South Florida Local News

Here are the top stories for Thursday, May 16, 2024. Get the weather forecast for today here.

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South Florida isn’t likely to face as many steep rent hikes, study says

‘The ultimate downtown’: Up to 50 acres could be redeveloped to create Margate destination

Dolphins get whopping five prime-time games on 2024 schedule, including Thanksgiving in Green Bay

Here’s how to avoid getting ill and exhausted when the temperatures soar

DeSantis, amid criticism, signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser state priority

Who gets to claim self-defense in shootings? Florida airman’s death sparks debate over race and gun rights

Feds urge judge to dismiss Florida’s challenge to guidelines for children’s insurance program

A summer thrill: Register now to see sea turtles laying their eggs on our beaches

Lawmakers’ pork-barrel projects have gotten out of hand | Editorial

Missing the West Palm Beach GreenMarket? During the off-season, try The Mini, a pop-up version

Under the colorful umbrella of the annual MOSAIC celebration across Palm Beach County, this weekend in particular stands out for its depth of offerings, thanks to the return of Open Studios. 

Taking place on Saturday and Sunday, Open Studios is a welcome mat set down by nearly 100 local artists at their studios and other art-making spaces from noon to 5 p.m. It is organized by the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, which has a very helpful map of participating artists, from Boca Raton to Jupiter, at OpenStudiosPBC.com.

The project debuted last year as a one-day event, and you can expect these afternoons to be casual and chatty, and a vivid portrait of an underappreciated art scene at work. A couple of spaces had wine last year, but I’d BYOB if that’s your thing.

Locations range from collectives such as the Arts Warehouse in downtown Delray Beach (home to more than a dozen artists) and The Peach in West Palm Beach to galleries including a new edition of irrepressible painter Rolando Chang Barrero’s ActivistArtistA studio in West Palm Beach (Barrero is hinting at mimosas).

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Open Studios comes with a cautionary tale in Lake Worth Beach: A downtown institution for nearly two decades at 15 S. J St., the nonprofit art cooperative Flamingo Clay Studio is scheduled to close permanently after this weekend, its colorful history — remember the Easter-season “Peeps Show” exhibit of marshmallow chicks? — no match for the insatiable appetite for real-estate development. 

Its executive director, Joyce Brown, has extended an open invitation to fans of the studio to “drop by and hug our artists” during Open Studios. Visit Facebook.com/FlamingoClayStudio216SFSt.

The bigger picture of Palm Beach County’s creative scene is on view during MOSAIC (Month Of Shows, Art, Ideas & Culture), which offers discounts on admission and retail purchases at participating organizations. 

For instance, this weekend you can get good ticket deals at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Cox Science Center and Aquarium, Norton Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art and Palm Beach Zoo. For a complete list, visit PalmBeachCulture.com/mosaic.

THURSDAY

Shirt, shoes mandatory: Experience Kenny Chesney as you’ve never seen him when the stadium-filling country star brings his Sun Goes Down Tour to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Thursday at 8 p.m. There are a few scattered seats available starting at $250+, as well as an array of Verified Resale tickets. The stage has been reconfigured for this show to include a walkway that extends out into a general-admission, standing-room area called the Sandbar, where seats cost $475+. Visit MyHRL.com.  

Way cool: You have been looking for a reason to visit Revelry Plates & Potions —  the new kitschy-cool Pompano Beach restaurant and bar from veteran scene-stirrers Zena Tarantino (she’s a burlesque performer!) and Brando Garcia (he’s a friend of a burlesque performer!), joined by executive chef Paul Pincus (formerly of Rivertail in Fort Lauderdale) — and here it is. On Thursday, the retro-groovy spot (227 S. Federal Highway) will host an official grand-opening party from 5 to 8 p.m. There will be light bites, beer and wine tastings, tequila tastings, live music (Violet Jeffries), comedy (Ryan Panucci), burlesque dancers and something awesome on the VCR. Visit Instagram.com/revelryfla.

Cuban comedy: Zoetic Stage will offer the final performances in the world premiere run of the one-woman comedy “Cuban Chicken Soup: When There’s No More Café,” this weekend at the Arsht Center in Miami. Featuring three-time Carbonell Award-winning actor Elena Maria Garcia, the show revisits the lovably eccentric characters Garcia created several years ago in the hit “¡Fuacata! A Latina’s Guide to Surviving the Universe.” Weekend performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $55+ at ArshtCenter.org.

Queen for a night: If you are in a trivia-band frame of mind, this is your weekend, kicking off with well-traveled Queen tribute band Gary Mullen and the Works (pride of Glasgow) at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets start at $55+ at ParkerPlayhouse.com. 

FRIDAY

‘Bout time: The every-Friday Art After Dark series at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach is a consistent forum for local creatives, offering tours of the collection, resident artists talking about what they make in their studios, and local musicians in an intimate concert setting. This weekend’s edition of Art After Dark includes a 7-9 p.m. set by one of my favorite local groups, The Lubben Brothers — handsome, Iowa-reared triplets Josh, Michael and Tom — who just performed at SunFest. The Lubbens’ spritely, sun-dappled storytelling (think Avetts and Lumineers) has been captured on a new album, “‘Bout Time,” that deserves your attention. It’s only a matter of time before they are playing bigger stages. Visit TheLubbenBrothers.com. Art After Dark runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday. Admission costs $10, or $5 for students. Visit Norton.org.

Panthers watch: No doubt there will be a Game 6 Florida Panthers watch party close to where you live, but the ultimate place to be will be the team’s Baptist Health IcePlex in downtown Fort Lauderdale, where they put the game on the Cats’ massive video board overlooking their practice rink, with plenty of bleacher seating. Of course, there will be viewing at The Federal restaurant on the second floor. Also on the second floor, the concession area has multiple large screens and has proven to be a popular space to cheer for the team. The Fightin’ Maurices will take on the Boston Bruins on Friday at a time TBD. Watch-party admission is free, as is parking. Visit FTLWarMemorial.com.

Boy’s life: Setting up at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach this weekend, “The Kite Runner” is a touring production of the Broadway play with music based on Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel. The tale of a young boy in Kabul, Afghanistan, who finds ways to move past the brutality around him into adulthood, is the story of fathers and sons and friendship. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $25+ at Kravis.org.

Ticket window: Grammy winner Childish Gambino (alter ego of actor and comedian Donald Glover) will bring The New World Tour to Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Thursday, Sept. 5. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at TheNewWorldTour.com. … Humorist David Sedaris is coming to The Parker in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Oct. 10, with tickets (starting at $69.75+) on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Visit ParkerPlayhouse.com.

Friday tributes: Revolution Live in downtown Fort Lauderdale hosts tribute bands Nirvanna and In A Nutshell (Alice In Chains tribute) on Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $13+, or $9.25+ as part of a four-pack. Visit JoinTheRevolution.net. … Led Zeppelin tribute Misty Mountain performs at 9 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton. Tickets start at $35+ at FunkyBiscuit.com.

SATURDAY

A new brunch: The Sugar Factory, the new spot in soft-opening mode on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach, will introduce a weekend brunch on Saturday. The Las Vegas-based chain of Instagram-y restaurants knows how to put on a show, with brunch staples including Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churro French Toast and Fried Oreo Cheesecake Buttermilk Pancakes, along with daily features like the King Kong Sundae, Rainbow Sliders and 24K Gold Burger (draped in edible 24K gold leaf, with gold-dusted french fries and a 24K golden milkshake). This is your brunch on Vegas. The new Sugar Factory is at 307 E. Atlantic Ave. Visit SugarFactory.com.

A specialty of the house at the Sugar Factory in Delray Beach, the King Kong Sundae has 20 scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, caramel and a minefield of candy. (The Sugar Factory/Courtesy)

Saturday laughs: Jim Jefferies, the Aussie actor, comedian and, as you might expect, a very funny podcaster (coming clean on his ignorance of everything from sneakers to rock ‘n’ roll to Mark Twain on “I Don’t Know About That”), brings his Give ’em What They Want Tour to the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $29.75+ at BrowardCenter.org.

