South Florida Local News

A Fort Lauderdale man died Monday morning after crashing his car into a canal near a residential area in Parkland, which was discovered hours later, law enforcement officials said.

Dilton Florezel Lai, 51, was driving a 2021 Honda Accord northwest on Pine Island Road shortly before 5 a.m. and did not stop at the T-shaped intersection of Nob Hill Road, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. He drove over a curb, into the grass and into the water, for unknown reasons.

The Sheriff’s Office was notified about the car in the water about 11 a.m.  Sheriff’s Office’s and Coral Springs Fire Rescue’s divers found the car fully underwater near the 10900 block of Northwest 78th Place.

Coral Springs Fire Rescue’s Dive Team found the car and Lai inside, and the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team recovered them. The Sheriff’s Office said its investigation is continuing.

Body found in submerged car in Parkland canal

Lauded for its vibrant culture, beautiful beaches, and thriving economy, Miami has also been making strides toward becoming a world-recognized smart city.

Recent initiatives like an urban planning conference hosted by the University of Miami have showcased the community’s commitment to leveraging technology to promote sustainable urban development and improve quality of life. However, the transit challenges of today remain a barrier between the present and a better tomorrow.

The conference brought together experts, policymakers and innovators to discuss how technology can help address urban issues ranging from transportation to public safety. Discussions centered on leveraging data and advanced analytics to optimize city operations, enhance sustainability, and foster innovation. It was a beacon of hope for a city striving to be at the forefront of the smart city movement.

Yet, in the middle of all of this future-gazing, Miami is left grappling with the fallout from recent changes to its public transit system. The implementation of the Better Bus System has sparked criticism and frustration among riders, with many reporting increased delays and disruptions. While the intentions behind the overhaul were undoubtedly noble — to improve efficiency and accessibility — the execution has left much to be desired.

One of the key challenges straining Miami’s transit system is congestion, exacerbated by outdated infrastructure and inefficient traffic management. However, there is hope on the horizon. Innovative solutions, such as smart traffic monitoring technologies, offer a glimmer of promise in alleviating gridlock and improving transit times.

Enter Miovision, a leading provider of smart traffic solutions, whose recent acquisition of Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) and their Opticom solution has expanded their capabilities in transit signal priority (TSP) technology. TSP enables transit vehicles to communicate with traffic signals, granting them priority at intersections and minimizing delays.

Michael Duench, vice president of marketing at Miovision, explains, “Transit Signal Priority technology works by giving transit vehicles priority at traffic signals, reducing delays and improving overall efficiency. By investing in these solutions, cities can significantly enhance their transit systems and provide faster, more reliable service to commuters.”

From Duench’s point of view, TSP technology could address the woes plaguing its transit network. By strategically deploying smart traffic management solutions, the city can not only reduce transit times but also enhance emergency response capabilities and curb greenhouse gas emissions — both critical components of a sustainable and resilient urban future.

The benefits of investing in smart transit solutions extend beyond Miami’s borders. Cities worldwide grappling with similar traffic challenges stand to gain from embracing innovative technologies like TSP. With urbanization on the rise and congestion becoming an increasingly pressing issue, the need for efficient and sustainable transit solutions has never been greater.

As Miami charts its course toward becoming a global smart city hub, it should strike a delicate balance between ambition and pragmatism. While future-forward initiatives showcase the city’s commitment to innovation, they should be complemented by tangible improvements in everyday urban life. The recent setbacks with the Better Bus System serve as a stark reminder that progress must be inclusive and responsive to the needs of all residents.

Decision-makers should consider a holistic approach to urban development that prioritizes the well-being and mobility of its citizens. This involves investing in cutting-edge technologies, as well as fostering collaboration between government, academia and industry stakeholders. By harnessing the collective expertise and resources available, Miami can navigate the complexities of urbanization and emerge as a model smart city.

While recent strides in technology and innovation are commendable, they should be complemented by improvements in transit and urban mobility. By leveraging smart traffic solutions, communities across South Florida can address pressing transit challenges and pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future.

The news and editorial staffs of the Sun Sentinel had no role in this post’s preparation.

MIAMI — Once again, sketchy pitching was supported by sketchy defense.

Once again, Miami Marlins hitters looked armed with Waterpiks.

Once again, too, manager Skip Schumaker perfectly summed up an another imperfect day.

“We got our butts kicked,’’ he said after Wednesday’s 10-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels to stretch the Marlins’ start to 0-7.

Baseball has numerous ways to slump. But this is The Slump, because of that zero in the wins column and because it’s across-the-board bad baseball. Then what did anyone expect? The Marlins hired more help in the front office this offseason than to its troubled roster.

Yep, the Marlins are back in Tank-for-Tua mode under first-year vice president of baseball operations Peter Bendix , except there’s no catchy phrase to hope on, no quick fix like all the other times the Marlins tried this and no reason to think this start doesn’t represent the coming season.

“The season, I know, feels long already in that clubhouse because of seven games and no wins,’’ Schumaker said. “It is really early. However, these games count. Playoff teams get in by one or two games every year. And we’ve got to figure it out.”

Poor Schumaker. He forged together an improbable team last year and helped it to the playoffs to win Manager of the Year. Now his team is the first in baseball history to start 0-7 after making the playoffs.

What’s happened? Nothing happened this offseason. And everything’s happened on this first homestand. Boils. Droughts. Pestilence. The Marlins’ starters averaged the scant four innings J.J. Puk threw Wednesday. The bullpen has squandered 5-2 and 6-4 leads.

The league’s second-worst defense last year picked right back up there as third baseman Vidal Brujan’s error Wednesday allowed two third-inning runs to score.

Finally, the lineup that scored the fewest runs in the league last year has looked how you’d expect after not bringing back its one dynamic hitter in Jorge Soler.

“It’s just trying to find our groove, not do too much,’’ said Jake Burger, who was designated hitter on Wednesday. “I think that’s what you do when you get in a little scuffle you try to hit an eight-run home run and it’s not possible.”

Are players pressing like that?

“I know I am,’’ Burger said. “There were two big situations earlier in the series where I grounded into double plays that kind of killed our momentum. In those situations, I just have to take what they’re giving me and try not to force anything.”

It’s not like the opening opponents, Pittsburgh and the Angels, are in some bigger weight class.

“Maybe a change-of-scenery will help,’’ Burger said.

They got St. Louis’ home opener next followed by trips to the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. That’s an itinerary for more trouble. The prime hope is for some starting pitching to get healthy later in April.

“I would be upset if it was a lack of effort, lack of preparation, all that stuff,’’ Schumaker said. “It’s really not that way. They’re going about it the right way It’s tough. I mean, they’re not happy in there. We’re not happy as a staff.

“We’re here to help them get better and help them win games and we’re not doing that. Obviously, we’ve got to figure how to get them on track.”

Try a team meeting? Why not? The Angels had one themselves after two season-opening losses in Baltimore. They’ve won four straight since then. Of course, three were against the Marlins.

““I don’t see panic,’’ Schumaker said. “There’s still positivity in there, talking, trying to guys going. They came in super positive, laughing, joking around, as you should because it’s a new day. That’s why it’s a little disappointing to come out with a 10-2 loss today. I felt good about coming in today.”

The Marlins, for all their historical follies, hadn’t started 0-4 since 2001.

They’d never started 0-5.

They’re 0-7 now, and the get-well thought of it being a long season comes out another way. It really looks like long season.

 

GAINESVILLE — Everything was new to Florida quarterback Graham Mertz a year ago — new team, new town and new tests ahead.

Mertz navigated the trials and tribulations of 2023 better than expected after he transferred from Wisconsin. He now hopes to build on what he learned and achieved while elevating his game and the Gators.

A season after quarterbacks Jayden Daniels (LSU), Bo Nix (Oregon) and Michael Penix (Washington) starred as second-year transfers, Mertz is positioned for his own Year 2 leap.

“Everybody’s journey is unique,” he said Tuesday. “I just want to win. That’s why I came back.”

Florida quarterback Graham Mertz signals during practice April 2 on the UF campus in Gainesville. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Mertz’s evolution will be key to Florida reversing its fortunes following a 5-7 season.

In 2023, he was highly efficient yet rarely explosive.

Mertz’s SEC-leading 72.9% completion rate and 20-to-3 touchdown-to-interception totals followed three erratic seasons at Wisconsin. But during his 11 starts, the Gators averaged just 3.4 completions of at least 20 yards, below their stated goal.

