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Federal health officials are investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeria infections that they believe are linked to meats sliced at the deli counter. So far, 28 people have been hospitalized and two have died as part of the outbreak.

“Our investigation is ongoing to determine which deli meat may be contaminated,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a written statement.  “We do not have information to show that people are getting sick from prepackaged deli meats.”

People from 12 states thus far have reported feeling sick after eating sliced deli meat. It is unclear at this time which brand or type of meat is causing the illness. Listeria can cause severe illness (known as invasive listeriosis) when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body.

No one from Florida has reported being infected thus far. However, two cases were reported in nearby Georgia. New York has seven cases, the most reported at this time.

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Listeria symptoms include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, fever and muscle aches. Symptoms usually start one to four weeks after eating contaminated food with Listeria but may start as early as the same day or as late as 70 days after. Listeria is particularly problematic for pregnant people. They typically experience fever, fatigue, and muscle aches, however, Listeria infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

People who are at higher risk for getting sick with Listeria should avoid eating meats sliced at deli counters unless heated to an internal temperature of 165°F or until steaming hot just before serving. The CDC is recommending people call their healthcare provider if they have symptoms of Listeria and recently ate meats sliced at deli counters. Businesses should follow USDA-FSIS best practices for controlling Listeria contamination in deli areas.

Most people with mild symptoms don’t need treatment. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at risk for more serious infections and doctors may prescribe antibiotics.

If you believe you are sick as a result of eating deli meat, clean your refrigerator, containers and surfaces that may have touched the sliced deli meats and provide information to help the CDC identify the specific deli products.

South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.

Sewer Scope Inspections Industry Research Study |Soil Solutions, Scott Home Inspection, Nonprofit Home Inspections  Economica

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CTV News Toronto

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CTV News Toronto

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CP24

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CP24

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CP24

Today is Friday, July 19, the 201st day of 2024. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 19, 1848, the first “Convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of Woman” convened at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

Also on this date:

In 1812, during the War of 1812, the First Battle of Sackets Harbor in Lake Ontario resulted in an American victory as U.S. naval forces repelled a British attack.

In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated.

In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza fled the country.

In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1989, 111 people were killed when United Air Lines Flight 232, a DC-10 which sustained the uncontained failure of its tail engine and the loss of hydraulic systems, crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.

In 1990, baseball’s all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced a policy allowing gays to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue.”

In 2006, prosecutors reported that Chicago police beat, kicked, shocked or otherwise tortured scores of Black suspects from the 1970s to the early 1990s to try to extract confessions from them.

In 2005, President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in Sept. 2005; Samuel Alito followed O’Connor.)

In 2013, in a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, George Zimmerman, saying the slain black teenager “could have been me 35 years ago.”

In 2018, a duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds on a lake in the tourist town of Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people.

In 2021, Paul Allard Hodgkins, a Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber on Jan. 6 carrying a Trump campaign flag, received an eight-month prison term; it was the first resolution for a felony case in the January 6th U.S. Capitol insurrection.

In 2022, Britain shattered its record for the highest temperature ever registered amid a heat wave that seared swaths of Europe.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Civil rights activist and educator Rachel Robinson, widow of baseball’s Jackie Robinson, is 102.
• Singer Vikki Carr is 84.
• Blues singer-musician Little Freddie King is 84.
• Singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 78.
• International Tennis Hall of Famer Ilie Nastase is 78.
• Rock musician Brian May (Queen) is 77.
• Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 77.
• Movie director Abel Ferrara is 73.
• Movie director Atom Egoyan is 64.
• Actor Campbell Scott is 63.
• Actor Anthony Edwards is 62.
• Ukrainian politician and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko is 53.
• Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is 48.
• TV chef Marcela Valladolid is 46.
• Actor Trai Byers (TV: “Empire”) is 41.
• Actor Kaitlin Doubleday (TV: “Empire,” “Nashville”) is 39.