Saturday tributes: Sublime tribute Badfish plays Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $20+ at JoinTheRevolution.net. … Grateful Dead tribute band Spiral Light plays Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $15+ at CrazyUncleMikes.com. … Mathews Brewing Co. in Lake Worth Beach will have Godsmack/Creed tribute Voodoo on Interstate 1 and Jane’s Addiction simulators Nothing’s Shocking on Saturday. Punk trio Reverse Oreo opens at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Visit Facebook.com/mathewsbrewing.

Weekend DJs: Globe-trotting DJ trio Above & Beyond will perform at DAER nightclub at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Saturday at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $90+ at HardRockNightlife.com.

Haiti love: The 26th annual Haitian Compas Festival, an all-ages celebration, will bring music, food and culture to FPL Solar Amphitheater at Bayfront Park in Miami on Saturday from 1 to 11 p.m. Advance general-admission tickets start at $92+. For information on the event and the surrounding weekend of parties, visit HaitianCompasFestival.com.

Tortured poets night: With nary a whiff of irony, iconic Wynwood dive bar Gramps will host The Eras Party, a Taylor Swift-inspired dance night on Saturday (doors open at 7 p.m.). Tickets cost $20+. Visit Gramps.com.

Chef Jimmy Everett of Boynton Beach restaurant Driftwood checks out Swiss chard at Kai-Kai Farm in Indiantown. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel) SUNDAY

Fresh from the farm: The late-season bounty of Kai-Kai Farm in Indiantown (about 35 miles northwest of West Palm Beach) will be on the menu Sunday during the Farm-to-Table Dinner hosted by chef John Thomas of acclaimed West Palm Beach restaurant Sassafras. The event will begin at 4 p.m. with a tour of Kai-Kai Farm, followed by hors d’oeuvres, a four-course dinner and wine pairings, plus live music. Tickets cost: $135+ at KaiKaiFarm.com. Vegetables from Kai-Kai Farm also will be showcased during chef Jimmy Everett’s Local Dinner at 6 p.m. Monday at his well-regarded Boynton Beach restaurant, Driftwood. The five-course dinner costs $125+, with an optional wine pairing for an additional $50. Visit Instagram.com/eatdrinkatdriftwood.  

Chin music: Indie-rock survivors Fastball — the Austin-birthed trio best known for “The Way” and the tortured romance of “Out of My Head,” as heard on Season 3 of “Ted Lasso” —  bring their 30th anniversary tour to The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton on Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $40+ at FunkyBiscuit.com.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.

 

At the start of the 2008-09 school year, I drove past the University of Florida’s red-brick campus to the city’s economically disadvantaged eastside to film a documentary about the community’s elementary school, which had overcome numerous odds to become one of the Sunshine State’s brightest spots.

Half a decade earlier, Gainesville’s Duval Elementary catapulted from an F to an A on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). It maintained its academic excellence through the 2007-08 school year.

As I entered Duval, however, I felt as if I’d traveled back in time to the early 1950s. Although the administration and faculty were diverse, the student population was 99% Black. So much for the widely held notion, I thought, that the U.S. Supreme Court ended school segregation in 1954.

Boaz Dvir is an associate professor of journalism at Penn State in State College, Penn. (courtesy, Boaz Dvir)

Seventy years ago, in Brown v. Board of Education, the court declared race-based school segregation unconstitutional. By the 1970s, the court’s historic decision integrated much of Florida, including Duval’s district, Alachua, as well as Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to a 2017 UCLA report.

Had I visited Duval in the mid-1990s, according to then-Principal Leanetta McNealy, I would’ve seen just as many white and international students — most of them the children of UF faculty and graduate students — as Black students.

At the time, Duval served as the district’s ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) center.

Soon, however, the ground shifted.

“The parents felt the need to have their children closer to the University of Florida,” McNealy says in the documentary, “Class of Her Own,” which started streaming in April on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and other platforms.

The parents prevailed. Duval lost its ESOL center designation — and with it, the vast majority of its white and international students — to an elementary school near the university, J.J. Finely.

In the process, Duval involuntarily joined a statewide and national resegregation trend propelled to a large degree by 1990s court rulings that weakened Brown v. Board of Education’s enforcement.

“In some important cases,” the UCLA report states, “the federal judges actually took the very unusual step of taking the initiative to begin the resegregation process even when the district did not want it.”

One such district was Broward, according to the report.

A reversal of this trend has yet to appear on the horizon. According to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report, “schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines throughout the U.S.”

Even now, 70 years to the day since the Supreme Court’s May 17, 1954 decision in Brown, segregation runs rampant in rural, urban and suburban schools. A 2024 New America Education Funding Equity Initiative study homed in on housing segregation as one of its impetuses.

“Segregated neighborhoods produce unfairly funded school districts,” the study says, “unequal schools then serve to perpetuate and worsen neighborhood segregation.” A 2019 EdBuild study calculated the “gap between white and nonwhite school districts” at a dumbfounding $23 billion.

Arguments for desegregating schools make as much sense now as they did 70 years ago. Decades of data illustrate that integration narrows the achievement gaps between white and Black students, improves white and Black children’s academic performance and experience, and makes it possible for them to navigate our swiftly diversifying society and global economy.

Yet some Black leaders have long questioned integration’s perceived absolute value. For instance, in a 1955 opinion piece for the Orlando Sentinel about Brown v. Board of Education, the Harlem Renaissance’s Zora Neale Hurston wrote, “I regard the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court as insulting rather than honoring my race.”

Others have sought to make lemonade out of segregation’s lemons, so to speak, by supporting community schools such as East Gainesville’s Duval Elementary.

Yet Duval struggled after it lost its star teacher, Gloria Jean Merriex, in 2008. The next year, the school lost its A-status. It closed in 2015.

The city turned the building into Duval Early Learning Academy.

The academy soon shut down.

Some eastside community members have called to reopen the school. They’ve failed to garner enough support. Recently, a compromise surfaced in the form of a proposal to reestablish Duval as a cultural youth center.

When I first visited Duval in 2008, I felt shocked to discover that school segregation persisted into the 21st century. Today, I wonder how I’d feel if I visited the deserted building and what goes through the minds and hearts of eastside community members when they pass it by.

Boaz Dvir is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, an associate professor of journalism at Penn State in State College, Penn., and director of the university’s Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative. He previously taught at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Q: Perhaps let’s play this out. Let’s see if Jimmy Butler in a contract-extension year ups his regular-season enthusiasm. Let’s see if Bam Adebayo adds another dimension to his game. Let’s see if Tyler Herro can become sturdy. Let’s see how Terry Rozier looks. Let’s see the aforementioned four together in a significant number of games. Let’s see if Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr.  have next levels. Let’s see if Duncan Robinson can sustain or has yet another level. Let’s let Erik Spoelstra have a (recruiting) Olympic summer with the NBA’s best. And if by January the Heat are again having a middling season, then we can reconstruct before the February trade deadline. – Michael, Hollywood.

A: Which in most cases is doable. But the last time Bam Adebayo was extension eligible, the Heat jumped into action right away, at a time in 2020 when they otherwise could have waited to create cap room for the 2021 offseason. So, sure, the preference would be to have Jimmy Butler and Bam wait. But players are well aware of potential injuries and want to be covered contractually. So Bam likely gets his extension and Jimmy, at the least, makes it known he wants his. As for the rest you mention, while there are no decisions that have to be made at the moment (beyond picking up rookie-scale options), a massive midseason retool is not only difficult to make work from a cap perspective, but also from a chemistry perspective. The Heat know who these players are. Soon it will be seen if the Heat have enduring confidence.

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Q: This year’s draft has less talent. The number one pick this year would be the No. 8 pick in previous seasons. So if you are picking No. 15, it’s like the No. 23. – Ralph.

A: But even bad drafts produce good players. In fact, in a draft like this, the lack of unanimity might make it more possible for the Heat to steal away with quality at No. 15, just as they did last year at No. 18 with Jaime Jaquez Jr. The 2006 draft, for example, was viewed as particularly weak, with Andrea Bargnani at No. 1, but there still were Rajon Rondo at No. 21, Kyle Lowry at No. 24, heck, Paul Millsap at No. 47. This is when you want a needle-in-a-haystack scouting staff.