“I’ve always talked about five big plus-plays of 20 yards,” receivers coach Billy Gonzales said. “If we can, we’re going to put ourselves in a really good [position] to be successful.”

Mertz’s downfield accuracy has at times been suspect. He also cannot stretch the field alone.

The play call, protection and route running also must line up.

“Everything’s got to be clicking on great plays,” Gonzales said.

This spring, Mertz has pushed to get on the same page with effectively a new cast of players while reuniting with a blast from the past.

Wisconsin transfer Chimere Dike should help Mertz adapt to the massive loss of leading receiver Ricky Pearsall to the NFL. Like Pearsall, the 6-foot-¼, 195-pound Dike is a disciplined route-runner with deceptive speed, sure hands and a mental connection with Mertz.

In 2022 with Mertz, Dike totaled 47 catches for 689 yards and 6 scores.

“That continuity between you and a quarterback — those repetitions are built over time,” Gonzales said. “They’ve kind of hooked up and they got that rhythm back right now.”

Among returners, Eugene Wilson III is poised to go from freshman phenom to sophomore star while 6-foot-3, 215-pound redshirt junior Khaleil Jackson and 6-foot-3½, 218-pound fifth-year senior Ja’Quavion Fraziars seek to capitalize on their size and experience.

Gonzales, who coached Gators legend Percy Harvin under Urban Meyer, is giddy about Wilson’s big-play potential and overall evolution.

“He’s catching that ball and it’s out the gate,” Gonzales said. “He’s tough, he’s finishing, he’s becoming a really good blocker. I’m fired up.”

Gonzales’ excitement extends to his unproven pass-catchers, including two with speed to burn. Who would win a 40-yard dash between sophomore Aidan Mizell of Orlando and true freshman Tank Hawkins of IMG Academy in Bradenton was among many topics Tuesday.

“They have not [raced],” Gonzales said. “That’s a good one to see, though.”

The Gators must see better play up front for the offense to open up and attack defenses. UF allowed 39 sacks 2023, including 31 of Mertz.

Coach Billy Napier said he’s seen improvement from an overhauled offensive line featuring some serious size on the edges, even with 6-foot-6 incumbent left tackle Austin Barber (shoulder) and 6-foot-8 Kamryn Waites (calf) sidelined.

Brandon Crenshaw Dixon, a 6-foot-7 San Diego State transfer with 37 starts, and 6-foot-7 Devin Manuel of Arkansas are joined by 6-foot-8 true freshman Fletcher Westphal, the team’s top O-line recruit in 2024.

“The pocket’s been cleaner,” Napier said. “That’s one of the bright spots. The length on the edge has just been the major difference-maker.”

Mertz, 23, aims to bring all the pieces together and make his return a winning move.

“When you spend six years in college, you’ve seen every pressure, every front, every look on defense,” he said. “So it really frees you up to branch out to your guys and lead.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

Annette Daniels, an administrative assistant at the Broward County Clerk of Courts office, was fired Wednesday after 19 years on the job after she filed paperwork challenging her boss, Brenda Forman, in the next election.

Forman has served two terms as clerk and is running for her third.

Daniels’ most recent assignment was conditioned on an oath that she act as Forman’s deputy and in Forman’s name “to do acts and things which I [Forman] myself might or could do if personally present,” according to the letter Daniels released to the courthouse news and gossip site JAABlog.

Daniels is one of two former employees of the clerk’s office challenging their former boss. The other is Charles Hall.

“I can’t believe she fired me,” Daniels said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. They fired me because I can beat her.”

Hall worked at the clerk’s office from 1986 to 2021, resigning after a dispute with Forman over a potential reassignment.

His last position was as court operations manager over the evidence division.

Forman handily defeated two challengers when she first ran for re-election in 2020. This year she is the only one of the three candidates with any money in her campaign coffers: $16,500. Nearly two-thirds of her donations came from outside Broward County, and a little over half came from donors in Texas.

Forman did not reply to a text message seeking comment.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-304-5256.

WEST PALM BEACH (CBS12) — The remains of what investigators believe is an infant were found at a Solid Waste Authority facility in West Palm Beach.

Just before 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the West Palm Beach Police Department  received a call from a worker at one of the Solid Waste Authority plants, according to police spokesman Mike Jachles. A garbage truck was dumping its contents at the tipping floor after entering the Renewable Energy Facility at 6501 N. Jog Road when workers discovered the human remains.

“This was an indoor facility, versus had this been in a landfill or somewhere where we might not have ever recovered them,” Jachles said at a Wednesday news conference. “There are a number of what-ifs, but we’re not gonna hypothesize, what we’re gonna do is base our investigation on the facts.”

Jachles said the remains were found after most of the loads from the tipping floor had already been cleared.

Detectives believe the human remains found belong to a baby; the Medical Examiner’s Office is now investigating, Jachles said.

Detectives, crime scene investigators, and officers were combing through piles of garbage with their hands, rakes, and other tools looking for more remains, Jachles said. Police said no other remains were recovered by midnight Tuesday, other than what the workers had already found.

Detectives are reviewing surveillance videos to track the movement of trucks that were coming into the facility. Once those details are known, detectives can track the truck’s route and hope to establish where the remains came from.

Jachles said there are other methods to gather leads in the investigation. “We have DNA, genealogy, things like that can be utilized and detectives are looking at all possible means to identify who the remains belong to,” Jachles said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Sgt. Dennis Hardiman at 561-822-1896. If you wish to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 458-8477. If your tip leads to an arrest, you may receive a cash reward.

“Regardless of age, when we find human remains that were discarded in the garbage. We don’t know how they got there, we need to determine how they got there, and where they came from,” Jachles said.

WPEC-CBS12 is a news partner of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

‘Twice the Trouble’ by Ash Clifton. Crooked Lane, 320 pages, $29.99

Ash Clifton’s gritty, gripping debut, “Twice the Trouble,” easily proves that the private detective subgenre thrives, while also delving into an area often neglected in Florida mysteries — the Tampa-Orlando corridor.

The Gainesville-based author delivers a polished first novel with a complicated hero, snappy dialogue, non-stop action and a solid plot. That private detective Noland Twice often is more anti-hero than pristine hero only adds to the multi-layered story of “Twice the Trouble.”

Noland was a promising University of Florida football star — Go, Gators! — when he broke his leg, derailing any aspirations of going pro. He spent a few years as a deputy sheriff until he was arrested on a bogus drug charge and sentenced to Raiford prison before he was exonerated.

For several years now, Noland has scraped out a living as a private detective. He has one unusual skill: He seems to be able to find any missing person, no natter how scant the clues.

“Twice the Trouble” is the debut novel by Ash Clifton (Crooked Lane/Courtesy)

He is hired to find Arthur Valkenberg, a partner in one of Florida’s largest construction firms who may have stolen millions of dollars. Noland knows this will be a difficult case, but if he is successful, he will earn $4 million. Arthur is dangerous, leaving a trail of violence in his wake. Betrayal after betrayal impede the case as violence erupts quickly. Noland often calls on his small group of associates with their unusual skills.

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Clifton imbues the briskly paced “Twice the Trouble” with unpredictable twists, shaping Noland in the tradition of Sam Spade and Spenser, whose tough personas drive their plots. Noland is used to his cases turning “dark,” taking “extraordinary — often illegal — measures” to solve a case. And he never shies away from that approach

Central Florida has long needed a new voice in mysteries, and Clifton knows the area well, from the streets of Orlando, its myriad neighborhoods and the nearby small towns such as St. Cloud. The plot of “Twice the Trouble” is far removed from any theme park.

Clifton makes a strong start with “Twice the Trouble” and should have a long series with Noland.

 

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases — spurning another of the former president’s ploys to put off the historic trial. Several more are pending.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan declared the request untimely, ruling that Trump’s lawyers had “myriad opportunities” to raise the immunity issue before they finally did so last month, well after a deadline for pretrial motions had already passed.

The timing of the defense’s March 7 filing “raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion,” Merchan wrote in a six-page decision.

Lawyers for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, had asked Merchan to adjourn the New York trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved.

Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers have not raised that as a defense in the hush-money case, but they argued that some evidence — including Trump’s social media posts about former lawyer Michael Cohen — is from his time as president and should be excluded from the trial because of his immunity protections.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on April 25 — a week-and-a-half after the start of jury selection in the hush-money case.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche declined to comment. The Manhattan district attorney’s office also declined to comment.

