South Florida Local News

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON (Associated Press)

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said in an interview posted Thursday he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges, a sharp departure from the anti-immigrant rhetoric he typically uses on the campaign trail.

Trump was asked about plans for companies to be able to import the “best and brightest” in a podcast taped Wednesday with venture capitalists and tech investors called the “All-In.”

“What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country. And that includes junior colleges too, anybody graduates from a college. You go there for two years or four years,” he said, vowing to address this concern on day one.

Immigration has been Trump’s signature issue during his 2024 bid to return to the White House. His suggestion that he would offer green cards — documents that confer a pathway to U.S. citizenship — to potentially hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates would represent a sweeping expansion of America’s immigration system that sharply diverges from his most common messages on foreigners.

Trump often says during his rallies that immigrants who are in the country illegally endanger public safety, and steal jobs and government resources, and once suggested that they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He has promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history if elected.

Trump and his allies often say they distinguish between people entering illegally versus legally. But during his administration, Trump also proposed curbs on legal immigration such as family-based visas and the visa lottery program.

Right after taking office in 2017, he issued his “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, directing Cabinet members to suggest reforms to ensure that business visas were only awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers.

He has previously said the H1-B program commonly used by companies to hire foreign workers temporarily — a program he has used in the past — was “very bad” and used by tech companies to get foreign workers for lower pay.

During the conversation with “All-In,” Trump blamed the coronavirus pandemic for being unable to implement these measures while he was president. He said he knows of stories of people who graduate from top colleges and want to stay in the U.S. but can’t secure visas to do so, forcing them to return to their native countries, specifically naming India and China. He said they go on and become multibillionaires, employing thousands of workers.

“You need a pool of people to work for your company,” Trump said. “And they have to be smart people. Not everybody can be less than smart. You need brilliant people.”

In a statement released hours after the podcast was posted, campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump has outlined the most aggressive vetting process in U.S. history, to exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges. He believes, only after such vetting has taken place, we ought to keep the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America. This would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”

For a third straight day, the Hurricanes added a player to their 2025 class. This time, the player is a top South Florida standout.

Miami Central safety Amari Wallace committed to Miami, announcing his decision on social media.

Wallace chose UM over offers from Alabama, Auburn, and LSU, among others.

Wallace, a four-star prospect in 247Sports’ composite ranking, is listed as the No. 24 safety and No. 278 player in the class.

The Rockets standout had 28 tackles and a team-best three interceptions. He was teammates with Miami freshman Armondo Blount last year.

Wallace is the second defensive back in Miami’s 2025 class, joining Alabama prospect Timothy Merritt, who committed earlier this month.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office has received nearly $1.5 million in federal funding to expand its Real Time Crime Center, which was created after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, and its Digital Forensics Unit to help with investigations of human trafficking.

U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jared Moskowitz, who submitted the funding requests, held a news conference with Sheriff Gregory Tony to announce the grants Thursday.

The $525,000 for the Digital Forensics Unit will be used to pay for hardware, work stations, computer software to “boost evidence tracking and collaboration with prosecutors” with a focus on investigating child sex crimes and human trafficking, said Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston.

“Unfortunately, as the Sheriff has talked about so many times, human trafficking is a really terrible scourge right here in South Florida,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We really are a hotbed because of how many tourists we have and how many major events we have, which are often a magnet for those who want to seek out that kind of activity.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel’s 2023 “Innocence Sold” investigation uncovered how state failures contribute to child sex trafficking, how hotels have gotten away with thousands of violations of an anti-trafficking law, and how the state’s foster care system gives sex traffickers access to vulnerable children. The team’s project also highlighted how victims are often treated as criminals.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony speaks as Congressman Jared Moskowitz looks on during a news conference held at the BSO Public Safety Building in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, June 20, 2024, to announce federal funding awarded to BSO for their Real Time Crime Center and Digital Forensics Unit. (Amy Beth Bennett / Sun Sentinel)

The $963,000 for the Real Time Crime Center will be used similarly for technology and more personnel to help “mitigate the workload,” Tony said.

The Real Time Crime Center was created in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting where 17 people were murdered and 17 others injured, “designed to mitigate another tragedy,” said Moskowitz, D-Parkland.

The Real Time Crime Center works closely with dispatch, and people can connect security cameras at their businesses or homes with the center to share footage directly, which are accessed based on where crimes are reported. It allows detectives to see a potential active scene before deputies and first responders arrive, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Moskowitz, who graduated from Stoneman Douglas, has been a vocal supporter for gun violence prevention since the Parkland mass shooting and since the mass school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 where 21 students and teachers were murdered.

Moskowitz was one of several elected officials who walked through the 1200 building at Stoneman Douglas where the students and teachers were murdered. The process to demolish the building began last week.

“While the building is coming down, (we’ll) never forget what happened in that building. The victims, but also the failures that happened. Failures that we have fixed in a lot of ways,” Moskowitz said.

Closing Parkland’s open wound: The dismantling of a crime scene

Moskowitz said the shootings in Parkland and Uvalde shared “almost identical, same failures.” He and U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Republican who represents Uvalde, formed a school safety task force last year.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its reporting  on the failures of law enforcement, school officials and social services before, during and after the Parkland shooting. 

OMAHA, Neb. — The Florida Gators punched their ticket to the 2024 Men’s College World Series as the team that didn’t belong.

Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said earlier in the week in Omaha that his team started playing elimination games when they needed to win the last two at Georgia in the final regular-season series.

UF slugger Jac Caglianone breaks Gators’ home run record

Then Florida caught fire and advanced to Omaha. All that surging momentum came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday night. Hours after scoring 15 runs against Kentucky, the Gators’ offense managed just four hits and left eight runners on base in a 6-0 loss to Texas A&M at Charles Schwab Field.

“It’s really hard to put into words,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s like you’re going full speed in a sprint and all of a sudden it just comes to an end just like that.”

Two-way All-American Jac Caglianone was the only Gator with multiple hits against the Aggies in the Gators’ worst offensive game of the season. They stranded a runner on third three times to get shut out for the only time this season.

UF record-setter Jac Caglianone’s success with Gators has been a family affair

Caglianone finishes the season as the program’s all-time home runs leader (75) and single-season home runs leader (35), passing Matt LaPorta, who cheered the Gators in Omaha.

