NBC 6’s Kristin Sanchez has more on what you need to know if your plans take you across the border.
Here are some of this past week's top stories from NBC 6 News:
Flying for Spring Break? Here's What to Know About TSA Mask Mandate Extension
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As the spring break season begins and travelers depart on getaways, questions have surfaced about the nation's public transportation mask mandate, including how long it will remain in place, despite a dramatic drop in COVID-19 metrics nationwide.
Citing a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday, the Transportation Security Administration announced the extension of its mask requirement on public transportation for one month, through April 18.
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Under the mandate, face coverings will continue to be required on buses, trains and airplanes as well as at transportation facilities.
Florida Lawmakers Fail to Pass Condo Safety Reform to Shock of Surfside Families
Local
It’s been nearly nine months since the building collapse in Surfside killed 98 people. Florida lawmakers promised they would pass reforms to prevent something similar from happening but they couldn’t make a deal.
A disagreement between the House and Senate over money stopped a bipartisan bill from passing. Lawmakers couldn’t agree on how much money condo associations needed to have in back up to pay for maintenance and repairs and when they needed to have it.
Victim families can’t understand why nothing will be done.
Bridge Tender Arrested After Woman's Fatal Fall From Palm Beach Drawbridge
The bridge tender who was operating the drawbridge to Palm Beach that caused a woman to fall to her death last month has been arrested, police said.
Artissua Lafay Paulk, 33, of Greenacres, was arrested Thursday in connection with the Feb. 6 incident, according to the West Palm Beach Police Department.
Police said Carol Wright, 79, was walking her bike across the span toward West Palm Beach and was within 10 feet of the barrier arms that halt traffic when the drawbridge started to move.
“The woman tried to hang on. There was a bystander nearby who tried to help her, but tragically she fell five or six stories below where she died landing on concrete,” West Palm Beach police spokesperson Mike Jachles said at the time.
United Way of Broward County Commission Holds Emergency Meeting to Discuss Overdoses
Following two back-to-back mass overdose incidents in Broward County just days apart that sent multiple people to the hospital, community organizations and stakeholders are coming together to address the spike in cases.
The United Way of Broward County has a special commission focused on issues like this.
This week the Commission on Behavioral Health and Drug Prevention held an emergency meeting following those two major overdose incidents to try and come up with immediate action.
Miami Beach Man on Front Lines of Efforts to Help Ukrainian Refugee
A Miami Beach man is on the front line of the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, helping thousands of people who have been forced out of their homes.
Arnie Weiss spoke to NBC 6 through Zoom from the main train station in Košice, the second-largest city in Slovakia.
His roots in South Florida run deep, having grown up on Miami Beach. He and his wife Silvia are part of the lifeline, the rescue group, helping Ukrainians forced from their homeland because of the Russian invasion.
Parkland School Shooting Families to Get $127.5 Million for FBI's Inaction
Federal officials confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the families of most of those killed or wounded in a 2018 Florida high school shooting over the FBI's failure to stop the gunman even though it had received information he intended to attack.
Attorneys for 16 of the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and some of those wounded previously announced in November that they had reached a monetary settlement with the government over the FBI's failure to investigate a tip it received about a month before the massacre. The 17th family chose not to sue.
The government's announcement Wednesday said the settlement resolves 40 cases connected to the shooting for $127.5 million. The settlement does not amount to an admission of fault by the United States, according to a Justice Department news release.