Trump first raised the immunity issue in his Washington criminal case, which involves allegations that he worked to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Merchan, in his ruling, drew a distinction between the Washington case — which he referred to as the Federal Insurrection Matter — and the hush-money case he’s overseeing.

In Washington, Trump is trying to use presidential immunity to get the charges thrown out on the grounds that he has “absolute immunity from federal criminal liability,” the judge wrote. In the hush-money case, he said, Trump is trying to preclude evidence of what prosecutors said was his “pressure campaign” against Cohen and other witnesses.

The hush money case centers on allegations that Trump falsified his company’s internal records to hide the true nature of payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign. Among other things, Cohen paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.

The hush-money trial, the first of Trump’s four criminal cases scheduled to go before a jury, was originally scheduled to begin March 25. Merchan postponed it until April 15 after Trump’s lawyers complained about a last-minute document dump from a prior federal investigation into the matter that sent Cohen to prison.

Trump and his lawyers have continued to lobby for even more delays, parlaying gripes about Merchan and concerns about getting a fair trial in heavily Democratic Manhattan into eleventh-hour pleas for more time. It’s the latest iteration of the strategy Trump proclaimed to TV cameras outside a pretrial hearing in February: “We want delays.”

Trump’s lawyers are again urging Merchan to step aside from the case, arguing in a letter to the judge this week that he may have a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant. Merchan rejected a similar recusal request last year. If he were to exit now, it would throw the trial schedule into disarray, with time needed to assign a new judge and get that person up to speed.

In other recent filings, Trump’s lawyers argued that the trial should be delayed indefinitely until “prejudicial media coverage” of the case dissipates. They also contend that by seeking to make the case about the 2016 election, prosecutors in the liberal borough are “endeavoring to give jurors an opportunity for a referendum” on Trump’s win in that race.

Prosecutors balked at that Wednesday, arguing that publicity about the unprecedented trial of the former president is “unlikely to recede” anytime soon. They blamed Trump’s “own incessant rhetoric” for generating significant publicity, adding that “it would be perverse” to reward him with a delay “based on media attention he is actively seeking.”

Prosecutors said the jury selection process — with additional questions designed to weed out biased prospects — will allow both sides to pick an impartial jury.

In his ruling Wednesday, Merchan wrote that Trump’s failure to raise the immunity issue sooner strained credulity since the former president’s lawyers had previously invoked presidential immunity in a failed bid last year to get the hush-money case moved from state court to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s claim that allegations in the hush money indictment involved official duties, writing last July, “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event.”

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” Hellerstein added.

The question of whether a former president is immune from federal prosecution for official acts taken in office is legally untested.

Prosecutors in the Washington case have said no such immunity exists and that, in any event, none of the actions alleged in the indictment count as official acts. The trial judge in Washington and a federal appeals court have both ruled against Trump.

__

Associated Press reporter Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

MONTREAL — Nick Suzuki scored the tying and go-ahead goals in the second period and Sam Montembeault made 37 saves in leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Cole Caufield, Jake Evans and Joel Armia also scored while Alex Newhook had two assists for Montreal, which won its fourth in five games.

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell tallied for Florida, which lost to Montreal for the first time in four meetings (3-1-0) this season. Anthony Stolarz made 34 saves.

The feisty game featured 66 minutes in penalties, including 52 in the third period.

The playoff-bound Panthers have struggled with losses in eight of their last 10 games, including a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

Florida was missing top forwards Matthew Tkachuk (illness) and Carter Verhaeghe (upper body). Defenseman Aaron Ekblad also exited the game late in the first period with an undisclosed injury after a skirmish with Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky.

The Canadiens went 1-for-7 on the power play. Florida was 0-for-4.

Lundell opened the scoring 9:16 into the first period, but Montreal replied 56 seconds later when Armia scored on a rebound. Barkov, who has 47 points in 35 games against the Canadiens, capitalized on another Canadiens defensive breakdown to make it 2-1 at 13:13.

Suzuki evened the score at 5:58 of the middle period after Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov gifted him a turnover all alone in the slot. The Canadiens captain put his team in front 3-2 with a deflection on the power play at 12:24 for his 32nd of the season.

Caufield carried that momentum into the third with a silky wraparound goal 33 seconds into the period and Evans added a short-handed goal on a breakaway to give the Canadiens a three-goal cushion at 4:34.

Tempers flared with six minutes left when Florida’s Nick Cousins bodychecked Evans after the whistle. Brandon Montour got into it with Brendan Gallagher in the ensuing scrum and threw the Canadiens forward to the ice. Cousins, Montour and Gallagher received 10-minute misconducts.

Bennett scored short-handed to bring Florida within two at 18:44.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit Ottawa on Thursday

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Tuesday night’s 109-99 victory over the New York Knicks:

– In a vacuum, Terry Rozier getting on a heater would appear totally apropos.

– At the moment, it seems just that.

– With Tyler Herro still out.

– Which only adds to the drama of what happens when/if Herro returns from the foot tendinitis that has had him out for more than a month.

– Because we have yet to get to the point of knowing whether side-by-side Rozier and Herro works.

– Or, for that matter, whether either can maximize his game if cast, instead, in an either/or alignment.

– So staggered minutes?

– Keys handed to Rozier as leading ignition man?

– No, not the type of question you want with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

– And perhaps one that won’t have to be answered at all, if Herro doesn’t come fully around.

– But for two players who sit side-by-side in the locker room, side-by-side questions remain.

– With the Heat title of Boy Wonder potentially in the balance.

– The Heat again opened with a lineup of Rozier, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson.

– That lineup entered 5-5 this season.

– With Jovic’s first 3-point conversion made it 11 consecutive games with at least one, surpassing the previous longest such streak of his career he had set earlier this season.

– Inactive for the Heat were Herro and Josh Richardson, as well as two-way player Alondes Williams, a rare time the Heat had to deactivate an available healthy player.

– Teams are limited to 15 in uniform on game nights, with the Heat roster at 18.

– The Heat opened with Butler defending Jalen Brunson, with Josh Hart taking the Butler assignment on the other end.

– There was an early “M-V-P!” chant for Brunson from the large contingent of New York fans.

– That was followed by an “M-V-P!” chant for Butler, who is ineligible due to a lack of games played.

– Back from his one-game absence due to ankle soreness, Caleb Martin was first off the Heat bench.

– Jaime Jaquez Jr. then entered after Robinson was called for his second foul with 4:20 left in the opening period.

– And then Kevin Love entered for the first time in over a month, after being sidelined with a heel issue.

– With Haywood Highsmith making it nine deep.

– Highsmith then got the call ahead of Jaquez in the second half.

– The talk at the Heat’s morning shootaround was of the importance of the closing schedule.

– “I think we all understand what’s at stake here and also where we’re trying to be as a team,” Patty Mills said. “It’s crunch time, so it’s one of those games we’re preparing for something larger.”

– Mills also said, “Just every game has meaning and they’re must-win games.” And added, “money in the bank for what we’re trying to do in the playoffs.”

– Said Rozier, “We know how every game is important here on out.”

– For Rozier, the game put him against the opponent of his first career triple-double.

– “It was my actual first start, too,” he said, “It was good times, definitely. Can’t forget something like that.”

– Asked about Brunson, Rozier said ahead of the game, “Super crafty, plays hard, wants to go get it. The guys really put a lot of trust in him and he’s delivered time after time. So all the respect goes to him.”

– Of Brunson, Mills said, “He’s such a great, craft talent. He gets to whatever spots he wants.”

– Then there’s Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who said, “You just try to be extremely disciplined to your system. You’re not taking things away from him at this point, at the level he’s playing.”

– As for the Knicks, Spoelstra said, “They’ve had a lot of adversity, but they’ve been able to weather all those storms.”

– Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said he hardly was surprised the Adebayo added 3-point shooting to his game.

– “It’s a mark of a great player,” Thibodeau said pregame. “You almost expect them to keep adding, which he’s done.”

MIAMI – A season searching for a statement victory found one Tuesday night, with the Miami Heat holding off a New York Knicks rally for a 109-99 decision at Kaseya Center.

Uneven at home this season, and with a losing record against teams with winning records, the Heat rode the hot hand of guard Terry Rozier to their seventh victory in their last 10 games.

“It was really good to see us respond to the competition,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, “and find a way to win at the end.”

The victory kept the Heat even in the loss column with the Indiana Pacers for the sixth and final direct berth into the best-of-seven first-round of the playoffs.

