It’s Thursday, September 22nd - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Activity in the tropics could have a major impact on South Florida in the coming days with an area in the Caribbean possibly moving closer.
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WATCH HEREInvest-98L has an 90 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression and will likely become Hermine as the next named system. NHC forecasters said it will likely become a tropical depression within the next couple days as it moves west northwestward across the southern Windward Islands. Models are very consistent over the next five days, taking this developing storm across the Caribbean toward the southwestern coast of Cuba. It is way too soon to know what this system wants to do, but all of South Florida will need to monitor it in the coming days. After that, models are not in good agreement currently as they are showing a range of options from a storm heading toward Texas to a storm very close to Key West.
No. 2 - Police are investigating after a tow truck driver fatally shot a car owner whose car he was trying to repossess during a confrontation in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday morning.
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The incident unfolded around 10 a.m. at a neighborhood in the 100 block of Carolina Avenue. "It sounded like four shots. Pop, pop, pop, but very loud," resident Angela Mohammad said. Fort Lauderdale Police officials said officers responding to 911 calls of a shooting arrived at the scene and found a man fatally shot. Investigators said the tow truck driver had arrived to repossess a vehicle and that's when a confrontation and altercation ensued. Shots were fired and the car owner was killed, police said. Neither man's identity was released.
No. 3 - Attorneys representing some of the migrants who are suing after they were flown to Martha's Vineyard from Texas at the hands of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said they're seeking a nationwide injunction to prevent more flights.
"We are seeking a nationwide injunction to block Governor DeSantis and Florida from engaging in these activities which endanger human lives," Ivan Espinoza-Madrigral, with Lawyers for Civil Rights, said during a video news conference Wednesday. The group's class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston Tuesday on behalf of some of the Venezuelan migrants, accuses DeSantis and others of a "premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme" to fly them to the island last week. Espinoza-Madrigral said the group would be filing a series of claims seeking damages amid their claims of illegal seizure, false arrest, deprivation of liberty and discrimination of the migrants.
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No. 4 - The DeSantis Administration has never shied away from courting controversy on education policy.
In fact, the governor seems to relish the attention his moves have received, and on Wednesday, his stances were under the spotlight again, as the president of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten flew down from Washington and blasted the governor for what she calls weaponizing public education.
“And we would ask the governor, instead of smearing teachers, instead of calling them names, roll up your sleeves and work with us to actually help kids thrive,” Weingarten said at a news conference. So what’s she talking about? Labels from the DeSantis administration, such as calling teachers “groomers.” On the campaign trail, DeSantis touts his education record, saying his administration has increased teacher pay, given parents more say, and ended FSA testing. Click here for more in a report from NBC 6’s Ari Odzer.
No. 5 - The Biden administration said Wednesday that the U.S. Embassy in Cuba will begin processing full immigrant visas in early 2023, making it easier for Cubans to reunite with family members in the United States.
The embassy in Havana had last processed full immigrant visas in 2017. The U.S. government will also stop requiring Cubans seeking visas in family preference categories to travel to Georgetown, Guyana, for their interviews. Additional government personnel will staff the embassy to handle the visa requests. The added personnel are part of the commitment stemming from the resumption of the Cuban Family Reunification Parole program last month. The 2007 program enables U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to apply for their family members in Cuba to come to the U.S. sooner than conventionally allowed.
No. 6 - As getting a driver’s license continues to be a struggle in South Florida, NBC 6 learned that the prices to buy an appointment are going up, and the state announced on Wednesday that it’s opening a new location aimed at serving more people.
A mom who is trying to get her daughter a drivers license now says she was offered an appointment for $150, up from the $60 that NBC 6 first reported. “It is a disaster and I want to know why it is happening, and I also want to know why people are having to spend money out of their own pockets to pay a private entity," said state Sen. Annette Taddeo. On Wednesday, Taddeo sent a letter addressed to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Terry Rhodes requesting a status report on how the department is dealing with the driver’s license situation, calling it “an alarming trend” that “on its surface, is not being remedied.” Click here for more in a report from NBC 6’s Heather Walker.
