Here are some of the top stories from the past week from NBC 6 News:
PolitiFact: Biden Infrastructure Plan Wouldn't Establish a Per-Mile Driving Tax
A viral image popular on Facebook claims that the $1 trillion infrastructure bill moving through Washington would establish a per-mile "driving tax."
The image takes the form of a screenshot of a TV graphic from Newsmax purportedly detailing "Biden tax increases."
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"Per-mile user fee. Estimated to be 8 cents per mile," reads text on the slide.
"This will be in addition to the already in place fuel tax," one user wrote in the caption of their post.
The image was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Local
One provision buried in the 2,700-page infrastructure bill supported by President Joe Biden does create a pilot program to study the effects of a per-mile tax.
However, it’s misleading to equate the pilot program with an actual fee.
Buy Now, Pay Later: What to Know About New Payment Option
Layaway is a thing of the past at many large retailers, but a new payment option is growing in popularity.
It’s called a Point-of-Sale loan.
It used to be popular for big-ticket items, but it is now being used to finance purchases of lower cost things like clothes, shoes and makeup.
You can choose to “Buy Now, Pay Later” online and at thousands of stores.
Typically, this option to finance your purchase pops up during checkout. To apply, you must input some basic information and often lenders will do a soft check of your credit.
If approved, you get the option to break the bigger total up into smaller payments. The first payment is due at checkout.
Some shoppers can qualify for a zero percent APR.
Miya Marcano Murder Suspect Had Prior Troubling Incident With Another Woman: Sheriff
Little is known about Armando Caballero, the 27-year-old suspect in the murder of Miya Marcano in Orlando, but new details and bodycam footage of an incident involving another woman who rejected him have recently emerged.
In March, Caballero, was accused by a tenant of throwing a gym weight against her window at the Sabal Club apartments because she refused to meet with him, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Bodycam footage from the officers who responded to the scene that night showed the window broken at the condo complex.
Because the woman never actually saw Caballero, no charges were filed in the case, but officers obtained the note that was allegedly written by him inviting the woman to meet with him.
Caballero had worked as a maintenance worker at the Sabal Club apartments before he worked at the Arden Villas Apartments, where Marcano lived and worked, WESH reported.
Orange County investigators said Caballero is suspected of using a master key fob to enter Marcano’s first floor apartment at the Arden Villas on Friday, September 24.
Marcano, a Valencia College student, was last seen just before 5 p.m. that Friday; her family reported her missing after she missed a flight home to South Florida that evening.
Business Owners, Workers Protest 2 a.m. Last Call in Miami Beach
In true Miami Beach fashion, dozens packed Mango's Tropical Cafe on Wednesday to protest — in the form of a celebration — the rolled back last call for alcohol to 2 a.m.
The city passed the 2 a.m. rollback earlier this year to slow down crime but stopped enforcement this summer after a judge’s ruling.
“I don’t believe it’s going to be an efficient way to solve the problem," said Elizabeth Martinez, a homeowner on Miami Beach.
Voters will make their voices heard on the issue in a November referendum.
Some say it won’t curb crime but feel it would curb business.
“Basically, it showed that it didn’t work," said Alex Ruiz, Mango's Tropical Cafe director. "The only people that were affected were the people working. You’re talking about the performers, the artists, the waitresses."
Other Miami Beach business owners, like Mitch Novick, disagree.
“Chaos and mayhem every day throughout the evening," said Novick, who also shared a video of police outside of his business on Sunday night.
Novick says this is the reality of late-night alcohol sales and feels the rollback is overdue.
South Florida Funeral Homes Struggling to Keep Up With High Demand
More than 55,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19. As with the number of cases, deaths are starting to trend downward, but local funeral homes are struggling to keep up with the demand.
The funeral director at St. Fort's Funeral Home in North Miami Beach says around March 2020, the demand for funerals more than doubled.
"We've had families that have had to push their funeral services back three weeks," said Evans St. Fort, CEO of St. Fort's.
At St. Fort's they went from having about five funerals a day to 10 to 15 per day.
"We were hit as hard as the healthcare providers in terms of the physical demands," Gary Freytag, President of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association.
Funeral directors and staff have been on the front lines the entire pandemic. They say it is a tough balancing act between helping families find closure, staffing constraints, and overall availability.
Homeowners Say Pool Contractor Took Money But Failed to Complete Work
Homeowners say they paid thousands of dollars to have swimming pools built, but the company they hired didn’t finish the work.
NBC Responds and Telemundo Responde Units across the state were contacted by frustrated homeowners.
“I wanted a pool so my kids could do something,” Angel Lacasse said.
Lacasse says he contracted with Villa Pavers and Pools in December 2019 to build a pool in his backyard. The total project was estimated to cost $25,000.
But more than a year later he says he still doesn’t have a pool.
“I have no backyard. My kids can’t go out there and play,” Lacasse said. “All he has done is pour concrete. After I paid him that lump sum of money, he has just disappeared.”
Lacasse says after paying roughly $21,000 all work stopped.
“He refused to come out and do any work,” Lacasse said.
Lacasse isn’t the only frustrated homeowner. We also heard from two homeowners in Orlando in a similar situation with the same company. A homeowner in Tampa and another in Holiday, Florida, shared similar stories too.