“All these guys who have worn it before us, all we try to do is just make them proud, and we really appreciate what Florida is about,” Caglianone said. “Just everything that Florida is, Gator Nation and all the support that they have shown us throughout this postseason has been remarkable.”

O’Sullivan pulled starter Liam Peterson after recording one strikeout and four walks to open the game. Fisher Jameson scattered a run in 4.2 innings of relief. Reliable reliever Brandon Neely gave up two earned runs while striking out six in three innings. Jake Clemente and Luke McNeillie also pitched less than an inning.

With the loss, Florida fell a round shy of making the championship series for the second year in a row. Members of the team took solace in the run it took to get there.

“This whole year was pretty hard on all of us,” senior Tyler Shelnut said afterwards. “So being here was a huge accomplishment.”

 

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors showed jurors at Sen. Bob Menendez ’s trial on Thursday multiple instances when he researched the value of gold as he tried to help a New Jersey businessman who authorities say bribed him with gold and cash.

The evidence about the Democrat’s online searches was prominently displayed to a New York jury as prosecutors traced the history of his text messages and internet queries as he allegedly tried to aid Fred Dabies, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer who is on trial with him.

The evidence is considered crucial in the government’s effort to prove that Menendez and his wife received gold bars, cash and a luxury car from 2018 to 2022 from three New Jersey businessmen who benefited from favors Menendez allegedly delivered in return.

Menendez, Dabies and another businessman and codefendant, Wael Hana, have pleaded not guilty. His wife, Nadine Menendez, faces trial at a later date after she recovers from breast cancer surgery. She too has pleaded not guilty.

A third businessman pleaded guilty prior to trial and testified against the other defendants before the trial entered its sixth week in Manhattan federal court.

The gold bars found in the home Menendez shared with his wife in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, took a prominent role early in the trial when an FBI agent described a 2022 search of the residence the senator moved into after the couple was married in 2020, two years after they began dating.

The search found gold bars worth more than $100,000 and over $486,000 in cash, some stuffed in the pockets of coats hanging in closets or in shoes and boots. A Mercedes-Benz that prosecutors say was a bribe was parked in the garage.

On Thursday, the topic of gold came up repeatedly as another FBI agent described internet searches Menendez conducted when he researched the price of gold in April 2019, twice in May 2021, again in October 2021, twice in December 2021, once in January 2022 and again in March and May 2022.

Among the searches, Agent Paul Van Wie said, were instances when Menendez researched the worth of a gram, an ounce and a kilo of gold. The agent said a search of Menendez’s internet history since 2008 showed that the senator had never searched for gold prices during that span until April 5, 2019.

Defense lawyers have said gold bars found in the home belonged to Nadine Menendez and that she kept the senator in the dark about gifts she accepted when she was strapped for cash.

Prosecutors sought to prove Thursday through emails, text messages and the online searches for the price of gold that Menendez was interested in gold as he allegedly sought to recommend a new federal prosecutor for New Jersey who could help Dabies get a favorable outcome to a criminal case against him.

The online searches also occurred as Menendez allegedly used his international clout to help Dabies secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund by taking actions favorable to Qatar’s government.

Daibes has been credited with the construction of a string of luxury waterfront buildings, known as the “gold coast,” in the New Jersey town of Edgewater.

Prosecutors showed the jury email and text correspondence Thursday reflecting that Menendez introduced Daibes to a member of Qatar’s royal family who was a principal in the investment firm and also met with Qatari officials and made public statements supportive of Qatar as the real estate deal was being negotiated.

After the deal was signed in May 2022, prosecutors say, Daibes gave Menendez at least one gold bar.

In the 2022 search of the Menendez home, FBI agents found two 1-kilogram gold bars and nine 1-ounce gold bars with serial numbers showing they had previously been possessed by Daibes, along with about 10 envelopes of cash with tens of thousands of dollars bearing the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes, according to the evidence shown to jurors.

In August 2021, evidence shown to the jury Thursday showed, Menendez used an encrypted messaging application to send Daibes the text of a press release in which he praised the government of Qatar, before texting Daibes: “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release.”

When Menendez was charged last fall, he held the powerful post of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he relinquished after he was charged. He has resisted calls, including from prominent Democrats, that he resign from the Senate.

By REBECCA SANTANA (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of arrests by Border Patrol agents of people illegally crossing into the United States fell in May to the third lowest of any month during the Biden presidency, while preliminary figures released Thursday show encounters with migrants falling even more in the roughly two weeks since the president announced new rules restricting asylum.

The figures are likely welcome news for a White House that has been struggling to show to voters concerned over immigration that it has control of the southern border. But the number of people coming to the border is often in flux, dependent on conditions in countries far from the U.S. and on smugglers who profit from global migration.

Border Patrol made 117,900 arrests of people entering the country between the official border crossing points in May, Customs and Border Protection said in a news release. That’s 9% lower than during April, the agency said. The agency said preliminary data since President Joe Biden’s June 4 announcement restricting asylum access shows arrests have fallen by 25%.

“Our enforcement efforts are continuing to reduce southwest border encounters. But the fact remains that our immigration system is not resourced for what we are seeing,” said Troy A. Miller, the acting head of CBP.

The U.S. has also benefitted from aggressive enforcement on the Mexican side of the border, where Mexican authorities have been working to prevent migrants from making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The figures are part of a range of data related to immigration, trade and drug seizures that is released monthly by CBP. The immigration-related figures are closely watched at a time of intense political scrutiny over who is entering the country and whether the Biden administration has a handle on the situation.

Immigration is a top concern for voters, with many saying Biden hasn’t been doing enough to secure the country’s borders. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has made immigration a cornerstone of his campaign by saying he’s going to deport people in the country illegally en masse and take other measures to crack down on immigration.

After Biden announced his plan to restrict asylum access at the southern border, opponents sued, saying it was no different from a similar effort under Trump.

Sarah Parvini (AP Technology writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It all started at a Denny’s in San Jose in 1993.

Three engineers — Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem — gathered at the diner in what is now the heart of Silicon Valley to discuss building a computer chip that would make graphics for video games faster and more realistic. That conversation, and the ones that followed, led to the founding of Nvidia, the tech company that soared through the ranks of the stock market to briefly top Microsoft as the most valuable company in the S&P 500 this week.

