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Police find at least 14 stolen birds in Doral, arrest man on burglary and grand theft charges; owners reunited with pets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

It was an emotional reunion for several South Florida bird owners after police made a big bust in Doral and found their beloved pets.Miami-Dade Police on Friday confirmed they have located at least 14 birds that were stolen from the Southwest Miami-Dade area.One of the birds belongs to a family of four. Family member Natascha Cortes broke down in tears upon seeing her white bird in a cage.Eduardo Munoz, one of the white bird’s owners, was at a loss for words.“I can’t express how I feel. It’s a relief,” he said.Cortes said their other bird of more than 20 years is still missing.“Even though we don’t have the other one, our 22-year-old, we’re still having the hope that he’s coming back,” she said. Alexander Montano’s two birds were among those that were found.Montano said he couldn’t believe it.“They’re part of the family. We respect them, we treat them like family,” he said. “I saw those b...

‘You feel so violated’: NW Miami-Dade homeowner speaks out after thief steals family’s WaveRunner

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

A South Florida homeowner said her sense of security has been taken away by a thief who broke into her home in broad daylight and took off with her family’s personal watercraft.Surveillance video captured the perpetrator entering Lucia Garcia’s home in Northwest Miami-Dade, Friday morning.“[It happened at] 9:27, 9:28 in the morning,” she said.The masked subject had the nerve to break the lock on the fence around Garcia’s home.“With a chain, a lock that you have to put a digit,” she said. “You feel so violated, you know, in your home, ugh, yeah.”The thief took what was Garcia’s outlet for family fun on the water: their WaveRunner.“My daughter, the little one, she loves it, actually. She loves it more than the big one,” she said.The security footage captured the thief rolling out the Yamaha 2019 model to the street.The Garcias believe he drove off with it using a white pickup truck.“I haven’t even been...

Celebrities and fans travel from all over to watch Lionel Messi’s MLS debut with Inter Miami

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Kingston Peel, 11, and his 9-year-old brother, Wynn, got woken up early Friday at their home in the Bahamas. Their mother had a surprise for them.In only a few hours, they’d fly to South Florida to see superstar Lionel Messi make his Major League Soccer debut with Inter Miami.“We’re here to see Messi,” Kingston and Wynn said in unison. They arrived at DRV PNK Stadium hours before Inter Miami’s match against Mexican club Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.And on Friday night, Messi gave an unforgettable thrill to fans young and old who witnessed his first game, converting a free kick from about 25 yards in the 94th minute to give his new team a 2-1 victory.Troves of fans, some from as far away as Ecuador and Messi’s native Argentina, bounced around the outskirts of the stadium ahead of Messi’s debut. Some, like Kingston and Wynn, wore black-and-pink Inter Miami jerseys with Messi’s No. 10 on the back. Others wore the 36-year-...

Storms roll through New England, bringing downpours, flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

Storms swept through parts of New England Friday, causing flooding in several communities and briefly triggering a tornado warning for part of Worcester County. With storms finally moving out of the region around 11 p.m., several communities were left dealing with flooded roads and other damage. One video shared with 7NEWS showed hail falling in Leominster Friday afternoon, while another video captured the moment lightning appeared to strike the ground in Gardner. Photos from Lowell showed multiple cars in a flooded area near the intersection of Moore Street and Gorham Street. At least one police cruiser was spotted nearby blocking the roadway.On another road in Lowell, video showed a car driving down a street covered in water before getting stuck.The Hubbardston Fire Department in a tweet asked community members to avoid the area around Main Street due to “significant flooding” shortly before 6 p.m.In Billerica, local police said par...

Lowry: Trump’s enemies working for his nomination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

There’s being fortunate in your enemies, and then there’s having enemies who are helping you take the first step in your political comeback.Donald Trump and his adversaries want profoundly different things in the long run — Trump wants to be back in the White House; Democrats want him in an orange jumpsuit.Yet, in the shorter term, they both are seeking the same thing — Trump as the Republican nominee, either so he can sweep to victory (Trump’s view) or be beaten again and held to account for his crimes (the Democrats’ view).The serial indictments of Trump, even if it’s not their primary purpose, advance this mutual interest. With every indictment, Trump dominates media attention and rallies Republicans to his side based on charges of selective prosecution.The routine is so predictable, it’s become boring.The pushback against the notion that Trump’s prosecutorial pursuers know that they might as well be ‘MAGA’ agents ...