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CP24

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CP24

Ontario woman says she was sold 'crumbling' house despite home inspection  CTV News Toronto

General Daily Insight for July 19, 2024

Caution, roadblocks ahead! As the intuitive Moon struggles to work with fiery Mars, frustration with our passions may cause us to feel stuck. The Moon then squares confusing Neptune at 3:58 am EDT, making it hard to know what is really happening, potentially preventing positive plans from forming. Later, the Moon will slide into serious Capricorn, heightening our focus to figure things out. Still, the next struggle between the Moon and Venus may add more unexpected setbacks. Dig deep for patience and grace.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Past choices could have snared you in current issues. Your place of work (or wherever you put in the most effort) might be draining you, or you could have responsibilities that go beyond your capacity. Some things aren’t meant for one person to do! You need rest, especially when you’re putting in a lot of work. The more that you are able to understand this and live your truth, the more that you should be able to break free from being overworked.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

You might be feeling stuck within your own head. You’re likely trying to learn or teach something right now, and the information just isn’t getting in or out. Getting stuck on a concept or stumbling over words on the tip of your tongue would both be frustrating. Don’t give up! The results should be worth the effort that you’re putting in to achieve them. If you don’t figure everything out today, that’s more than okay — it’s normal. Simply try again tomorrow.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Feeling someone else’s frustrations may be setting you back. Whether it’s their stressed emotions creating havoc for you, or their actions frustrating your plans in other ways, it’s important to remember that this is only a temporary situation. There are likely to be many stressors in your current life, especially coming from other people — intentionally or accidentally. Do your best not to let them get to you, as snapping at them risks damaging your cause more than theirs. Block out the chaos.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

The words of others could throw you off balance. Someone may not be telling you the whole truth — or they might not even be telling themselves the truth, choosing to live in a fantasy world while you’re trying to live in reality. It’s potentially impossible for you to go with what they’re saying. While they could be unhappy if you choose to ignore them, you can’t live in their fantasy world with them. Let them follow their path as you follow yours.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Issues with authority figures may force you to come to a standstill. You may be trying to convince your boss to help you with something, or maybe you’re attempting to explain something to your parents, but they’re just not understanding. Whether this is because they’ve completely closed off to communication and refuse to hear you, or they just can’t see past their own perspective despite trying to let you say your piece, you will probably struggle to get anywhere. Be prepared for opposition.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

You’ve got big plans, but the risks that you take can create issues for you. You might understand the complexities of traveling with certain people in your life, but you choose to go on the vacation with them anyway for the destination. On the other hand, a dilemma may arise when you want to spend time with certain people, but aren’t very interested in the place that you’d have to meet them in. Only you can decide if the pros outweigh the cons.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

You might feel stuck where you are. Whether your mode of transportation is not quite up to par, your work is forcing you to stay late, or you’ve been roped into a social situation that you can’t get out of, it’s likely that you’re going to be somewhere that you don’t totally want to be for the time being. Some emotional discomfort is likely, but you should be able to find a silver lining in one way or another. This too shall pass!

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Someone may call in a favor. You may have been expecting a chill and relaxing day, but then a friend (or friend-of-a-friend) calls you up with a problem that you can plausibly fix. They are likely not to blame for why they’re in this predicament. Even though it probably wasn’t on your calendar, at least consider pitching in. This is what being a good friend is all about — and you might just need to call and ask them for help someday!

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Struck by distraction or rerouted by the universe? It’ll be tricky to get things done today, whether you’re unusually prone to losing focus or your routine keeps throwing curveballs at you. For instance, you may run out of detergent when you need to do laundry, or maybe an irreplaceable ingredient for your dinner will be out of stock. It could be as simple as your least favorite song getting stuck in your head! Build extra wiggle room into your schedule to compensate for such issues.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

