter Hacking Suspect in Florida
The online bond hearing for a Florida teen accused of hacking prominent Twitter accounts was interrupted Wednesday by rap music and pornographic videos from users who apparently disguised their names.
The interruptions — including one by a user who shared a screen and took over the hearing with a porn video — forced Hillsborough County Judge Christopher C. Nash to temporarily halt the session for Graham Ivan Clark, 17.
Nash reopened the hearing, but the users continued their disruptions. He ultimately declined to lower Clark's bail, which was set at $725,000 when he was arrested on Friday.
Fact Check: Voting by Mail in the Swing States
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting as “fraudulent” and “corrupt,” even going so far to suggest it might be a reason to postpone the Nov. 3 election. But voters can use that option without giving a reason for doing so in six swing states that are crucial to his reelection bid.
The six — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — are among the 34 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that have “no excuse” absentee or mail-in voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
About a quarter of ballots cast in the 2018 general elections nationwide were by mail, according to the Election Assistance Commission. And mail-in voting has soared during this year’s primaries as the nation struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic.