Rozier closed with 34 points, at 10 of 15 from the field, including 8 of 11 on 3-pointers. He was supported by 17 points from Jimmy Butler, 15 from Bam Adebayo and 14 from Haywood Highsmith.

But it was Rozier who swung the score.

“Somebody does have to score,” Spoelstra said of the tightly contested defensive showdown, “this is not just a cage match.”

The Knicks got 31 points from Donte DiVincenzo and 24 from Miles McBride, with Jalen Brunson scoring 20, but doing it on 5-of-18 shooting.

“More than anything,” Spoelstra said, “this was an introduction to our new players to Heat-Knicks.”

While the Heat remained without Tyler Herro, the Knicks continued in the absences of OG Anunoby and Julius Randle.

The Heat entered 17-24 against teams at .500 or better and 19-17 at home, with the victory lifting them to 42-33, assuring another winning season in the Pat Riley era.

Next up for the Heat is a Thursday night showdown against the Philadelphia 76ers, who on Tuesday night got center Joel Embiid back in their lineup.

That made Tuesday significant, Adebayo said.

“It’s just a momentum builder,” he said.

Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat led 34-22 after the first period, 58-43 at halftime and 83-73 going into the fourth.

But, later, a 12-0 Knicks run capped by a layup by former Heat forward Precious Achiuwa then tied it 92-92 with 3:59 to play.

From there, a Highsmith 3-pointer put the Heat up 95-92, with three Rozier free throws, an Adebayo tip-in and a driving Butler basket producing a 102-94 Heat lead with 1:52 left.

A DiVincenzo 3-pointer play followed, as did an Adebayo jumper, leaving the Heat up 104-97 with 62 seconds to play.

A driving Brunson basket cut the Heat lead to 104-99 with 57 seconds to play, before Rozier splashed in his eighth and final 3-pointer of the night to seal it.

“When they came back,” Spoelstra said, “you hear the groaning, or hear the smattering of the Knicks fans, you can either feel sorry for yourself or you can either respond.”

2. Scary Terry: Rozier picked up where he left off in Sunday night’s 27-point performance with 12 first-quarter points that included a 3-of-4 start on 3-pointers that included a four-point play.

He then moved to 20 points by halftime, including 5 of 6 on 3-pointers over the first two periods.

He was up to 28 points on 12 shots going into the fourth.

He then returned with 7:40 left and the Heat up 92-81, helping put it away with his six late points.

“I felt like I  could score the ball pretty well, and it’s just one of those nights,” Rozier said. “Credit goes to my teammates and coaches in allowing me to be me.”

Credit also came from his teammates.

“This was a different mode he was in today,” Adebayo said.

3. Active, engaged: With the calendar flipping to April, Butler, on schedule, was active and engaged.

Not only did he take the initial defensive assignment on Brunson, but he was up to 13 points and five assists by halftime, including a 3-point conversion.

Still, with the Knicks packing the pack, Butler was limited with his attacks, adding just two more points in the third period, at 7 of 9 on 3-pointers at that stage.

Butler added six assists and five rebounds.

4. Rotation alteration: While the Heat remained with a starting lineup of Butler, Adebayo, Rozier, Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic, the rotation was altered.

Not only was Caleb Martin back after being given Sunday off in Washington off to rest a sore right ankle, but Kevin Love returned after being sidelined since Feb. 29 with a bruised right heel.

Love then converted his first two 3-point attempts.

With Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Highsmith the other reserves in the primary rotation, it shuffled Thomas Bryant, Delon Wright and Patty Mills out of the mix.

Love closed with eight points, three rebounds and three assists in 15:30.

“I feel fresh,” Love said afterward. “My body feels really good.”

The contribution, Spoelstra said, was significant.

“Kevin gives us something different, it spaces the floor in a different way,” Spoelstra said. “And he just has such great veteran experience for these kind of games.”

5. The Brunson burner: After scoring 91 points in his previous two games, including a 61-point performance last week against the San Antonio Spurs, Brunson had six at halftime on 2-of-8 shooting.

Brunson was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March earlier in the day.

Brunson entered the fourth quarter with 14 points on 3-of-12 shooting, with Highsmith supporting Butler in the defensive effort and Adebayo stepping up on switches.

While Brunson closed 9 of 10 from the line, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said there should have been more.

“He’s getting fouled, he’s getting fouled, he’s getting fouled, he’s getting fouled, he’s getting fouled, he’s getting fouled,” Thibodeau said.

From Adebayo’s perspective, it was about “not letting him get in a rhythm.”

MIAMI — Tyler Anderson pitched seven scoreless innings, Aaron Hicks homered and the Los Angeles Angeles beat Miami 3-1 on Tuesday, sending the Marlins to their worst start in franchise history.

Anderson (1-0) scattered four hits, walked two and struck out five. The left-hander was lifted after 83 pitches.

“Honestly, today I just wanted to make as many good pitches as I could,” Anderson said. “There is no goal of trying to throw more. Sometimes I feel that could put you in a bad spot, trying too hard as opposed to just trying to make as many good pitches as you can.”

Hicks’ solo blast in the fourth put the Angels ahead 1-0. He drove a fastball from Miami starter Jesús Luzardo inside the foul pole in right for his first hit with Los Angeles, snapping an 0-for-11 start.

“You definitely want to start the season quick and get the first (hit) out of the way and enjoy your season with the highs and lows,” said Hicks, who signed with the Angels as a free agent in the offseason. “Today, it felt good, especially with the way that it came.”

The Angels increased their lead on run-scoring singles from Hicks and Taylor Ward in the sixth.

Bryan De La Cruz homered in the ninth inning for the Marlins, who lost their sixth straight game to start the season.

Luzardo (0-1) gave up three runs and four hits, walked two and struck out five over 5 1/3 innings.

“It’s a little frustrating, but I can tell you that there’s no one in the universe that wants to win more than the guys on the field,” Luzardo said. “The guys in this clubhouse, every day, we come with a positive mindset and a positive attitude.”

Logan O’Hoppe doubled and singled for the Angels, who won their third straight after starting the season with consecutive losses at defending AL East champion Baltimore.

“We’ve all been under a little stress since we hit Baltimore,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “But I think that stress is subsiding now.”

Angels rookie Nolan Schanuel, of neighboring Boca Raton, walked twice, extending his career-starting on base streak to 34 games.

“The word out on him is that he doesn’t swing at too many bad pitches,” Washington said. “He will make you throw the ball across the plate. Tonight he did that and we needed it.”

After Matt Moore relieved Anderson and pitched a perfect eighth, Luis García allowed De La Cruz’s one-out solo homer and walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. García retired Tim Anderson on a groundout and struck out pinch hitter Jesús Sánchez for his first save.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto made a diving stab of Josh Bell’s hard smash in the hole and threw Bell out at first for the second out in the sixth. The play drew cheers from dozens of Neto’s family and friends who sat by the first base area. A Miami native, Neto is playing his first series in his hometown.

The Marlins acquired infielder Emmanuel Rivera from the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash considerations. In a corresponding move, infielder Jacob Amaya was designated for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: RHP Eury Pérez (right elbow inflammation) continues to play catch with the anticipation of progressing to a bullpen session soon.

UP NEXT

LHP Patrick Sandoval (0-1, 16.20) will start the series finale for the Angels on Wednesday against Marlins LHP A.J. Puk (0-1, 18.00).

Democrats highlighted searing personal stories and delivered impassioned political broadsides Tuesday as they sought to capitalize on a pair of abortion rulings delivered a day earlier by the Florida Supreme Court.

And, they warned of even more fallout from court rulings and legislative actions.

First, they said, is the ban on almost all abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, a Florida law that goes into effect in four weeks, on May 1, as a result of one of the state Supreme Court rulings.

Next, they asserted, “right-wing MAGA extremist politicians” will stop families from using in vitro fertilization, or IVF. After that, they declared, Republicans would move on to restricting access to contraception.

“Florida’s six-week abortion ban is cruel, it’s dangerous and it’s extreme. Florida’s six-week abortion ban will cost lives and it will hurt the health, the safety and the well-being of the women of this great state. Florida’s six-week abortion ban is an assault on freedom. It’s an assault on liberty and it’s an assault on the dignity of the women of this state,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said in Fort Lauderdale.

Jeffries, who would become House speaker if Democrats win control in the November elections, was in South Florida on the first day of a multi-pronged effort by Democrats to use the Florida Supreme Court abortion decisions to mobilize voter turnout this fall.