Franks: Black Americans aren’t nostalgic for the ‘old days’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

It is amazing how nostalgia turns into public policy.The state of Virginia is wrestling with what to do about an already removed statute of General Robert E. Lee, military leader of the Confederacy and an outstanding student at West Point.However, Lee lost the Civil War to Union General Ulysses S. Grant who died 138 years ago this week. Conversely, Grant was a mediocre student at West Point, and one with a drinking problem at that. Grant, a staunch supporter of Reconstruction, became our 18th president.Which one is remembered in a more favorable light? Not Grant. He has been the butt of many jokes, such as: “Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?”I will always remember a political science class I taught at the University of Virginia. A question I posed to the students was on Reconstruction. Was it good or bad? One of my best students in class quickly raised his hand to give what he thought was the “obvious answer.” He was a white youngster from Mississippi. The class had every color of the ...

Billy McKinney steals the show as Yankees end 4-game losing streak with win over Royals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

Billy McKinney stepped up Friday night as the Yankees’ unlikely hero, using his bat and glove to help New York end a four-game losing streak and avoid another loss to a last-place team.The journeyman McKinney, who spent the season’s first two months at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, slugged a three-run home run in the fourth inning to put the Yankees up for good in their 5-4 win over the lowly Royals.Filling in for the banged-up Harrison Bader in center field, McKinney also made a sliding catch in the third inning and a leaping grab against the wall in the 7th to rob Kansas City of extra-base hits.The Royals had taken a 3-1 lead on a Michael Massey three-run homer in the top of the fourth when McKinney answered with his blast over the right field wall in the bottom of the frame.Franchy Cordero and Gleyber Torres also hit solo homers. All three of the Yankees’ homes came against Royals rookie Alec Marsh, who was making his fourth career start.The Yankees overcame a...

Editorial: Feds ignore Bill of Rights when its convenient

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

A federal judge last week held that the federal government tried to skirt the First Amendment when it pressured social media companies to suppress “misinformation” during the pandemic. The judge’s conclusions will be litigated further, but they highlight the dangers inherent when private parties are used as government proxies to limit public debate.But free speech isn’t the only vital liberty at risk under such a scheme. Government agents have also eroded the Fourth Amendment by using the private sector to avoid constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.Last month, Rep. Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican, and Rep. Sara Jacobs, a Democrat from California, added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would require the government to obtain a warrant before purchasing data on Americans from private information brokers.The amendment comes after revelations that “federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies have repeatedly” purchased ...

Author Nat Segaloff revisits ‘The Exorcist’ phenomenon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

As “The Exorcist” hits the 50-year mark, what’s remarkable is how, long after the sequels and a TV series are gone and forgotten, it remains fresh.“‘The Exorcist’ remains powerful,” said Nat Segaloff, whose “The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear” (Citadel Press) goes on sale Tuesday, “because it did its job in ways that no other film like it has ever done. It isn’t necessarily a horror film. I think it affects people because it does a very good job in ways the audiences don’t expect it to do.”Adapted from William Peter Blatty’s best-selling novel and directed by William Friedkin who had just won the Best Director Oscar for 1971’s “The French Connection,” ‘Exorcist,’ an immediate if controversial smash hit, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning for Blatty’s screenplay and its innovative sound design.Segaloff, a Boston Herald veteran, sees two reasons why it worked.  “The first,” he said in a phone interview, “is turning the book into the movi...

Mets-Red Sox suspended Friday due to rain, will play split-doubleheader Saturday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:08 GMT

BOSTON — The Mets and the Boston Red Sox managed to play just over three innings Friday night before thunderstorms rolled into Boston and the game was suspended. Fans sat through a nearly two-hour delay at Fenway Park before the decision was made to restart the series opener Saturday at 2:10 p.m., as part of a split-doubleheader. The second game of the series was moved from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.The game will resume with the visitors leading 4-3. It’s not a devastating blow for the Mets, but it’s far from ideal.They had to burn Kodai Senga, one of their most reliable starters, and will now look to a leaky bullpen to get them over the finish line. The Mets’ season isn’t over yet, but it’s on life support and time is running out with the Aug. 1 trade deadline fast approaching. The team started the day 6.5 away from an NL Wild Card spot.Senga started the game and pitched well, allowing three earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three i...