A familiar COVID-19 scene is playing out off Barbados, where cruise passengers are confined to their rooms after fellow passengers tested positive for the virus. Despite two negative PCR COVID-19 … Click to Continue »
A New York man was arrested Saturday in connection with an unprovoked assault against Rick Moranis that occurred as the 67-year-old actor was walking near Central Park in October. New … Click to Continue »
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A father and daughter rode their antique high-wheel bikes, to the delight of drivers along the way, from Michigan to Key West.
The team of Randy and Amy Oleynik started their journey on October 9 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the northeastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
On Saturday afternoon, they concluded their 2,000-mile ride.
The pair celebrated the conclusion of their journey at the Key West marker by jubilantly lifting their 132-year-old bicycles as spectators cheered their achievement.
“It’s our second ride,” said Randy Oleynik, a 61-year-old pharmacist from Carleton, Michigan. “We rode from San Francisco to Boston in 2016, and after that we decided we should do the north-to-south to complete basically the ‘holy grail’ of high-wheel biking across the country.”
On their trek from Michigan to Key West, the father-daughter duo rode about 60 miles per day, accompanied by a support van driven by Randy’s wife and Amy’s mother.
“When people see us going by, number one they smile, so it’s a great reaction,” said Randy Oleynik. “They wave, they yell, they beep their horns, they swerve, they’ll stop their cars in the middle of the road.”
Amy said she hopes the ride will inspire others to seek out enjoyable moments and challenges.
“What we want this ride to tell people is, number one, get outside,” she advised. “Get out there — you’re definitely never too old to learn how to ride a bicycle.”
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Tropical Storm Iota is expected to strengthen and become a powerful hurricane before making landfall in Central America early next week.
Honduras and Nicaragua are expected to feel its effects beginning Monday.
With the 4 p.m. Saturday advisory, Iota was about 375 miles south of Kingston Jamaica. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and it was moving slowly west southwest at 7 mph.
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The storm is not expected to affect South Florida.
Watches and warnings
The government of Colombia has issued a tropical storm warning for the islands of San Andres and Providencia.
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours.
A westward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected to begin later Saturday and continue through Monday.
On the forecast track, Iota will move across the central Caribbean Sea during the next day or so, and approach the coasts of Ncaragua and northeastern Honduras by Monday.
Steady to rapid strengthening is likely to begin Saturday night or on Sunday,
Iota is forecast to be at or near major hurricane strength when it approaches Central America.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles from the center.
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – Raising questions about whether the case was “frivolous” or filed in “bad faith,” an appeals court Friday rejected a Northwest Florida attorney’s lawsuit that sought to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to close beaches statewide to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Santa Rosa Beach attorney Daniel Uhlfelder, who has drawn national media attention during the pandemic because of public appearances dressed as the grim reaper, took the beach-closure case to the 1st District Court of Appeal after a Leon County circuit judge ruled against him.
But in a sharply worded one-page order Friday, a three-judge panel rejected the case, saying the appeals court has “reviewed the briefs and other filings in this case and finds that the appellant (Uhlfelder) fails to demonstrate even an arguable legal basis for reversal.”
“Moreover, the appellant shall show cause within fifteen days why this court should not impose sanctions, including attorney fees and costs, on him and counsel for filing this appeal, the initial brief, and the request for oral argument, which appear to be frivolous and/or filed in bad faith,” said the order by Judges Brad Thomas, Susan Kelsey and Adam Tanenbaum.
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Uhlfelder filed the lawsuit against DeSantis in late March, arguing that the governor should be required to close beaches statewide and issue a strong “safer at home” order to prevent spread of the virus.
He acknowledged that Friday’s order was “unusual” and said he would respond to the appeals court within the allotted time frame.
“I don’t think it’s frivolous or in bad faith,” he told The News Service of Florida in a phone interview Friday evening.
Uhlfelder said he filed the lawsuit “because the governor abrogated his constitutional authority and he has endangered lives.” And since the appeal was filed, the situation with COVID-19 in Florida has “gotten even worse,” Uhlfelder said.
In ruling against Uhlfelder in April, Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll said the state Constitution gives the governor discretion about handling emergencies.
