Here are some of the top stories from the past week from NBC 6 News:
Homeowners Struggling With Challenging Insurance Market
For the last 27 years, Gary MacDonald and his wife have lived in a home that is a little piece of heaven near Homestead.
“The house is nice on the inside with big, vaulted ceilings,” he said.
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They’ve raised their kids there and now spend their days enjoying what they’ve built.
“It’s home,” he said. “It’s a family home.”
It’s a home they have protected over the years with homeowners’ insurance, but Gary says every time his policy is up for renewal he is unsure of what to expect.
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Rabbis Organize Ukrainian Refugee Relief Effort, Go to Poland to ‘Bear Witness'
They could not stand on the sidelines any longer.
With more than 10 million people having fled their homes in Ukraine, a couple of South Florida rabbis felt compelled to help in person.
Rabbis Jonathan Berkun and Guido Cohen of the Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center organized a relief mission and flew to Poland to deliver humanitarian aid.
We spoke to them via Zoom as they were visiting a refugee settlement center at the Ukraine-Poland border.
‘Devastating': North Miami Beach Residents Race to Clear Out Apartments Deemed Unsafe
Families were racing to move their belongings out of their North Miami Beach apartments Tuesday, a day after the city ordered an emergency evacuation following a report that deemed the building "structurally unsound."
The residents of Bayview 60 Homes were ordered out Monday by city officials. It's the second building ordered evacuated in the city since the collapse of Champlain Towers South last June in nearby Surfside, which killed 98 people.
"How would you feel, if they told you you have to leave everything?" resident Vicky Rodriguez said.
The five-story building, which was built in 1972 and has 60 units, had been undergoing repairs since July as part of a 50-year recertification process, the city said in a statement.
Researchers Predict Above-Average 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Researchers are predicting an "above-average" 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, with 19 named storms and nine hurricanes expected.
Of those nine hurricanes, four are expected to be major, according to the Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project.
Dr. Philip Klotzbach, hurricane specialist at CSU, presented the forecast Thursday during the National Tropical Weather Conference.
Klotzbach said the primary reason for the above-average forecast is based on a predicted lack of El Niño and a warmer-than-normal subtropical Atlantic Ocean.
BSO Program Helps Students Prepare for the Workforce
Seeing a problem and finding a solution is the idea behind a program run by the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
The program, titled SEED, stands for "skill enhancement and employee development."
This past weekend was the second graduation day for the program, which helps students get hired.
The program is run by BSO Deerfield Beach's Community Outreach Resource and Education, or CORE team. The course helps juniors and seniors at Deerfield Beach High School get ready to enter the workforce.
Therapy Dogs Train New Handlers at Memorial Healthcare System
Pet therapy dogs spent last week training new human handlers at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.
The handlers practiced commands with the pet therapy dogs, took written exams and learned how to move around the hospital with them as they prepare to visit patients young and old, helping them recover from surgery or illness.
“Our therapy dogs are instrumental in the coping of our patients at the hospital. They’re really able to improve their vital signs, lower the blood pressure of a patient, and reduce anxiety and also help patients reach therapeutic goals,” said Sarah Buwalda, a Certified Child Life Specialist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.
Memorial Healthcare System has five therapy dogs assigned to particular hospitals and rehab centers throughout South Florida.