The company is now worth over $3.2 trillion, with its dominance as a chipmaker cementing Nvidia’s place as the poster child of the artificial intelligence boom — a moment that Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, has dubbed “the next industrial revolution.”

On a conference call with analysts last month, Huang predicted that the companies using Nvidia chips would build a new type of data center called “AI factories.”

Huang added that training AI models is becoming a faster process as they learn to become “multimodal” — able to understand text, speech, images, video and 3-D data — and also “to reason and plan.”

“People kind of talk about AI as if Jensen just kind of arrived like in the last 18 months, like 24 months ago all of a sudden figured this out,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, a tech research firm. “But if you actually go back in time and listen to Jensen talking about accelerated computing, he’s been sharing his vision for more than a decade.”

The Santa Clara, California-based tech company’s invention of the graphics processor unit, or GPU, in 1999 helped spark the growth of the PC gaming market and redefined computer graphics. Now Nvidia’s specialized chips are key components that help power different forms of artificial intelligence, including the latest generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Nvidia’s GPUs are a key factor in the company’s success in artificial intelligence, Newman added.

“They took an architecture that was used for a single thing, to maybe enhance gaming, and they figured out how to network these things,” he said. “The GPU became the most compelling architecture for AI, going from gaming, rendering graphics and stuff, to actually using it for data. … They basically ended up creating a market that didn’t exist, which was GPUs for AI, or GPUs for machine learning.”

AI chips are designed to perform artificial intelligence tasks faster and more efficiently. While general-purpose chips like CPUs can also be used for simpler AI tasks, they’re “becoming less and less useful as AI advances,” a 2020 report from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology found.

Tech giants are snapping up Nvidia chips as they wade deeper into AI — a movement that’s enabling cars to drive by themselves, and generating stories, art and music.

“Jensen basically has made AI digestible and then Apple will make it consumable,” Newman said.

The company carved out an early lead in the hardware and software needed to tailor its technology to AI applications, partly because Huang nudged it into what was still a nascent technology more than a decade ago.

“Nvidia has been working on different portions of this problem for more than two decades now. They have a deep innovation engine that goes all the way back to the early 2000s,” said Chirag Dekate, a VP analyst at Gartner, a tech research and consulting firm. “What Nvidia did two decades ago is they both identified and they nurtured an adjacent market where they discovered that the same processors, same GPUs that they were using for graphics could be shaped to solve highly parallel tasks.”

At the time, he said, AI was only in its infancy. But Nvidia’s understanding that GPUs would be central to the development of AI was “the fundamental breakthrough that was needed,” Dekate said.

“Until then, we would have been, I would say, in the analytic Dark Ages,” he said. “The analytics were there, but we could never bring these AI elements to life.”

Analysts estimate that Nvidia’s revenue for the fiscal year that ends in January 2025 will reach $119.9 billion — about double its revenue for fiscal 2024 and more than four times its receipts the year before that.

“My hypothesis is the kind of exponential growth that we’re seeing with Nvidia today is potentially a pattern that we’re going to see replicated more frequently in the decades to come,” he said. “This is the Golden Age if you will…this is the best time to be an AI engineer.”

Two California-based Disney employees are suing the company, alleging misrepresentation of a project that led them to follow work to Orlando, just to move back two years later when the project failed.

A $1 billion office space at Lake Nona was touted to bring 2,000 new jobs to the area, but Disney scuttled the campus last year amid the political feud between the company and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the two employees were among at least 250 others who thought Disney would fire them if they didn’t make the move. The suit says the worker group was “fraudulently induced” to move, and seeks class-action status on their behalf.

The complaint was filed by attorney Jason S. Lohr of the San Francisco law firm, Lohr Ripamonti & Segarich.

Lohr said that because Maria De La Cruz and George Fong, the two employees filing, still work for Disney, they would not participate in interviews. Disney did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Initially, Disney sought the move to Central Florida to take advantage of the lower cost of living and state tax credits available.

Disney told De La Cruz, Fong and other employees in August 2021 that they’d need to relocate, the lawsuit says. They had 90 days to decide what to do. By December the following year, both had sold their California homes. By this point, Disney had already delayed the opening of the Lake Nona campus to 2026, but some leaders had still asked for employees to relocate by 2024.

For Fong, who lists himself on LinkedIn as a senior design manager, leaving the state was particularly difficult, because he sold and said goodbye to his childhood home, the lawsuit says. This April, he returned to a much smaller residence after the office’s failure to open.

“Apart from Mr. Fong, other similarly situated individuals have been forced to purchase or rent less desirable housing upon their return to California,” the complaint said.

De La Cruz [is in the midst of moving back to California, though the complaint didn’t specify whether she has a home to return to.

The complaint said Disney boasted to the employees about the benefits the relocation had to offer, including Orlando’s reasonable housing market and the new, centralized office. But when De La Cruz and Fong arrived in Orlando, they worked out of a Kissimmee office until Disney officially canceled its plans in May 2023.

The cancellation came around the height of the Disney and DeSantis dispute — when the governor moved to take over a Disney-dominated local governing board for the parks’ real estate and infrastructure after then-CEO Bob Chapek criticized Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, often dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. (The two-year strife ended just this March when Disney and DeSantis settled lawsuits and signaled their intent to work more harmoniously in the future.)

For De La Cruz and Fong, pressure then began to mount to move back to California.

According to the complaint, the employees who had moved to Florida worried from the first about the long-term impact on their futures because many of Disney’s teams still operated on the West Coast.

In an email to human resources, De La Cruz asked whether there was security for those who moved to Florida. She added that the Kissimmee location she’d been working out of wasn’t intended to be a creative space.

“I don’t want to be punished for being put into a situation my company put me in,” she wrote.

By the end of 2023, employees faced the same decision they had faced earlier, from the opposite end of the country: stay or go. De La Cruz and Fong both chose to return to California because of job security, the lawsuit says.

According to the complaint, a senior leader at Disney apologized to the impacted employees at a meeting last month, saying “the situation was a mistake on Disney’s part.”