The need to express yourself could strike at an inopportune time. You may be trying to make things work with someone that you care about, but then blurt out something that causes them to feel judged or stressed. If you’re working on a group project, be aware of your attitude — even a small mistake might frustrate you to the point of genuine anger. It’s important to keep a cool head, otherwise you risk your words and actions creating extra havoc for you.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Hold on, or let go? This question can be arduous to answer in reality. The past might feel comfortable, but it could be what’s holding you back from achieving what you really want in life. Whether this is old clutter that’s collecting in your house or ideas that have since been disproven by updated knowledge, let go. You don’t have to throw away everything you’ve ever learned, but make sure that the place it takes in your life is a reasonably sized one.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

You might feel like you can’t say what you really want to say. Your mind is on your dreams — whatever you want to be a part of. Still, the people around you might not be receptive to your aspirations. Asserting your dreams in a world where everyone is telling you no can be difficult, but there are people on your side! Your loved ones may not be immediately around you, but they should still support you. Focus on yourself and those in your corner.

GAINESVILLE — University of Florida’s president, Ben Sasse, unexpectedly announced his resignation late Thursday after just 17 months at the helm of the state’s flagship university, citing his wife’s health issues and a need to spend more time with his family.

In a short statement emailed across campus, Sasse — the former Republican U.S. senator for Nebraska — said he would leave his job on July 31, less than two weeks away. The surprise announcement comes during a period of a fraught relationship between Sasse and the longtime chairman of UF’s board of trustees, developer Mori Hosseini, chairman of Daytona Beach-based ICI Homes Inc.

Sasse, 52, attributed his decision to a recent epilepsy diagnosis and new memory issues facing his wife, Melissa, who suffered an aneurysm and series of strokes in 2007. He said he also wanted to spend more time with his children, including his college-age daughters and 13-year-old son.

Sasse said he asked Hosseini earlier Thursday “after extensive prayer and lots of family tears” to search for his replacement. He called UF “the best dang public university in America.” Sasse’s employment contract — including a base salary of $1 million plus a performance bonus of up to $150,000 each year — guaranteed him the job through at least February 2028.

The same contract required six months’ notice for Sasse to resign unless Hosseini waived that provision.

“Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard,” Sasse said in a statement. “Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights. I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time.”

In a four-sentence statement, Hosseini thanked Sasse and wished him well. “Under his leadership, UF has continued to advance on the national and international stage, benefiting our students, faculty, alumni, community and state,” the statement said. “He has left a lasting impact on the university and all of those associated with it.”

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Sasse said his family would remain in Gainesville, and he will serve as president emeritus and teach classes as a professor at the university. As president, Sasse and his family have been living in a gated, multi-million-dollar mansion on campus next to the law school.

Sasse was the only finalist to replace the school’s previous president, Kent Fuchs, and become its 13th president. Sasse was president of a small private university for five years in Nebraska and holds a doctoral degree in history from Yale.

Fuchs, who remained at UF as president emeritus and taught classes, could be tapped as interim president.

The news of Sasse’s resignation was first reported by Florida Politics.

Sasse’s political positions – including his opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriages – were deeply troubling to some students and faculty on the campus in one of Florida’s most progressive cities.

Former President Donald Trump — who coincidentally was accepting his party’s nomination as the GOP presidential candidate later Thursday night just after Sasse’s announcement — is no fan of Sasse, once calling him a “grandstanding, little respected senator” following Sasse’s vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Sasse drew national attention to the university over its aggressive handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus earlier this year. Campus police arrested nine protesters in April, including six current UF students who were suspended for years, banned from campus and now are fighting state criminal charges. In a statement, UF said it was “not a daycare,” and Sasse defended the actions on conservative cable news programs.

In the year since Sasse took over, the university fell one position to No. 6 among public universities in the annual, national rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, even as it climbed one spot to No. 28 in the magazine’s rankings of top public and private universities overall. Separately, in September, the Wall Street Journal named UF the No. 1 public university in the country.

Florida selected Sasse as the sole finalist for the job under a new state law passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that allowed the process — and the upcoming search for Sasse’s successor — to take place in secrecy.

This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at vivienneserret@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox. 

An appeals court on Wednesday overturned a Broward judge’s order that the city of Miramar owed $3.6 million to Anthony Caravella, a man who was exonerated in 2010 after spending over two decades in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit.

