South Florida Local News

Today is Sunday, June 15, the 166th day of 2025. There are 199 days left in the year. This is Father’s Day.

Today in history:

On June 15, 1934, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most-visited national park in the United States, was established by Congress.

Also on this date:

In 1215, England’s King John placed his seal on Magna Carta (“the Great Charter”), which curtailed the absolute power of the monarchy.

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In 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army.

In 1864, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed an order establishing a military burial ground which became Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In 1895, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake struck the coast of northeastern Japan with waves reaching a height of 125 feet (38.1 meters), killing more than 22,000 people.

In 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat PS General Slocum in New York’s East River; it remained the deadliest individual event in the New York area until 9/11.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act making the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war or national emergency.

In 1938, Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds became the only baseball pitcher to toss two consecutive no-hitters, leading the Reds to a 6-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in the first night game at Ebbets Field, four days after no-hitting the Boston Bees by a score of 3-0.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing more than 800 people.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court, with a 6-3 vote in its Bostock v. Clayton County decision, ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Baseball Hall of Famer Billy Williams is 87.
• Former MLB player and manager Dusty Baker is 76.
• Actor Simon Callow is 76.
• Singer Russell Hitchcock (Air Supply) is 76.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping is 72.
• Actor-comedian Jim Belushi is 71.
• Actor Julie Hagerty is 70.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs is 67.
• Actor Helen Hunt is 62.
• Actor Courteney Cox is 61.
• Rapper-actor Ice Cube is 56.
• Actor Leah Remini is 55.
• Actor Neil Patrick Harris is 52.
• Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Madison Kocian is 28.

Q: Ira, how much do you believe the Finals will impact moves made by the Heat this summer? Will Indiana be seen as the team to beat if it wins? – Davis.

A: I doubt that will be the perception, similar to few teams targeting the Heat as the team to beat after the Heat made it to the 2023 NBA Finals. When there is a definitive front-runner, you construct with an eye toward taking down said team, as the Knicks did in bolstering their perimeter defense to deal with the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But with the Pacers, you are talking about a team that finished in fourth place this past season, just two games ahead of fifth. I doubt, whether the Pacers win the Finals or not, that East teams suddenly build solely with a focus on beating the Pacers. Without a decisive favorite in the East in light of the Achilles injury to Tatum, it likely would go back to simply building the best roster possible. As it is, the Heat are playing in catch-up mode to most of the East. Such is the reality of closing at 37-45 and being blown out in the first round. At the moment, the Heat’s roster focus has to be on the Heat.

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• Submit your “Ask Ira” question here!

Q: Does being in the East help us with getting Kevin Durant? Maybe the Suns don’t want KD in the West. Maybe KD wants the best chance to win and the East gives him that chance. It seems like the path would be easier in the next year being in the East. – Kristopher, Oceanside, Calif.

A: That long has been one of the angles in attempting to woo players East, that the competition hardly is as stiff. And there certainly is something to be said for that. But it’s not as if Kevin Durant would be joining an elite contender with a move to the Heat, but rather a team that closed 37-45, just one game better than his Suns last season. And the Suns hardly are in a position to take less for Durant simply to move him to the opposite conference. They need the best package available. Period. Yes, the Suns will work with Durant, but likely only to a degree. If the Timberwolves or Rockets or Spurs offer more, than West it will be.

Q: When will we know about Davion Mitchell? – Ed.

A: It could be sooner or it could be later. The Heat’s negotiating window with Davion Mitchell is allowed to open the day after the close of the NBA Finals. With that series now assured of going at least six games, that means no earlier than June 20, as possibly as late as June 23. Then there is the June 29 deadline for the Heat to extend an $8.7 million qualifying offer and make Davion a restricted free agent, with the right to therefore match outside offers. And then there is the 6 p.m. June 30 actual start of free-agency negotiations, followed by the July 6 start of the free-agency signing period.

Behold, the insurance secrets that surface when you look at publicly available data a different way, by ranking companies by what they charge per $1,000 of insured value:

— Collectively, Florida-based property insurers charge significantly higher rates per $1,000 than companies headquartered outside the state charge.

— Owners of condominium units in Florida pay twice as much per $1,000 to insure their contents than homeowners pay to cover their entire structures and contents.

— And if you are covered by one of the 17 companies that have helped to depopulate state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., you are paying significantly more per $1,000 of insured value than customers of non-participating insurers.

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These findings stem from an analysis by the South Florida Sun Sentinel of data that insurers have been required to make available to the public since the second quarter of 2022.

The newspaper dug into quarterly Residential Market Share Reports released by the Office of Insurance Regulation and calculated what insurance customers pay per $1,000 of coverage value, figures that are not included on the spreadsheets.

Comparing by cost per $1,000 adds a different perspective when the numbers are viewed side by side for the more than 85 insurance companies overseen by Florida’s insurance regulators.

Because it creates a level playing field by showing the cost for a fixed unit of coverage, consumers can use the comparison to help make informed decisions, and perhaps save some money, when selecting an insurance policy.

Comparing costs per $1,000 goes beyond just looking at average premiums because — in addition to dividing total premiums by the number of policies — there’s a third factor in the calculation.

It’s the dollar value of risks that insurers cover, expressed on the spreadsheet as “exposure.”

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Risks include the cost to rebuild structures (or in the case of condominium units, the cost to replace damaged furnishings), but they also include less tangible factors such as the potential for dog-bite injuries, fallen trees, broken sidewalks and hurricane damage.

Then there’s geography, a major price driver as South Florida homeowners have known for decades.

A $500,000 home in South Florida “carries much more risk of loss and would be priced much higher than $500,000 of total insured value up in Tallahassee, 20 miles inland,” said Stacey Giulianti, chief legal officer at Boca Raton-based Florida Peninsula.

To find the cost per $1,000 for each company, the Sun Sentinel divided the total exposures and total paid premiums submitted by the insurers by their total number of policies. Then we divided the average premium cost by the average exposure value and multiplied the result by 1,000.

To obtain costs per $1,000 for large categories, we added the exposure, premium and policy totals for all companies within a category before calculating the averages.

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The resulting cost per $1,000 can be compared over time, between coverage categories, or even between insurance companies.

“I think transparency is always beneficial,” said Kerrie Ruland, senior vice president of the managing agent for Monarch National Insurance Company, when asked the benefits of knowing costs per $1,000. “Consumer choice paired with education is paramount. Seeing rate per $1,000 is a great start — but I think it’s important to highlight how rate is directly impacted by risk characteristics so they can draw a complete picture.”

What the costs per $1,000 don’t reveal is why different insurers charge different premiums for properties with similar values.

Theoretically, costs per $1,000 would be roughly equal if all homes cost the same and if all risks of damage were the same in all neighborhoods throughout the state.

That’s not the case here.

In general, experts say high costs per $1,000 indicate that insurers are covering the most risky properties in parts of the state with high claims costs and frequency, like South Florida and, increasingly, Southwest Florida.

Low costs per $1,000 suggest insurers that limit coverage to the state’s least risky and most expensive properties, experts say.

Florida-based insurers charge more

During the first quarter of 2025, average costs per $1,000 charged to insure single-family houses in Florida ranged from an average high of $14.63 paid by 148 policyholders with Clear Blue Insurance Company, headquartered in Chicago, to an average low of $1.23 charged to 113 policyholders with Affiliated FM, a global company that specializes in commercial coverage, based on its website.

The average cost to cover each $1,000 of insured value was $5.29 for all-perils owner-occupied single-family home coverage — up from $4.59 during the second quarter of 2022.

Costs per $1,000 increased for 56 insurers in this category, while declining for 23 companies.

The average cost to cover condo units was $10.27, up from $8.81 nearly three years earlier. Costs per $1,000 increased for 51 condo insurers and fell for 15.

The calculation of those figures include the $7.60 per $1,000 charged by Florida’s insurer of last resort, state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. for all-perils coverage of 374,383 owner-occupied single-family homes and $22.62 per $1,000 to cover 50,646 residential condo units.

Removing Citizens’ numbers enables a comparison of private market companies only and reduces the average coverage cost for single-family homes to $4.96 per $1,000 and $9.95 per $1,000 for condos.

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Further insights emerge after identifying what insurers share in common and what sets them apart.

For the analysis, the Sun Sentinel separated the companies into several groups, including whether companies are Florida-based insurers or based out-of-state whether they participated in Citizens’ depopulation program, and whether they are also licensed to sell auto insurance.

Florida-based companies include relatively new insurers such as Universal Property & Casualty, based in Fort Lauderdale, Heritage Property & Casualty, Homeowners Choice, Loggerhead, Manatee, Ovation, Security First, Slide, Southern Oak, Tailrow, Trident and Tower Hill.