General Daily Insight for June 20, 2024

It’s time for an emotional reset. The Moon in Sagittarius makes a fuss over Mars in Taurus, tugging us back and forth between trying something unfamiliar and exotic versus doing things by the book. Finding clarity will be difficult when the Sun in Gemini squares mysterious Neptune in Pisces. Fortunately, the energy shifts into something more open when the Sun enters caring Cancer at 4:51 pm EDT, initiating a thirty-day cycle for getting better in touch with our feelings and our families, chosen or biological.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Your surroundings could use a once-over. The Sun is moving into your foundational 4th house, so don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to ignore what’s happening in the outside world while you tend to ongoing matters under your roof. You may decide to spend more time with family or other loved ones or simply crave extra nights in on the couch. Either way, there’s nothing wrong with taking time away from the hustle and bustle of it all. Let yourself decompress.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Get ready to get busy, Taurus! The energy is turning up a few notches as the Sun enters your chatty 3rd house, inspiring unique ideas, conversations, and connections, be they with friends, siblings, or just the person standing next in line at the store. Opportunities to collaborate can turn up in the most unexpected places, but since this sector rules your local community, you probably won’t have to go too far. You simply need to leave your front door to see the possibilities.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Roll up your sleeves and get down to business. Your attention is being firmly drawn toward your income zone as the Sun arrives for its annual visit, setting up a space for you to get your finances in order. This is a great time for finding a better job or another way to increase your income. You may also decide to put your money to better use, potentially with some wise investments or a few purchases that will eventually pay for themselves.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

This is your moment, so don’t leave it for others to grab! The Sun is touching down in your sign, imbuing you with all its potency and can-do spirit, so there’s rarely been a better time to put yourself out there for the world to see. This phase can feel like a personal new year, so if a few of those resolutions got left on the back burner, consider this a sign from the Sun to move them back onto the heat.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

It’s perfectly alright to take your foot off the gas. The galaxy is encouraging you to take a load off and go with the flow as the Sun settles down in your 12th House of Release. This period is all about letting go of anything that no longer suits you. Sit back and accept that certain baggage was meant to get lost — you don’t have to look for it. This may not sound very exciting, but the results can make you feel brand new.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

No one is an island, Virgo. It’s time to stop taking on life by yourself! You’re ready to connect with the world once again as the Sun bounces into your 11th House of Global Communities. This is a very pleasant cycle that puts a premium on spending time with friends and working together in order to create positivity. If you want to put this cycle to even more productive use, it’s also great for networking. People you’re about to meet could prove immeasurably valuable.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

There’s a place at the table waiting for you to take your seat. Big things are happening as the Sun rolls up in your ambitious 10th house, signaling one of the best times of the year to work your way up the public ladder with your eyes on the prize. A VIP could prove pivotal in opening some doors or giving you an exciting assignment that will become a feather in your cap for a long time to come. Get your elevator pitch ready!

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

It’s time for a breath of fresh air. After a very intense last few weeks, the Sun is winging its way into your boundless 9th house, encouraging you to broaden your horizons and see what possibilities are percolating out in the great wide yonder. This sector rules long-distance travel, but it also governs higher education and spirituality. Whether you find meaning through buying travel tickets or by returning to school is entirely up to you! Either way, it’s your moment to expand.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

The world is wrapping itself in shadow. The Sun is dipping into your secretive 8th house, encouraging you to retreat from the world and center the serious aspects of life. Your finances may require some attention, especially big topics like taxes or inheritances. That being said, relationships are also up for inspection — specifically, your most intense relationships. The more bonds you have connecting you to another person, the more likely it is that something will rear its head between you during this solar cycle.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Your most important relationships deserve some extra attention. There is a change in the skies above as the Sun recenters itself around your 7th House of Associations, making this the best time of year to focus on the quality of the bonds in your life. If you feel that quality is lacking, then make it your personal mission to change that while the Sun empowers your actions. If you’re already happy with the people by your side, then make sure that they know that!

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

It’s time to get your act together. Whether you prefer to play things fast and loose or tend to stick to a regimented routine, the Sun is rolling into your competent 6th house, encouraging you to iron out any wrinkles in your daily life. This can be about implementing small habits for maximum efficiency, or maybe you’ll slowly but surely eliminate old behaviors that have been holding you back. You don’t need to make colossal changes in order to see positive results.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Your pleasure cruise is setting sail today! The Sun is making its annual visit to your 5th House of Joy, making this one of the best times in all of 2024 for you to kick back and enjoy the good life. This same sector rules fame and creativity, so whether you’re creating something or appreciating the efforts of others, try to make space for art. Who knows — your creation could bring you your fifteen minutes of fame. Don’t hide your light.

By ERIC OLSON (AP Sports Writer)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Justin Lamkin gave Texas A&M a second straight sensational start, Caden Sorrell homered to break open the game, and the Aggies beat Florida 6-0 on Wednesday night to reach their first College World Series finals.

The Aggies (52-13) will play No. 1 national seed Tennessee (58-12) in the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday. It will be an all-SEC final for the second straight year and third time in four.

Just hours after Florida banged out 14 hits and scored its third-most runs this season in a 15-4 win over Kentucky, the Gators (36-30) managed just four hits and were shut out for the first time in 145 games.

The last team to blank the Gators? Texas A&M, 10-0 in the 2022 SEC Tournament.

Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle, who lost starter Shane Sdao to an arm injury in the super regionals, turned to Lamkin for a second matchup with the Gators in Omaha. Lamkin was sharp in a 42-pitch, three-inning outing in Saturday’s CWS opener and had no problem coming back off three days’ rest.

In fact, Lamkin was even better Wednesday, holding the Gators scoreless through five innings and striking out nine. He worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the third and pitched three-up, three-down innings in the fourth and fifth before turning the game over to the bullpen.

National Stopper of the Year Evan Aschenbeck came on after Jac Caglianone singled to lead off the eighth. The Gators had two men on with no outs, but the Aggies escaped again as Tyler Shelnut and Colby Shelton flew out and Luke Heyman struck out for the fourth time. Aschenbeck worked around a walk in the ninth, with the game ending on a double play.

There was a scary moment in the top of the ninth when Florida right fielder Ashton Wilson struck his head on a padded post on the fence separating the bullpen and field as he tried to catch Ali Camarillo’s drive that went for a triple. Wilson appeared woozy, was tended to by an athletic trainer and coach Kevin O’Sullivan and came out of the game.