Broward Circuit Judge Carlos Rodriguez late last year ordered Miramar to pay $2.5 million in compensatory damages and nearly $1.1 million in interest and attorneys’ fees after Caravella won a federal lawsuit in 2013 against the two now-retired Miramar officers who he argued coerced him into confessing to the 1983 murder of 58-year-old Ada Jankowski.

At 15 and with an IQ of 67, Caravella, who had past run-ins with law enforcement for theft, was arrested on a juvenile charge unrelated to Jankowski’s murder, according to the Innocence Project of Florida, a nonprofit that works with wrongfully-convicted inmates.

Caravella gave multiple recorded statements to officers while he was in custody that “were made on the backdrop of suggestive and coercive interrogation tactics by law enforcement,” according to the Innocence Project’s website on the case. Prosecutors during trial relied almost entirely on his statements.

“With each statement, Caravella’s theory of events was consistently at odds with the actual physical evidence and circumstances of the crime,” the Innocence Project’s site says. “Thus, detectives weaved accurate facts into Caravella’s statements through the use of very suggestive, leading questions. Caravella admitted a greater role in the murder/rape with each statement and finally confessed that he committed the crime alone.”

Accused officers George Pierson and William Mantesta denied the accusations that they coerced Caravella, the South Florida Sun Sentinel previously reported.

Caravella was freed by DNA evidence in 2009 and officially exonerated in 2010. Miramar Police and the Broward State Attorney’s Office identified a different man as a person of interest in 2010 — Anthony Martinez, who was 17 years old at the time of the murder and earlier a suspect. Martinez died of natural causes two months after authorities said he was a person of interest.

The federal jury found the officers intentionally violated Caravella’s civil rights under three separate constitutional amendments and awarded him $7.5 million, of which $4.5 million was against the officers personally. Caravella’s lawyers in 2022 took Miramar to Broward Circuit Court to force the city to pay the rest. Miramar’s attorneys with Austin Pamies Norris Weeks Powell appealed.

The 4th District Court of Appeal on Wednesday in its 9-page opinion agreed with the city’s argument, citing a Florida law that says a city can’t be required to pay a judgment where an officer was determined “to have caused the harm intentionally,” as the federal jury decided in Caravella’s case in 2013.

The court emphasized in its opinion the importance of the law stating “intentionally.” The federal jury was instructed in the 2013 lawsuit to specifically decide whether the officers’ actions were intentional.

“Because the jury found the officers liable on all three constitutional rights claims, the jury necessarily found the officers to have ’caused the harm intentionally”’ to Caravella, the court wrote in its opinion.

Miramar’s City Manager Dr. Roy Virgin said in an emailed statement Thursday evening: “This ruling reaffirms our commitment to upholding justice and the rule of law. We are relieved that the Appellate court recognized the error in the previous judgment and ruled in favor of the City.”

Donald Spadaro, an attorney acting as Caravella’s legal guardian in the case, did not return a voicemail seeking comment Thursday night.

Sun Sentinel staff writer Rafael Olmeda contributed to this report. Information from the Sun Sentinel archives was used in this report. 

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor, a Hall of Famer who played for the New York Giants from 1981 to 1993, spent several hours in a Broward County jail this week after he was accused of failing to accurately file his current address as a registered sex offender.

Taylor, 65, was charged with one count of failure to comply with the sex offender registry law.

He is supposed to report address changes due to a plea agreement in a 2010 incident in which he had sex with a 16-year-old who he said claimed to be 19 years old. Taylor pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and sex with an underage prostitute, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced to six years’ probation.

The current charge is a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison.

Defense lawyer Mark Eiglarsh called his client’s recent failure to report a “significant misunderstanding” that should not require a prison term. “My client will be pleading not guilty,” Eiglarsh said. “As with the previous incident involving the same allegations [in 2022], Mr. Taylor did not knowingly commit any criminal offense.”