Companies not based in Florida include large national insurers such as USAA Casualty, Southern Owners, State Farm Florida, Orange, Olympus, Nationwide Property & Casualty, and Hartford Fire. The analysis counted companies as not based in Florida if they are owned by companies headquartered out of state, or by national holding companies such as Chubb, Liberty Mutual, Allstate, Progressive, and Travelers.

Even though only 31 of the 87 companies are Florida-based, they insured more than twice as many policies — 2,566,047 to 1,180,441.

Florida-based companies were significantly more costly, averaging $6.01 per $1,000 compared to out-of-state-based companies, which charged an average $3.59 per $1,000.

Sixteen of the 17 companies that participated in Citizens’ depopulation program were Florida based. The exception, Orange Insurance Exchange, is headquartered in Gainesville but its majority investor is Griffin Highline Capital, based in Dallas.

The depopulation program urges private insurers to “take out” policyholders from state-owned Citizens by offering a competing renewal rate that, as long as it’s less than 20% over Citizens’ estimated renewal rate, renders policyholders ineligible to return to Citizens.

Some companies have rapidly grown their policy counts by offering premiums just under the 20% increase, the Sun Sentinel found last year.

The average cost for coverage from Citizens depopulation participants was $6.50 per $1,000 — $1.22 more than the average for Florida-based companies. It was also 73 cents more than the depopulation participants charged during the second quarter of 2022, before the current round of Citizens takeouts got underway.

Insurers licensed to also sell private auto insurance, most likely to be national carriers and not Florida-based companies, were able to offer much lower prices, averaging $3.55 per $1,000, compared to the average $5.77 per $1,000 charged by insurers that are not able to sell auto insurance.

Few insurance executives agreed to discuss findings

Property insurers contacted for this report declined to publicly discuss why their costs per $1,000 differ from those of their competitors.

After the newspaper conducted its analysis, 49 companies were asked to identify the reasons they ended up at or near the top or bottom of several compiled lists.

Among executives who responded, only a few directly addressed results for their own companies.

But some instead offered general reasons why prices can differ so widely.

Florida-based companies dominated lists of highest costs to insure both houses and condo units.

They accounted for 13 of the 15 companies with the highest average costs for homeowner policies, including Homeowners Choice ($11.09), its affiliate, TypTap ($10.32), newcomer Trident ($9.69), Universal Property & Casualty ($8.37), and Florida Peninsula ($8.25).

All 15 companies charged well over the $4.96 per $1,000 overall average, and even the $6.01 average charged by Florida-based companies.

The highest-cost homeowner insurer, Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest, charged $11.16 per $1,000, the analysis found. The company declined to comment but the data shows that four Hartford-branded insurers have been reducing their policy counts and winding down their Florida operations.

The 10 most expensive condo unit insurers with more than 500 policies also was headed by Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest, charging an average $27.55 per $1,000.

But seven of the 10 most expensive condo unit insurers were Florida-based companies, ranging from Monarch National at $25.44 to Safepoint, at $16.19.

The average amount of risk insured by Florida-based companies was significantly lower, averaging $625,094, compared to an average risk of $1.05 million insured by companies headquartered outside the state. Yet the average premium was nearly identical at $3,759 for Florida-based insurers and $3,755 for all the others.

That supports opinions often voiced by insurance experts that many large national companies are primarily interested in insuring pricey new homes constructed under the most recent building codes.

Florida-based companies are left to cover the rest, said Travis Miller, spokesman for University Property & Casualty.

Miller said the higher costs per $1,000 among Florida-based insurers result from covering more homes in costlier regions like South Florida, the Orlando metro region and the coasts. “Insurers that have been writing and continue to write policies in Florida have rates reflecting the broad Florida market experience in recent years,” he said. “An insurer writing throughout the state with meaningful volume in these types of areas will have a higher overall blended cost-per-$1,000 than insurers avoiding or restricting these areas.”

Why insurers say ‘cost per $1,000’ doesn’t tell full story

Several insurance executives told the Sun Sentinel that it can be misleading to use costs per $1,000 to compare insurers.

The calculation does not compare apples to apples, some said, because it fails to consider market factors unique to insurers, including percentages of homes they insure near the hurricane-vulnerable coast, characteristics of homes they prefer to cover, how much water damage they cover, and credit ratings of homeowners.

“So if the home is old and not well maintained, it will have higher rates than a newer build or one that has kept up the roof, plumbing and windows, as an example,” said Scott Carmilani, CEO of Vault Reciprocal Exchange, one of the lowest-priced insurers.

In addition, policyholders can influence what they pay by selecting their deductibles, replacing their roofs, hardening their homes against hurricane threats, guarding against changing permitting requirements, and adding coverage for sheds and screen porches.

They also point out that except for Citizens, Florida-based insurers all rely heavily on reinsurance to finance their risks each year. Reinsurance costs eat up 30% to 50% of every premium dollar, industry spokespersons told the Florida Legislature earlier this year.

“Everyone has different costs, reinsurance, loss ratios, etc.,” Bruce Lucas, CEO of Slide Insurance, told the Sun Sentinel. “For example, Slide purchased more reinsurance than any other company so our costs are higher.”

Each insurer negotiates reinsurance buys separately and what each insurer pays only shows up on the premium side, and not the exposure side, of cost-per-$1,000 calculations.

Differences in costs per $1,000 also depend on the value of covered homes, said Locke Burt, founder and CEO of Security First Insurance. Large national companies prefer to cover higher-priced homes in parts of the state less at risk from hurricanes. It’s why they tend to have much lower costs per $1,000 than companies covering older, lower-priced homes, he said.

“The lower the average exposure, you will see the higher the cost per $1,000,” he said.

This is because homes typically experience more “small losses” than “large losses,” said Michael Richmond-Crum, senior director of personal lines at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. As a result, “the incremental cost of coverage often decreases accordingly as the (exposure) increases,” he said.

Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said one reason Citizens’ cost per $1,000 is higher than most companies is that “most Citizens risks are older, relatively lower valued, and on the coast in Southeast Florida.” He added, “As such, it’s not surprising that the cost per unit of insurance is relatively high for Citizens.”

But there’s no easy way to pinpoint which insurers are most heavily invested in the state’s riskiest regions.

Data that can identify the number of policies held by each insurer in the riskiest counties in the state — long recognized as Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe, and more recently Southwest Florida counties such as Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier — are protected from public release as “trade secrets.”

Litigation expenses are another factor seen only in the premium side of the cost per $1,000 equation. For nearly a decade prior to the Legislature’s passage of tort reforms in 2022, insurance executives warned about increases of lawsuits filed primarily on behalf of policyholders in the tricounty region.

The reforms, which stripped most rights of attorneys and plaintiffs to collect legal fees from insurers for prevailing by any amount in litigation, reduced lawsuit activity by half, according to Locke Burt, founder and president of Security First Insurance.

Yet, “companies (overall) are still getting sued 900 to 1,000 times a week,” he said.

While costs per $1,000 to insure condominium units are high, the average value of coverage — $161,108 — is typically far lower than values of single-family homes. One reason is that condo owners must pay for insurance twice: coverage for their own units, which they pay for directly, and coverage for their buildings and all other common areas, paid with their maintenance fees.

“However, the average non-catastrophe loss-per-condo claim, relative to the coverage amount, is higher than what’s experienced for houses,” Peltier said.

Added Richmond-Crum, “An older condo may have greater maintenance needs, which if not addressed adequately or in a timely manner, may contribute to a greater likelihood of a claim being filed,” he said.

As much as looking at costs per $1,000 can reveal, specific reasons why companies are priced as they are will remain elusive unless state regulators order insurers to open their books for all to see.

Birny Birnbaum, director of the Center for Economic Justice, an advocacy group for low-income consumers, questioned whether reinsurance costs and litigation are the cost drivers that insurers say they are.

A critic of industry claims that convinced lawmakers to enact the 2022 reforms, Birnbaum referred to recent reports that insurers funneled billions of premium dollars to their investors and into affiliate companies and wondered whether those payments played a role in the cost-per-$1,000 increases since 2022.

“My guess is that the main reason for increases in costs per $1,000 is the business model used by all the new entrants to Florida” that’s built around “minimal capital, massive reliance on reinsurance and siphoning off premium to affiliated businesses for all parts of the insurance life cycle,” he said. “This business model is massively inefficient for consumers and massively profitable for the insurer’s holding company.”

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

When Alan Lesk visited his internist for an annual checkup, he mentioned that he occasionally experienced some nasal discomfort.

His doctor ordered the athletic, Delray Beach great-grandfather to get an MRI. It saved his life.

Celebrating Father’s Day, Lesk will be surrounded by generations of his family, knowing he averted lung cancer by catching a tumor in its early stages.  Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Florida and the U.S.

Lesk’s MRI, followed by a CT scan, revealed a small nodule the size of a Cheerio in his upper left lung. Doctors at Delray Medical Center used the newest robotic machines to biopsy, mark, and remove the lung lobe where the nodule resided. Lesk did not need follow-up treatment and had minimal recovery. Most of the time, lung cancer is caught at much later, more advanced stages.

