South Florida Local News

You don’t have to like Donald Trump to be able to look back and see all the good that he did for our nation.

We were safe. We had more money in our pockets. No new wars were started.

If there were only one grocery store where you could buy food for your family, but you hated the owner, would you boycott it and let your family starve?

Like it or not, we need Trump to get our country back on track.

Kamala Harris has been in the White House for almost four years, and things have declined considerably. If she’s elected, we will have four more years of chaos, and you can kiss America and what it once stood for goodbye.

Donna Romanelli, Lighthouse Point

Are you better off now?

I answer with a resounding yes! People who ask this question want facts. They are:

Inflation has fallen dramatically over the past three-plus years. Many millions of jobs have been created. Crime is down during this administration, not up as the Republicans would have you believe. Illegal immigration is coming to a standstill after President Biden tried to get Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan bill that failed at Trump’s insistence.

We are the world’s top oil producer. Our environment is better protected. We have the strongest economy in the world. We are a more respected country. World leaders were afraid of Trump’s mental instability. Investment portfolios have never been higher thanks to a record stock market.

During Trump’s administration, we had denial of a worldwide pandemic, empty grocery stores and massive job losses. Our country was at a standstill. He bungled an opportunity to bring us together and created mistrust in government. A million Americans died unnecessarily.

To those who ask are you better off today, I say, absolutely, yes! We won’t go back.

Randy Grant, Fort Lauderdale

In perfect order

Thank you for endorsing Wendy Sartory Link to remain as Palm Beach County supervisor of elections.

After Donald Trump’s vociferous claim, globally known as “The Big Lie” that somehow his loss to Biden in 2020 was “stolen,” and the ensuing deadly domestic attack in the U.S. Capitol, I took a group tour of the county’s voting facility, led by Wendy Link.

My objective, as an engineer, was to find supporting flaws in the entire voting system and counting process, starting with the voters. There were none. After the tour, some of us put Wendy Link on the defensive as we tried to find hidden flaws. Her professionalism and knowledge of the details was truly remarkable.

Contrary to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ and now (Link’s opponent) Jeff Buongiorno’s similarly outlandish political claims, we failed to find a means by which “voter fraud” could be enabled beyond single digits, where everyone and everything involved had to precisely fail in perfect order and in perfect union.

Harold Chanin, Boynton Beach

Sound familiar?

Why are the MAGAs all in such an uproar over North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson’s antisemitic, racist comments and misogyny?

He sounds just like their guy — Donald Trump.

Randy Lifshotz, Fort Lauderdale

Submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the form below. Letters should be limited to 150 words and must be signed. Include your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and length. 

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If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”

When Pooja Mehta’s younger brother, Raj, died by suicide at 19 in March 2020, she felt “blindsided.”

Raj’s last text message was to his college lab partner about how to divide homework questions.

“You don’t say you’re going to take questions 1 through 15 if you’re planning to be dead one hour later,” said Mehta, 29, a mental health and suicide prevention advocate in Arlington, Virginia. She had been trained in Mental Health First Aid — a nationwide program that teaches how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness — yet she said her brother showed no signs of trouble.

Mehta said some people blamed her for Raj’s death because the two were living together during the covid-19 pandemic while Raj was attending classes online. Others said her training should have helped her recognize he was struggling.

But, Mehta said, “we act like we know everything there is to know about suicide prevention. We’ve done a really good job at developing solutions for a part of the problem, but we really don’t know enough.”

Raj’s death came in the midst of decades of unsuccessful attempts to tamp down suicide rates nationwide.

During the past two decades federal officials have launched three national suicide prevention strategies, including one announced in April.

The first strategy, announced in 2001, focused on addressing risk factors for suicide and leaned on a few common interventions.

The next strategy called for developing and implementing standardized protocols to identify and treat people at risk for suicide with follow-up care and the support needed to continue treatment.

The latest strategy builds on previous ones and includes a federal action plan calling for implementation of 200 measures over the next three years, including prioritizing populations disproportionately affected by suicide, such as Black youth and Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

Despite those evolving strategies, from 2001 through 2021 suicide rates increased most years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional data for 2022, the most recent numbers available, shows deaths by suicide grew an additional 3% over the previous year. CDC officials project the final number of suicides in 2022 will be higher.