Q: The all-everything All-Star Bam Adebayo is the future. Make that your priority and superstars want to play with him. How many more superstars need to come out and say, “I’d love to play in Miami with Bam?”  This doesn’t happen every year with players, but it does in Bam’s case. – Douglas.

A: And it’s fine to say that. But for those under contract, as was the case last summer with Damian Lillard, it doesn’t necessarily make it their decision. This is not like when players said they wanted to play with LeBron James with the Heat and then took less money in free agency to do so (Shane Battier, Ray Allen, etc.). These are players that would like to play with their buddy . . . but also wanted their money, too. All of it.

As a long-time Fort Lauderdale resident, I remember when the shops on Las Olas Boulevard were shuttered during the “off-season” in summer.

I remember when they changed the zoning to permit multi-story buildings and sidewalk restaurants. The biggest offense was to allow parking on an already-narrow street.

Contrary to what some say, the black olive tree is not native to South Florida. It is a messy tree, as the “olives” stain pavement and anything under its canopy. It does not do well in storms. My parents lost three black olive trees during Hurricane Wilma. They were not sad to see them go. No more stained sidewalk.

Black olive trees line the median along Las Olas Boulevard on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Many native trees can also be planted along Las Olas. The Gumbo Limbo (sometimes called “the tourist tree”) is fast growing, easy to maintain and has a great canopy.

I have two in my front yard blocking the sun from shining directly on my house.

Live oaks don’t have to be saplings when planted. Many native palms offer great shade and are part of South Florida’s charm.

To my thinking, Las Olas should be a walking plaza from the tunnel to Southeast 11th Avenue.

No cars. No parking. Just pedestrians!

Tom Harman, Fort Lauderdale

(Editor’s Note: On-street parking was very popular with shopkeepers and customers when it returned in the summer of 1993.)

newspapers.comAfter a 30-year hiatus, on-street parking returned to Las Olas on a limited basis in 1993. In praise of immigrants

This is in response to Thomas Kennedy’s opinion essay (“Florida needs immigrants”) on April 1 in the Sun Sentinel.

I was a patient in an excellent rehab facility, and this letter was written with the knowledge and blessing of staff members and will be short because I have a broken arm.

When I arrived here, I met numerous aides, nurses and staff members who were all born in Haiti. They fled persecution and came to America for a better way of life. I did not question their immigrant status.

They are filling needed positions and doing a wonderful job.

I commend Kennedy for his factual piece. I also would like Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop being so anti-immigrant and listen to a large segment of our workers and those whom they provide care for so well.

Barbara l. Green, Boynton Beach

Worming his way in

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims that a worm entered his brain, ate part of it and then it died there.

He might be telling the truth and he might not.

Either way, how could anyone think that he’s a good choice to be the next president of the United States?

Gary Weinberger, Boynton Beach

How to stop him?

Donald Trump once boasted he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue, shoot someone and get away with it.

It sure looks that way now.

He has packed the United States Supreme Court with justices who probably will delay any forthcoming trial. He has packed lower courts with the likes of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who in the case of stored classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, will delay a trial until it doesn’t matter anymore.

His fingers are all over the Jan. 6 insurrection, even though millions of people watched it on television.

He has managed to hold up the trial in Georgia, where he tried to coerce leaders to find extra favorable ballots. If, heaven forbid, he gets re-elected, what will he do to the country and the world?

Trump has to be stopped now, before the Nov. 5 election, or we will be in one of the most dire situations ever confronted by man.

Fred Brown, Boynton Beach

Q: We plan on fully remodeling our kitchen and having some other work done on our home. What can we do to make sure the process goes smoothly? — Ted

A: Planning properly and having reasonable expectations is essential when getting into any major project.

When hiring contractors and drawing up plans, try to be very specific about what you expect so that the result looks like what you intended. This will help ensure that what you had in mind matches what the contractors are doing.

Renovations are complex enough without fundamental misunderstandings.

The contract and plans should be as detailed as possible, listing specific materials and the model numbers of the appliances. Make sure the contract has a timeline that includes penalties for missed deadlines. Since some delays are inevitable, make sure the deadlines are reasonable.

Read and understand the contract, including its fine print, so everyone is on the same page.

Stay involved in the project as it progresses, keeping in mind the careful balance between participating and getting in the way. Check the plans before they are submitted to your municipality to ensure they match the contract.

While your contractor will pick the subcontractors, you are responsible for ensuring they get paid, so find out who they are. If your contract calls for progress payments, get proof that the subcontractors have been paid for their work. You can write a joint check to your general contractor and the sub if your payment will be used to pay them.

As the general contractor is finishing up, have the results independently inspected so that all defects can be resolved.

Before you make the final payment, check that your general contractor got the proper municipal inspections and closed the permits so that you do not have a problem when selling your home years later.

You can significantly lower the risk of something going wrong by being thorough, attentive, and ensuring the contract is adhered to.

That said, you should also have reasonable expectations, as nothing goes exactly as planned.

Board-certified real estate lawyer Gary Singer writes about industry legal matters and the housing market. To ask him a question, email him at gary@garysingerlaw.com, or go to SunSentinel.com/askpro. 

Here are the regional matchups and scores involving teams from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Regional semifinal results

Friday

7A

(1) Stoneman Douglas 14, (5) Boca Raton 1

(2) West Broward 7, (3) Miami Columbus 6

(2) Vero Beach 15, (6) Wellington 0

(4) Harmony 10, (1) Jupiter 6

6A

(4) West Boca Raton 9, (8) South Broward 0

(3) Dwyer 11, (2) Miami Southwest 4

5A

(1) American Heritage 6, (4) Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy 1

(6) Archbishop McCarthy 5, (2) Rockledge 4

Saturday

4A

(1) Cardinal Gibbons 8, (5) Key West 7

3A

(1) North Broward Prep 6, (4) Coral Springs Charter 3

(6) St. John Paul II 9, (2) Cardinal Newman 4

(1) Westminster Christian 3, (5) Chaminade-Madonna 2

(2) Calvary Christian 10, (3) University School 3

2A

(1) Miami Christian 7, (4) Westminster Academy 2

(3) Fort Pierce John Carroll 5, (7) Trinity Christian 0

Regional finals

According to FHSAA.com

Monday at 7 p.m. unless noted

7A

(1) Stoneman Douglas 4, (2) West Broward 0

6A

(3) Dwyer 3, (4) West Boca Raton 0

5A

(1) American Heritage 2, (6) Archbishop McCarthy 0

Tuesday

4A

(1) Cardinal Gibbons 8, (7) Mater Lakes Academy 0

3A

(1) North Broward Prep 13, (6) St. John Paul II 0

(1) Westminster Christian 9, (2) Calvary Christian 4

State semifinals

In Fort Myers

Matchups, gametimes provided by FHSAA.com

7A

Stoneman Douglas vs. Vero Beach, Friday, 4 p.m.

6A

Dwyer vs. Viera, Thursday, 1 p.m.

5A

American Heritage vs. Tallahassee Lincoln, Friday, 1 p.m.

4A

Cardinal Gibbons vs. Mulberry, Tuesday, 4 p.m.

3A

North Broward Prep vs. Fort Myers Bishop Verot, Tuesday, 10 a.m.