At Delray Medical Center, cutting-edge robotic devices are used for biopsies and surgeries, making them less invasive and recovery much easier. Doctors using the robots say they can pick up spots that are smaller than they could without them

After the nodule showed up on Lesk’s scan, Dr. Stephen Milan used a robotic machine to help gauge the size of the tumor, get a piece of it to biopsy, and check for any spread into the lymph nodes. In the past, doctors would have done a biopsy with a needle and risked a collapsed lung. “An ION robotic bronchoscopy allows me to go after nodules that are less than a centimeter in size,” said Milan,  a pulmonologist and advanced bronchoscopist specialist at Delray Medical Center. “That is where survivorship is best, because you are catching cancer at the earliest possible stage.”

Milan used a robotic arm to navigate a catheter into Lesk’s lung to biopsy the nodule. Beforehand, he loaded Lesk’s CAT scan into the machine’s software and created a map of a path to the spot in his lung where the nodule was located. Milan said he updated the map in real time to allow for a precise biopsy. He also uses the robot to mark the nodule location for the surgeon.

Instead of the process taking days, a pathologist in the room with Milan looked at the biopsy of Lesk’s nodule under a microscope moments after it was removed and identified it as cancerous. Milan then biopsied Lesk’s lymph nodes and learned they were clear of any trace of cancer. “That is the advantage. When the patient goes home, they’re going home knowing what the diagnosis is and what stage it is,” Milan said.

Days later, Lesk underwent surgery.  The surgeon also used a robotic device.

“We did a robotic lobectomy to treat the cancer,” said Dr. John Roberts,  a thoracic surgeon and vice chair of the robotics committee.  He said using a robot allowed him to make small incisions and use small electronic arms to remove the entire lung lobe where the nodule was located, a necessity because of the size of the cancer tumor. “The main benefit is that with the smaller incisions, you’re not actually having to cut any muscle. The pain is less, and the recovery time is shorter.”

“I believe from the time the spot was seen until the time we actually had it out was on the order of 10 days. That’s incredible,” Roberts said.

Scott Cohen, left, and Alan Lesk, 83, high-five after a particularly nice shot on the pickleball court in Delray Beach. Doctors used a robotic procedure to treat Leak’s lung cancer, leaving him cancer free and active again. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Lesk said he is grateful for the outcome.

“It scared the heck out of me,” he said. “I play golf, tennis, pickleball and work out in the gym regularly and I know I am fortunate to have found it early. There is no limitations on my ability to be active.”

The 83-year-old now preaches this mantra: No one should skip their doctor visits. It’s a message being blasted across the country during Men’s Health Week.

He hopes all fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers will take their health seriously and schedule procedures rather than letting time lapse after a scan or diagnosis.

“I really think being proactive and on top of things and making sure you pursue things, even if you don’t think they are very important, can save your life,” Lesk said.

Gil Alejo is the exhibition director for the World Health Expo in Miami. (Cindy Krischer Goodman/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Next generation of high-tech medical devices 

Imagine an iPhone attachment that will zap the itch out of your mosquito bite, or a rubber glove that kills germs when you touch them. Medical innovations were on full display in Miami Beach last week as more than a thousand exhibitors from around the globe showed off their products to physicians, radiologists, distributors and retailers.

“Technology has advanced, and in a lot of cases, the future is already here,” said Gil Alejo, exhibition director for the World Health Expo (WHX Miami) from Wednesday to Friday.

Hyperbaric chamber using pressurized air is on display at the World Health Expo in Miami. (Cindy Krischer Goodman/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

This year, many of the products have an AI component, Alejo said. “AI is playing such a big role in patient diagnostics and better patient outcomes.  Where before it was just the medical products and devices, now everything is intertwined.”

This year’s expo drew 1,500 exhibitors from over 60 different countries. Along with panel discussions, WHX Miami hosted startup competitions, where companies pitched to a panel of investors and medical leaders. “The technology some of the startups are working on is mind-boggling,” Alejo said.

Red light therapy devices are popular at this year's World Health Expo, a showcase of new medical products. (Cindy Krischer Goodman/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Red-light therapy devices were a popular product for sale this year, with technology used for medical purposes, such as reducing inflammation and providing pain relief, or for cosmetic applications, including fading age spots and fine lines. The handheld devices for home use had a price tag of about $2,500 to $10,000. Also popular was handheld, portable ultrasound equipment developed by Neo Medical, which allows healthcare workers to diagnose abdominal pain, thyroid issues, and early pregnancy on the spot, even in a primary care office. A new type of portable hyperbaric chamber by Rivitalair was on display, pressurized with air rather than oxygen. A salesperson for Rivitalair said the machine is being sold to medical offices and wellness spas.

China is at the forefront of medical innovation, and at the World Health Expo this week, dozens of device manufacturers from the country showcased their products: Aroma Season offered a remote-controlled heated eye mask that helps with dry eyes. AR Light Elf exhibited a small, red-light device that could be inserted into the nose to relieve allergy symptoms.

AR Light Elf exhibited a small, red-light device that could be inserted into the nose to relieve allergy symptoms. (Cindy Krischer Goodman/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Some of the products on display from other countries are not yet approved by the Food & Drug Administration in the U.S. but are for sale in international markets and often on Amazon.

New depression treatment 

Neuro Wellness TMS Centers of America in Coral Springs has unveiled a new treatment for depression. The center is offering treatment with a system called SAINT TMS (Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy). It uses magnetic stimulation that precisely targets specific brain areas linked to depression. SAINT is designed for treatment-resistant Major Depressive Disorder. According to the company, in clinical studies, about 80-90% of patients achieved remission of depression symptoms following the five-day treatment protocol.

“In clinical trials, they took people who were inpatient, suicidal, or had failed to respond after taking multiple medications,” said Matt Lahn, COO of Neuro Wellness. “They were the worst-of-the-worst situations and they achieved those results.”

Lahn said his is the only private outpatient center on the East Coast offering the SAINT treatment developed by the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab. Some hospitals are offering it to their psychiatric patients. He said the remission rate for SAINT is better than for traditional TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), which has been provided since 2008. “This takes it to the next level,” he said.

Patients receive a functional brain MRI prior to treatment, which creates more than 17,000 images. It is used to create an individualized treatment plan. During treatment, patients are connected to a magnetic impulse that stimulates neurons to control their mood. Each treatment is 10 minutes and a patient receives 50 treatments total over five days.

SAINT is FDA-approved for individuals over 21 and is designed for those seeking rapid results. For now though, the treatment is not covered by insurance and costs $25,000.

“Every session is uniquely targeted to that individual,” Lahn said. “The unmatched precision is what sets this apart,” Lahn said.

Neuro Wellness of Coral Springs has a new machine to treat depression. (Courtesy)

Autism law in Florida is a start, advocates say

A new autism law will become effective on July 1 in Florida. The law extends early intervention therapies and services through the Early Steps program to Florida families until an autistic child turns 4 and begins receiving services at school. That is a year longer than the current law allows.  The new law also establishes two education-related grant programs: one for specialized summer programs for children with autism and the other to support charter schools that exclusively serve them.

“The new law is a step in the right direction, but more still needs to be done to truly meet the needs of autistic individuals in Florida,” said Nicole Clark, a local Florida autism awareness advocate and  CEO and co-founder of the Adult and Pediatric Institute, which works with autistic families. “It’s a band-aid. This isn’t fixing the problem.”

Clark said children need a formal medical diagnosis of autism to be covered by insurance, including Medicaid. Because Florida increased the requirements for professionals providing a diagnosis, fewer providers opt to do so, she said.  As a result, Florida families have to get on a long waiting list to get a diagnosis.

“All of these bills are looking at kids who already have a diagnosis,” she said. “There’s no legislation that’s talking about these exorbitant wait lists, and also a need for educating more providers on doing appropriate screenings. One of the things that I’d like to see in a bill moving forward is financial incentives for providers who are willing to do these evaluations for kids with Medicaid.”

With a formal diagnosis, families would gain access to various services, therapies and products such as special beds and strollers, she said:  “You need a formal diagnosis before you can get any of that. This new law is definitely a step in the right direction. But this is not the time to take our eye off the ball or take our foot off the gas.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed the Spectrum Alert law, which will act like an Amber Alert for children with autism.

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South Florida hospital news

Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale recently welcomed a new president and CEO, Pierre Monice. Prior to joining Holy Cross, Monice was president of Loyola Medical Center’s MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill., which, like Holy Cross, is a Trinity hospital. At Holy Cross Health, Monice will focus on outpatient growth strategy, enhancing patient satisfaction and fostering a strong culture of colleague engagement.