In the past two decades, suicide rates in rural states such as Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming have been about double those in urban areas, according to the CDC.

Despite those persistently disappointing numbers, mental health experts contend the national strategies aren’t the problem. Instead, they argue, the policies — for many reasons —simply aren’t being funded, adopted, and used. That slow uptake was compounded by the covid-19 pandemic, which had a broad, negative impact on mental health.

A chorus of national experts and government officials agree the strategies simply haven’t been embraced widely, but said even basic tracking of deaths by suicide isn’t universal.

Surveillance data is commonly used to drive health care quality improvement and has been helpful in addressing cancer and heart disease. Yet, it hasn’t been used in the study of behavioral health issues such as suicide, said Michael Schoenbaum, a senior adviser for mental health services, epidemiology, and economics at the National Institute of Mental Health.

“We think about treating behavioral health problems just differently than we think about physical health problems,” Schoenbaum said.

Without accurate statistics, researchers can’t figure out who dies most often by suicide, what prevention strategies are working, and where prevention money is needed most.

Many states and territories don’t allow medical records to be linked to death certificates, Schoenbaum said, but NIMH is collaborating with a handful of other organizations to document this data for the first time in a public report and database due out by the end of the year.

Further hobbling the strategies is the fact that federal and local funding ebbs and flows and some suicide prevention efforts don’t work in some states and localities because of the challenging geography, said Jane Pearson, special adviser on suicide research to the NIMH director.

Wyoming, where a few hundred thousand residents are spread across sprawling, rugged landscape, consistently ranks among the states with the highest suicide rates.

State officials have worked for many years to address the state’s suicide problem, said Kim Deti, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Health.

But deploying services, like mobile crisis units, a core element of the latest national strategy, is difficult in a big, sparsely populated state.

“The work is not stopping but some strategies that make sense in some geographic areas of the country may not make sense for a state with our characteristics,” she said.

Lack of implementation isn’t only a state and local government problem. Despite evidence that screening patients for suicidal thoughts during medical visits helps head off catastrophe, health professionals are not mandated to do so.

Many doctors find suicide screening daunting because they have limited time and insufficient training and because they aren’t comfortable discussing suicide, said Janet Lee, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

“I think it is really scary and kind of astounding to think if something is a matter of life and death how somebody can’t ask about it,” she said.

The use of other measures has also been inconsistent. Crisis intervention services are core to the national strategies, yet many states haven’t built standardized systems.

Besides being fragmented, crisis systems, such as mobile crisis units, can vary from state to state and county to county. Some mobile crisis units use telehealth, some operate 24 hours a day and others 9 to 5, and some use local law enforcement for responses instead of mental health workers.

Similarly, the fledgling 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline faces similar, serious problems.

Only 23% of Americans are familiar with 988 and there’s a significant knowledge gap about the situations people should call 988 for, according to a recent poll conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Ipsos.

Most states, territories, and tribes have also not yet permanently funded 988, which was launched nationwide in July 2022 and has received about $1.5 billion in federal funding, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Anita Everett, director of the Center for Mental Health Services within SAMHSA, said her agency is running an awareness campaign to promote the system.

Some states, including Colorado, are taking other steps. There, state officials installed financial incentives for implementing suicide prevention efforts, among other patient safety measures, through the state’s Hospital Quality Incentive Payment Program. The program hands out about $150 million a year to hospitals for good performance. In the last year, 66 hospitals improved their care for patients experiencing suicidality, according to Lena Heilmann, director of the Office of Suicide Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Experts hope other states will follow Colorado’s lead.

And despite the slow movement, Mehta sees bright spots in the latest strategy and action plan.

Although it is too late to save Raj, “addressing the social drivers of mental health and suicide and investing in spaces for people to go to get help well before a crisis gives me hope,” Mehta said.

Cheryl Platzman Weinstock’s reporting is supported by a grant from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.

