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Miami Commissioner candidate Frank Pichel arrested for alleged firearm threat over campaign sign dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

A Miami Commission candidate was arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot a man after an argument ensued over campaign signs, officials said.According to the arrest report, 61-year-old Francisco “Frank” Pichel, a candidate in next month’s race for the Commissioner District 1 seat, was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm.The incident unfolded on Sunday outside an apartment complex at NW 35th Street and 18th Avenue. According to law enforcement, Pichel, a District One candidate and a former officer, was alleged to have been tampering with signs belonging to his opponent, Alex De La Portilla.During the dispute, Pichel reportedly grabbed a handgun from his waistband, chambered a round, and threatened in Spanish, “I’ll shoot you, and nothing is going to happen to me because I used to be a cop.”Pichel’s arrest added another layer of drama to a race already marked by controversy, as incumbent De La Portilla was recently s...

Multiple arrests made in $20 million organized retail theft ring that targeted stores across South Florida

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

An extensive crime ring that systematically targeted major retailers, including Publix, Walmart, Target and Walgreens, believed they could operate without leaving a significant impact. However, their actions resulted in over $20 million in retail losses, affecting not just stores but also the consumers.According to authorities, the criminal operation, which spanned throughout South Florida, consisted of approximately 87 individuals who carried out a series of thefts from big-box retailers over nine months. Their approach was simple: enter the stores and take as much merchandise as possible.“These individuals would sometimes obtain master keys and empty whole shelves of over-the-counter prescription medications or simply walk out with high-value items like a $3,000 golf bag,” said George Aguire, an official from the Miami Dade Organized Crime Bureau.Authorities said Arland Cata played a significant role within the criminal operation, handling the stolen products. He alleg...

Pro-Palestinian rally held at Broward College in Davie

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

Pro-Palestinian protesters took their message to the streets of South Florida as the war continues to rage on in the Middle East. 7News cameras on Monday afternoon captured several protesters carrying pro-Palestine posters as they marched through Broward College.The protest started at the library where the they talked about what is going on in Gaza and that more attention needs to be brought towards innocent civilians that caught in the war. A student who spoke with 7News said he has lost family members in Gaza.“We want peace, we’re not hear to kill anybody, but at the end of the day, we’re being occupied and we want our land back, so we’re going to whatever it is,” Yousuf Eltalla said. “We don’t want to do what’s happening, it’s not in us to kill innocent people, kill civilians, kill kids, that’s not who we are.”The rally is one of several that have taken place throughout South Florida and throughout the world after...

Tua Tagovailoa, high-powered Miami Dolphins selected as ‘Hard Knocks’ in-season team

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The NFL world will get a behind-the-scenes look at Tua Tagovailoa and Miami Dolphins later this season: They will be the featured in-season team on “Hard Knocks” this fall.The team announced its featured role on the long-running HBO and NFL Films show on Monday.The Dolphins are one of the NFL’s more interesting teams with the league’s top-ranked offense led by Tagovailoa, All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill and creative play-caller Mike McDaniel.They are atop the AFC East with a 5-2 record as they seek their second straight playoff berth.Miami was featured on “Hard Knocks” in 2012 under then-first-year head coach Joe Philbin. Storylines that year included then-GM Jeff Ireland calling Dolphins 2009 first-rounder Vontae Davis into his office to inform him that he was being traded to the Indianapolis Colts.This is the third year that “Hard Knocks” has featured an in-season team — the show has typically offered a behind-the-scenes look during the preseaso...

Pat Riley lays out vision for Heat season, says it could dictate Miami’s future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Pat Riley tends to look at things in five-year increments, and that might make this a very important season for the Miami Heat.With the current Miami core — Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro — about to start its fifth season together, the Heat president said he still believes his team has “as good a chance as anybody” to win the Eastern Conference. But he also indicated that what happens this season could have a serious effect on what the Heat look like next season.“If you build a team around one or two players, three players, and you don’t win the championship, then you might have to start thinking: ‘OK, this is not going to work. This is not going to happen,’” Riley said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Maybe you see that in Milwaukee, maybe you see that in Boston. They got to those windows and made moves.”The Bucks — who won the NBA title in 2021 — revamped their core this offseason by trading for Damian Lillard, who originally hoped to go to Miami...