Texas A&M, which came to Omaha 4-14 in seven all-time CWS appearances, beat the Gators twice while going 3-0 in bracket play. The Aggies had lost two of three at Florida in March.

Florida freshman Liam Peterson struggled for a third straight start. He walked four of the first five batters to force in the Aggies’ first run and was lifted.

With his team down 3-0 in the sixth, O’Sullivan called for reliever Brandon Neely with a man on base and one out. Neely had entered having allowed just three runs in a team-high 21 innings in the NCAA Tournament, but Sorrell turned on a 3-2 pitch for a two-run homer to right and a 5-0 lead.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

UF slugger Jac Caglianone took a unique path to the Gators’ home run record, but nothing was going to stop him during a College World Series elimination game Wednesday with Kentucky.

Coach Kevin O’Sullivan had the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Caglianone bat leadoff for the first time in his career to pressure the Wildcats and force them to pitch to him. He responded with a single, followed by a stolen base — only the fourth of his career — to set the stage for the Gators’ seven-run opening inning.

“I was kind of the lead-off guy that everybody wanted me to be,” he said. “I kind of embraced that role today.”

Florida first baseman Jac Caglianone hits a single and advances to second on an error during a CWS elimination game against Kentucky in Omaha, Neb. (Mike Buscher/AP)

Later, Caglianone did what he did best, blasting a solo home run to right field in the sixth inning put the finishing touches on a 15-4 rout and give him a school-record 75 career homers in his penultimate game as a Gator.

Longtime record holder Matt LaPorta was in the stands at Charles Schwab Field to watch Caglianone surpass the record set from 2004-07.

Caglianone needed a little more than two seasons to establish a new standard. His latest home run was his 35th in 2024, a year after he set the school record with 33. He had 7 home runs as a freshman in 2022 as he returned from Tommy Johns surgery to play just 27 games.

Caglianone went on a tear to help the Gators to a surprising run at the College World Series, ending with a 6-0 loss late Wednesday night to Texas A&M.

Florida first baseman Jac Caglianone takes a swing against Kentucky on Wednesday in a CWS elimination game in Omaha, Neb. (Mike Buscher/AP)

Opponents intentionally walked him seven times in six games and 10 times overall. Caglianone batted .588 (10 of 17) with 4 home runs, 9 RBI and 8 runs scored.

The 21-year-old from Tampa grew up idolizing fellow Plant High alum Preston Tucker, a Gators star from 2009-12. Tucker left UF as the all-time leader with 341 hits and 258 RBI.

Those marks will be out of range for Caglianone, who is expected to be a top-five MLB Draft selection. But the home run record is sure to be his for some time.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

FORT LAUDERDALE — Ian Fray and Leo Campana each scored in the opening 22 minutes, and short-handed Inter Miami beat the Columbus Crew 2-1 on Wednesday night without Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.

Miami (12-3-5) played without Messi, Suárez and midfielder Matías Rojas due to international duty in the Copa América.

Columbus (7-3-6), the reigning MLS Cup champions, had won its last four road games. Columbus hasn’t played at Lower.com Field since May 11, a string of six straight games.

Fray, in his first MLS game since July 15, 2023 due to an ACL surgery, opened the scoring in the 10th minute by heading in Julian Gressel’s corner kick.

Campana made it 2-0 in the 21st with his fifth goal of the season. Campana’s header was saved by Patrick Schulte, but he was first to the rebound.

Cucho Hernández scored for Columbus in the 40th when he poked home Aidan Morris’ cross for his sixth goal.

Columbus midfielder and captain Darlington Nagbe became the 10th player in MLS history to make 400 regular-season appearances. Dax McCarty (477) and Kei Kamara (429) are the only active players with more games played.

___

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

For the second day in a row, the Hurricanes landed a massive offensive lineman from Orlando.

A day after receiving a commitment from Orlando Christian Prep offensive lineman Demetrius Campbell, Miami picked up a commitment from 2025 Orlando Edgewater offensive tackle Jaden Wilkerson, who announced his commitment Wednesday evening.

Wilkerson chose UM over offers from Rutgers, Syracuse and UCF, among others. He took an official visit to UM the first weekend of June.

Wilkerson is rated a three-star prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings. He is listed as the No. 96 offensive tackle and the No. 1,230 player in the 2025 class.

Like Campbell, Wilkerson is a large-framed lineman, listed at 6-6 and 330 pounds. In addition to his size, Miami’s coaches like his wingspan, intelligence and his demeanor on the field, a UM source said.

“I feel like I outwork people and I out-athleticize people, if that is even a word,” Wilkerson told the Orlando Sentinel in May. “I’m going to use my athleticism and my length to my advantage and I’m going to work hard as hell to do whatever I got to do on the field.”

Wilkerson is the third offensive lineman in Miami’s 2025 class, joining Campbell and Jacksonville-area blocker Takaylen Muex. Although the three linemen are not top-rated prospects, head coach Mario Cristobal, offensive line coach Alex Mirabal and analysts like Ed Pata have developed linemen since arriving at UM. Guard Anez Cooper was a similarly underrated prospect when he signed with UM and has become a two-year starter entering his junior year.

 

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Snapchat Inc. will pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by California’s civil rights agency that claimed the company discriminated against female employees, failed to prevent workplace sexual harassment and retaliated against women who complained.

The settlement with Snapchat Inc., which owns the popular disappearing-message app by the same name, covers women who worked for the company in California between 2014 and 2024, the California Civil Rights Department announced Wednesday. The settlement is subject to court approval.

The agreement resolves a more than three-year investigation over claims that the Santa Monica, California-based company discriminated against female employees when it came to pay and promotions, the department said in a statement.

The bulk of the settlement money will go to employees who faced discrimination at Snapchat Inc., California officials said.

“In California, we’re proud of the work of our state’s innovators who are a driving force of our nation’s economy,” said Kevin Kish, director of California’s civil rights agency. “This settlement with Snapchat demonstrates a shared commitment to a California where all workers have a fair chance at the American Dream. Women are entitled to equality in every job, in every workplace, and in every industry.”

Snapchat Inc. said it disagrees with the agency’s claims but that it decided to settle to avoid costly and lengthy litigation.

“We care deeply about our commitment to maintain a fair and inclusive environment at Snap, and do not believe we have any ongoing systemic pay equity, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation issues against women,” the company said in a statement.