Today is Saturday, Sept. 21, the 265th day of 2024. There are 101 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 21, 1981, the Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

Also on this date:

In 1792, the National Convention of France issued a proclamation announcing the abolition of the French monarchy.

In 1898, in response to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, the New York Sun newspaper wrote an editorial containing the famous line “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

In 1915, Cecil Chubb purchased Stonehenge for £6,600; the last private owner of the site, Chubb donated it to the British people three years later.

In 1922, President Warren Harding signed the Lodge-Fish Resolution, a Congressional resolution endorsing the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

In 1937, “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, was first published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. of London.

In 1938, a hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives.

In 1939, Romanian Prime Minister Armand Călinescu was assassinated by members of the fascist Iron Guard movement.

In 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York, boxer Rocky Marciano completed his undefeated professional career by knocking out Archie Moore in the ninth round of their title fight.

In 1970, Monday Night Football made its debut on ABC, with the Cleveland Browns defeating the New York Jets 31-21.

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo crashed into South Carolina; the storm was blamed for 56 deaths in the Caribbean and 29 in the United States.

In 2013, an attack by armed militants in the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya left 67 people dead and hundreds injured.

In 2022, Russia’s Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilization of reservists for the first time since World War II, nearly seven months after invading Ukraine.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is 81.
• Musician Don Felder is 77.
• Author Stephen King is 77.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore is 75.
• Actor-comedian Bill Murray is 74.
• Race car driver Arie Luyendyk is 71.
• Filmmaker Ethan Coen is 67.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief is 67.
• Actor-comedian Dave Coulier is 65.
• Actor David James Elliott is 64.
• Actor Nancy Travis is 63.
• Actor Rob Morrow is 62.
• Actor Angus Macfadyen is 61.
• Actor Cheryl Hines is 59.
• Country singer Faith Hill is 57.
• Actor-talk show host Ricki Lake is 56.
• Actor Billy Porter is 55.
• Actor Alfonso Ribeiro (rih-BEHR’-oh) is 53.
• Actor Luke Wilson is 53.
• Musician Liam Gallagher (Oasis) is 52.
• TV personality Nicole Richie is 43.
• Actor Maggie Grace is 41.
• Actor Joseph Mazzello is 41.
• Rapper Wale (WAH’-lay) is 40.
• Singer Jason Derulo is 35.
• Cyclist Tadej Pogačar is 26.

SUNRISE — Senior quarterback Christian Mata ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as host Piper slipped past nationally ranked Blanche Ely 21-20 on Friday night.

“He’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever coached,” said Piper coach Quintin Short, who has his Bengals (5-0) aiming for their best start since 2016 when they began with eight straight wins. “I give him all of the credit in the world.”

Mata’s second rushing touchdown of the second half, a 2-yard run with 5:06 remaining in the game, pushed Piper (5-0) to its homecoming victory.

“It’s a huge win and it is going to carry us on to later in the season,” Mata said. “When I scored my second touchdown, I knew our defense would get the stop and not let them take the lead.

“The coaches have a lot of confidence in us,” Mata said. “We just have to go 1-0 every week and beat every team to go undefeated. This has been really fun. I have been here since my freshman year and started in my sophomore year. This is the best coaching staff I have ever had.”

Mata, who finished with a modest 27 yards rushing and 86 yards passing, said this was his team’s first test. On his game-winning score, Mata benefited from Blanche Ely (3-2) jumping offsides while Piper was about to try a 20-yard field goal. The flag moved the ball to fourth-and-inches. Short sent his offense back in and Mata scored on the next play.

Blanche Ely coach Terence McFadden learned early Friday that the No. 68-ranked Tigers would be without starting junior quarterback Omari McNeal due to concussion-like symptoms he experienced in a 42-13 loss to Atlantic last week.

“I didn’t know he was out,” McFadden said. “He went to the hospital Thursday to get checked out. They told me today he couldn’t play. He’s okay. He’s out for two weeks.”

McFadden wasn’t making excuses. He said backup junior quarterback Gary Hadley was ”just as good as anybody.”

“At the end of the day, at some point, you got to execute,” McFadden said. “It’s back to the drawing board. It’s not a district game and we have to finish the season strong. We’ve got to bounce back from these last two.