“I believe that what I’m being asked to do is substitute my judgment for that of the governor on how to respond to this COVID crisis, which has been somewhat of a moving target,” Carroll said during a telephone hearing at the time. “There are 599 circuit judges in Florida at last count, and I don’t think we need to have 599 governors-in-waiting.”
Carroll also said that “second-guessing” DeSantis’ actions about beach closures and stay-at-home orders would violate separation-of-powers restrictions established by the Constitution.
During the April hearing, however, the judge thanked Uhlfelder for filing the lawsuit and encouraged him to pursue an appeal, “because I do think this is a matter of importance.”
“If the 1st District (Court of Appeal) tells me that I’m wrong and I do have the authority, then I’m glad to address it and go from there. But I do not believe that I have the power to do what you’re asking me to do, and I’m sorry to tell you that the answer is no,” the judge said.
In a July brief at the Tallahassee-based appeals court, Uhlfelder disputed that the separation of powers should lead to dismissal of the case.
“In fact, the separation of powers mandates judicial intervention to protect the health and welfare of Florida’s citizens from DeSantis’ constitutional abdication of his sworn duties,” lawyers for Uhlfelder wrote in the brief. “The preservation of Floridians’ lives is dependent on the judiciary protecting them, because it is clear DeSantis has no interest in protecting their lives during this deadly global pandemic where Florida has now quickly become the epicenter.”
Attorneys for DeSantis, however, urged the court to back Carroll’s ruling.
“Because Florida’s structure of government recognizes and establishes a clear separation of powers among three branches of government, and because the authorities appellant claims command the governor to act are purely discretionary, the question appellant poses is beyond the authority of … courts to decide,” DeSantis’ attorneys wrote in a brief. “Put simply, the judiciary is not the appropriate branch to seek the public policy change appellant demands — it is either the Legislature (to change the laws) or the executive (to execute them in a specific manner).”
But Uhlfelder noted Friday that Carroll urged him to file an appeal and said “reputable” attorneys had joined the lawsuit.
“I’ve been practicing law a long time and I’ve been around lawyers a long time. I don’t file frivolous actions. I believe in what I did. I believe what I did helped people. The judge told me to file an appeal. I did,” he said.
(©2020 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida’s Dara Kam and Jim Saunders contributed to this report.)
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Federal prosecutors said that a South Florida high school basketball coach fraudulently obtained nearly $1 million in coronavirus relief funds for his consulting company.
Terrence Deshun Williams, 40, of Tamarac, who made his first court appearance Saturday at 11 a.m., is charged by criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with one count of bank fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds, and one count of making false statements to a financial institution.
The federal complaint alleges that Williams, the head coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at Stranahan High School, applied for and received $984,710 in a PPP loan from an insured financial institution on behalf of Williams Consulting Group LLC, a company Williams owned.
Federal officials contend that although Williams claimed the company had 67 employees and an average monthly payroll of $393,884.00, the company in fact paid no such payroll and did not have any recorded employees with the State of Florida.
Prosecutors say that Williams laundered the vast majority by transferring the proceeds to several accounts he controlled at a different financial institution.
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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721.
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Florida Department of Health added 1,187 newly reported cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County on Friday and deaths rose by 1 to 3,707.
The additional cases increased Miami-Dade County’s overall total to 200,259.
The two-week positivity rate average increased to 7.35%.
In Broward, there were 1,211 new cases and deaths rose by 4 to 1,585.
Broward County’s overall total increased to 93,868 cases.
The two-week positivity rate average stands at 7.0%.
In Monroe, there were 8 new cases and no additional deaths.
Monroe County’s overall totals are 2,752 cases and 25 deaths.
The two-week positivity rate average increased to 10.47%.
Statewide, there were 4,544 newly added cases and deaths rose by 45 to 17,704.
The total number of cases now stands at 875,096 across Florida.
The two-week positivity rate in Florida increased to 7.44%.
It started with a Twitter guarantee — acclaimed indie singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers promising to cover the Goo Goo Dolls’ minivan rock classic “Iris” if Donald Trump lost the presidential election. It was taken to the next level with a response by fellow alternative star and critics’ darling Maggie Rogers, who responded by asking if Bridgers could use some backup harmonies on her rendition. And now, it’s set to be one of the week’s best-selling songs.