Regional quarterfinals

Tuesday, May 7

7A

(1) Jupiter 9, (8) Santaluces 2

(2) Vero Beach 11, (7) Palm Beach Central 4

(6) Wellington 4, (3) Park Vista 1

(1) Stoneman Douglas 5, (8) South Dade 1

(5) Boca Raton 7, (4) Miami Braddock 4

(2) West Broward 10, (7) Taravella 0

(3) Miami Columbus 3, (6) Western 2

6A

(8) South Broward 8, (1) Doral Academy 6

(4) West Boca Raton 4, (5) St. Thomas Aquinas 3

(3) Dwyer 8, (6) Stuart Martin County 3

5A

(1) American Heritage 2, (8) Pembroke Pines Charter 0

(4) Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy 7, (5) Suncoast 5

(6) Archbishop McCarthy 4, (3) Miami Belen Jesuit 2

Wednesday, May 8

4A

(1) Cardinal Gibbons 3, (8) Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy 0

(6) Miami Sunset 4, (3) American Heritage-Delray 3

3A

(1) North Broward Prep 5, (8) Melbourne Central Catholic 0

(4) Coral Springs Charter 4, (5) Montverde Academy 3

(2) Cardinal Newman 1, (7) Umatilla 0

(6) St. John Paul II 14, (3) Benjamin 0

(5) Chaminade-Madonna 9, (4) Miami Monsignor Pace 7

(3) University School 12, (6) Miami Palmer Trinity 3

(2) Calvary Christian 4, (7) Hialeah Educational 0

2A

(4) Westminster Academy 6, (5) Miami Brito 3

(7) Trinity Christian 10, (2) Miami True North 3

 

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ, JENNIFER PELTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — With prosecutors’ hush money case against Donald Trump barreling toward its end, their star witness will be back in the hot seat Thursday as defense lawyers try to chip away at Michael Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president.

The trial, now in its fourth week of testimony, will resume in Manhattan with potentially explosive defense cross-examination of Cohen, whose credibility could determine the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s fate in the case.

Cohen is prosecutors’ final witness — at least for now — as they try to prove Trump schemed to suppress a damaging story he feared would torpedo his 2016 presidential campaign, and then falsified business records to cover it up.

With the defense not expected to call many witnesses, Cohen’s cross-examination is a pivotal moment for Trump’s team, who must convince jurors that his once loyal attorney and fixer can’t be believed. The defense has suggested that Cohen is on a mission to take down the former president and will say whatever he needs to put Trump behind bars.

Over two days on the witness stand, Cohen placed Trump directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid. Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about efforts to silence women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the women’s claims.

Cohen also described a meeting in which he says he and Trump discussed with Allen Weisselberg, a former Trump Organization chief financial officer, how the reimbursements for Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels would be paid as legal services over monthly installments. That’s important because prosecutors say the reimbursements were logged, falsely, as legal expenses to conceal the payments’ true purpose.

Trump says the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses and the prosecution is an effort to torpedo his campaign to reclaim the White House. His defense has suggested that Trump was trying to protect his family — not his campaign — by squelching what he says were false, scurrilous claims.

Cohen told jurors how his life and relationship with Trump were upended after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room in 2018. Trump initially showered him with affection on social media and predicted that Cohen would not “flip.” His tone changed when, months later, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges and implicated Trump in the hush money scheme. Trump was not charged with a crime related to the federal investigation.

Prosecutors tried to blunt the defense attacks on their star witness by getting him to acknowledge at the outset his past crimes, including lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project that he had pursued on Trump’s behalf during the heat of the 2016 campaign. Cohen admitted on the witness stand to a slew of other lies, including many he says were designed to protect Trump. The defense is expected to seize on his history of falsehoods to cast doubt on his testimony.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche began grilling Cohen on Tuesday with questions not related to the criminal charges but designed to show that Cohen turned on Trump because he wanted fame and revenge. Blanche confronted Cohen with profane social media posts, a podcast and books about the former president, getting Cohen to acknowledge that he has made millions of dollars off his new persona as one of Trump’s fiercest critics.

Defense lawyers are expected to question Cohen through the end of the day on Thursday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has said it will rest their case once he’s done on the stand, though they could have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers put on witnesses of their own.

The defense isn’t obligated to call any witnesses, and it’s unclear whether the attorneys will do so. Blanche told Judge Juan M. Merchan on Tuesday that the defense may call one expert witness, and that there was still no determination on whether Trump himself would take the stand.

In any event, the trial will take Friday off so Trump can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron.

___

Richer reported from Washington.

General Daily Insight for May 16, 2024

Getting things done probably won’t be as simple as we think it should be today. When the fussy Virgo Moon contradicts energetic Mars in Aries at 6:48 pm EDT, our efforts to assert ourselves are likely to be met with criticism. It’s possible that our objections will sound ridiculously petty. Still, hearing them out as patiently as we can has the potential to help us accomplish whatever we’re trying to do more skillfully. We’ll ultimately need both passion and accuracy as we push forward!

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Your body might not live up to your expectations today. Perhaps you think you should be capable of some physical feat that makes you look impressive. Despite that, as the candid Moon in your 6th House of Daily Routines challenges athletic Mars in your sign, you’ll probably get only the results that you’ve earned over time. If you’re disappointed by that outcome, this is a great opportunity to establish a renewed exercise habit. Start with what will reliably happen, not what flatters your ego.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

You may long to express yourself at the moment, but you’re also aware that you ought to hold some information back. A desire to protect others’ feelings is understandable. Still, while the emotional Moon in your passionate 5th house conflicts with seething Mars in your 12th House of Secrets, your true opinions are probably more obvious than you want them to be. Passive aggression has a way of poisoning the atmosphere, so consider the idea that open conflict isn’t your only bad option.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Social life may seem like a burden at present. Your friends might want you to go out and do stuff with them, but maybe you’re actually more interested in staying home. Your worries regarding what this conflict means for you in the long term could be the worst part of your dilemma. This isn’t a statement on how you’ll feel forever — it’s just about what you need today. Honor your desire, but don’t make it any bigger than it has to be.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Being careful how you talk about an important goal may be necessary at this time. You potentially have a lot of energy to charge ahead. Regardless of your ability to handle criticism or praise, you’ll need to be aware that not everyone you encounter is qualified to provide genuine, authoritative feedback. While the impressionable Moon in your communication sector distracts focused Mars in your ambitious 10th house, a careless remark can throw you off. Don’t go looking for uninformed opinions.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Your longing for a grand adventure could crash on the rocks of reality at any moment. While the anxious Moon in your money zone reins in ardent Mars in your travel sector, you’ll have to acknowledge when there are limits to what you’re able to afford. A few constraints don’t have to be the end of the story! Having boundaries, chosen or not, can sharpen the focus of your planning. Even if you don’t get everything you want, you can complete something valuable!

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Finding a comfortable balance in a developing relationship may be difficult today. With the vulnerable Moon in your sign, your emotional neediness is potentially heightened. That might cause you to misread a situation and delve into sensitive matters that the other person isn’t prepared to address with you. When in doubt, take things slower than you think you need to — a connection that’s truly meant to be should last long enough for you to reveal yourself at a relaxed pace.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

You might be conflicted regarding your current efforts to build a relationship. Although you may be excited about your prospects, you may also be worried that you’ll lose your privacy! If you feel like the other person is pressuring you to share more than you’re comfortable with, that’s not a good sign. Contrastingly, your expectations are potentially a bigger part of the problem. You aren’t required to share every secret you hold all at once — or, in most cases, ever.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Knowing a friend needs you can flatter your ego. On the other hand, you might find it hard to tear yourself away from your official work — perhaps you’re really on a roll! To decide how to spend your time today, you’ll have to figure out what’s most urgent. You’ll potentially feel resentful about bailing your pal out of a problem they could really solve without you if they had to. Consider serving as a role model rather than as a savior.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Concerns regarding your reputation could weigh on you now. As the perceptive Moon in your public 10th house conflicts with passionate Mars in your 5th House of Self-Expression, you may be acutely aware that pursuing your desires in a vacuum isn’t possible. Other people are likely to see what you’re doing, forming potentially conflicting opinions in response. You’ll have to be realistic about that in both directions — acknowledge the potential practical effects of their judgment, but do your best not to exaggerate them.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

You likely crave stimulation today — deciding where to look for it might be the hard part. With the desirous Moon in your 9th House of Adventure, you may be tempted to go somewhere outside your usual stomping grounds. That said, perhaps you’re also aware that you could accomplish a lot of positive change if you stayed home and focused your efforts there. Dealing with parts of your immediate environment that you don’t often see has the potential to satisfy both longings!

