South Florida Local News

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.

• Education | Should Broward close some schools in 2025 or 2026? The latest considerations
• Education | Broward School Board divided on school closures; plan could come next month
• Education | Back to square one, wisely, on school closings | Editorial

“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.

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.