“Coming home to serve the very community that shaped me is the honor of a lifetime,” said Monice, who was born and raised in South Florida and is from a Haitian immigrant family. “Just as I am committed to excellence, health equity and community engagement, so is the entire team at Holy Cross Health. I look forward to embarking on this new chapter for Holy Cross with our generous donors, supporters, community leaders, physicians, nurses and staff and continuing to bring the highest quality of compassionate care to our patients.”

Memorial Hospital Pembroke has increased the number of patients it can treat at its wound care facilities with the addition of a new monoplace hyperbaric chamber. The equipment will provide access for an estimated five more patients each day, all of whom spend at least two hours each visit receiving pure oxygen to heal wounds that haven’t responded to other treatments.

St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach is investing more than $30 million in a series of major expansions and renovations across key departments. The improvements include a $7 million expansion and renovation project of the pediatric emergency department, an $11 million expansion of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Oncology and Intermediate Care Unit; a $9 million expansion of the Adult ICU; and a $6 million Adult Emergency Department upgrade.  St. Mary’s Medical Center is part of the Palm Beach Health Network.

South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com. 

At an Alina penthouse in Boca Raton, a couple could shower in the same space under two separate shower heads, avoiding the need to share water.

Or they could live nearly entirely separate lives with their own rooms, bathrooms and plenty of space in between if they opted to buy one of the Alina residences, which sell for millions.

Matthew Jeffries, the CEO of El-Ad National Properties, which is the developer representing Alina, got requests from buyers wishing to customize their units, including moving bathrooms and installing some sort of barrier inside the shower. Even the scents inside the residences have been specifically curated.

A lot of people really just wanted lots of storage and closet space, he said. So in many of the rooms, the closets alone are larger than some studio apartments.

Alina’s spot in the city at 200 SE Mizner Blvd. drew many people in, too, Jeffries said, including locals, northeasterners and even people from California and Canada.

“We noticed that Boca was very attracted to what we were offering because of the location, and it’s 9 acres of prime downtown,” he said while standing inside the lobby of one of the three Alina buildings, surrounded by what the building’s architect — Garcia Stromberg — describes as undulating sculptures.

El-Ad National Properties CEO Matthew Jeffries in the lobby at Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025. El-Ad is the developer behind Alina. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The Alina is one of the latest residential projects to be completed in Boca Raton, further cushioning the city’s luxury market and quenching an apparent insatiable hunger for high-end living.

About half of a mile away from the Alina is the Glass House luxury residential project, currently under construction. This 10-story building at 280 E. Palmetto Park Road is classified as Boca Raton’s first modern glass building, and exclusivity will be one of its defining markers with less than 30 available units.

And then there is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Residences at the intersection of East Camino Real and Federal Highway, billed as a $1.5 billion “ultra-luxury” project reeling in local and northeastern United States buyers, though significant delays have led to the project still being under construction.

“Boca is experiencing a pretty good pace right now. … We haven’t experienced this amount of new construction in Boca in a while,” said Geoff Braboy, a real estate adviser with Compass, who specializes in luxury homes, waterfront estates and investment properties in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach.

And beyond the residential world, office space also continues to gain momentum. Boca Raton’s office leasing activity was higher than any other city in Palm Beach County in 2022 and 2023. And to incentivize the in-person work that’s following suit, emerging are Class-A office spaces with glitzy amenities, such as the Aletto project along Palmetto Park Road, an office and rooftop dining concept.

“The Boca bubble is so strong,” Braboy said. “High net-worth buyers from states like New York, California, the northeast and abroad, they’re drawn by the lifestyle, and then also by the tax benefits.”

People want access to a “resort style, easy living,” Braboy said, and shelling out millions for a residence in the downtown Boca Raton corridor could guarantee that.

• Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• The lobby at Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• The entrance to the wellness center at Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• The lobby at Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• The entrance to the wellness center at Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Show Caption1 of 9Alina Residences, the newest condominium complex in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)Expand

Jeffries said many of the Alina buyers moved from gated communities in the west for a more “maintenance-free” lifestyle and the ability to “lock and leave” as so many South Florida snowbirds do.

“This wave of new development, it’s really given Boca a once-in-a-generation opportunity to kind of rebrand itself from a great place to retire, but now it’s one of the most desirable luxury markets in the country,” Braboy said.

Where then does that leave the “average” buyer?

“For people that aren’t looking for luxury, but they want to get into Boca for great public schools or just a lifestyle that it provides, it’s still accessible, but it’s certainly competitive,” Braboy said.

Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer called the city a “unique slice of paradise.”

Singer deems Boca Raton as such because city officials aim for measured growth — for example, Singer pointed out how the Alina was built at, not more than, the city’s maximum height limit. Some residents, though, have balked at some of the projects moving through the city process, with the most recent example being the opposition to the city’s government campus plan, which will bring nearly 1,000 new residences, office space, shops, restaurants, public gathering spaces and more to the area near the Brightline station.

Still, Singer believes that progress is being made “gradually, responsibly and with direction.”

“While other cities have seen skyscrapers go up and up, we’re still relatively modest, and you can see plenty of sky all around,” Singer said.

Alina Residences, the newest luxury community in Boca Raton on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

I wonder when the Office of Statewide Prosecutor realized just how weak its case was against Robert Runcie, the former Broward school superintendent.

The attorney general had assured us that prosecutors would be ready for any “tricks” from defense attorneys when the trial took place.

By dropping the charges in exchange for a $5,000 payment to defer the costs of prosecution and a promise (from a man who has never previously been accused of a crime) to stay out of trouble for six months, it seems that no such “tricks” were needed to secure an acquittal.

The case was pitifully lacking in evidence, something that would have been obvious to a rookie prosecutor, let alone the vaunted statewide prosecutor’s office.

A strong argument can be made that the decision to prosecute was done with the full knowledge and approval of the governor, despite the case’s weakness.

In a few months, we’ll find out how much it really cost to prosecute this case when Runcie’s attorneys seek and likely obtain reimbursement for their fees. That money will come out of the School District’s budget.

Defense attorneys deserve no criticism — they have only done their job. But the decision to prosecute Runcie seems to be another example of how the DeSantis administration seems bent on stupidly wasting the taxpayers’ money.

John Countryman, Plantation

An inevitable outcome

Sadly, we are witnessing the tragic consequences of those on college campuses who shout “Globalize the Intifada” and “Free Palestine.”

Firebombing Jewish seniors marching to support Hamas-held hostages, the murder of young Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, and the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Pennsylvania residence on Passover night are inevitable outcomes of the actions of campus demonstrators.

The administrations of American universities sustain the actions of masked mobs who wear keffiyehs instead of hoods by proclaiming their right of “free speech.” But chants such as “Kill Zionists,” “From the River to the Sea” and “Abolish Israel,” are incitement to violence.

The perpetrators of recent attacks on Jews were enabled by the mobs who have disrupted college classes and terrorized Jewish students. It is way past time to condemn those marchers for what they represent and enable: cruel terrorist syndicates that seek to destroy the state of Israel. Free speech, indeed.

Jonathan Rubin, Deerfield Beach

So tired of Trump

I’m so tired of Trump pretending that his actions are in response to antisemitism.

As a proud and observant Jew, I could not disagree more with basically every action Trump takes. His silencing of free speech, disappearing of people legally in this country, pardoning violent felons whose politics he supports, disregard for judicial action and the rule of law, his dog whistles to white supremacists and worse.

All that and more is why, as a Jew, my greatest fear is the Trump administration itself. Every time I write the president to express displeasure with his policies, I worry that I’ll be the next person sent to a foreign prison.

Barry Solomon, Fort Lauderdale

Common sense or insanity?

Do Americans want anarchy or law and order? As a nation under rule of law, we allow peaceful protest, but not rioting in the streets, looting of shop owners, burning of cars and businesses and attacking police and National Guard.

The illegal immigrants, some of whom are gang members, are targeted by ICE for deportation — as they should be. When professional protesters and activists create violence and destruction, action should be taken to arrest these lawbreakers.

A country without enforced laws and borders cannot continue to exist. Do Americans want common sense? Or insanity?

Lana Lysen, Pompano Beach

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length. 

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As mayor of Miramar, I have always stood firmly for the health and well-being of our residents and for data-driven, transparent governance. That is why I am deeply troubled by Appendix P of the Broward Solid Waste Authority’s Draft Regional Solid Waste and Recycling Master Plan, which dismissively concludes that “modern” trash incinerators pose no risk to human health and are no more harmful than other industrial facilities.

Such a sweeping claim should be backed by sound, peer-reviewed science. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

Wayne Messam is mayor of Miramar.

Appendix P, “Waste-to-Energy Health Impacts Publications Resources,” fails its own stated purpose of objectively identifying and reviewing epidemiological literature on waste incineration. The consultants hired for this task — SCS Engineers and Arcadis — claim to have reviewed over 400 scientific publications, yet they failed to cite a single peer-reviewed study. Instead, they relied on just 22 secondary and tertiary sources, many of which are either irrelevant, biased or factually flawed. Some even quote industry-funded sources and obscure academic figures with undisclosed conflicts of interest.

