A Miami appeals court rebuked the state child-welfare agency Wednesday for removing a 12-year-old boy from his mother because she was homeless, ruling that not having a home for a child does not by itself constitute abuse.
MIAMI FEDERAL COURT
A Miami Lakes couple who built a billing empire by submitting about $420 million in false claims for medical equipment to Medicare has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Miami federal court, authorities said Wednesday.
CORAL SPRINGS
The human bones found inside a sunken van in a Coral Springs canal earlier this year were officially identified Wednesday as those of Jeffrey Walter Klee, a teenager first reported missing more than three decades ago.
DOWNTOWN MIAMI
Working 49 stories above the ground, two construction workers were zapped by what officials described as ''static shock'' when they touched a crane.
The second named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season has formed off the coast of Africa. Tropical Storm Bertha was blowing 40 mph winds about 200 miles south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands late Thursday morning.
DROWNING PREVENTION
On that Saturday, Shirley Harold left her Lauderhill home to run errands. It was an ordinary March afternoon, the house abuzz with friends and family including her 2-year-old great-grandson, who was napping. While she was gone, little J'Mari Jeremiah Johnson somehow wandered into the backyard and drowned in the unfenced pool -- a toddler dead in a place meant for play.
CUBA TRAVEL
As Miami-bound travelers waited in limbo at Havana's Jose Marti Airport, a federal judge in Miami ruled Tuesday to allow flights to continue while he decides the validity of a new state law.
AVENTURA
A jail booking photo and his diamond stud earrings landed John Lagrua back behind bars accused of lying to police. After his arrest at a Publix store in May, John Lagrua complained that Aventura police beat him and stole his jewelry.
JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Like most toddlers, Adrian Raheal loves to run around and explore. Yet when he does, his parents must keep an extra close vigil over him: A tumble could kill the 20-month-old.
IN MY OPINION
Here is your new core nucleus, Heat fans, the triumvirate to make this rebuilding process happen with the speed of time-lapse photography:
CARIBBEAN
At a time when the Caribbean is facing some of its toughest challenges -- high grocery bills, rising energy costs and airline cutbacks -- regional leaders opened a four-day summit here calling for a more stepped up, unified vision.
DADE SCHOOLS
Leaders of the Miami-Dade teachers' union will sit down with school district officials Wednesday for their second high-stakes meeting this week, and things could get contentious again.
If offered, would you want to work a four-day week? What if it means four long days? More Florida businesses, governments and school boards are proposing that option for employees in a trend sparked by sky-high fuel costs, traffic congestion, and budget concerns.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
A campaign to save the storied Miami Marine Stadium will get its first test on Tuesday, when the city's historic preservation board will consider a proposal to designate the long-neglected but architecturally dazzling structure as a historic landmark.
FORT LAUDERDALE
Transportation officials plan to modify a Fort Lauderdale intersection that has claimed the life of at least four people and seriously injured others during the past year.
The ethics of the puppy mill were as obvious as the reek. The smell of dozens of unwashed and neglected Tennessee dogs crawled down your throat like a lizard.
POMPANO BEACH
Aug. 10 -- a solemn date etched in the minds of almost every Broward Sheriff's Office employee -- inches closer every day. The first anniversary of Sgt. Chris Reyka's slaying is less than six weeks away, and his killer or killers still have not been brought to justice.
BROWARD COURTS
A Broward youth, accused of killing a Hollywood woman in cold blood when he was 14, was sentenced Monday to life in prison. Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy III listened to an hour of pleas for mercy from the family of Demetrius Carey, now 17, before passing sentence.
He's a violent crackhead who punches women and steals cars. But at least he's contrite. Armando Pena, 44, mugged Gladys Gonzalez early Tuesday morning as she was arriving for work, punched her in the face, slammed her to the ground, snatched her white Ford Taurus and roared off.
A Miami-Dade teenager charged with first-degree murder in the 2004 stabbing death of a classmate will be tried in Orlando, not South Florida.