“We are a way better football team,” McFadden said. “We just lost because we didn’t execute in every phase of the game. It’s on the coaches. It’s on me. We could have tried for the extra-point kick to tie it up, but the kids wanted to go for two, plus we haven’t been able to kick all week (because of the weather). They blocked two of them and missed one, so that kind of put us on a limb.”

Blanche Ely wasted little time in pulling to within 21-20 following Mata’s TD with 3:47 remaining as Hadley carried three times for 23 yards and completed two passes for 40 yards, the last covering 25 yards to senior wideout Michael Warren to cap the 6 play, 63-yard drive. The Tigers went for the aforementioned two-point conversion pass, but Hadley’s pass sailed through the end zone.

After stopping Piper on downs, Blanche Ely took over on their 45-yard line with 1 minute, 32 seconds left in the game. Hadley found Richard Hollis for a 10-yard pickup, and after an incompletion, Hadley was intercepted by junior Alex Gammage and the Bengals ran out the clock.

Blanche Ely grabbed a 6-0 lead on a 1-yard TD run by Hadley with 9:34 remaining in the first half. It was the first points of the season allowed by Piper this season in 17 quarters, a school record. The score capped a five-play, 57-yard drive. Tigers kicker Luis Castriola missed the extra point.

“We knew this was our first test and no disrespect to the teams we played, but we knew this was it,” Short said. “We told the guys there was a possibility they would score. They have a great team. You don’t beat a Chaminade and not have a helluva football team….I knew people would doubt us because of our schedule, but we answered the bell tonight.”

“We came in with 16 (shutout) quarters, and got number 17 in the first quarter, but our kids never flinched,” Short said. “We kept fighting and fighting and we told them they just have to grind it out…our defense, which has carried us all year, makes a huge stop on the two-point conversion and gets a pick to seal it. I am so proud of these kids. I am so proud of our program. It’s wonderful.”

Castriola had three conversion attempts to take a 7-0 lead, but Piper blocked two of the conversion attempts but was whistled for three straight offside penalties to give him an additional shot, one that went wide.

Piper seized a 7-6 advantage as senior wide receiver Antrell McWhirter hauled in a 4-yard scoring pass from Mata with 2:36 left in the second quarter. Piper senior kicker Carter McCrary converted the PAT.

Blanche Ely nearly scored at the end of the half as it took the ensuing kickoff and went from their own 18 to the Piper 29 with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Hadley found Elijah Gonzales who picked up 12 yards on the catch, but fumbled the ball and Bengals linebacker Jefferson Saintcius made the recovery. The turnover was wiped out by a facemask penalty against Piper and a 15-yard penalty on a sideline warning against Blanche Ely gave Hadley another chance with an untimed down, but Hadley’s pass fell incomplete.

Piper took the opening kickoff in the third quarter and drove 65 yards in 9 plays to grab a 14-6 lead with six minutes left in the period. Mata ran it in from 6 yards out for the TD.

Following the ensuing kickoff, Blanche Ely managed to tie the game at 14-14 on a 5-yard TD run by Shawn Paschall with 2:48 left in the third quarter. The Tigers were helped out by 29 yards in penalties assessed to the Bengals.

LOXAHATCHEE — Santaluces senior wide receiver Jamar Browder and senior athlete Izzy Marion each scored two touchdowns as the visiting Chiefs pulled away from Seminole Ridge 49-21 on Friday night.

Browder, a Sun Sentinel Super 11 selection and N.C. State commit, had a 51-yard touchdown catch and 46-yard reception for another score in the first half. He also had a 9-yard touchdown run negated due to a holding penalty.

Santaluces (4-1) bounced back after a 23-8 loss against Palm Beach Central last week.

“It was overdue and it’s supposed to be like this every game,” Browder said. “We were in a slump last week. We had to get in our groove and it’s what we expected to do. It definitely boosted the team morale and helped to lift our spirits up.”

Marion had a 21-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and added a 17-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

“I feel like we are getting more comfortable with each other,” Marion said. “We did not execute and we just missed a lot of plays last week. This week, we got back in our groove and we started to wake people up.”