This is not science — it is public relations dressed up as environmental health research.

What makes this even more concerning is that the Draft Master Plan uses these faulty conclusions to recommend continued use of the South Broward incinerator — a 34-year-old facility that more closely resembles outdated “second generation” incinerators than the “modern” incinerators touted in this document. The peer-reviewed studies that were excluded from the plan actually link such facilities to elevated rates of cancer, birth defects, heart disease and respiratory issues in nearby populations. Ignoring those studies does not make the risks disappear — it only diminishes public trust.

The report also attempts to separate “modern” incinerators from older ones, claiming newer technology has resolved these risks. But many of the facilities cited as “modern” are smaller, better regulated and situated in regions with stricter pollution controls — especially in Europe. The South Broward facility, by contrast, is among the largest in the nation and is not regulated to those same international standards. In fact, updated U.S. regulations for municipal waste incinerators are long overdue and may not be implemented until 2030, if at all. Recent regulatory trends at the federal level do not inspire confidence that American standards for limiting toxic emissions from incinerators will align with more protective standards elsewhere in the world in the foreseeable future. Just last week, for example, the Trump administration, through its Environmental Protection Agency, proposed to withdraw two rules imposing air toxics and greenhouse gas limits on fossil-fuel power plants.

Further, Appendix P cites climate studies and misapplies them to questions of local public health. Climate change is a real and urgent issue, but using global greenhouse gas data to distract from localized pollution and health risks is intellectually dishonest. Our residents don’t live in theory — they live near these facilities and deserve to know how emissions affect their daily lives.

The people of Broward County deserve better. We deserve transparency. We deserve a plan built on credible science and community health — not on cherry-picked sources and industry echo chambers.

Miramar calls on the Broward Solid Waste Authority to revise its Draft Master Plan to reflect peer-reviewed evidence, disclose all conflicts of interest, and allow meaningful public input. Let’s build a future that’s safe, sustainable and honest. Implementing a plan with integrity — one founded on unbiased science, air that’s safe to breathe and water that’s safe to drink — is a good place to start. Appendix P, as drafted, provides a misleading and incomplete narrative designed to prioritize the profits of polluters over public health. It should be scrapped.

The health of our communities lies in the balance. Let’s not have it go up in smoke.

Wayne Messam is mayor of Miramar.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed in the House and is now in the Senate. The senators have a chance to reshape or alter some of the provisions of the bill before moving it forward. That they do so is imperative because in the bill passed by the House there are real and substantial harms to the promotion of the common good and the protection of human life and dignity.

Many, of course, on both sides of the aisle, object that the bill ultimately increases spending and adds to our unsustainable national debt. Doubling down on an unsustainable, enforcement-only approach to immigration needlessly adds to this debt. This sweeping piece of legislation would allocate $24 billion for immigration enforcement efforts and $45 billion for detention, including family detention. This is a 400% increase compared to the current funding level. Another $100 million would be allocated to facilitate the expedited removal of unaccompanied children. In addition, the bill would impose prohibitive fees on families seeking to reunite with their unaccompanied child ($8,500), a $1,000 fee to request asylum, $550 to apply for a work permit (renewable every six months), and so on. Such draconian measures are against the common good.

Thomas Wenski

The administration has effectively gotten control of the border. And it is aggressively moving to remove and deport “bad actors,” those who have entered the country and committed serious felonies. But, as employers in the agricultural or services sectors of our economy could tell you, most immigrants are hardworking and honest and only want to build a future of hope for themselves and their families. The majority, while not having permanent legal status, do enjoy some type of status such as TPS (temporary protective status), a parole or an asylum application. Some, including many Haitians, Cuban, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, came with special humanitarian visas good for two years — but conditions in their countries of origin have yet to improve. Others came legally as students, or visitors, and fell out of status. The Dreamers were brought by their parents as children and, while the government has afforded them “deferred departure,” they have no path to legal permanent residence.

Rather than spend billions to deport these people who are already contributing positively to our nation’s well-being, it would be more reasonable financially and more morally acceptable for Congress to legislate a halt to “enforcement-only” policies and expand legal pathways for non-criminal migrants to adjust to a permanent legal status. The Trump administration is charged with enforcing the laws, but Congress makes the laws and can change them. Congress could make this “Big Beautiful Bill Act” less expensive, more advantageous economically, and beneficial to the entire community by removing the increased spending on the enforcement-only approach to immigration and moving the bill forward with a stay on deportations of non-criminal immigrants.

Thomas Wensky is archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami.

All of a sudden, Eeto Luostarinen shot the puck, and there was just one game left for the Florida Panthers to win, the one that can make them repeat champs, the one that could come Tuesday in Game 6 back in Sunrise.

Luostarinen sent the puck bouncing and rolling nearly the full length of the ice in the final stretch of Game 5 Saturday night. And when it went in the empty net to seal the 5-2 win against the Oilers, the Panthers could do something they hadn’t all night.

Breathe. Enjoy. And look ahead. Two games left. They need just one. And what a view it will be Tuesday night with the Stanley Cup entering Amerant Bank Arena, as it does only when one team is ready to skate off with it.

This long Panthers season becomes the shortest season after a game in which the offense again started with Brad Marchand (two goals) and Sam Bennett. They made it 2-0 after the first period. Marchand then bobbed through three Edmonton defensemen and slipped the puck by goalie Calvin Pickard to make it 3-0 in the third period.

That, of course, was the most dangerous lead of all if you just look back to their losing that exact lead in the previous Game 4 where Edmonton evened the series. The question with just one day off before Game 5 was simple enough:

How would the Panthers respond? Who would come through?

It was everyone, everywhere, especially in a clinic of Panthers defense. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had his good moments, his big saves — none better than the one on Connor Brown’s semi-breakaway 31 seconds into the game.

But that full defense. Edmonton went 14 minutes over the first and second periods without a shot on goal. It had 11 shots midway through the third period. Then Connor McDavid scored to make it 3-1, Edmonton fans came alive, they saw a historic repeat of erasing that Panthers lead and …

… Sam Reinhart’s goal made it 4-1.

So, the Panthers had an answer for everything this night. That was McDavid’s first goal of the series. That tells of the job the Panthers are doing on defense. Marchand (six goals this series) and Bennett (five) are showing you their offense game after game.

They became the first teammates to score five goals each in a final series in 52 years. Bennett has 15 playoff goals, 13 on the road, where, let’s face it, the Panthers have a second home.

They’re 2-1 in Edmonton this series.

They’re 10-3 on the road these playoffs.

This series has no neat pattern, no easy conclusion through five games. There’s been some surprises, like the best player on each team, McDavid and the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov, hadn’t scored a goal in the series’ first four games. The Panthers would take a continuation of that trade-off since Barkov’s prime job is keeping McDavid scoreless.

But each team has won on the road. Each team has rallied from slow starts — Edmonton more so. Each team has shown signs of breaking the series open only to be unable to maintain that threat.

A year ago, with Edmonton facing elimination, McDavid said the hope of a game in South Florida was to “drag them back to Alberta.”

It’s a same-time-next-year moment. Edmonton needs a win to get a Game 7 back in Canada. To do so, it’d better solve a goaltending question. Switching goalies, as it’s done through this series, isn’t a common formula to win big.

The Panthers just need a win, any win. Matthew Tkachuk has said the most nervous he’s been in years was for last year’s Game 4, the first one they could clinch the Stanley Cup. But Sam Bennett said they were all so excited at winning last year they had trouble sleeping before those final games.

“I think since we’ve been through it we’ll deal with it better,’’ he said.

The Panthers need just one win to repeat as champs. Just one. Tuesday in Game 6 is the first chance, and what a night it would be, celebrating with their fans for a second straight June.

EDMONTON — This time, the Florida Panthers built a lead and held it.

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• Dave Hyde: Panthers dominate Game 5, one win from raising Stanley Cup

And because of it, they come back home with a chance to seal the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight season.

The Panthers, behind two goals from Brad Marchand and others from Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen, took down the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 on Saturday night at Rogers Place.

Florida, rebounding from a Game 4 defeat in which it blew a three-goal lead, can claim its second consecutive Stanley Cup back at Amerant Back Arena in Game 6 Tuesday night.

The Panthers improved to 10-3 on the road this postseason in what they hope will be their final away record if they can finish off the Oilers in six.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Bennett said. “We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. It’s going to be the hardest game. We know that.”

Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and the Panthers defense had the Oilers shut out through two periods before superstar Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the Final in the third period with Edmonton down three goals.

“I thought guys did an amazing job with the skating, with the gap, with the sticks,” Bobrovsky said. “On the (penalty kill), I thought there was probably the most blocked shots I have ever seen. The guys put on an unbelievable performance in front of me.”

Marchand’s two goals make him the first player to score six in a Stanley Cup Final since 1988, when Esa Tikkanen did it for the Oilers.