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Building emotional intimacy with a loved one could currently seem urgent. Unfortunately, as the hungry Moon in your 8th House of Sharing riles up pushy Mars in your conversation zone, interrogating your companion too aggressively has the potential to rub them the wrong way. You’re better off giving your connection room to unfold at its natural pace, even if that seems frustratingly slow. Not every question needs to be answered — you can learn to live with a healthy amount of mystery.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Maintaining control over your resources could seem critical to you now. While the clingy Moon in your relationship sector nags individualistic Mars in your 2nd House of Possessions, you might explode if another person tries to tell you what to do with your money or belongings. It’s okay to defend your turf, but make sure you aren’t contributing to an ongoing problem by demanding everyone stick to inconsistent expectations. What’s yours is yours — just remember that what’s theirs is theirs, too.

ORLANDO — Drake Callender made three saves for his second clean sheet of the season and Inter Miami played Orlando to a scoreless draw on Wednesday night.

Miami (8-2-4), which has never defeated the Lions in MLS play in Orlando, had its five-game winning streak come to an end. Miami was looking to become the third team since 2019 to win six straight regular-season matches in the same season.

Orlando (3-5-4) is just 1-3-3 at home this season.

Lionel Messi did not play for Miami due to a left leg injury. Messi played the entire game on Saturday despite a first-half injury scare. He briefly left that game late in the first half after some sort of issue with his left knee after being fouled by defender George Campbell.

Luis Suarez, who scored a brace against Orlando earlier this season, had a good scoring opportunity in the opening three minutes but it was saved by Pedro Gallese.

Callender made a diving stop of Martin Ojeda’s shot in the 32nd minute to keep it scoreless.

Here are the regional results and matchups involving teams from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Regional semifinals

Matchups, sites and times according to FHSAA.com

Tuesday

7A

(4) Jupiter 2, (1) Wellington 0

(3) Port St. Lucie Centennial 2, (2) Palm Beach Gardens 0

(2) Park Vista 8, (6) Coral Reef 1

(1) Western 10, (5) Spanish River 5

6A

(1) Doral Academy 10, (4) Cooper City 0

(2) St. Thomas Aquinas 5, (3) South Plantation 2

5A

(1) Archbishop McCarthy 11, (5) Palm Bay Bayside 1

(7) Pembroke Pines Charter 5, (3) Sebring 2

4A

(1) American Heritage 12, (4) Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy 0

3A

(1) Coral Springs Charter 8, (4) Westminster Christian 0

(2) Miami Somerset Academy 11, (3) Cardinal Gibbons 0

2A

(3) Fort Pierce John Carroll 8, (2) Westminster Academy 5

Regional finals

Friday at 7 p.m. unless noted

7A

(4) Jupiter at (3) Port St. Lucie Centennial

(2) Park Vista at (1) Western

6A

(2) St. Thomas Aquinas at (1) Doral Academy

5A

(7) Pembroke Pines Charter at (1) Archbishop McCarthy

4A

(2) Jensen Beach at (1) American Heritage

3A

(2) Miami Somerset Academy at (1) Coral Springs Charter, 6 p.m. at Betti Stradling Park

Regional quarterfinals

Thursday

7A

(1) Wellington 2, (8) St. Cloud 0

(4) Jupiter 11, (5) Orlando Boone 0

(6) Miami Coral Reef 5, (3) West Broward 3

(2) Palm Beach Gardens 6, (7) Kissimmee Osceola 2

(2) Park Vista 1, (7) Stoneman Douglas 0

(1) Western 8, (8) Coral Gables 0

(5) Spanish River 11, (4) Cypress Bay 2

6A

(2) St. Thomas Aquinas 10, (7) Monarch 4

(4) Viera 5, (5) Seminole Ridge 0

(2) Melbourne 15, (7) Dwyer 0

(4) Cooper City 15, (5) Fort Lauderdale 0

(3) South Plantation 13, (6) West Boca Raton 7

5A

(1) Archbishop McCarthy 15, (8) Hialeah 0

(7) Pembroke Pines Charter 6, (2) Stuart South Fork 2

Wednesday

4A

(1) American Heritage 1, (8) Suncoast 0

(4) Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy 4, (5) Pompano Beach 1

(2) Jensen Beach 7, (7) Dr. Joaquin Garcia 0

3A

(1) Coral Springs Charter 16, (8) Immaculata-La Salle 0

(4) Westminster Christian 11, (5) King’s Academy 1

(2) Miami Somerset Academy 10, (7) American Heritage-Delray 0

(3) Cardinal Gibbons 5, (6) Lincoln Park 2

2A

(2) Westminster Academy 10, (7) Palmer Trinity 0

(3) Fort Pierce John Carroll 5, (6) Oxbridge Academy 4

 

General Daily Insight for May 15, 2024

A calming change of pace is presently likely. Mercury, the planet of thinking and communication, plods into patient Taurus at 1:05 pm EDT. Although it might start taking longer to reach answers, our efforts will probably come to incorporate important practical details as we nurture our ideas sensually. Luna strengthens the earthy vibe as it steps into detail-oriented Virgo and trines Mercury. This can inspire us to clarify our concerns. Just feeling heard should bring some relief, but finding concrete solutions may be even better!

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Taking an inventory of your resources may now be helpful. As calculating Mercury creeps into your 2nd House of Belongings, you might need to accurately know what you have before you can decide how to use it most effectively. Sometimes life feels easy when you coast along and do what feels good in the moment. Once you start digging, though, you could discover that you’re closer than you’d thought to expanding your options. Embrace the power to build your own path forward!

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

You’re currently equipped to articulate exactly what you stand for. You could certainly use this power to advocate for some cause that’s really important to you. That being said, once you establish the basic facts, it’s okay to have a little fun. As the crowd-pleasing Moon in your playful 5th house trines clever Mercury in your sign, you can be genuinely witty and entertaining. This doesn’t necessarily make you shallow — when you get your audience laughing, you’ve usually got them listening!

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Your inner voice may speak loudly at the moment. Verbal Mercury slides into your intuitive 12th house starting today, offering insight into the language of dreams and other mysterious happenings. These puzzles have a logic of their own, and you’ll potentially feel proud when you grasp it. This isn’t a very extroverted influence, so you might feel drawn to spend time at home instead of going out and socializing. Focus on finding comfort, and give your wisdom the room it needs to flow freely.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Fresh opportunities to socialize could appear to you very soon. Bubbly Mercury bursts into your 11th House of Networking, emboldening you to put your best foot forward with new acquaintances. You might also want to reach out to folks you already know and haven’t heard from lately. Either way, remember that you’re interacting with actual people, not just boxes to check off a list. Really listen when you engage them in conversation — let human connection be your top priority for the time being.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Defining your goals can come more easily than usual. While the vulnerable Moon in your money sector aligns with thoughtful Mercury in your ambitious 10th house, your desire for more financial and emotional security might get you started on this task. Nevertheless, over time, you’ll probably become more deeply interested in the effort for inspiration’s sake. Even when you can’t guarantee that you’ll always be totally taken care of, pursuing a path that you’re genuinely passionate about can provide benefits that balance life’s inevitable risks.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Expanding your mind could currently be a high priority. As inquisitive Mercury bounds into your 9th House of Higher Learning and Travel, it’s a great time to plan an ambitious trip or course of study. Others in your life might be happy to offer suggestions for your grand adventure, but conventional wisdom probably isn’t your best guide at this point. You’ll have to decide what will nourish your growth as a person — and only you can define that for yourself.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Figuring out your boundaries could be crucial at this time. With social Mercury entering your 8th House of Intimacy, you’ll probably have opportunities to grow closer to other people in your life. While this has a chance to be emotionally nourishing, it’s potentially also a little scary. Taking a second in advance to decide the information you prefer to keep to yourself is a good way to prepare. No matter how much you care for anyone else, you are still a separate person!

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

One of your close relationships could have an ongoing dynamic that’s hard to figure out. When analytical Mercury shifts into your 7th House of Partnerships, you’ll be equipped to think critically about what’s going on. Still, turning things over and over in your own head will eventually have its limits as a useful strategy. Other people you know have probably dealt with similar challenges, so consider reaching out to ask for advice. Solely confirming that you’re not alone might be comforting!