Snapchat Inc. grew from 250 employees in 2015 to over 5,000 in 2022. But the growth didn’t translate to advancement for female employees who “were told to wait their turn, were actively discouraged from applying for promotions, or lost promotion opportunities to less qualified male colleagues,” California officials said.

In particular, women in engineering roles, which account for about 70% of Snap’s workforce, found barriers when trying to advance from entry-level positions, according to the complaint.

California’s civil rights agency also said in its lawsuit that women were sexually harassed and that when they spoke up, they faced retaliation that included negative performance reviews and termination. Male managers routinely promoted male employees over more qualified women, the agency said.

“Women were told, both implicitly and explicitly, that they were second-class citizens at Snap,” the agency said in its lawsuit.

The settlement will require the company to hire an independent consultant to evaluate its compensation and promotion policies and retain an outside auditor of its sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination compliance. The company will also have to train its staff on preventing discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment in the workplace, officials said.

Snapchat Inc. also agreed to provide information to all employees about their right to report harassment or discrimination without fear of retaliation.

Five schools will be closed during the 2025-26 school year to deal with dwindling the enrollment, the Broward County School Board insists, reviving a pledge that it’s so far had trouble enacting.

The new effort will be countywide rather than focusing only on a couple of areas of low enrollment, and will be done with much more community involvement than a recent failed attempt, district officials say. The plan is not expected to include any high schools.

The district will also look for ways to add or overhaul programs and bring students back who have chosen charter, private or home-school options and left the district with 43,000 empty seats.

Parents and students should know by late November whether their school would be affected, according to a timeline the School Board approved Tuesday.

This is the second time the School Board has asked the superintendent to develop a plan to close some schools.

Last summer, the board directed then-Superintendent Peter Licata to come up with a plan by June 2024 to close or repurpose at least five schools. That plan also would have taken effect in the 2025-26 school year.

But the last effort was riddled with problems, starting with an exodus of key district staff. The chief strategy and innovation officer tasked with overseeing the effort left in March. Then Licata exited, followed by the chief facilities officer and the director of demographics and enrollment.

Less than two weeks after taking over as superintendent, Hepburn led a series of town halls where he tried to defend a widely panned plan he said he didn’t create.

The previous plan included closing one school each in Lauderhill, Hollywood and Dania Beach, only two of which were low-enrolled.

After hearing negative feedback, Hepburn recommended postponing all school closures until the 2026-27 year. But some School Board members disagreed, asking the superintendent to study whether it’s still possible to close schools by 2025.

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“The 2025/26 timeline allows for a quicker resolution and potential cost savings,” a district report said. “It addresses underutilization concerns promptly, ensuring that necessary changes are implemented in a timely manner.”

District officials have said there are potential cost savings of $1.8 million for every elementary school closed and $2.7 million for each middle school.

The new process will include better opportunities for public input, Hepburn said.

During the last effort, the district presented a plan and gave members of the public a minute or two to comment. The new effort will involve more robust conversations with students, parents, school advisory groups and municipalities, Hepburn said.

Although the report said closing schools in 2025 “requires more immediate and intensive community engagement efforts” than doing it in 2026, “it ensures stability and clarity for students, parents, and staff.”

Waiting until November could also be more politically palatable for School Board members, whose elections will be over by then.

But some remain skeptical that the new effort will have better results. Two School Board members, Torey Alston and Daniel Foganholi, voted against the latest proposal Tuesday. A major concern was the new plan uses similar criteria to consider closing schools as the old plan, including enrollment, available capacity nearby, school grades, condition of facilities and whether the school has historical significance.

Alston and Foganholi both serve areas in the south part of the county, which have a disproportionate number of students who have left traditional public schools. But Alston said there are low-enrolled schools throughout the county. During Tuesday’s meeting, Alston tried unsuccessfully to persuade the board to ensure all seven geographic school board districts are included in closures and major changes.

“This criteria does not include every part of our county and that’s wrong,” he said at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Board member Sarah Leonardi said she couldn’t support that idea.

“I do not believe we should be making the criteria based on politically drawn boundaries,” she said. “I think we need to look at each school and what are the needs of those schools.”

Alston told the Sun Sentinel he’s been a vocal advocate for the need to close some schools, but he wants to ensure the process is fair. He said the criteria would disproportionately affect minority communities.

“The criteria presented to the board was flawed and continues to target the I-95 corridor and Black and brown communities,” Alston said. “It’s wrong. The criteria should have a countywide approach as there is underenrollment in all parts of the county.”

Alston made similar comments during Tuesday’s meeting, angering board member Allen Zeman.

“It’s a false choice to say that either we pass [Alston’s proposal] or we’re being racists,” Zeman said.

A look ahead

The district has released the timeline for the new process to close or change schools:

June to July: Begin engagement with stakeholders.

August: Meetings with principals, assistant principals, staff and students.

Aug. 27: School Board workshop to propose schools to be addressed in Phase I and recommend specific process, including creating a boundary committee.

September: Develop scenarios that will be posted for comments; make presentations to district and regional advisories and committees; meet with individual schools and communities identified for changes.

Oct. 10: Hold a public meeting to present all proposed changes to the community and boundary committee.

Oct. 16: Boundary Committee votes on recommendations to the School Board.

Oct. 22: A School Board workshop on redefining schools, with all proposals and committee recommendations.

Oct. 23: Superintendent makes final recommendations for school usage and attendance boundaries.

Nov. 20: School Board meeting to consider adopting superintendent’s recommendations.

Nov. 20-22: Notification to students, parents and staff impacted by adopted changes, which would take effect in August 2025.

By EVENS SANON and CORAL MURPHY MARCOS (Associated Press)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Surging violence in Haiti from clashes with armed gangs since March has displaced nearly 580,000 people, according to a new report from the U.N. migration agency, a sobering figure that underscores the magnitude of the Caribbean nation’s crisis.

Haiti has long faced unrest but at the end of February, gangs unleashed coordinated attacks with gunmen taking control of police stations, opening fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons.

A report released on Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration said the displacement of more than half a million is mainly due to people fleeing the capital of Port-au-Prince for other provinces, which lack the resources to support them.

In March, the agency reported more than 362,000 internally displaced people in Haiti. Since then, the violence has more than doubled the number of internally displaced in the southern region — already ravaged by a 2021 earthquake — from 116,000 to 270,000.

