There’s no clucking around in Little Havana. 😉🐓😉 | Want to see your own picture in this space? Tag either #thenewtropic or @thenewtropic to be featured in our Instagram of the Day. (📸: @zairezaire)
⛑️ Southwest Florida is in recovery mode after being swept up in severe weather over the weekend. While Miami dealt with gray skies and heavy rainfall on Sunday, our neighbors in the Fort Myers and Lee County area were faced with devastating tornadoes that left dozens of homes flattened and thousands without power. You can read more about the damage as well as ways to help at the following links. 👉 (CNN / Naples Daily News / NBC2 News)
🚨 The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office has recused itself from investigating corruption claims against local elected officials. The Miami Herald reported yesterday that Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle recused her office from investigating Miami Commissioners Joe Carollo, Alex Díaz de la Portilla, and Manolo Reyes over a conflict of interest. Per an email sent to the governor’s office, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office “became aware that a substantial witness to potential wrongdoing ... is the brother of a Senior Attorney in our office whom the State Attorney relies upon regularly for wise counsel for her most sensitive legal matters.” The investigation is now being conducted by Broward prosecutors. The claims stem from a memo written by ousted police chief Art Acevedo last year accusing city commissioners of improperly interfering with police matters. (Miami Herald)
🏫 And then there were three: The Miami-Dade County Public School Board has trimmed down the list of candidates vying to replace outgoing Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. During a meeting yesterday, the school board named Dr. Jose Dotres, Dr. Rafaela Espinal, and Jacob Oliva as the top three picks among the dozen-plus candidates. According to Florida Politics, Dotres and Oliva are favorites for the position: “Dotres is an odds-on favorite because of his cross-county experience and administrative history with Miami-Dade Public Schools, while Oliva’s background in leading local and statewide education matters also places him atop the list.” Yesterday’s meeting also saw the school board also discuss ways of conducting the final interviews in a public forum. (Local 10 / Florida Politics)
😷 The number of Floridians hospitalized for COVID-19 is lowering in the wake of the surge caused by the highly infectious omicron variant. Over the weekend, Florida became the third state in the country to report more than 5 million known cases, trailing Texas and California. (NBC 6 South Florida / WSVN)