Santaluces junior quarterback Jorris Shephard and junior Chris Siska each passed for two touchdowns in the victory.

“We took a step in the right direction and made better decisions overall,” Santaluces coach Hector Clavijo said. “We were still a little sloppy and need to clean things up. I challenged our better players this week. At some point, our guys need to make a play and a lot of the big-time guys got the ball in their hands and made something happen. It’s kind of what we needed.”

Seminole Ridge senior quarterback Garrett Rimes rushed for two touchdowns and senior running back Willie Young also rushed for a score in the loss.

Santaluces led 28-21 at the end of the third quarter and pulled away with 21 points in the fourth.

Seminole Ridge (0-5) marched downfield on their opening drive and had first-and-goal at the 6-yard line.

Senior Anatay Smith recovered a fumble at the 1-yard line and raced down the left sideline on the long return to the Hawks 21.

Santaluces capitalized on the first play on offense after the turnover. Marion took the direct snap and rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 9:51 left in the first.

Seminole Ridge responded late in the first as Rimes had a quarterback sneak for a 1-yard score to tie the game.

The Chiefs failed to convert on fourth-and-3 at the Hawks’ 6 in the second quarter.

Santaluces jumped ahead as Shephard fired a 51-yard scoring pass to Browder down the left sideline to make it 14-7 with 8:29 left in the second quarter.

Siska connected with Marion on a 17-yard catch-and-run for a score to increase the lead to 21-7 with 3:44 left in the first half.

Seminole Ridge answered back on their next series as Young rushed up the middle for a 5-yard score.

Santaluces quickly responded on the ensuing possession as Shephard hit Browder on a deep pass for a 46-yard score to push the lead to 28-14 late in the first half.

Seminole Ridge scored on their opening drive of the second half. On fourth-and goal, Rimes had a quarterback sneak for a 1-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

Santaluces missed an opportunity with a scoring chance on their next series. On fourth-and-goal at the 1, the Chiefs lost a fumble on the play.

Seminole Ridge failed to convert on fourth-and-10 at the Santaluces 28 as senior Keshawn Barker recorded a sack on the play with 11:34 left in the fourth.

The Chiefs pulled away as sophomore running back Kelsey Gerald had a 4-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 35-21.

Senior Brandon Humphreys recorded an interception for the Chiefs with 8:21 left in the fourth.

Senior running back Jamie Simmons rushed for a 2-yard score to make it 42-21 with 6:34 remaining.

Siska connected with sophomore wide receiver Dallas Crescenzo on a 24-yard catch-and-run for a score to make 49-21 with 1:51 left.

By ALANIS THAMES

MIAMI (AP) — The Atlanta Braves’ run of six straight NL East titles ended Friday night with a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins as Jake Burger singled and doubled.

Atlanta (83-71) cannot mathematically win the division and trails by two games for the last NL wild-card spot. The Braves have eight games left, including three at home against a New York Mets team they are trying to overcome.

“What we do is we worry about today,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re going to want to go 1-0 tomorrow. We control our own destiny, and we need to win the rest of them. We’re down to eight, and we need to take care of business tomorrow.”

Kyle Stowers also singled and doubled for Miami (57-97), on track for its worst record since going 57-105 in 2019.

Valente Bellozo (3-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and Anthony Bender, Lake Bachar, Declan Cronin and Jesus Tinoco combined for two-hit relief. Tinoco got three straight outs for his second save.

Charlie Morton (8-9) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings and threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the fifth. He is 0-2 in his last three starts.

Ozzie Albies, a switch-hitter batting right-handed only, was 0 for 4 in his return from a fractured left wrist that had sidelined him since July 21.

Burger hit a run-scoring ground-rule double in a three-run first that included Stowers’ RBI single and Jonah Bride’s sacrifice fly.

“The story of that game was the first inning,” Morton said. “If I walk a couple guys, give up a couple hits, run my pitch count up or whatever, that’s fine. Got to the fifth inning and I felt like I was in a position where I could limit that run, and I didn’t.”