“Make no mistake about it: Freedom itself is on the ballot on November 5th in Florida,” Jeffries said, decrying what he said has been the impact of “extremists in Tallahassee, extremists on the Florida Supreme Court, extremists in Washington, and those who were put on the United States Supreme Court by MAGA extremists.”

Democrats on offense

The Democrats were on the offensive Tuesday in Florida on multiple fronts — something they’ve rarely managed to pull off in recent years as their political fortunes have gone into freefall.

Jeffries and seven other Democratic members of Congress, from Florida and elsewhere, held a field hearing to alert people to the coming six-week abortion ban and the referendum on the November election ballot that would reverse that ban — if voters approve enshrining abortion rights in the Florida Constitution.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, organized the hearing not knowing exactly when or how the Florida Supreme Court would rule.

On Monday it OK’d a ban on almost all abortions after 15 weeks, a decision that automatically greenlights the coming six-week restriction. The Supreme Court also allowed the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

In a statement issued Tuesday by the White House, President Joe Biden Biden said the Florida Supreme Court’s “extreme decision puts desperately needed medical care even further out of reach for millions of women in Florida and across the South…. Florida’s bans — like those put forward by Republican elected officials across the country — are putting the health and lives of millions of women at risk.”

And the administration dispatched Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to Fort Lauderdale to join the abortion-rights effort. “Women in America should not be living in medical apartheid,” Becerra said.

In a Biden campaign conference call, campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said the six-week ban could help mobilize voters.

“We do see more and more Americans sort of standing up and saying and declaring that they don’t want politicians interfering with some of these most personal decisions between them and their doctors, them and their families that we know are really critical,” she said.

That doesn’t mean Florida is seen as fertile political territory for Biden. “In terms of just Florida and the campaign, look, we’re clear-eyed about how hard it will be to win Florida,” Chavez Rodriguez said. “But we also know that Trump does not have it in the bag.”

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Testimony

At the hearing, a range of witnesses brought forward personal stories about anything that interferes with an individual’s decision on whether to have an abortion, or on other reproductive health issues, such as IVF.

Deborah Dorbert, of Lakeland, described her harrowing experience that began with what seemed like a routine visit to her physician the day before Thanksgiving in 2022 when she was pregnant.

“Everything was going smoothly with my pregnancy besides experiencing the normal symptoms of morning sickness and being tired,” she said. The technician performing the screening had a troubled look on her face and summoned the obstetrician. The doctor informed Dorbert that her baby’s kidneys didn’t develop, meaning that the child would only live a short time after birth.

Despite medical advice, she said doctors told her the pregnancy couldn’t be ended because of the 2022 state law banning most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, and she was told she would have to carry the baby to full term. “The next few months were the hardest times of my life,” she testified.

At 37 weeks, labor was induced. “I held him in my arms and he passed away after 94 minutes,” she said.

“Even though the baby had a life-threatening condition, until my life was on the line, I couldn’t get induced,” she said.

The condition meant there was no amniotic fluid, making the pregnancy extremely painful because there was no cushion for the fetus in her body. The effects are with the family almost a year and a half later. “We’ve all really struggled with our mental health,” she said.

Deborah Dorbert cries as she testifies about her experience carrying her baby son, whose kidneys never developed, to full term because of Florida’s 15-week abortion ban. She spoke during a field hearing of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee at the Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Sandra Elidor, a Broward resident, turned to IVF because of endometriosis, in which uterine-like tissue grows outside the uterus and makes pregnancy difficult. When the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos created through IVF should be considered children, it created nationwide turmoil, Elidor said.

“Many of us were scared,” she said, and some stopped IFV treatments.

Decisions on IVF “should not be the government’s decision to make,” she said.

Dr. Ian Bishop, an obstetrician-gynecologist and assistant professor and director of family planning at the University of Miami Health System, warned the new restrictions would cost lives and impact the health care of many Floridians. (Bishop said he was speaking for himself, not the university.)

He said he is “compelled by my conscience to provide abortion” services to women who need them. But being “squeezed” between state law and his medical responsibility to care for his patients has changed his practice. “Nor being able to help the person in front of me as I hold their hand is devastating,” he said.

Bishop also told the lawmakers that federal protections for abortion rights are needed. “My patients need your help.”

Bishop said women would “absolutely” die as a result of Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks if women are forced to continue potentially dangerous pregnancies.

Bishop said the restrictions would have “profound implications for medical education.” Some prospective doctors will go to other states for training, not wanting their education limited.

Democrats framed the issue as one of “extreme Republicans” meddling in decisions that should be between women and their doctors.

“Right-wing MAGA extremist politicians in Tallahassee inflicted an abortion ban on Florida women,” Wasserman Schultz. “They want to insert themselves in our most personal difficult health care decisions.”

The audience of about 125 people was mostly invited Democrats and congressional staffers. Besides the members of Congress — including Floridians Kathy Castor, Maxwell Frost, Jared Moskowitz and Darren Soto — several Democratic state senators and representatives were present.

The all-Democratic congressional hearing was technically official government business. Jeffries and Wasserman Schultz said it wasn’t a partisan effort.

“Our concern at this moment is not electoral politics,” Jeffries said.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, chaired most of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee field hearing on abortion access at the Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel) Faulting Republicans

Democrats faulted former President Donald Trump for nominating the Supreme Court justices who provided the votes needed for the court’s conservative bloc to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed abortion rights in the U.S. for five decades.

“‘Donald Trump cannot run, cannot hide from the fact that he appointed three justices with the intent that he achieved by overturning Roe v. Wade and tearing away women’s reproductive freedom and forcing the government in the midst of deeply private personal health care decisions,” Wasserman Schultz said.

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Parkland, pointed to the three most recent state Supreme Court justices appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

They voted to uphold the ban on almost all abortions after six weeks, and voted against allowing the proposed constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot.

He said that is “telling about where the Supreme Court is going,” and suggested voters remember, and express their disapproval of the justices when they are up for retention votes in the November election.

Florida State Rep. Robyn Bartleman speaks to Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam prior to a field hearing of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee held at the Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday to discuss abortion restrictions. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel) Republicans respond

Republicans dismissed the Democrats’ predictions of doom.

“We agree with the three women on the Court who got it right in dissent. This amendment is misleading and will confuse voters. The language hides the amendment’s true purpose of mandating that abortions be permitted up to the time of birth,” Julia Friedland, the governor’s deputy press secretary, said via email.

Evan Power, chair of the Florida Republican Party, said Democrats are the ones with an extreme agenda.

“The only thing extreme about Florida Republicans is the amount of winning we do. This was an issue in 2022 and Republicans won by record numbers. This is just a sad attempt for Democrats to try and fake enthusiasm for their radical agenda that has seen them be on the losing end of a shift” of voters moving away from the Democratic Party and toward the Republican Party, Power said via text.

Florida state House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said the proposed constitutional amendment is not what it seems.

“Abortion activists have spent millions putting an extreme amendment on Florida’s ballot,” he said in a statement. “Amendment 4 would make Florida’s abortion laws more liberal than countries throughout Europe and eliminate existing laws that most people on both sides of the abortion issue agree on — like parental consent for minors and any restrictions on late-term abortions. We are confident that when the people of Florida learn what this amendment does, they will vote NO on Amendment 4.”

Democrats said Renner was exaggerating the effects of the amendments.

State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, said Monday in a news conference after the Supreme Court’s rulings that people need to “have the conversation about how extreme this amendment truly is. … This amendment rolls us back to the dark ages before advancements in science and medicine before Roe vs. Wade. It is broad. It is far-reaching. It is dangerous. It is wrong for Florida.”

U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Central Florida Democrat, predicted voters — especially women — would respond differently in November.

“The Florida Supreme Court slammed the door shut on reproductive freedom for millions of Florida women,” he said. “But then they handed the keys over to women to decide in November.”

Staff writer Abigail Hasebroock contributed to this report.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Facebook, Threads.net and Post.news.

As a dispute over referendum funding for charter schools heats up in Broward County, the Palm Beach County School Board may end its own battle Wednesday by paying 45 charter schools a combined $54.9 million.

The expected payout is the result of a 2023 legal victory for charter schools that also has impacted Broward, which is the same appellate judicial district as Palm Beach County.

The issue in Palm Beach County relates to a tax of $100 per $100,000 in assessed property, which voters passed in a referendum in 2018. The money was used for teacher salary increases, safety and security and the funding of art and music teachers for four years. The law at the time didn’t explicitly say charter schools must be included, and Palm Beach County restricted the money to its district-run schools only.