He was first to score Saturday, starting Game 5 the way he ended the previous game in Edmonton, when he had the game-winner in double overtime. Marchand stole the puck after a faceoff win by the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, created his own breakaway with his speed to shoot the puck past Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard, who was starting for Stuart Skinner.

Related Articles

• Dave Hyde: Panthers dominate Game 5, one win from raising Stanley Cup
• Stanley Cup Final’s overtime frenzy doesn’t faze Florida Panthers
• Panthers to face Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard in Game 5 of Stanley Cup Final
• Panthers’ resilience to be tested again in Game 5 — and mystery in net for Oilers
• Epic collapse: How Panthers blew 3-0 lead to drop Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final

Marchand’s fifth goal of the Final, before later adding a sixth, marked the second time he has scored five when playing for the Cup. He also accomplished the feat in 2011 with the Boston Bruins.

“Man, that guy’s good looking,” Marchand quipped when asked what his younger self would say about the Panthers version. “Definitely grateful to have another opportunity to be in the Final.”

Later in the first period, Bennett notched his fifth goal of the championship series when he blasted one in off a deflection from a shot Evan Rodrigues had blocked.

Bennett scored his 15th goal of the postseason and extended his record of road playoff goals in a single postseason to 13, doing so in six consecutive road games.

Bennett and Marchand have combined for 11 goals in five games of the Stanley Cup Final.

“They’re certainly capable of processing the context of the game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They don’t get too high or too low.”

As the Panthers established a 2-0 lead, the Oilers only mustered three shots on goal in the first period. They didn’t have one on a power play from a Seth Jones interference that immediately preceded Bennett’s goal.

When it was 1-0, Draisaitl had the Edmonton crowd thinking it had a tying goal, but he hit the side of the net. Bobrovsky, as he heard chants of “Ser-gei” raining down from Oilers fans, stopped a couple of quality chances Edmonton had early, despite not putting another shot on goal later in the first.

Holding the two-goal lead after one period, the Panthers killed off two penalties in the second period, one on defenseman Aaron Ekblad for tripping and another on Reinhart for a delay of game. On the latter penalty kill, Luostarinen used his body and hands without his stick.

Marchand pulled off some elite stickwork for a third-period goal which put the Panthers up 3-0 sending the puck between the legs of Oilers defenseman Jake Walman before scoring.

McDavid’s goal brought life into Rogers Place for the first time Saturday night with under 13 minutes remaining, but Reinhart put Florida back up by three goals in short order a minute later to suck the energy out of the arena.

Edmonton added a Corey Perry goal with 3:13 remaining and the net empty. But Luostarinen then scored on the empty net with 1:19 left.

Game 6 back in Sunrise will be the Panthers’ final home game of the season, regardless of outcome, as Game 7, will be played in Edmonton if necessary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rookie Agustín Ramírez hit two home runs and Eric Wagaman had three RBIs to help the Miami Marlins hand the Washington Nationals their sixth straight loss, 11-9 on Friday night in a game that included a rain delay of more than two hours.

Ramírez hit a solo shot off Nationals starter Mitchell Parker (4-7) in the first for a 1-0 lead and then hit his 10th of the season leading off a four-run third as Miami took a 6-0 lead.

It was Ramírez’s second multihomer game after hitting two solo shots in a 7-6 loss to Seattle on April 27. Wagaman had an RBI double and Dane Myers added a two-run double as Miami built the six-run advantage.

CJ Abrams reached on an infield hit and James Wood followed with his 17th homer to get the Nationals within 6-2 after three.

Fortes and Xavier Edwards had RBI singles in the fifth following a delay of 2 hours, 14 minutes for an 8-2 lead.

Wood hit a two-run double and Nathaniel Lowe, Alex Call and Keibert Ruiz followed with RBI singles as Washington scored five times in the seventh to pull within 8-7.

Miami answered with Wagaman’s two-run single and Connor Norby’s RBI groundout in the eighth.

Edwin Cabrera allowed two runs in a three-inning start for Miami. Tyler Phillips (1-0) got two outs for the win.

Parker allowed six runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings. Jackson Rutledge got the final two outs in the fourth before the second delay and then allowed two runs. Jose A. Ferrer was tagged for three runs on four hits in an inning.

Miami has won three of four against Washington this season.

Caribbean Series back in Miami

The Caribbean Series will return to the Miami Marlins’ loanDepot park after the team reached a multiyear agreement with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

The deal will allow the Marlins, who hosted the Caribbean Series in 2024, to host three more editions of the winter league champions tournament beginning in 2028, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team has not made a formal announcement.

ESPN first reported the news.

The Marlins had already secured the 2028 edition of the tournament after bringing record numbers to Miami in 2024 — the first time the Caribbean Series was held at a major league ballpark. The future years are not yet set.

Key moment

Calvin Faucher allowed a one-out single before getting groundouts from Robert Hassell III and Abrams to finish off his sixth save in nine opportunities.

Key stat

Miami’s minus-91 run differential is the second worst in the NL followed by Washington at minus-60.

Up next

Miami had not announced who will start Saturday’s game opposite Washington RHP Trevor Williams (3-7, 5.91).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of murdering two people in 1993 in Duval County, setting the stage for a potentially record-tying eighth execution this year.

DeSantis signed the death warrant for Michael Bernard Bell, 54, with the execution scheduled July 15 at Florida State Prison, according to information posted on the state Supreme Court website.

If the state puts Bell to death by lethal injection and carries out a scheduled June 24 execution of Thomas Gudinas, it would match the most executions in a year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 after a U.S. Supreme Court decision had halted it. Florida also executed eight inmates in 1984 and 2014, a Florida Department of Corrections list shows.

Bell was sentenced to death in the December 1993 shooting deaths of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith outside a Jacksonville bar, according to court documents. Bell used an AK-47 rifle to shoot the pair as they got into a car.

The documents from past Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court appeals said Bell was seeking revenge for the death of his brother, who had been killed by West’s half-brother earlier in 1993.

The Department of Corrections website said Bell also is serving 25-year sentences on three second-degree murder charges unrelated to the shooting outside the bar.

Friday’s death warrant came three days after the state executed Anthony Wainwright, who was convicted of kidnapping a woman in 1994 from a Winn-Dixie supermarket parking lot in Lake City and raping and murdering her in rural Hamilton County.

DeSantis on May 23 also signed a death warrant for Gudinas, who was convicted in the May 1994 murder of Michelle McGrath, who had been out for a night of entertainment in downtown Orlando. McGrath’s body was found about 7:30 a.m. in an alley and had been “savagely raped and severely beaten by the defendant with a blunt instrument,” a circuit judge wrote in sentencing Gudinas.

Gudinas’ attorneys have asked the Florida Supreme Court to halt the execution, though justices had not ruled as of early Friday evening.

The state this year also executed Glen Rogers on May 15; Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1; Michael Tanzi on April 8; Edward James on March 20; and James Ford on Feb. 13.

Meanwhile, the state put to death one inmate in 2024 and six in 2023. It did not execute anyone in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Department of Corrections list shows.

Broward County Judge Lauren Peffer in a new court filing Friday formally denied the ethics charges filed against her, stemming from her promotion of a scandalous book and a deepfake AI recording during her campaign last year.

In the routine filing with Florida’s Supreme Court, Peffer denied the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s charges filed last month that she violated judicial ethics rules that govern “inappropriate political activity.”

Peffer, a first-time judicial candidate, won her seat in August and began her term in January. During her campaign, which centered on trustworthiness and ethics in the judiciary, Peffer referenced in an endorsement interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial board a book written and published by a former courthouse employee in the Orlando area called, “The Ninth Circus Court of Florida, My 30-Year Job from Hell!”

The book, written by someone who had been terminated, “portrays the judiciary in the Ninth Judicial Circuit as corrupt and incompetent and attacks the character” of numerous judges, including current Chief Judge Lisa Munyon, according to the JQC’s charging document.

Peffer wrote in response to a Sun Sentinel editorial board questionnaire that the book’s “recent revelations” had “highlighted an image crisis within Florida’s judiciary,” according to the JQC’s notice of formal charges.

At the time Peffer cited the book in the Sun Sentinel interview, it lacked any published reviews and appeared to have generated no public discourse or impact, the Sun Sentinel previously reported. Asked by the Sun Sentinel about evidence of the book creating public mistrust, Peffer sent the newspaper a link to an 18-minute recording of what purported to be a phone call about the book between Munyon, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Justice Renatha Francis, according to the notice of charges.

But the recording was fake, likely made with generative AI, and could be deemed so by “any reasonable person,” the JQC said in its notice of charges.

Broward judicial candidate drops Orlando author’s self-published tell-all from her campaign stump speech

Peffer was forwarded the link to the recording “by another lawyer,” her response filed Friday said.