Bridgers and Rogers’ “Iris” cover — credited to “Phoebe & Maggie,” and sold as a pay-what-you-want one-day exclusive on Bandcamp — sold 28,000 copies this Friday (Nov. 13) in the U.S., according to initial reports to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. (Bandcamp only reports sales that meets Billboard’s minimum price threshold to be included in chart calculations.)
Though the song is no longer available for purchase (or to stream), that one-day number would likely place Phoebe & Maggie’s “Iris” in contention to become one of the week’s best-selling songs (tracking mix of Nov. 13-19). For reference, 28,000 in sales would have been enough in sales to top Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart many weeks so far this year — though for this tracking week, it will face some heavy competition in Billie Eilish’s new song “Therefore I Am,” as well as several country songs whose sales have been boosted following performances at Wednesday’s CMA Awards.
The one-day sales total may also be enough for the duo’s “Iris” cover to contend for the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 chart. It would be a particularly notable Hot 100 entry for both artists, as neither Bridgers nor Rogers has yet made an appearance on the chart. (Both have notched multiple entries on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, with Bridgers reaching a peak of No. 25 in 2018 for her guest appearance on Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met,” and Rogers making it to No. 18 in 2016 with her breakout hit “Alaska.”)
The Goo Goo Dolls’ original “Iris,” first released on the City of Angels soundtrack in 1998, made it to No. 9 on the Hot 100. That peak likely would have been even higher if not for Hot 100 rules deeming songs not released as commercial singles as ineligible for the chart — which were eliminated in late 1998, just in time for the song to make a belated top 10 debut, but after its tremendous popularity had already crested. It stayed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart for a then-unprecedented 18 weeks, a record that held until just this year, when The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” held on top for a staggering 26 frames.
Proceeds for the Phoebe & Maggie “Iris” cover will benefit Georgia politician Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight organization, which promotes fair elections in Abrams’ home state and around the nation, while also encouraging voter participation, and educating voters about their rights. The full Nov. 13-19 sales tracking week will impact the Nov. 28-dated Billboard charts, which will update on Billboard.com Nov. 24.
Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent and Big Sean are praying for Jeremih amid thus far unconfirmed reports that the singer is battling COVID-19.
Jeremih is allegedly hospitalized in an ICU in Chicago. Billboard has reached out to a representative of the R&B hitmaker for comment.
“Please if you can take a second to pray for my friend Jeremih, he is like a brother to me and he’s ill right now,” Chance wrote on Twitter Saturday afternoon (Nov. 14). “I believe in the healing power of Jesus so if you can for me please please say a prayer over him,”
“pray for my boy Jeremih he’s not doing good this covid shit is real,” 50 cent said. On Instagram, the rapper also wrote, “he’s in ICU in Chicago.”
“Prayers up,” Big Sean tweeted, “praying for your strength @Jeremih.”
“Prayers up to jerimah and his family,” Meek Mill wrote.
Hitmaka pleaded for prayers on Instagram as well, indicating that he had spoken to Jeremih’s mother. “I need everyone to pray for my brother @jeremih this message is posted with his mothers blessings,” he wrote.
Ariana Grande is getting scientific for her next music video.
The 27-year-old pop star took to social media on Saturday (Nov. 14) to tease a snippet from the upcoming music video for her sensual jam “34+35.”
Set in a high-tech laboratory, Grande wears a long white lab coat with matching stiletto boots while nervously walking and taking notes on a clipboard. She then approaches a large piece of machinery and slams her hand onto a round button.
“Ariana Grande ’34+35,’” reads a message at the closing. “Coming to a screen near you.”
“34+35″ is the second single from Grande’s latest album, Positions, which recently topped the Billboard 200, giving the singer her firth No. 1 album.
The song debuted at No. 8 on the Hot 100 earlier in the week with 21.7 million streams, 5.7 million airplay audience impressions and 3,000 sold. “34+35″ is Grande’s 18th total top 10 hit on the Hot 100 to date, the most of any woman in the chart’s history.
Check out the “34+35″ video teaser here.