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

A flash of insight regarding your goals could currently motivate you to get organized. It’s often difficult to push yourself to stick to a demanding routine when you can’t grasp how your effort will pay off. Fortunately, as the intuitive Moon in your 10th House of Purpose stimulates practical Mercury in your productivity sector, you’ll potentially acquire a realistic picture of what’s possible if you stay on the right track. Keep that image in mind as you plan out your days moving ahead.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Identifying what makes you happy could be extra rewarding right now. There’s no universal answer to the question of what counts as pleasure — it’s a bit different for each person. Sometimes you must learn through trial and error. If you get an opportunity to go on a spontaneous adventure, you might as well take it. Whether or not you wind up having a good time, you should at least come away with a clearer sense of what is and isn’t for you!

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

The flaws in your home environment could be painfully obvious to you at this time. This ruminating mood has the potential to become toxic if you try to hold it all inside. You may be reluctant to burden anyone else with your critical attitude. Thankfully, a loved one should be happy to support you as you begin addressing your concerns, alongside the nurturing Moon in your collaborative 8th house supporting discerning Mercury in your domestic zone. Sharing the effort can bring you closer together!

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

You might feel like you’re in demand at present — everyone suddenly wants to talk to you! As chatty Mercury charges into your 3rd House of Communication, it’ll probably become more difficult for you to find a moment of quiet. On the plus side, you should have an excellent opportunity to build potentially significant relationships. Merely taking the time to listen to someone who really needs it can make an important impression that they’ll come back to in their thoughts later.

SUNRISE — The Panthers will have to go back up to Boston, as the Bruins forced a sixth game in their second-round series against Florida.

The Bruins snapped their three-game losing streak in the series, keeping their season alive with a 2-1 win over the Panthers in Game 5 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

Morgan Geekie started the Bruins on the right foot, scoring on a pass to him from Jake DeBrusk directly in front of the Panthers’ net less than five minutes into the game.

For the first time this series, the Boston defense appeared to have an answer for Florida’s offense. Meanwhile, the Bruins offense poured shots on Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Boston outshot Florida 12-4 in the first period — a rarity for this series, as the Panthers outshot the Bruins 146-79 through the series’ first four games. The Panthers finished the game with 29 shots to the Bruins’ 28.

“They were real fast, and I thought we were trying to move the puck a certain way and it doesn’t really suit our style of game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

The Panthers equalized in the second period, as Florida’s leading scorer Sam Reinhart snagged a rebound in front of Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman and fired it past him to knot the game at one with his fifth goal of the postseason. The goal came moments after Maurice gave a fiery speech to his team during a media timeout.

“I don’t remember the exact words of the message,” Maurice said. “I wasn’t mad at them. I understood what they were going through. I just thought they needed some profanity in their life, and I brought some.”

In a scene reminiscent of Game 4’s most controversial moment, Boston’s Charlie McAvoy scored, and Maurice challenged the goal for goalie interference. After a long review, the goal stood, and the Bruins took a 2-1 lead midway through the second period.

“I thought that there was just enough of a bump,” Maurice said. “There’s a difference between the clean shot and the rebound shot. Those are two different situations. It’s a clean shot, and I thought in the crease, keeping Bob from setting is enough.”

The Panthers had their chances to knot the game up, but several quality shot opportunities sailed wide of the net.

“There’s always things you can do a little bit differently, make it a little bit tougher in front of their net,” said Reinhart, who had a last-second opportunity in front of Swayman. “The goalies that are left, they see pucks, they’re going make some saves. That might be the only adjustment.”

Bobrovsky kept the Panthers in the game, making two stellar saves on a breakaway chance as part of his 26-save effort.

Boston and Florida will play Game 6 at the TD Garden on Friday. The game time is still to be determined.

“We play a seven-game series for a reason,” Reinhart said. “It’s not always going to go your way. You try and learn from it. … (There are) some things we can do a little bit better, and we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to recover, and we’re going to come back.”

By DAVE HOGG

DETROIT — Jesús Sánchez drove in Bryan De La Cruz with a 10th-inning groundout, and the Miami Marlins beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Both starters — Miami’s Ryan Weathers and Detroit’s Reese Olson — allowed three singles in a career-best eight innings. Olson struck out six, and Weathers finished with four strikeouts.

“They were both great,” Marlins manager Skip Schumacher said. “Olson was on his game and we couldn’t get the ball off the ground, and I think Weathers was throwing 80% fastball strikes and keeping everything on the ground.”

Olson is 0-4 in eight starts despite a 2.09 ERA. The Tigers have been shut out three times with him on the mound.

“Our guys have been scoring runs, so I believe in them,” he said. “I’m just focusing on throwing strikes.”

Josh Bell hit a leadoff single in the 10th against Alex Lange (0-3), moving De La Cruz to third. Sánchez then hit a bouncer to second that resulted in a forceout at second base.

A.J. Puk got three outs for his first save. He came into the game with four losses in five outings and a 9.00 ERA.

“We were going back and forth between Puk and (Declan) Cronin for the 10th,” Schumacher said. “We ended up going with Puk, because he’s been in that situation before. He was our closer for a lot of last season.”

It was the 10th extra-inning shutout victory in franchise history. The previous instance was a 2-0 win at the New York Mets in 10 innings on July 10, 2022.

Weathers matched a bit of family history; his father, David, allowed three hits in eight shutout innings for the Marlins against the San Diego Padres on Sept. 6, 1993. David Weathers spent most of his 19-season career as a reliever, only starting 69 games.

“It’s awesome to share that moment with him,” Ryan Weathers said. “He’s the reason I’m here today; he showed me how to pitch. I’m sure I am going to call him tonight and talk about the whole game.”

Weathers didn’t allow a baserunner until Wenceel Pérez led off the sixth with a grounder through the infield. Javier Báez then grounded into his fourth double play of the season.

“This was a little bit of a throwback game where each starting pitcher was just dealing and going through each other’s lineup,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

The Tigers put two runners on against Tanner Scott (2-4) in the ninth, including Mark Canha reaching on the game’s only walk, but Riley Greene grounded out to end the inning.

The game was completed in 129 minutes.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: 3B Gio Urshela was activated from the 10-day injured list, and OF Akil Baddoo was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Urshela had been out since injuring a hamstring on April 19.

UP NEXT

The teams finish the three-game series on Wednesday. Detroit RHP Casey Mize (1-1, 3.58 ERA) will face LHP Trevor Rogers (0-6, 6.57 ERA).

Plaintiffs have dropped a federal lawsuit challenging how the state carried out a 2018 constitutional amendment aimed at restoring voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences.

The lawsuit, filed in July by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and individual plaintiffs, described a “bureaucratic morass” encountered by felons trying to find out if they were eligible to vote.

State and local election officials asked Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga to dismiss the case, which was filed in Miami. The parties engaged in mediation on May 6.

Florida Department of State officials on Friday published an announcement saying they intend to hold a rule-development workshop to update the process for felons to seek what are known as advisory opinions about their voting eligibility.

The yet-to-be-developed rules “may render plaintiffs’ claims moot,” mediator Michael Hanzman wrote in a report filed Monday.

“Plaintiffs have therefore decided to voluntarily dismiss their case without prejudice and may re-file their case if the rulemaking, or subsequent implementation of any adopted rule, fails to alleviate their concerns,” he added.

The workshop, slated for June 11 in Tallahassee, also will address “creating a form for felon advisory opinions,” according to the announcement.

Confusion about eligibility stems from a controversial 2019 law that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature approved to carry out the constitutional amendment, which said voting rights would be restored “upon completion of all terms of their sentence including parole or probation.”

The 2019 law required felons to pay “legal financial obligations” — fees, fines and other court costs — associated with their convictions before they could be eligible to vote.

Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told The News Service of Florida on Tuesday that the lawsuit “resulted in action that we hope will provide a better process for people to engage,” noting that the group left open the possibility of reviving the case.

