It’s Thursday, April 1st - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - All entrances to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were closed for over five hours Thursday morning while police investigated 'suspicious wires' found in a vehicle.
The wires was found in a parking garage near Terminals 2 and 3 just after 1 a.m. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies arrived at the scene and quickly closed the roadways and secured the area around the vehicle located on the upper level of the garage. Shortly after 7 a.m., officers reopened all the roadways to traffic after determining the wires were not a threat.
No. 2 - 400 Johnson & Johnson doses will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., or until supplies last, at four pop-up sites in South Florida Thursday:
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- Miramar Regional Park, 16801 Miramar Parkway
- Bridge to Hope, 17700 Southwest 280th Street, Homestead
- Amelia Earhart Park, 401 East 65th Street, Hialeah
- Global Church, 17701 Northwest 57th Avenue, Miami Gardens
For a complete list of vaccination locations, click on this link. In time for the opening of eligibility for all adults ages 18 and older Monday, the state will receive its largest number of doses since vaccinations began. Florida will receive 817,250 total doses, including over 313,000 of the Johnson & Johnson one-time doses according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doses will be distributed between Monday and Wednesday.
No. 3 - The accused gunman in a 2019 shooting in a Miami-Dade parking lot that killed a 17-year-old girl fled to Mexico with an alleged accomplice after the killing, his ex-girlfriend told detectives in newly-released court records.
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The arrest warrant obtained Wednesday sheds light on the investigation into the May 24, 2019 killing of Gabriela Aldana and arrest this week of the suspected gunman and two alleged accomplices. The alleged gunman, Yondeivis Wongden-Hernandez, 26, appeared in court Wednesday where he was ordered held without bond on second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder charges in the shooting. According to the warrant, a 24-year-old man who was with Aldana had been friends with Wongden-Hernandez but they had a falling out, and had been involved in an ongoing dispute "over relationships with the same women."
No. 4 - While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to extend a moratorium on evictions that was set to expire Wednesday night, more will face eviction as it's going to get tougher to prove COVID-19 is the reason renters can't pay.
The clock is ticking for Denise Belanger, who was told by a Broward County judge that she has until next week to vacate her townhouse - her home for the last seven years. In Broward, there are more than 2,400 evictions filed, yet only 10% of renters presented the necessary paperwork to prove they couldn’t pay due to COVID-19. To find out how they are holding on to a final hope to save their home, click here for the story from NBC 6 reporter Willard Shepard.
No. 5 - Thousands of people in Miami-Dade and Broward changed political parties after former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of electoral votes.
It was the tipping point for many and consequences continue to play out, including hundreds of criminal cases still moving through the court system. According to election documents obtained by NBC 6 Investigators through a public records request, 6,003 voters in Miami-Dade and Broward counties officially changed their political affiliation away from the GOP in January and February of this year. Over that same period, records show 2,986 left the Democratic party. To hear why they left, click here for the story from NBC 6 investigator Phil Prazan.
No. 6 - The 2021 season for Major League Baseball is almost here, and the Miami Marlins will look to duplicate last year's success on the field while keeping fans safe in the stands as they make their return to the newly named loanDepot park.
Miami will open their 29th season of action Thursday when they host the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Rays in the first game of their three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Off the field, fans will be back inside the stadium in limited numbers to start the season after not being allowed in at all during the abbreviated 2020 season. For a complete guide to what you need to know if you’re heading to the ball park, click on this link.