EU fails to agree on call for ‘humanitarian pause’ to allow aid into Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union’s foreign ministers failed to reach an agreement at a meeting on Monday on recommending a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to reach Palestinians in Gaza as Israel continues its airstrikes on the besieged territory.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” last week but EU ministers have discussed what foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called a less ambitious “humanitarian pause.” Borrell stressed that while the EU cannot “decree” a pause, it can send the message that it is in favor of one. While there is a “basic consensus,” several diplomats, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the meeting like others quoted in this story, stressed there is not the required unanimity. The ministers have not yet voted, Borrell said. EU ambassadors discussed a draft text on the humanitarian pause on Monday afternoon that could be added to the final text that leaders will...

Hundreds gather for Halloween walk to raise money for Boston Shriners Hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

Ninja turtles, cats, cowboys and cows all joined together in Wellesley Sunday for the fourth annual Boston Haunted Walk to raise money for Shriners Children’s Boston. The event took place at the Garden at Elm Bank and featured a costume contest, face painting, raffles, games and snacks. The money raised will ultimately support pediatric burn care, reconstructive plastic surgery and cleft lip and palate care. Former Shriners patient Sheila Hegarty spoke with 7NEWS during festivities, sharing her gratitude for the Shriners organization. “If it wasn’t for Shriners, we wouldn’t be the family we are,” she said. “The care that we were given goes far beyond the orthopedics that I needed both, financial and emotional.”Members of the Griggs family also shared their gratitude. Their now five-year-old daughter, Scarlett, stepped into the hot ash of a fire pit when she was two. Scarlett ultimately spent three weeks in the hospital. Now, she is able to dance and play soccer like a...

Late Week Warming

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

Today wasn’t bad, but it’s about to get a lot better! That’s if you like warm air. Between where we are now and where we’ll be Wednesday through Friday is about 36 hours of more typical October air. And that means patchy frost possible tonight in our typically cooler spots as many of us wake up to temperatures in the 30s tomorrow morning.Patchy frost is typical for late October. In fact, it’s expected. That said, we haven’t seen that yet. Nobody in southern New England has seen a freeze yet this season and that’s unusual. On average Worcester County and the Monadnock Region sees its first freeze of the season in the first week of October. Metro West, Merrimack Valley, and the rest of southern New Hampshire is the second week of October — obviously we’re past that now. The third week of October those in Southeast Massachusetts are in line for the first freeze. Finally, the last week of October is the rest of the coastline includin...

Crews battle fire at building in Reading

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Reading Monday after a fire broke out in a building on Mineral Street, officials said. The Reading Fire Department said the fire started on the third floor of the building near Mineral Street’s intersection with Hancock Street. Reading police in a subsequent post on Facebook shared photos showing smoke rising from the building as emergency crews responded. Part of Mineral Street was shut down as of around 9 a.m., according to police.Reading fire officials said seven apartments had to evacuate as a result of this fire. Two dogs were also rescued.The fire department said one apartment was damaged. There were no injuries.

Healey calls out ‘poor judgement’ leading to sweeping GLX track issues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:18 GMT

Governor Maura Healey spoke Monday on the sweeping track issues in the Green Line Extension project, again calling out “poor judgement” of officials overseeing the project and insisting the agency is now staffed with officials who take their “responsibility seriously.”“What’s important is that it was not disclosed, and it was not addressed,” Healey said, when asked for updates how the issues were not disclosed. … “Under the prior administration senior management at the T, for whatever poor judgment, made the decision not to disclose identified failures and then made the poor decision not to address those failures prior to the opening of the Green Line extension.”MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng announced last week that large sections of the GLX tracks were built too narrow — and officials within the MBTA knew about the problems throughout the process.Narrow tracks throughout half of the Union Square branch and 80% of ...