Lawmakers at DeSantis’ behest in 2022 created the Office of Elections Crimes and Security. Since then, more than two-dozen people have been arrested for voting illegally. Many of the people who were arrested maintained that they were convicted felons who believed they were eligible to vote and were provided voter-registration cards by elections officials.

“We’re focused on rolling up our sleeves and getting to work to try and make sure that these next steps can be helpful, so that we don’t see folks getting arrested, and we see people engaging in self government and living up to the promise of Amendment 4,” Volz said.

Ah, who will ever forget those carefree days of yesteryear when the ACC would hold its annual Spring Meetings in a plush resort on Florida’s First Coast and all of the league’s member presidents, athletic directors and football coaches would get together as one big happy family and talk about such topics as future scheduling, branding and rule changes.

And then, after a couple hours of meetings, they would convene at either the beach, the golf course or the spa and get down to the real order of business — aka drinking pina coladas, sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the picturesque par-5 that hugs the coastline or getting a 90-minute hot stone massage.

Those were the good ol’ days.

12 conference realignment lawsuit lessons for FSU, ACC and Clemson

Even though, I haven’t seen the ACC’s itinerary for its Spring Meetings currently under way at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, it doesn’t take genius to figure out that  commissioner Jim Phillips and other conference officials are no doubt forgoing their Shiatsu massages and banana daiquiris to take care of what should be the one and only order of business on their agenda:

Saving our freaking league from implosion!

It’s no secret that the ACC is on the verge of disintegrating just like the Pac-12 last year. Unless league officials do something drastic to keep the big boys — Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina — from bailing out and turning the ACC into the AAC, the conference is doomed. By my estimation, the only solution to saving the league, short of hoping and praying that the ACC’s besieged grant of rights agreement holds up amid multiple legal assaults, is for the subordinate conference members to make some serious financial sacrifices.

More on that in a minute, but let us first review the ACC’s dire situation. It starts with the league being sued in the state of Florida by FSU, in the state of South Carolina by Clemson and getting hammered in both states by grandstanding politicians such as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

It’s been widely acknowledged that FSU and Clemson want out of the ACC so they can hook up with either the SEC or Big Ten, where they can make an estimated $30 million-$40 million per year more in TV money.

Even worse is that it appears the ACC’s most storied and staunchest charter member — the University of North Carolina — now wants out, too. UNC’s Board of Trustees held a meeting earlier this week in which members spoke out about the athletic department’s massive budget deficit and scathingly questioned the school’s seemingly pro-ACC athletic director Bubba Cunningham.

One UNC trustee, Dave Boliek, said at the meeting that he is pushing for the Tar Heels to leave the ACC for either the SEC or Big Ten.

“I am advocating for that,” Boliek said. “That’s what we need to do. We need to do everything we can to get there. Or the alternative is the ACC is going to have to reconstruct itself.”

Reconstruct itself?

What exactly does that mean?

Here’s what I think it means:

It means that many of the ACC’s lesser football brands — see Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, Duke, Virginia and N.C. State — are going to have to swallow their pride and take less money so that FSU, Clemson, UNC and perhaps Miami and Louisville can make more.

The 14 existing ACC schools now each get an equal share (about $40 million annually per school) from the conference’s revenue sharing. Well, guess what? FSU, Clemson and UNC want out of the ACC so they can join the SEC or Big Ten and make closer to $70 million or $80 million.

This is why the ACC must come up with a new revenue model in which marquee brands FSU, Clemson, UNC, Miami and Louisville get a raise to $70 million while many non-marquee brands agree to take a pay cut from $40 million to about $25 million.

Bianchi, you moron, why would Wake Forest, Boston College, etc. vote to take $25 million when they can continue to make $40 million under the current revenue model?

Because $25 million per year is a whole lot better than $0 per year, which is how much they’ll make if the Big Three of FSU, Clemson and UNC extricate themselves from the ACC and essentially leave the remaining members as a bunch of hopeless wanderers.

Without the Big Three, the league’s existing TV deal with ESPN would essentially be null and void and the hopeless wanderers would either have to scramble to find another conference affiliation or remain in a watered-down version of the ACC. In either scenario, the hopeless wanderers will make a lot less than my proposed $25 million a year.

Don’t get me wrong, I think FSU and Clemson are reneging on an ACC grant of rights contract they voluntarily signed (twice). And, yes, maybe the ACC will win their multiple legal battles and the league will be miraculously preserved.

But if I’m Wake Forest and Boston College, I would not bet my entire athletic future on the ACC’s ability to uphold its embattled grant of rights agreement. Especially if respected and revered UNC files a lawsuit against the ACC in the league’s home state of North Carolina.

Besides, many of the bottom feeders in the major conferences have been getting a free ride for decades. As former UCF coach George O’Leary once famously said, “There are two or three good teams in each major conference. The rest are just members who are cashing checks.”

Memo to the ACC’s bottom feeders: It’s much better to keep cashing checks — even if they’re smaller ones — than to be left begging for crumbs.

The time for pride and entitlement has passed. Now is the time for sacrifice and survival.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen

By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The sun produced its biggest flare in nearly two decades Tuesday, just days after severe solar storms pummeled Earth and created dazzling northern lights in unaccustomed places.

“Not done yet!” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in an update.

It’s the biggest flare of this 11-year solar cycle, which is approaching its peak, according to NOAA. The good news is that Earth should be out of the line of fire this time because the flare erupted on a part of the sun rotating away from Earth.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray flare. It was the strongest since 2005, rated on the scale for these flares as X8.7.

Bryan Brasher at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado said it may turn out to have been even stronger when scientists gather data from other sources.

It follows nearly a week of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit. An ejection associated with Tuesday’s flare appeared to have been directed away from our planet, although analysis is ongoing, Brasher noted.

NASA said the weekend geomagnetic storm caused one of its environmental satellites to rotate unexpectedly because of reduced altitude from the space weather, and go into a protective hibernation known as safe mode. And at the International Space Station, the seven astronauts were advised to stay in areas with strong radiation shielding. The crew was never in any danger, according to NASA.

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This story has been updated to correct that it is the biggest solar flare in nearly two decades, not nearly a decade.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By DAVID KOENIG and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft more than five years ago, the Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday.

It is now up to the Justice Department to decide whether to file charges against Boeing. Prosecutors will tell the court no later than July 7 how they plan to proceed, department said.

New 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, killing 346 people. Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 to avoid prosecution on a single charge of fraud — misleading federal regulators who approved the plane. Boeing blamed the deception on two relatively low-level employees.

In a letter filed Tuesday in federal court in Texas, Glenn Leon, head of the Justice Department criminal division’s fraud section, said Boeing violated terms of the settlement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws.

The determination means that Boeing could be prosecuted “for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge,” including the charge of fraud that the company hoped to avoid with the settlement, the Justice Department said.

However, it is not clear whether the government will prosecute Boeing.

“The Government is determining how it will proceed in this matter,” the Justice Department said in the court filing. Boeing will have until June 13 to respond the government’s allegation, and department said it will consider the company’s explanation “in determining whether to pursue prosecution.”

Boeing Co., which is based in Arlington, Virginia, disputed the Justice Department’s finding.

“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement. “As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”

Boeing has come under renewed scrutiny since that Alaska Airlines flight in January, when a door plug blew out of a 737 Max, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the jetliner. The company is under multiple investigations into the blowout and its manufacturing quality. The FBI has told passengers from the flight that they might be victims of a crime.

Prosecutors said they will meet on May 31 with families of passengers who died in the two Max crashes. Family members were angry and disappointed after a similar meeting last month.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer who represents families of passengers in the second crash, said the Justice Department’s determination that Boeing breached the settlement terms is “a positive first step, and for the families, a long time coming.”

“But we need to see further action from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable, and plan to use our meeting on May 31 to explain in more details what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” Cassell said.

Investigations into the crashes pointed to a flight-control system that Boeing added to the Max without telling pilots or airlines. Boeing downplayed the significance of the system, then didn’t overhaul it until after the second crash.