Peffer in her response to the charges on Friday acknowledged that she had not “carefully listened to the call but had a recollection that the judiciary was being criticized in the recording” and did not try to determine its veracity before providing it to the newspaper.

“Judge Peffer acknowledges that she should have more carefully listened to the recording before referencing it in her answers to the editorial board. In responding to these proceedings, Judge Peffer listened to the recordings without distraction, and it was immediately apparent that the purported phone call was a ‘deep fake,'” her response said.

However, she denied that she shared the recording “despite clear evidence of its inauthenticity,” as the JQC alleged in its charges.

In her response, Peffer also admitted that she never read the disgruntled employee’s book before referencing it to the Sun Sentinel and did not research the claims the employee made.

“Judge Peffer did not intend to promote the validity of the book but instead, she intended to point to the book as an example of criticism of the judiciary,” her response said.

She previously acknowledged issues with the book in a July interview with the Sun Sentinel and said she would stop citing it.

Peffer denied that she “ignored” the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee’s training on campaign ethics as the notice of charges alleged and denied that she “helped facilitate the former employee’s farce,” according to her response.

General Daily Insight for June 14, 2025

We can all stand to broaden our horizons today. The Moon starts out in Capricorn, where it will trine shocking Uranus in Taurus, energizing us to update our approaches to old problems. The Moon will then move into Aquarius at 7:02 am EDT, setting us up for a day of out-of-the-box thinking, as Aquarius energy never wants to do things by the established rulebook. While here, the Moon will conjoin extreme Pluto, so the urge to act out will only become stronger.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

This is no day to face all by yourself. This is emphasized by Luna leaping into your 11th House of Global Communities! Whether you’re linking up with the usual crew or meeting fresh faces, you will be able to make the most of the energy on offer when you act as part of a team, rather than on your own. Don’t be shy about taking the lead and rounding up the gang, since that doesn’t mean you’ll need to be the leader the whole time.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

You can accomplish more than you may know, Taurus. This is a wonderful chance to sprint that much closer to your personal finish line as the Moon gallops into your 10th House of Career, setting you up for a time of success. If you’re a little uncertain what that finish line is supposed to look like, then this transit can help you gain the required clarity to figure it out. A respected supervisor or other superior could provide some useful words of wisdom.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

There’s no time for small things today! Your horizons are becoming that much bigger as the Moon flies into your 9th House of Expansion for the next couple of days, inspiring you to look beyond what you know. The busy energy imbued in your sign is ready for you to discover all sorts of new things. You don’t need to stay inside when you could be building bridges to faraway lands. Give yourself the gift of growth to achieve the best possible results.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Your personal bonds may need a little attention. The Moon is slipping into your 8th House of Shared Resources, centering your thoughts around the links between you and the important people in your life, be they financial, emotional, or physical. This isn’t exactly light-hearted territory, so you may be faced with the more serious side of these topics. Still, something being solemn doesn’t mean it won’t be rewarding. There are a lot of benefits on offer if you’re willing to pursue them.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Focus on how you give and take today. The stars are honing in on your relationships as the Moon enters your 7th House of Partnerships, so it is vital to remember that these exist as a two-way street. If a specific person in your life has been taking more than they’ve been giving (this person could be you!), then take time to get things back on an even footing. The solution could be as simple as picking up the check at dinner.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

One thing at a time is the best way to handle whatever’s coming next. If possible, take some time to look around your life and figure out what needs to be improved. This process should be pretty smooth, thanks to the Moon entering your efficient 6th house. Your sign is particularly strong here, so a little effort can yield massive results. Don’t worry — you don’t need to entirely transform your life. Slow and steady will be the best way to build success.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

This is no time for playing it small. The universe is shining a lovely light on you as the Moon shimmies into your creative 5th house. This may embolden you to step out from the shadows and let the world see what you have to offer. Something you consider just a hobby or way to pass the time could turn out to be quite an eye-catching talent that wildly impresses other people, so don’t keep your gifts hidden. You deserve a chance to be appreciated!

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Focusing on current family matters is wise. The Moon is settling down in your domestic 4th house, drawing your energy toward your abode. Regardless of whether that has you dealing with your relatives, roommates, or a matter around the house, it is a good time to try and clarify whatever’s happening under your roof. If you’ve been flying through the world with barely a moment to spend on the couch, change up the program and make yourself at home — literally or metaphorically.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Hit the ground running, Sag! You’ll want to keep up with the cosmic momentum as the Moon moves into your 3rd House of Communication for the next couple days. It also encourages you to get out and see what everyone is up to and how you can get involved. You don’t need to completely throw your plans out the window and jump on any bandwagons, but it would still behoove you to check in with others. There could be some exciting opportunities on offer.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

You deserve a little treat. Your sign may tend to forego the simple pleasures in life because you’re so focused on working your way up the mountain toward your particular goal. Seize the day by pausing to smell the roses as the Moon enters your luxurious 2nd house. This doesn’t have to be an expensive indulgence or take up a lot of time — just check out from the rat race for a little while to remind yourself how sweet life can really be.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Put yourself front and center, Aquarius. The Moon is entering your 1st House of Self-Expression today, giving you cosmic clearance to worry about other people another time. Turning your attention firmly onto yourself isn’t selfish — it’s responsible. If you don’t take the time to check in with your needs and make sure they’re being met, you risk impeding your daily life, let alone your ability to help anyone else in the future. Take note of anything that’s out of whack and start addressing it.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Take a load off, Pisces. There is no need to race off your feet — after all, the Moon is sliding into your sleepy 12th house for the next couple of days, encouraging you to cocoon yourself for the time being. If you are still feeling productive, focus on wrapping up loose ends rather than beginning anything new. Just keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with taking it easy and giving yourself a personal holiday from reality. You deserve a little peace and quiet.

By MEAD GRUVER

Rescuers fetched two men struck by lightning from a Colorado peak in what they believe were the highest helicopter rescues on record in this mountainous state.

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One man remained hospitalized in fair condition Friday while the other was treated at a hospital and released.

The rescues happened late Thursday near the summit of Torreys Peak, a 14,300-foot mountain about 40 miles west of Denver. Torreys Peak is ranked variously as the 11th or 12th highest summit in Colorado and is less than 200 feet shorter than the state’s highest mountain, Mount Elbert.

The men from New York state, whose identities weren’t released, had decided to summit the mountain during a road trip, Alpine Rescue Team public information officer Jake Smith said.

They first called for help around 5 p.m. after getting off course on their way up a technical route. A different route doesn’t require climbing gear or expertise.

“It doesn’t sound like they had a ton of prior experience. I think it was probably just a lack of awareness,” said Smith, who was among the rescuers on the ground.

Rescue officials guided the men back on course, and they made it to the summit. Minutes later, one of them called back to report they had been struck by lightning.

In this image provided by the Alpine Rescue Team, lamps are illuminated on a ridge as Alpine Rescue Team members take part in helping get two men struck by lightning off Torreys Peak in Colorado, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Jake Smith/Alpine Rescue Team via AP)

About 30 rescuers went up the mountain while another team used a Colorado National Guard Blackhawk helicopter to get the more seriously injured man, who was nonresponsive and in critical condition, off the peak using a hoist at 14,200 feet.

He was flown down to an ambulance and taken to a local hospital, then to a Denver hospital with a burn unit, Smith said.

The helicopter made another trip around midnight to fetch the less seriously hurt man by partially touching down on the mountain.

The rescuers believe Colorado’s previous record for a helicopter rescue was 13,700 feet. Such rescues are challenging because thin air causes helicopters to lose lifting ability the higher they fly; the Blackhawk has an altitude limit of about 19,000 feet.

In this image provided by the Alpine Rescue Team, Alpine Rescue Team members take part in helping get two men struck by lightning off Torreys Peak in Colorado, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Jake Smith/Alpine Rescue Team via AP)

Hikers and climbers often prefer to ascend during the morning and avoid the Rocky Mountain high country on summer afternoons. Thunderstorms are common and can develop suddenly with dangerous lightning, hail and plummeting temperatures.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday stopped Secretary of State Marco Rubio from proceeding with plans to downsize the State Department, saying that it was prohibited behavior under an injunction she issued last month.

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U.S. District Judge Susan Illston barred the Republican administration from carrying out much of its plans to reorganize and slash departments while she hears a legal challenge brought by labor unions and others. She said that President Donald Trump had failed to seek Congressional cooperation to do so when he ordered government-wide cuts.

But, in late May, the State Department notified Congress of an updated reorganization of the agency that would cut programs and personnel even more deeply than previously revealed.

Rubio this week also ordered U.S. embassies to fire all remaining staffers with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said the State Department will take over USAID’s foreign assistance programs by Monday.

The Trump administration said Rubio had launched a reorganization of the State Department independently of the president’s directive and so was exempt.

Illston, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was not convinced.