Added Morton: “It’s like the first inning, you look back and it’s like ‘man.’ But there’s still a lot of baseball to be played. If I could limit them to three (runs) through six (innings), that’s OK considering I gave up three runs in the first. So to give up that run in the fifth was more troubling and more frustrating than the ones in the first.”

Ramon Laureano and Orlando Arcia homered off Bellozo, with Laureano’s 404-foot drive to center cutting Atlanta’s deficit to 4-3 in the sixth. Former Marlin Jorge Soler had a sacrifice fly in the third.

The Marlins bounced back from a 20-4 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday, when star slugger Shohei Ohtani homered three times and stole two bases to become the first major leaguer with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.

“It speaks a lot to the guys in this clubhouse,” Cronin said, “especially the pitching staff. We agreed to flush it and go after the Braves and try to spoil another playoff (contender’s) run. What you saw today was a perfect example of what baseball is all about. It doesn’t matter what you did the night before. You have another opportunity to come out here and compete.”

Burger was voted the Marlins’ most valuable player for the 2024 season by South Florida’s chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cronin was voted top rookie.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: INF Cavan Biggio was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in the corresponding move as Albies was activated.

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara (Tommy John) is playing light catch. … RHP Eury Pérez (Tommy John surgery) began light throwing at 45 feet.

UP NEXT

LHP Max Fried (9-10, 3.49) will start the second game of the series for the Braves on Saturday against Marlins RHP Adam Oller (1-4, 5.40).

___

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

Damon Cogdell hesitates to say it.

“I don’t want to tell people, ‘I told you so,’” he says.

The former Miramar High coach remembers saying to be patient more than a decade ago when his quarterback, Geno Smith, struggled in his opening NFL act. He said for everyone to wait, just wait, when Smith then played in just five games in six years with four teams. And now …

“I told everyone so,’’ he says.

Two quarterbacks come with stories to appreciate Sunday. The Miami Dolphins’ Skylar Thompson is writing his first act in the NFL, trying to step from the shadows in replacing starter Tua Tagovailoa over the next four games and keep this season going.

Seattle’s Smith is writing his second act. He’s making it something to remember. He led Seattle to an overtime win at New England last week, making it his ninth comeback win since 2022 to lead NFL quarterbacks.

Not that America knows that — or much anything of his reinvention in Seattle.

“Keep sleeping on him,’’ Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said this week.

The football world nodded off on Smith after a lot happened in in early NFL years, not much of it good. He struggled as a second-round rookie with the New York Jets in 2013. His big headline in 2015 was when he had his jaw broken by a punch from a reserve Jets defensive lineman. Ryan Fitzpatrick took the starting job and kept it.

Smith looked like a software program that crashed over the following years. After backing up Fitzpatrick, he did the same over the next six years for Eli Manning with the New York Giants, Philip Rivers with the Los Angeles Chargers and Russell Wilson in Seattle.

“Once he started to bounce around the NFL a little bit, it was painful to see him go through that,’’ says Cogdell, now the University of Fort Lauderdale coach. “But I understand he had to go through that to get to where he is now. He matured. He became the guy you see now.”

Geno Smith while at Miramar High School. Staff Photo/Michael Laughlin

Smith always knew how to play. He started as a freshman at Miramar, where he rose to become the Sun-Sentinel’s big-school player of the year in 2008 as a senior. He started three years at West Virginia, breaking school records and leading the nation with 42 touchdowns his senior season.

But it wasn’t until he became a career backup that he fully grasped how to study football to succeed in the NFL. Working with Rivers, for instance, taught him, “how to break a game down and watch film,’’ Smith, 33, said this week. “He’d also listen to the defense, listen to them talk and their communication, watch their signals

“He was great at recognizing Cover-0 from the defense. He’d throw a touchdown against Cover-0 and yell at the defensive coordinator for calling it.”

Sometimes, you see, it’s now how you start. Sometimes it’s how you grow along the way.

“All of that helped me get to a point here I have a level of understanding of the game to what I’m looking at now,’’ he said this week. “I don’t think there’s one particular year (things clicked). But as a 12-year-veteran you see a bunch of looks.  A lot of the overload pressures we see are the same overload pressures I’d see with Rex Ryan as a rookie.”