“Nearly all those internally displaced are currently hosted by communities already struggling with overburdened social services and poor infrastructure, raising further concerns about tensions with the potential to spark further violence,” the report said.

With more than 2,500 people killed or injured across Haiti in the first three months of the year, Haiti’s National Police, understaffed and overwhelmed by gangs with powerful arsenals, has been unable to bring the situation under control.

Marie Jean, 49, and her two children were displaced from their Port-au-Prince home after her husband was killed by a gang in February. She’s now sheltered with her children at a public school.

“I lived in a comfortable home that my husband worked hard to build,” Jean told The Associated Press. “Now I’m living in a situation that’s inhuman.”

Juste Dorvile, 39, is also staying at a public school with her 12-year-old daughter and boyfriend as gunshots are heard constantly in the area. “Everyday we’re hoping that we survive,” she said.

With the gangs in control of at least 80% of Port-au-Prince and key roads leading to the rest of the country, many are living in makeshift shelters, including schools and learning institutions that are now hosting more than 60,000 people.

The gangs have also been charging fees for those wanting to use the highways or blackmailing drivers to get their hijacked trucks back on the roads, where police presence is scarce.

Haiti’s new acting prime minister, Garry Conille, who was appointed last month along with a Cabinet, attended a ceremony on Tuesday where over 400 officers graduated from the police academy, with the expectation that they will help curb gang violence in Haiti. He reminded the graduates that the people count on their dedication to combat insecurity.

“You need to know that you are not alone,” Conille said. “You are the hope of the population at this crucial moment in our history.”

Violence is also on the rise outside Haiti’s capital. Last week, armed gangs attacked families located in Terre-Neuve, a village in northern Haiti, forcing more than 1,000 people to flee their homes to safer areas.

___

Murphy Marcos reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A Midwestern tourist’s summer cruise turned into a nightmare last year when she was sexually assaulted by an employee of a hotel booked by Margaritaville at Sea, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.

The plaintiff is a young woman from Missouri who filed suit under the name “Jane Doe” to protect her privacy as a sex assault victim. Defendants include Classica Cruise Operator, which runs the Margaritaville at Sea line, three companies associated with the Wyndham Viva Fortuna Beach on Grand Bahama island, and the accused assailant, who has not been identified.

According to the lawsuit, the woman booked a two-day cruise from West Palm Beach to the Bahamas in early August 2023, with the cruise line making overnight accommodations at the Viva Fortuna Beach for guests who did not have their own cabin on board. On Aug. 6, when the woman was outside her room, a hotel employee “forced Plaintiff into the control room for the Resort’s theatre, locked the door, and then raped the Plaintiff,” according to the lawsuit.

According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Luis Alexander Perez of Coral Gables, the cruise line and the hotel had a duty to warn passengers of the risk associated with staying at that hotel because the plaintiff’s allegations were not the first involving that hotel.

“Classica undertook a duty to arrange the Plaintiff’s hotel accommodations, and in doing so, did, or should have, researched the resort’s safety, including any prior sexual assault incidents occurring at the resort,” the lawsuit claims.

Research would have shown that a guest at the same resort publicly reported being raped in 2016. That allegation is included in the lawsuit. But according to news reports within the Bahamas, there was no evidence to support the claim and no one was ever identified, prosecuted or even charged in connection with the alleged incident.

The lawsuit accuses Classica and the resort of failing to adequately warn its passengers and guests of the risk involved with patronizing the hotel, and it accuses the resort of failing to protect its guests.

Perez said his own client is telling the truth about what happened to her and that the lawsuit was filed in good faith. A criminal investigation into her claim remains pending. The legal discovery process will determine the weight ultimately given to the 2016 incident, Perez said.

Messages seeking comment left at Classica’s corporate office in Broward County and Wyndham’s corporate headquarters were not returned Wednesday afternoon.

Classica was sued in late 2023 by another Jane Doe passenger who said she was raped and impregnated by a Margaritaville cruise ship bartender. The bartender, Hoobesh Kumar Dookhy, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal charge of abusive sexual contact in a related incident last October.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and ELENA BECATOROS (Associated Press)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army’s chief spokesman on Wednesday appeared to question the stated goal of destroying Hamas in a rare public rift between the country’s political and military leadership.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted Israel will pursue the fight against Hamas, the group running the besieged Gaza Strip, until its military and governing capabilities in the Palestinian territory are eliminated. Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Canada, and European Union.

But with the war now in its ninth month, frustration has been mounting with no clear end or postwar plan in sight.

“This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear — it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military spokesperson, told Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people — whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”

Netanyahu’s office responded by saying that the country’s security Cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, “has defined the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities as one of the goals of the war. The Israeli military, of course, is committed to this.”

The military quickly issued a clarification, saying it was “committed to achieving the goals of the war as defined by the Cabinet” and that it has been working on this “throughout the war, day and night, and will continue to do so.”

Hagari’s comments, it said, “referred to the destruction of Hamas as an ideology and an idea, and this was said by him very clearly and explicitly,” the military statement added. “Any other claim is taking things out of context.”

There have already been open signs of discontent over the handling of the war by Netanyahu’s government, a coalition that includes right-wing hard-liners who oppose any kind of settlement with Hamas. Months of internationally mediated truce talks, including a proposal floated this month by President Joe Biden, have stalled.

Benny Gantz, a former military chief and centrist politician, withdrew from Netanyahu’s war Cabinet earlier this month, citing frustration over the prime minister’s conduct of the war.

And early this week, Netanyahu expressed displeasure with the army’s decision to declare a “tactical pause” in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to help deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged territory. An aide said Netanyahu was caught off guard by the announcement, and Israeli TV stations quoted him as saying “we have a country with an army, not an army with a country.”

Israel attacked Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack into southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostage.

Israel’s war effort initially enjoyed broad public support, but in recent months wide divisions have emerged. While Netanyahu has pledged “total victory,” a growing array of critics and protesters have backed a cease-fire that would bring home the roughly 120 hostages still in Gaza. The Israeli military has already pronounced more than 40 of them dead, and officials fear that number will rise the longer the hostages are held.

Inside Gaza, the war has killed more than 37,100 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war has largely cut off the flow of medicine, food and other supplies to Palestinians, who are facing widespread hunger.