“If the State Department has any question about whether planned actions fall within the scope of the Court’s injunction, the Court ORDERS the Department to first raise those questions with the Court before taking action,” she wrote in an order issued Friday.

By MARK THIESSEN

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For the first time ever, parts of Alaska will be under a heat advisory — but you can put an asterisk at the end of that term.

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It’s not the first instance of unusually high temperatures in what many consider the nation’s coldest state, but the National Weather Service only recently allowed for heat advisories to be issued there. Information on similarly warm weather conditions previously came in the form of “special weather statements.”

Using the heat advisory label could help people better understand the weather’s severity and potential danger, something a nondescript “special weather statement” didn’t convey.

The first advisory is for Sunday in Fairbanks, where temperatures are expected to top 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Fairbanks has has been warmer in the past, but this is unusual for June, officials said.

Here’s what to know about Alaska’s inaugural heat advisory:

Why it’s the first

The National Weather Service’s switch from special weather statements to advisories was meant to change how the public views the information.

“This is an important statement, and the public needs to know that there will be increasing temperatures, and they could be dangerous because Alaska is not used to high temperatures like these,” said Alekya Srinivasan, a Fairbanks-based meteorologist.

“We want to make sure that we have the correct wording and the correct communication when we’re telling people that it will be really hot this weekend,” she said.

Not unprecedented and not climate change

The change doesn’t reflect unprecedented temperatures, with Fairbanks having reached 90 degrees twice in 2024, Srinivasan said. It’s purely an administrative change by the weather service.

“It’s not that the heat in the interior that prompted Fairbanks to issue this is record heat or anything like that. It’s just now there’s a product to issue,” said Rich Thoman, a climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.

Thoman also clarified that the term swap doesn’t have anything to do with climate change.

“I think some of it is related to the recognition that hot weather does have an impact on Alaska, and in the interior especially,” Thoman said.

Little air conditioning

While the temperatures in the forecast wouldn’t be considered extreme in other U.S. states, Thoman noted that most Alaska buildings don’t have air conditioning.

“And just the opposite, most buildings in Alaska are designed to retain heat for most of the year,” he said.

People can open their windows to allow cooler air in during early morning hours — if wildfires aren’t burning in blaze-prone state. But if it’s smoky and the windows have to remain shut, buildings can heat up very rapidly.

“Last year was the third year in a row in Fairbanks with more than a hundred hours of visibility-reducing smoke, the first time we’ve ever had three consecutive years over a hundred hours,” he said.

There’s only been two summers in Fairbanks in the 21st century with no hours of smoke that reduced visibility, a situation he said was commonplace from the 1950s to the 1970s.

What about Anchorage?

The Juneau and Fairbanks weather service offices have been allowed to issue heat advisories beginning this summer, but not the office in the state’s largest city of Anchorage — at least not yet. And, regardless, temperatures in the area haven’t reached the threshold this year at which a heat advisory would be issued.

Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the weather service, said by email that the Anchorage office is working on a plan to issue such advisories in the future.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court won’t reconsider its ruling upholding a $5 million civil judgment against President Donald Trump in a civil lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a writer in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

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In an 8-2 vote Friday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s petition for the full appellate court to rehear arguments in his challenge to the jury’s finding that he sexually abused advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and defamed her with comments he made in October 2022.

Carroll testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store’s dressing room.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the verdict in December, rejecting Trump’s claims that trial Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s decisions spoiled the trial, including allowing two other Trump sexual abuse accusers to testify.

The women said Trump committed similar acts against them in the 1970s and in 2005. Trump denied all three women’s allegations.

In an opinion Friday, four judges voting to reject rehearing wrote: “Simply re-litigating a case is not an appropriate use” of the process.

“In those rare instances in which a case warrants our collective consideration, it is almost always because it involves a question of exceptional importance,” or a conflict between precedent and the appellate panel’s opinion, Judges Myrna Pérez, Eunice C. Lee, Beth Robinson and Sarah A.L. Merriam wrote.

All four were appointed by President Joe Biden, Trump’s one-time Democratic rival.

The two dissenting judges, Trump appointees, Steven J. Menashi and Michael H. Park, wrote that the trial “consisted of a series of indefensible evidentiary rulings.”

“The result was a jury verdict based on impermissible character evidence and few reliable facts,” they wrote. “No one can have any confidence that the jury would have returned the same verdict if the normal rules of evidence had been applied.”

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement: “E. Jean Carroll is very pleased with today’s decision.”

“Although President Trump continues to try every possible maneuver to challenge the findings of two separate juries, those efforts have failed. He remains liable for sexual assault and defamation,” said Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.

Trump skipped the trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. He briefly testified at a follow-up defamation trial last year that resulted in an $83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments then-President Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir.

Kaplan presided over both trials and instructed the second jury to accept the first jury’s finding that Trump had sexually abused Carroll.

Arguments in that appeal are set for June 24.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged U.S. officials on Friday not to target individuals attending a Gold Cup soccer match in Los Angeles between the Mexican national team and the Dominican Republic.

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Dozens of workers have been detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA’s fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained.

“We don’t believe that there will be any raids if there’s a soccer game,” Sheinbaum said in a news conference. “We hope there won’t be any. We call for no action from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

Mexico is scheduled to play the Dominican Republic on Saturday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in a group stage match of the Gold Cup.

Usually, the Mexican national team matches attract thousands of fans whenever they play in Southern California. Their last match there was in March, when more than 50,000 fans attended a League of Nations semifinal against Canada.

In the most recent measure in the administration’s immigration crackdown, President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops and Marines to the Los Angeles area after the raids sparked days of tumultuous protests throughout the city. The city’s downtown has seen a variety of protests, from quiet to boisterous. Over the weekend, protesters blocked a key freeway and set cars on fire.

• Los Angeles police officers stand by while protesters rally during a demonstration in response to a series of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the country, in Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
• Los Angeles police officers stand by while protesters rally during a demonstration in response to a series of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the country, in Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
• Protesters gather outside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility during protests over federal immigration enforcement raids on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

Show Caption1 of 3Los Angeles police officers stand by while protesters rally during a demonstration in response to a series of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the country, in Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) Expand

For safety concerns, the Mexican national team decided to change hotels earlier in the week and moved from downtown to Long Beach.

Sheinbaum also said that the Mexican consulates in the United States have implemented an information campaign guide for Mexicans in the event of unjust detention by immigration authorities.

“This campaign we are carrying out through the consulates will provide all the information on what to do if detained, as well as ongoing contact with families,” the Sheinbaum said.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

By RONALD BLUM

NEW YORK (AP) — Metropolitan Opera season attendance dropped slightly following the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that coincided with a decrease in tourists to New York.

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The Met sold 72% of capacity, matching 2023-24 and down from its 75% projection.

“We were on track to continue to improve,” Met general manager Peter Gelb said Friday. “We were disappointed by the sales in the last two months of the season — our projections were much higher and I attribute the fact that we didn’t achieve our sales goals to a significant drop in tourism.”

New York City Tourism & Conventions last month reduced its 2025 international visitor projection by 17%, the Met said.

International buyers accounted for 11% of sales, down from the Met’s projection of 16% and from about 20% before the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s unfortunate, but this is the times in which we live,” Gelb said.

The Met said factoring ticket discounts, it realized 60% of potential income, down from 64% in 2023-24 but up from 57% in 2022–23.

“We were able to sell an equal amount of tickets the last year, but there were more discounted tickets,” Gelb said. “This really was the result of the last two months of the season.”

There were 76,000 new ticket buyers, a drop from 85,000 in 2023-24, and the average age of single ticket buyers was 44, the same as in the previous season and a drop from 50 before the pandemic. Subscriptions accounted for just 7% of ticket sales, down from 12-15% before the pandemic.

Gelb said economic uncertainty impacted sales for next season.

“The stock market jumping up and down made people feel insecure,” he said. “In one week we saw an enormous decline in our advance for next season. Then it picked up again.”

Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin earned $2,045,038 in the year end last July 31, up from $1,307,583, in the previous fiscal year, according to the company’s tax return released Friday. Gelb earned $1,395,216, roughly the same as his $1,379,032 in 2022-23,and he also accrued $798,205 listed as retirement or deferred compensation.

Assets declined by about $40 million to $467 million, primarily because of an endowment draw following the pandemic.

Among individual productions last season, the highest percentage of tickets sold were for the English-language version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and a new staging of Verdi’s “Aida,” both at 82%, followed by the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick” at 81%

Other new productions included Strauss’ “Salome” (74%), John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra” (65%), Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” (61%) and Jeanine Tesori’s “Grounded” (50%).

The best-selling revivals were Puccini’s “Tosca” (78%), Tchaikovsky’s “Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades)” and Puccini’s La Bohème (77% each), Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (76% each) and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” (71%).

Lagging were Strauss’ “Die Frau ohne Schatten” (68%0, Verdi’s “Rigoletto” (64%), Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and the German-language version of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” (62% each) and Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” (59%).