In 2019, two charter schools, Academy for Positive Learning and Palm Beach Maritime Academy, and two parents filed a lawsuit challenging the district’s decision. After an initial win for the school district in trial court, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the charter schools in 2021, saying the district needed to start sharing. The decision was upheld after the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case in September 2021.

After that time, the district agreed to include all charter schools in referendum payments for the next two years, which was estimated to be about $45 million.  But still unanswered was whether the district must reimburse charter schools for the first two years where they hadn’t been paid.

The court ruled in March 2023 that Palm Beach County must make retroactive payments, and the district started making retroactive payments.

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“Based on the ruling of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, the School Board distributed payments reflecting the amount of the retroactive 2018 referendum revenues as required by the courts to every charter school in Palm Beach County and further sent funding letters regarding the interest payments owed on the 2018 referendum revenues,” the School Board agenda item states.

“The charter schools noted various disputes related to these interest payments. The Settlement Agreements included in this Board item are representative of the parties’ desire to resolve all disputes, including, without limitation, all claims raised or that could be raised in connection with the 2018 referendum principal payments or funding letters,” the item states.

Broward is still in the middle of a dispute over funding from its own 2018 referendum, and the state Board of Education found the district out of compliance with state law at a March 27 meeting. The board cited the Palm Beach County court rulings in its findings.

Broward shared some money with charter schools, about $4.6 million of $455 million collected over four years. But about 30 charter schools sued in October, seeking a proportional share of referendum money. The state Board of Education has become involved in the matter and says Broward owes about $80 million.

Broward’s tax, at $50 per $100,000 in assessed property, was half the size of Palm Beach’s at the time. The state law was changed in 2019 to explicitly require school districts to share with charter schools, and Broward and Palm Beach complied when they asked voters to approve new referendums in 2022.

The issue in Broward has angered some board members. Board member Daniel Foganholi has accused Interim General Counsel Marylin Batista of mishandling the matter and is asking the School Board to fire her April 16.

Abortion-right advocates are predicting a national fallout from the Florida Supreme Court’s decision Monday to allow a six-week abortion ban to take effect on May 1.

The law will shutter clinics, limit abortions performed here each year, delay care and send thousands of people across state lines to terminate their pregnancies, they said Tuesday.

“[This ban] will affect the entire country,” said Megan Jeyifo from the Chicago Abortion Fund, who added that Florida’s six-week cutoff is “essentially an all-out ban.”

Read the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to allow voters to decide on abortion access

Many low-income women can’t afford travel, prompting them to carry pregnancies to term or take abortion pills at home past six weeks, prescribed via telehealth by doctors from other states.

Six weeks of gestation is just two weeks after a pregnant woman misses her first period before most women know they are pregnant. Florida also still requires two in-person visits at least 24 hours apart before someone can get an abortion.

“It will make it virtually impossible” to get an abortion, said Kara Gross, Legislative Director and Senior Policy Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

The court also gave the OK for Florida residents to vote on whether to undo the six-week ban in November, through a ballot initiative that aims to put abortion rights into the state’s constitution up until viability, long considered to be about 24 weeks. If passed by a 60% majority, that amendment would take effect in mid-January.

National Democrats gather to mobilize on abortion, warn of threats to IVF and contraception

But providers and advocates say there may be irreversible changes to abortion in Florida before then.

“People, rightfully so, are excited about the opportunity to vote to enshrine abortion up to 24 weeks in the state constitution of Florida. But we can’t forget that these are real people’s lives, in the meantime, that are impacted — who won’t be able to access care, who are going to confront many more challenges,” said Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, executive director of the Florida Access Network, a fund that helps women afford abortion care.

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Piñeiro said some of Florida’s independent abortion providers will struggle to stay afloat for the next nine months.

“Abortion clinics don’t receive bailouts, the same that corporations might. So what the landscape is going to look like is going to be dramatically different, whether we’re able to enshrine abortion in the state constitution or not,” she said.

In response to requests about how its operations might change, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida interim CEO Barbara Zdravecky in an emailed statement reiterated the organization’s dedication to providing care.

“When the six-week ban goes into effect, we will continue to provide safe and legal abortion care in compliance with the law. Patients who need abortion care and are past six weeks pregnant will be navigated to other states with more access. Today and every day, Planned Parenthood will care for our patients and will never stop fighting for our right to control our bodies and our lives,” Zdravecky said.

Illinois replaces Florida

On May 1, Illinois will become the closest state to the Southeast that offers abortions past 12 weeks.

“We anticipated the worst, and the worst is here,” said Megan Jeyifo of the Chicago Abortion Fund. “So I think we are prepared for an influx, I think providers in our state have been working tirelessly for the last two years. The largest concern is that there won’t be money to get people to the appointments.”

Who gets abortions in Florida? New data present a clearer picture

Jeyifo said the Chicago Abortion Fund helped over 12,000 women get an abortion in 2023, spending an average of about $360,000 a month. The fund has never had to turn anyone away, but that day may come soon, Jeyifo said.

Smaller groups funding abortion care, including the Florida Access Network and the Brigid Alliance, already struggle to meet demand and expressed similar concerns.

“Abortion funds like us, we’re going to be more strapped for resources than ever,” said Piñeiro.

For John Stemberger, newly named president of Liberty Counsel Action, Monday’s Supreme Court decision is a victory. It struck down a long-held precedent that the state constitution’s privacy clause protected the procedure.

“I’m thrilled that after 35 years of work, the court has clarified that Florida’s privacy right has nothing to do with abortion,” he said.

An abortion ban tempered only by the right to vote on it | Editorial

But others expressed concerns about women’s safety.

For one, shuttered Florida clinics and increased demand could create a backlog that stretches across several U.S. states, said Serra Sippel, interim executive director of the Brigid Alliance, a national network assisting people who need to travel for abortion.

“As more people need to travel, we’ll also see clinics scheduling appointments well into the future to meet the demand. So this means people seeking abortions may be forced to delay their procedures and carry their pregnancies further into term, which can be mean risking their health,” she said.

Concerns about vagueness

Dr. Rachel Humphrey, a Central Florida OBGYN specializing in high-risk pregnancies, said she’s concerned the six-week ban’s exceptions are too vague.

Both the current ban and the six-week ban offer exceptions to save the mother from severe harm or death, regardless of how far along the pregnancy is, as well as exceptions for “fatal fetal abnormalities.” The bill has nonclinical language that Humphrey said leaves medical providers confused as to what qualifies. The six-week ban also offers exceptions for rape, incest or trafficking up to 15 weeks.

“We have had multiple cases where I and other physicians involved knew that continuing the pregnancy was dangerous for the mother,” Humphrey said. “And yet not dangerous enough that we felt it met the criteria that the politicians determined.”

One example up for debate is when someone’s water breaks pre-term, which can cause an incomplete miscarriage.

Making Florida relevant again, immediately | Editorial

“We literally have to wait for the mom either to complete the miscarriage process, or for her to get really sick while waiting before you can give her medicines to help her. And that’s the reality of what we’re dealing with right now, even before the six week ban,” Humphrey said.

But not all doctors agree. Dr. William Lile, a North Florida OBGYN, said the law is clear about what constitutes an exception. If doctors are delaying care in a way that endangers the mother, they are misinterpreting the law, he said.

“The biggest problem is ignorance about what the law actually says,” Lile said. “When the mother’s physical health is threatened, they can perform that procedure with or without a heartbeat. They don’t have to wait until the mom is in the critical stages in the ICU and might even have a uterine infection and might even have a loss of her uterus. They can respond and treat the mom appropriately when they feel the mother’s life and physical health is threatened.”

The law states exceptions are allowed when “two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.”

If another physician is not available, only one physician is required.

“When we actually looked at the law, we were like, ‘this isn’t going to change the way we practice medicine at all. If we can say, ‘this mother broke her bag of water, she’s at risk for having a life-threatening infection, and that would cause her further harm,’ there’s absolutely no delay per the law,” Lile said.

Ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com

Anne Z. Cooke | Tribune News Service (TNS)

NADI, Fiji Islands — “That’s Tom Hanks’ island, in ‘Cast Away’ the movie,” said the passenger sitting nearby, on the rear deck.

We’d seen him standing in line, a college kid in a red shirt, packing and repacking a knapsack while we waited to board the early morning ferry out of Viti Levu, largest of Fiji’s 330 islands. Leaning over the railing, he pointed at the horizon and a faint grey-green shape.