After secret negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing on a charge of defrauding the United States by deceiving regulators about the flight system. The settlement included a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million fund for victim compensation, and nearly $1.8 billion to airlines whose Max jets were grounded for nearly two years.

Boeing has faced civil lawsuits, congressional investigations and massive damage to its business since the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

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Koenig reported from Dallas.

By JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — For a last hurrah, it was a Sage decision.

A miniature poodle named Sage won the top prize Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, in what veteran handler Kaz Hosaka said would be his final time at the United States’ most prestigious canine event. After 45 years of competing and two best in show dogs, he plans to retire.

Sage notched the 11th triumph for poodles of various sizes at Westminster; only wire fox terriers have won more. The last miniature poodle to take the trophy was Spice, with Hosaka, in 2002.

“No words,” he said in the ring to describe his reaction to Sage’s win before supplying a few: “So happy — exciting.”

Striding briskly and proudly around the ring, the inky-black poodle “gave a great performance for me,” Hosaka added.

Sage bested six other finalists to take best in show. Second went to Mercedes, a German shepherd whose handler, Kent Boyles, also has shepherded a best in show winner before.

Others in the final round included Comet, a shih tzu who won the big American Kennel Club National Championship last year; Monty, a giant schnauzer who arrived at Westminster as the nation’s top-ranked dog and was a Westminster finalist last year; Louis, an Afghan hound; Micah, a black cocker spaniel; and Frankie, a colored bull terrier.

While Sage was going around the ring, a protester carrying a sign urging people to “boycott breeders” tried to climb in and was quickly intercepted by security personnel. Police and the animal rights group PETA said three demonstrators were arrested. Charges have not yet been decided.

In an event where all competitors are champions in dog showing’s point system, winning can depend on subtleties and a standout turn at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

The final lineup was “excellent, glorious,” best in show judge Rosalind Kramer said.

To Monty’s handler and co-owner, Katie Bernardin, “just to be in the ring with everyone else is an honor.”

“We all love our dogs. We’re trying our best,” she said in the ring after Monty’s semifinal win. “A stallion” of a dog, he’s solid, powerful and “very spirited,” said Bernardin of Chaplin, Connecticut.

So spirited that while Bernardin was pregnant, she did obedience and other dog sports with Monty because he needed the stimulation.

Dogs first compete against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed goes up against others in its “group.” The seven group winners meet in the final round.

The best in show winner gets a trophy and a place in dog-world history, but no cash prize.

Besides the winners, there were other dogs that were hits with the crowd. A lagotto Romagnolo named Harry earned a chuckle from the stadium audience by sitting up and begging for a treat from his handler, and a vizsla named Fletcher charmed spectators by jumping up on its handler after finishing a spin around the ring.

There were big cheers, too, for a playful great Pyrenees called Sebastian and a Doberman pinscher named Emilio.

Other dogs that vied in vain for a spot in the finals included Stache, a Sealyham terrier. He won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving and took top prize at a big terrier show in Pennsylvania last fall.

Stache showcases a rare breed that’s considered vulnerable to extinction even in its native Britain.

“They’re a little-known treasure,” said Stache’s co-owner, co-breeder and handler, Margery Good of Cochranville, Pennsylvania, who has bred “Sealys” for half a century. Originally developed in Wales to hunt badgers and other burrowing game, the terriers with a “fall” of hair over their eyes are courageous but comedic — Good dubs them “silly hams.”

Westminster can feel like a study in canine contrasts. Just walking around, a visitor could see a Chihuahua peering out of a carrying bag at a stocky Neapolitan mastiff, a ring full of honey-colored golden retrievers beside a lineup of stark-black giant schnauzers, and handlers with dogs far larger than themselves.

Shane Jichetti was one of them. Ralphie, the 175-pound (34-kg) great Dane she co-owns, outweighs her by a lot. It takes considerable experience to show so big an animal, but “if you have a bond with your dog, and you just go with it, it works out,” she said.

Plus Ralphie, for all his size, is “so chill,” said Jichetti. Playful at home on New York’s Staten Island, he’s spot-on — just like his harlequin-pattern coat — when it’s time to go in the ring.

“He’s just an honest dog,” Jichetti said.

The Westminster show, which dates to 1877, centers on the traditional purebred judging that leads to the best in show prize. But over the last decade, the club has added agility and obedience events open to mixed-breed dogs.

And this year, the agility competition counted its first non-purebred winner, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble.

And Kramer, the best in show judge, made a point of thanking “every dog, whether it’s a house dog or a show dog.

“Because you make our lives whole.”

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Associated Press photographer Julia Nikhinson contributed.

While belief in climate change has waned a bit nationally, 90% of Floridians still believe it’s real, according to a recent survey by Florida Atlantic University.

Most Floridians — nearly 70% — want both the state and federal governments to do more to address climate change, the study found. “Floridians support strengthening our resilience to the effects of climate change because they are experiencing it. The urgency to act means debate over causes is largely irrelevant,” said Colin Polsky, director of the FAU Center for Environmental Studies.

Researchers conducted the survey in both English and Spanish on 1,400 Floridians ages 18 and older from March 18 to 21 of 2024.

The 90% belief rate is the same percentage as last fall, when FAU conducted its biannual Florida Climate Resilience Survey.

Nationally, 72% of Americans believe climate change is happening, according to a recent study by Yale University, down from 74% last fall.

Polsky said that Floridian’s acceptance of climate change as real makes sense.

We have climate and weather really in our faces,” he said. “The kinds of climate change effects that we’re expecting – warmer temperatures, stronger storms, more flooding – are happening here and not in Kansas or Wyoming. It’s just more in our faces here.”

Cause of climate change?

Though 9 in 10 Floridians believe climate change is indeed occurring, there is disagreement as to what’s causing it. The FAU survey found that 74% of Democrats believe climate change is largely caused by humans.

In the fall, 45% of Florida Republicans surveyed said they believed climate change was largely caused by humans. That number has dropped to 40%.

The most significant shift in climate change belief, though, came among independent voters and those with no party affiliation. Last fall, when FAU conducted the same survey, only 53% of independents believed climate change was due largely to human activity. That rate has now jumped up to 64%.

FAU started the surveys in fall of 2019. Since then, the overall percentage of Floridians who believe climate change is real and driven by human activity has risen from 56% to 58%.

Age, too, plays a role. Two-thirds of respondents under age 50 believed that human activity is the cause of climate change, whereas only half of those over age 50 thought human impacts drove climate change.

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As for education, 67% of Floridians want climate change taught in schools, including more than half of Republican respondents.

“This abiding majority support for K-12 teaching climate change confirms the premise that Floridians want more climate change awareness and action regardless of the cause,” Polsky said.

Close to 70% of those surveyed said “climate change sparked their concern for the well-being of future generations.”

When asked if they’d be willing to pay $10 a month to strengthen Florida’s infrastructure to weather hazards, less than half, 48%, said yes.

Hotter weather

The FAU findings come as 2023 being the hottest year on record, globally.

Florida also is getting hotter. Since 1985, the average annual temperature of Florida has increased by approximately 1.6 degrees F, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records.

Additionally, Florida seems to be getting hotter faster than other parts of the world. Since 1950, the average global increase was 2.7 F, but Florida has seen a rise of 3.5 F.

Florida seas are rising as well. Today, sea levels in the state are as much as 8 inches higher than they were in 1950, and are rising faster in the last 10 years than previously, based on NOAA tide gauge data from Virginia Key in Miami.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has until May 15 to sign a bill that would strip some references to climate change from the state’s energy policy. The bill repeals what’s left of a 16-year-old law that lists climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions. Instead, advocates for the bill said the state would make energy affordability, security and availability its main focus.

DeSantis’ climate policy has focused on resilience as opposed to reducing greenhouse gasses. The state’s $1.8 billion Resilient Florida program invests in preparing communities for storms, rising sea levels and flooding.

When he was a presidential candidate, DeSantis said his national energy policy would focus on energy dominance and would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty with the goal of slowing climate change, often through the reduction of burning fossil fuels.

Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.