Taylor was released from the Broward jail overnight. A court date for the latest charge has not been set.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

Isabel Quintero purchased two $1,000 tickets for the Copa America final in Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium. Argentina and Colombia were facing off — and she wanted to treat her dad, who lives in Colombia, to a late Father’s Day celebration. But the festivities ended with her being denied entry — and she was pushed, trampled and slammed into objects, her attorneys say, by an unruly crowd that flooded the stadium’s gates, even slithering through vents.

Quintero is now one of at least five Copa America ticketholders who are suing after the stampede flooded the stadium before Sunday night’s highly anticipated matchup. After the swarm of ticketless soccer fans, security shut the gates, locking out hundreds and possibly thousands of ticket-holding fans — meaning a deluge of other lawsuits could be on the horizon.

The lawsuits named South Florida Stadium LLC, which operates the Hard Rock Stadium, and CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, as defendants.

Additionally, Jacqueline Martinez bought four tickets for more than $4,000 to attend the game with her husband, Nicolas Osorio, and her parents, Marta Pintos and Eduardo Martinez. The family, however, was barred from entering the stadium due to the mob.

To read the complete report, click here for miamiherald.com

 

By DAVID KLEPPER and FARNOUSH AMIRI

WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of a conservative think tank on Thursday misrepresented partisan differences in political violence in the United States, wrongly suggesting that people associated with left-wing causes commit more violence than those on the right.

___

HERITAGE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT KEVIN ROBERTS: “Most political violence in the last 25 years has been initiated by the left.”

THE FACTS: Roberts’ remarks came in response to questions about comments earlier this month in which he said the country was in the midst of “the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

He told reporters Thursday that he considers himself a historian of the American Revolution and that his comments about a second revolution were a reference to “ambitious policy plans” that Republicans have should former President Donald Trump win the 2024 election. Roberts’ organization has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the federal government known as Project 2025.

Roberts said his comments about political violence were meant to be seen in the historical context.

A deeper look at the available evidence, however, shows that right-wing groups have committed more acts of political violence in recent U.S. history.

Two years ago a team of researchers from four universities examined court records and other data relating to 3,500 extremists active in the U.S. between 1948 and 2022. The individuals were split into three groups — left wing, right wing and relating to Islamic extremism. While some in the database had committed violent acts, others had raised money for extremist groups, volunteered or spoken out in favor of them.

Right-wing extremists were just as likely to commit violent acts as those motivated by Islamic extremism, the researchers found. Left-wing extremists were a distant third.

Gary LaFree, a University of Maryland professor and one of the co-authors of the research, said violent acts by left-wing groups have been diminishing for decades following violence by radical groups like the Weather Underground, a far-left militant organization founded in 1969.

In recent years, violence by right-wing groups has far outpaced violence by left-wing groups, said LaFree, the founding director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, which studies extremism and political violence.

“There are very few left-wing cases these days,” LaFree said.

Increasingly, he said, many of those responsible for political violence espouse “muddled ideologies” combining a rejection of authority with conservative views, for instance, or supposed anarchists who say they also support authoritarianism. “Or they don’t have a strong ideological commitment at all,” LaFree added.

Questions about political violence and its place in American democracy are getting renewed attention following Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, a Republican. Some Trump supporters, including Trump running mate JD Vance, have blamed Democratic rhetoric for the shooting.

The attempt on Trump’s life, however, is just the latest in several cases of violence committed against elected officials over more than a decade.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a 2011 shooting outside an Arizona grocery store, had been threatened and windows of her congressional offices in Tucson knocked out after she voted in favor of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform. Although a motive for the shooting was never determined.

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, now House majority leader, was shot in 2017 while practicing for a charity baseball game. His assailant was described as having grievances against President Donald Trump and the GOP. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan was the target of a foiled kidnapping plot uncovered in 2020.

In 2022, a man broke into the San Francisco home of then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bludgeoned her husband, fracturing his skull. Last year, a man with a history of mental illness went to the Fairfax, Virginia, district office of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, looking to kill him with a baseball bat. Connolly wasn’t there, so the man attacked two staffers.