“Its real name is Modriki, and it’s small, just 100 acres,” he said. “But the beach is awesome. Tourists can’t wait to go.”

No surprise there. For most South Pacific travelers, nothing rivals Fiji’s sandy beaches, palm-shaded gardens, starry nights and Melanesian hospitality. We’d island-hopped over the years, tried a dozen different beach resorts, and liked most of them. Until 2019, when we joined a hiking group for a long look at the island’s mountains.

• Horses are cheaper than trucks, say Fiji farmers, if you’re out to see a neighbor. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• Navala Village, Fiji’s last traditionally thatched village, is an hour from the Fiji Orchid Hotel and welcomes visitors. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• Families on vacation make new friends in the pool near the Toba Bar & Grill, Intercontinental Hotel & Resort, Fiji. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• For a last-minute weekend on Lomani Island, take the one-hour ferry trip from Port Denerau. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• The Nausori Highland Road, scaling ancient lava slopes, reveals the origins of Fiji’s birth. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• Daring travelers join a Fijian warrior at the International Hotel & Resort’s evening Torch Lighting Ceremony, Fiji Islands. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• Natadola Bay’s public beach, beside the Intercontinental Hotel & Resort, is one of Viti Levu’s best. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

• Fiji’s farming families grow vegetables year around to sell at Nadi’s Outdoor Market. (Steve Haggerty/TNS)

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Finally last fall, with COVID in decline and Fiji open for tourists, we hopped a plane and headed back, this time for another look at what makes the country tick. Finding hotels wasn’t easy; Fiji is to Australians what Hawaii is to Americans. But we crossed our fingers, found five with rooms and struck gold at three places begging for a repeat visit.

The Fiji Orchid, a stately manor house near Viti Levu’s northwest shore and the former home of Hollywood actor Raymond Burr, star of the detective series “Perry Mason,” felt nothing like a hotel and everything like a home away from home. With an inviting living room and framed memorabilia, it beckoned at the end of a very long day.

Hotel Manager Deepika Dimlesh arranged an authentic Fijian dinner, and co-owner Gordon Leewie told tales of Fiji life in the early days. Though Nadi (NAN-dee) International Airport was 20 minutes away, our bure (BOO-ray, room, house), one of six in the lush tropical garden, was as quiet as a cemetery.

“We’ve had guests who stayed for weeks,” said Dimlesh at dinner. “One was even writing a book. But most are international travelers, businessmen flying through. We tell them, if you have a layover don’t try to sleep in the lounge. We’ll pick you up, you can use the pool, eat dinner or go to bed, and we’ll drive you back.”

Curious about Lautoka, Viti Levu’s second-largest town on the northwest shore, we hired tour guide and driver Kesho Goundar, who (like many Fijians) speaks Fijian, English and Hindi. Stopping at the town’s huge covered market, he bought a couple of kava “sticks,” the gifts we would need – for the chief – if we visited a village.

Then it was on to the Sabeto Mountains and the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. A popular park, it was founded by Burr, a worldwide orchid collector. Hundreds of orchids, planted along the trail to the summit, a huge head-like rock, are the highlight of a visit. And the adjacent forest — a tower of vines, shadowy branches and strange flowers — was a set waiting for a movie.

The next day we headed upcountry to Navala Village, the country’s last thatched village, driving past barnyards, gardens, sugar cane fields, villages, the occasional manufacturing plant and Methodist, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Catholic-oriented primary schools.

At first glance Navala looked empty, until guide Mark Navaroka came out to collect our $25 entrance fee and a kava stick for the chief.

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“This is how we used to build houses,” he said, leading us inside the chief’s official structure, where a couple of village leaders sat cross-legged, talking. “They built it in 1954 when five dying Catholic villages joined together,” he continued, leading the way to the school and church.

Turning onto the Nausori Highland Road – not another car in sight – we lurched uphill over a rocky, pot-holed track for more than an hour, each hill steeper than the one before, until we rounded the top, a photographer’s delight. Finally, around the corner, we passed two hunters on horseback with rifles and dogs.

Moving to Viti Levu’s southwest corner, we checked into the Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa, a 35-acre landscaped property on Natadola Bay. And instead of salesmen in suits, the hotel was as busy as a country club on a holiday weekend. Dads and kids played volleyball; moms worked out at a fitness center. We spotted kids racing hermit crabs, and others learning Fijian words and Polynesian dances. Menus at the hotel’s several restaurants listed continental and some Fijian dishes, and our favorite, the lively Toba Bar & Grill, took our order in five minutes and served the food in 10.

Coaxed into trying the Jet Ski “experience,” we flew over the waves, riding tandem behind two watersports guides. But the skis were trumped by the hotel’s Coral Planting project, headed by marine scientists Lawaci Koroyawa and Luke Romatanababa. Joining them in the water, we learned how to plant healthy corals onto damaged reefs.

Most memorable was the river cruise with Singatoka River Safari. Wide and long, the river winds through an endless valley, weaving past rocky hills, farms and meadows. Children splashed in it and men scrubbed their horses, waving as we passed. Pastoral and peaceful, it was a nod to an older century.

The 35-mile-long trip ended at a village, with a tour, lunch at the community center and a kava ceremony — shared cups – with the chief and town fathers. Kava is calming, some say. Just more weak tea, say others.

How many villages are there, we wondered. “Hundreds, but that’s not all,” said the hotel’s desk clerk. Each indigenous Fijian family belongs to a village that owns the land its on. It’s like a clan, she explained. And only indigenous Fijians can own land. So add all the villages and their land and it’s nearly 90% of the country. “The government makes Fiji’s laws, but the villages rule themselves. That’s why they’re important.”

As our last week approached, we took the ferry to Lomani Island Resort – yes, an adults-only beach resort – on Malolo Lailai island, a single hour’s ferry ride to the mainland and Nadi International Airport. You can stay overnight and still make it to the airport on time.

But it wasn’t the beach that earned the gold star. It was the charming cottages, each with a private yard and plunge pool. The smiling waiters and creative, chef-designed meals, served at candle-lit tables. The “double-X” swimming pool and the water sports center.

“It’s peaceful here,” said Shelley White, the general manager, when we met at the cocktail hour. “And quiet. But with Nadi next door, we stay busy with weddings and anniversaries, and lately, even business retreats. We can order everything we need and get it delivered the next day,” she said.

“Still, we love to have visitors like you, people who know this place and like it,” she added, with a puckish smile. “Let me know the next time you travel. I might decide to come along.”

If you go

Fiji Airways flies from Los Angeles, with Fijian attendants and quality service, and includes dinner, breakfast and snacks. Departures leave just before midnight and arrive at 5:30 a.m. Fiji Airways also flies from San Francisco and Honolulu.

Air New Zealand flies from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu

American Airlines flies from Los Angeles and San Francisco

United Airlines flies from Houston

Delta Airlines flies from Los Angeles and Seattle

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Laurie Baratti | (TNS) TravelPulse

Leading vacation rental company Airbnb is updating its Extenuating Circumstances Policy, including renaming it the Major Disruptive Events Policy “to better reflect its purpose.” This will provide greater flexibility for travelers who may need to cancel their reservations when unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters, extreme weather events and government-imposed travel restrictions, affect their ability to complete their stay.

Under this updated cancellation policy, guests can cancel reservations and receive refunds in cases of “foreseeable weather events,” such as hurricanes, that would result in another covered event occurring, such as large-scale utility outages. According to Travel + Leisure, the policy already applies to other “unexpected major events,” such as declared public health emergencies, including epidemics, but excluding COVID-19. This revised policy, which will go into effect on June 6, overrides individual hosts’ own cancellation policies.

This updated policy also applies to mid-trip cancellations, making it so that travelers can receive refunds for the unused portion of their stays in the event of a covered cancellation.

However, it’s important to note that Airbnb’s policy does not cover all unforeseen incidents, such as injuries, illnesses or government-imposed requirements, like jury duty or court appearances.

“The changes to this policy, including its new name, were made to create clarity for our guests and Hosts, and ensure it’s meeting the diverse needs of our global community,” Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s Head of Community Policy, said in a statement. “Our aim was to clearly explain when the policy applies to a reservation, and to deliver fair and consistent outcomes for our users. These updates also bring the policy in line with industry standards.”