The United Nations said Wednesday that its humanitarian workers were once again unable to pick up aid shipments at the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel because of a lack of law and order.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that although there were no clashes along the route where Israel has declared a daily pause in fighting, the lawlessness in the area prevented U.N. workers from picking up aid. This means that no trucks have been able to use the new route since Israel announced the daily pause on Sunday.

In recent weeks, Israel’s military has concentrated its offensive in the nearby city of Rafah, which lies on the border with Egypt and where it says Hamas’ last remnants are holding out.

More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people had earlier taken shelter in Rafah to escape fighting elsewhere in the territory, and the city is now nearly empty as the Israeli military carries out airstrikes and ground operations.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 500 fighters and inflicted heavy damage on Hamas’ forces, but officials expect the operation to continue for at least several more weeks.

Israel also has taken over a 14-kilometer (8-mile) corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, including the Rafah border crossing. Footage circulating on social media shows the crossing blackened and destroyed, with only the former passenger terminal remaining intact. Before Israel moved into the area, the crossing was used to deliver humanitarian aid and to allow Palestinians to leave the territory.

The head of the Rafah municipality, Ahmed al-Sufi, said Wednesday that Israeli strikes have destroyed more than 70% of the facilities and infrastructure. He accused Israeli forces of systematically targeting camps in Rafah, adding that entire residential areas in one neighborhood have been destroyed. Al-Sufi didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information.

In a separate incident, 11 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, said Dr. Saleh al-Hamas of the nearby European Hospital. There were no further details and the Israeli military had no immediate comment.

___

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

General Daily Insight for June 19, 2024

Tension is ready to drain out of us. The Moon in Scorpio immediately shakes things up as it opposes rebellious Uranus in Taurus, though we can find a way to settle into any surprises when the Moon then trines gentle Neptune in Pisces. The Moon will bound into truth-seeking Sagittarius at 12:32 pm EDT, giving us the desire to grow beyond whatever we have previously known. Watch out — this urge could become too powerful to ignore when the Moon opposes powerhouse Jupiter.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You can let out your adventurous side today. The Moon is winging its way into your grandiose 9th house — this acts like an updraft under your wings, freeing you from any ruts you might have fallen into lately. You can treat the world like one big buffet, sampling as many different pleasures and experiences as you possibly can. The more foreign or unknown a flavor is to you, the better the experience should be. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Lock the door and set aside the key! You’re not in the mood to invite just anyone into your space as the Moon enters your private 8th house for the next two days. You may be more concerned with personal matters or wish to share your time with only a select few who meet your exacting criteria. There’s nothing wrong with stepping back from the social herd, but don’t be gone too long or people might begin to worry about where you’ve gone.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

You’re in your element at present. The Moon is focusing on your social partnerships — which is right in tune with your status as the Twins of the zodiac. The urge to double up is likely stronger than usual. This can be great for spending time with people already close to you, but you could also meet someone who will become an important plus-one in your life. Contracts and other business arrangements are also favored. You can definitely line up some superb terms.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Positive productivity is on offer. You can accomplish a great deal as the Moon jogs into your capable 6th house, putting you in the frame of mind to clean up your act and tend to any outstanding chores. Whether you’re focusing on wrapping up important tasks at the office, deep cleaning a neglected room, or getting your sweat on at the gym, try to do something that will improve your life. Healthy, nourishing foods will make you feel especially good at this time.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself at a time like this. You’ve got the galactic green light to pursue your pleasures as the Moon twirls into your fun-loving 5th house. This is very personal energy, because it is all about doing the things that make you, specifically, happy. There’s no need to crowd-source ideas unless you want to bring others along for the ride. Your sign is associated with the 5th house, so you’re absolutely able to use this transit to your advantage.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Domestic duties are lining up front and center. There’s an emphasis on the home and hearth as the Moon slips into your authentic 4th house, making this your monthly moment to look around your space and make sure everything is as it should be. Perhaps you’ve let the plates pile up in the sink or been going in circles about renovating an outdated room — either way, this is the moment to tackle the issue and get it done. You should feel worlds better afterward.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

The pace picks up as the day moves along. This extra boost is thanks to the Moon bounding into your active 3rd house, filling your plate with things to do and people to see. Do your best to organize your to-do list so you can complete the most important things first. Concentrate on planning, because if you don’t have a strategy to tackle your duties, you risk winding up spinning your wheels without accomplishing much. Avoid overbooking yourself or making one too many commitments.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Something shiny may catch your eye at any moment. The Moon is moving into your 2nd House of Material Wealth, angling your mind toward treating yourself or throwing your money around. Of course, that isn’t a green light to be irresponsible, but you know your situation better than anyone. As long as you don’t go dangerously wild, there isn’t any reason you can’t indulge on a delicious meal or online purchase. You may, however, find more satisfaction in counting your money, rather than spending it.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

It’s the perfect time to check in with yourself. Your 1st House of Self is lit up as the Moon arrives for its monthly visit, heightening your ability to tune out excess noise in favor of concentrating on what it is you want. This begins a fresh twenty-eight-day cycle of the Moon moving through your chart, so consider what you would like to manifest by the time the Moon comes around again. When you put in real effort, the results can be stupendous.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Sometimes the wisest thing to do is to do nothing. That’s probably not your usual approach to life, but with the Moon relaxing into your sleepy 12th house, it’s not a bad idea to retreat from the world and focus on getting some rest. This can be literal, but your mind and spirit may need more rest than just your basic nightly sleep. Actively carve out time from your routine to nurture yourself and refill your tanks. You deserve to take a break!

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

People are more inclined to meet you halfway now, or perhaps go even further. There’s a wonderful emphasis on linking up with companions as the Moon jogs into your 11th House of Friendship, reminding you that all work and no play is no way to live. Be willing to send that first text or initiate the group get-together, because everyone could be delighted to hop on your bandwagon. You may not play the ringleader often, but once in a while can be fun!

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

There’s no excuse for slacking off right now! You can make the most of the day, thanks to the Moon arriving in your ambitious 10th house, driving you to buckle down when it comes to your goals. You’ve got the necessary drive to chase them down, no doubt about it. If your goals seem nebulous, sit down and do your best to figure out what you want to achieve and why. Once you’ve got that clarity, you’ll be able to plan what to do.