The largest single act of political violence in recent years is the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters fought with police, vandalized the Capitol and sought to block the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win.

Trump’s own incendiary words and his baseless lies about the 2020 election were blamed for encouraging the Jan. 6 attack, as well as other violent acts by supporters. Trump also mocked the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, 80.

Years of surveys have consistently shown that Americans from both political parties strongly oppose political violence, according to Sean Westwood, a Dartmouth College political scientist who directs the Polarization Research Lab.

People typically overstate the violent intentions of those with different ideologies, too, Westwood said, with one party believing the other is far more willing to commit violence to further their political agenda. That’s one reason why it’s so important for leaders from both parties to come together to call for unity and peaceful discourse, Westwood said.

“Americans hate violence,” Westwood said. “Even the most polarized don’t support partisan violence.”

___

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

___

The Miami Marlins resume play with the second half of the 2024 season on Friday with a four-game series against the New York Mets.

But if you’re a Marlins fan already looking ahead to next season — Miami, after all, is 33-63, 16.5 games out of a wild card spot and a whopping 29 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East with 66 games left to play — the good news is MLB released its 2025 schedule on Thursday.

Opening Day is March 27 at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s the sixth time in eight years that the Marlins are opening at home and the second consecutive year Miami is opening at home against Pittsburgh. Pirates rookie righty strikeout machine Paul Skenes was named to the All-Star team after only two months in the majors.

The season-opening homestand continues with a three-game series against the Mets before Miami’s first road trip to the Atlanta Braves and Mets.

To read the full report, click here for miamiherald.com

Longtime conservative commentator Lou Dobbs has died at age 78, former President Donald Trump announced on social media Thursday.

“The Great Lou Dobbs has just passed away — A friend, and truly incredible journalist, reporter, and talent,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He understood the world, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others.”

Trump praised Dobbs as “unique in so many ways” and sent his condolences to the TV personality’s wife, Debi, and the Dobbs family.

“He will be greatly missed!” Trump wrote.

A short time later, an Instagram page tied to Dobbs confirmed the broadcaster’s death.

“It’s with a heavy heart we announce the passing of ‘The Great Lou Dobbs,’” the message read, remembering him as a “patriot and a great American” and “a fighter till the very end.”

A cause of death was not reported.

The former president’s Truth Social post appeared to be the first announcement of the death of Dobbs, who spent more than 20 years at CNN and a decade at the Fox Business Network.

Dobbs was a loyal Trump supporter known to promote conspiracy theories. His tenure with the Fox family ended in 2021 when “Lou Dobbs Tonight” was canceled in the throes of two defamation lawsuits filed by voting technologies companies against Fox News, which also named Dobbs.

CNN sources indicated at the time the lawsuits from Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, the latter of which settled with Fox for $787.5 million, weren’t solely to blame for Dobbs’ severance from the right-wing media operation.

Dobbs, a Texas native who attended Harvard University, was with CNN at the cable news channel’s inception in 1980.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2005.

A 36-year-old man was arrested Monday after reporting to law enforcement that he was going to “blow up” HCA Florida Woodmont Hospital in Tamarac, according to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest.

Guerdouin Montimer, of Tamarac, called Crime Stoppers twice on Monday morning, the affidavit said.

“I am going to blow up this hospital,” he said in a call shortly before 11 a.m., and gave the hospital’s address in the 7200 block of North University Drive. “It was me, Guerdouin Montimer.” Montimer also told Crime Stoppers he was at his home address.

About 20 minutes later, he called again and made the same threat, the affidavit said.

Deputies surveilled Montimer at the home address he gave to Crime Stoppers and followed him to a gas station in the 7000 block of West Commercial Boulevard, half a mile away from his home, where he was arrested, the affidavit said. His home is about two miles away from the hospital.

After he was detained, Montimer told deputies that he called in the threat from his cellphone, the affidavit said. He is facing two counts of making a false report concerning the planting of a bomb, a second-degree felony.

He was held in the North Broward Bureau, a facility where people with special needs and mental health issues are held, as of Thursday afternoon.