The introduction of this revised policy aligns with Airbnb’s recent efforts to bolster travelers’ confidence in booking home-share stays. For example, earlier this month, it banned indoor security cameras in its rental homes worldwide due to privacy concerns, and, in 2022, instituted a permanent ban on parties, a move which was initially instituted temporarily during the COVID-19 crisis.

Last year, to crack down on fraudulent listings, the company introduced a “verified” status and badge for its rentals in an effort to reassure customers that the specified property does actually exists at the address indicated and that the host is reliable.

In 2022, Airbnb also updated its policies and platform to provide greater pricing transparency, displaying total costs, including fees, in user searches and altering its algorithm to rank listings with the best total prices higher in the results. At the same time, Airbnb provided “guidance” to hosts, encouraging them to set only “reasonable” checkout requests and requiring them to be displayed in the listing.

“Guests should not have to do unreasonable checkout tasks such as stripping the beds, doing the laundry, or vacuuming when leaving their Airbnb,” the company wrote in a statement at the time. “But we think it’s reasonable to ask guests to turn off the lights, throw food in the trash, and lock the doors — just like they would when leaving their own home.”

_______

©2024 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

May-lee Chai | Star Tribune (TNS)

Like many women of her generation, the unnamed Japanese American writer at the center of Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s bold, erotic “The Tree Doctor,” finds herself in midlife, squarely ensconced in the sandwich generation. She’s burdened with the double-whammy of childcare and tending to an elderly parent while holding down a job, in this case as an adjunct lecturer.

At novel’s start, Mockett’s protagonist has flown from her home in Hong Kong for what was supposed to be a brief trip to northern California to help her widowed mother, who has dementia and needs to be placed in long-term care.

“The Tree Doctor,” by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. (Graywolf/TNS)

Then, the pandemic hits. All nonessential travel is banned; Hong Kong has imposed a strict quarantine for travelers. The woman is stranded in her childhood home, remotely teaching a class on Japanese aesthetics and trying to console her two children and husband through video chats.

This could have been a novel solely about the unfair amount of work that disproportionately fell upon many women during the pandemic, the care-giving while also doing economic labor. But Mockett has something far more sly in mind. And it’s not about learning how to bake sourdough bread, like so many pandemic-era memes aimed at women.

As she cares for her mother’s long-neglected garden, the woman calls on a man at the local nursery — known as “The Tree Doctor” — and one thing leads to another, as the saying goes. A torrid, graphic, no-holds barred affair ensues.

The woman isn’t going to leave her husband or children. She’s not looking for a replacement mate. She’s intellectually fulfilled by discussing the intricacies of “The Tale of Genji” with her bright college students. No, she’s in it for the sex, for re-discovering what her body needs after decades of putting herself dead last on the checklist of things to do.

Mockett is the author of four books, including novel “Picking Bones from Ash” and two works of nonfiction. Her prose is as lush as the garden in the woman’s Carmel home, as Mockett weaves together discussions of flora, dissections of passages from “Genji” and the woman’s memories of childhood trips to Japan with her mother.

Marvel, for example, at how Mockett describes the irises: “Late spring was a time of lush color, dominated by violet and blue. The color purple in Japanese was murasaki, she recalled with delight. In the iris bed, there were now five flowers blooming, and the wisteria had, like Rapunzel, sent down its lilac curls.”

The title character remains an archetype, an antidote to the life of self-sacrifice that has been unhealthy for the woman. He may be a fantasy of sorts, but it’s also unrealistic to expect women, particularly mothers, to fulfill everyone else’s needs but their own. As the woman notes, “Someone once said that for every baby a woman has, that’s two books she doesn’t write.”

“Tree Doctor” is a book that says that kind of sacrifice takes its toll.

The Tree Doctor

By: Marie Mutsuki Mockett.

Publisher: Graywolf, 256 pages, $17.

©2024 StarTribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd goals of the season to go along with an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs built a four-goal lead before hanging on late to down the Florida Panthers 6-4 in a potential first-round playoff preview Monday.

Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies also had a goal and an assist each for Toronto, while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Kampf provided the rest of the offense.

Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Leafs, who were without five regulars — including star winger Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) for an 11th straight game.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists for Florida. Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots through two periods before getting the hook. Anthony Stolarz made six saves in relief.

The Leafs, who sit third in the Atlantic Division and would have played Florida if the playoffs started Monday, had a chance to clinch a post-season berth for an eighth consecutive year, but results elsewhere didn’t go their way.

The Panthers, meanwhile, could have overtaken the Boston Bruins for first in the Atlantic with a victory.

Toronto, which fell to Florida in an emphatic five games in the second round of last spring’s post-season on the Panthers’ march to the Stanley Cup final, opened the scoring at 13:59 of the first period when Robertson scored on a breakaway following a turnover at the Leafs’ blue line.

Matthews, who became just the ninth different player in NHL history to twice hit 60 goals in a season Saturday, doubled the lead 33 seconds later when TJ Brodie circled Florida’s net and found the sniper in front for his 61st.

Florida got on the board 47 seconds into the second when Montour’s effort through a screen beat Samsonov for his seventh, but Bertuzzi took a pass from Matthews at the lip of Bobrovsky’s crease 39 seconds later to bag his 19th.

Samsonov then made a huge stop on Anton Lundell that had the Scotiabank Arena crowd on its feet.

Kampf scored his seventh for a 4-1 advantage at 8:32 after Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves won a puck battle behind Florida’s net.

Knies, who fed Robertson’s breakaway pass on Toronto’s opener, added his 13th off a Pontus Holmberg setup for a 5-1 lead through 40 minutes.

Tarasenko got one back at 2:12 of the third when he tipped 22nd — and fifth since being acquired from the Ottawa Senators ahead of last month’s trade deadline — on a nice deflection from the slot.

Reinhart made it 5-3 with 8:02 left in regulation with his 52nd as the Panthers continued to push before Bennett got Florida within one with 1:50 remaining with his ninth.

But Matthews scored his 62nd into an empty net to seal it after some nervy moments.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit Montreal on Tuesday.

MIAMI — Mike Trout hit two solo homers and the Los Angeles Angels rallied from an early four-run deficit and beat the Miami Marlins 7-4 on Monday.

Trout’s second shot — a 473-foot blast in the sixth — landed in the walkway high above the wall in left-centerfield. It was the 26th multihomer game of Trout’s and the two blasts put him at 371 in his career, surpassing Gil Hodges for 81st on the all-time list.

Trout’s bid for a third homer ended when Miami reliever Tanner Scott (0-2) walked him to load the bases in the eighth. Brandon Drury then reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Anthony Rendon from third and snapped a 4-4 tie.

The Angels padded their lead in the ninth on Jo Adell’s RBI single and a balk by reliever Anthony Bender that scored Adell from third. Trout grounded out to third to end the inning.

Adam Cimber (1-0) induced a double play grounder against Jake Burger to end the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh. Matt Moore followed with a perfect ninth and Carlos Estevez pitched the ninth for his second save.

Luis Arraez had two singles and three walks for the Marlins, who lost their season-starting fifth straight.

George Soriano relieved Miami starter Max Meyer to start the sixth and allowed consecutive solo shots against Nolan Schanuel and Trout that tied it at 4-all.

In his first appearance since July 23, 2022, Meyer gave up two runs, two hits, walked two and struck out four. Meyer, the third overall selection in the 2020 major league draft, missed last season after undergoing right elbow surgery.

Nick Gordon’s two-RBI double capped a four-run first for Miami against starter Chase Silseth. Burger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. also hit RBI singles.

The Angels narrowed the deficit on Aaron Hicks’ RBI groundout in the second before Trout’s first solo shot in the fourth.

Silseth was lifted after three innings and 76 pitches. The right-hander allowed four runs and five hits, walked two and struck out five.

Two-time Masters golf champion Bubba Watson threw the ceremonial first pitch before the game.

The Marlins selected the contract of LHP Kent Emmanuel from Triple-A Jacksonville and designated RHP Vladimir Gutierrez for assignment. Gutierrez pitched four innings of relief in Miami’s 9-7 loss against Pittsburgh on Sunday.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Angels: OF Mickey Moniac walked in two plate appearances after sitting out the series finale against Baltimore on Sunday because of illness.

Marlins: LHP Braxton Garrett (left shoulder soreness) is scheduled to throw three innings in an extended spring training game Tuesday in Jupiter, Fla.

UP NEXT

LHP Tyler Anderson (season debut) will start the second game of the series for the Angels on Tuesday. The Marlins will go with LHP Jesús Luzardo (0-0, 3.60).