It’s Tuesday, August 23rd - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Floridians are heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in the state's primary election, with a number of important statewide and local races set to be decided.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The most significant statewide race Tuesday is between the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates seeking to go against Gov. Ron DeSantis, who's unopposed in the Republican primary. The race pits U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist against Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. Fried is currently the only Democrat elected to a statewide office. Crist last served in statewide office from 2007 to 2011 as a Republican governor, then lost a 2010 race for U.S. Senate as an independent and lost a 2014 run for governor as a Democrat. The winner of the Fried-Crist matchup will face the Republican DeSantis in November.
No. 2 - The driver who caused a wrong-way crash on the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade over the weekend that killed five people is facing vehicular homicide charges, authorities said Monday.
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Maiky Simeon, 30, will face five counts of vehicular homicide, Florida Highway Patrol officials said. Troopers are still awaiting the results of a toxicology report to determine if he was impaired at the time of the crash, officials said. Simeon remained hospitalized Monday but will be booked into jail once he's released. The crash happened around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when a silver Infiniti sedan driven by Simeon was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes in the area of Northwest 57th Avenue when it slammed head-on into a gray Honda sedan.
No. 3 - The emotional half-sister of convicted Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz took the witness stand Monday to relive the “horrible” childhood they endured.
Danielle Woodard, 35, described the hardships of living with an addicted mother she only referred to as Brenda. “[1998] was the time of my life that I lived with Brenda, and Nikolas was developing in her polluted womb," she testified. Danielle Woodard was a child when her mother's alcohol and crack cocaine addictions began, and they continued during Brenda Woodard's pregnancy with Nikolas Cruz. She testified she was in prison when told her half-brother killed 17 students and staff and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
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No. 4 - Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez is under fire and attempting to clarify her statements after she told a Miami Spanish-language radio station that Cuban migrants who arrived in the state illegally would be shipped to Delaware.
During an interview with 1040 AM Actualidad Radio Friday, Nuñez was asked about the recent wave of migrants coming to Florida from Cuba and said the DeSantis administration would take a hard line. “That’s why the governor has worked with the legislature, to secure funding to make sure…that people that are coming illegally…that they don’t stay here with their arms crossed, thinking about what they will be able to do," she said. "We are going to send that person, frankly, to Delaware, the president’s home state.” Nuñez told NBC 6 Monday that her comments were misinterpreted. One of the Democratic candidates hoping to face DeSantis in the general election, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, criticized the comments as a "betrayal of our deepest values."
No. 5 - J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs was sent into a panic in late February when a call came to 911.
"Hello, I go to Taravella High School and I believe a student has a form of weapon, like a gun, on campus," the 911 caller said in audio exclusively obtained Monday by NBC 6 Investigators. “What makes you think that?" the dispatcher asked. "I saw them reach into their bag, and he pulled out a black, metal-type object out of their bookbag," the caller said. The caller gave a description and also had a name, increasing the chances that it was a real threat. Officials locked down the school after the call. But it turned out to be a hoax. Click here for more on how police found the person behind the hoax in a story from NBC 6 investigator Willard Shepard you’ll find Only on 6.
No. 6 - Without the help of a CPAP machine, Don Peteuil said he stops breathing 68 times an hour while he sleeps.
“The doctors told me if that was not treated, eventually, I may not restart breathing. The CPAP was very critical to me,” Peteuil said. Last year, Philips announced a voluntary recall of around 5 million CPAP, BiPAP and ventilator devices, including the model prescribed to Peteuil, saying the foam used to reduce sound could break down, be swallowed or inhaled by the user, and degrading foam could be toxic or carcinogenic. A status check on Philips’ online patient portal earlier this week showed Peteuil’s device is registered, but he was yet to receive it. Click here for more in a report from NBC 6 consume investigator Sasha Jones.