Smith took over for an injured Wilson in the 2021 season. He won the job after Wilson was traded, led the league in completion percentage and became the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year as Seattle made the playoffs. He’s been a Pro Bowl quarterback the past two years. He signed a three-year, $75 million deal in March.

Somewhere along his second act he became the player Miramar High knew he was.

“Geno was doing in high school what he’s doing now,’’ said Ivan McCartney, a receiver at Miramar and West Virginia with Smith who is now a University of Fort Lauderdale assistant. “He’s got a strong arm, is a great leader and then his athleticism — a lot of people don’t know about that. He had a Euro-step he used in games to get by people. It’s good to see him playing like he is.”

Smith isn’t Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. But after two games his 498 passing yards rank second in the league, his 73.9 completion percentage ranks fourth and his 97.8 rating ranks eighth. The guy who spent years holding a clipboard is redefining himself.

Cogdell doesn’t want to talk about his former quarterback playing the hometown Dolphins.

“I don’t want to mess up the mojo,’’ he said. “I’ll stand in the back and cheer.”

A lot of players don’t get a second act. Smith is making the most of his. And there, along for the ride, are those like Cogdell, standing in the back with an I-told-you-so joy in their tone.

It was almost time for happy hour, but the crowd was told there wasn’t much time.

And the 75 or so people — including a member of Congress and three east Broward mayors — packed into the side room of a restaurant and bar Friday afternoon weren’t there for end-of-the-week libations.

They were all about the work, specifically political outreach to voters between now and Election Day. With a little more than six weeks until Nov. 5, and with voting-by-mail about to begin, they were pushed to do more than hang out with other Democrats at the end of the work day.

“These events are wonderful, and I thank you for being here, thank you for creating visibility” by taking pictures to post on social media and show friends, said Alfredo Olvera, the Broward state Democratic committeeman and president of the Dolphin Democrats LGBTQ+ political club.

That’s not nearly enough, he said: “If we don’t make phone calls, if you don’t walk (door to door), if we don’t write thank you notes, nothing is going to happen.”

His mission was to amp up the people who gathered at the newly opened Democratic Get Out the Vote Center in Wilton Manors, one of several in Broward. The center, sponsored by the Dolphins and the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, is aimed at mobilizing LGBTQ+ voters, a central component of the coalition Democrats depend on to win elections.

“You need to use this center. Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense for us to be here,” Olvera said. “We have an assignment to do. And it’s not by staying home.”

Elected officials and candidates, both LGBTQ and straight, offered a similar message.

“What do you think about this election so far? Not enough work is getting done,” said Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton.

Everyone in the room is sure to vote, he said, but that’s not good enough. Newton said, urging attendees to reach out to all their friends and neighbors and, if need be, “drag them to the polls.”

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U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, said a robust turnout in Broward could help reverse years of defeats at the hands of Florida Republicans.

“We have to make sure that we cover Broward County in opportunities to get people turned out to vote. Why? Because we are the bluest county in this state and we have to make sure we run up the score here,” she said.

Wasserman Schultz talked up a prospect that few analysts see as likely: Vice President Kamala Harris defeating former President Donald Trump in Florida.

“Don’t sleep on Florida this election cycle. We have to make sure that we do everything we can to prove the doubters wrong and to make sure that on November 5th, that we are the surprise of the United States of America,” she said. “Yeah, we’re the underdogs. There’s no question we’re the underdogs here. But the LGBTQ+ community knows how to fight and they know how to win like underdogs.”

Wasserman Schultz also said that U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. — who most independent analysts see as likely to win — can be defeated by former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democratic candidate.

“It is a one- or two-point race, my friends. Debbie can win. Don’t — don’t — discount that race, get fully involved. There are canvases going on for DMP all weekend long. Please join one of them. Come to one of our offices, get on the phone ,and start helping to turn out the vote for her,” Wasserman Schultz said.. “We need to turn all of these Florida voters into believers, because we’ve had so many years of losses statewide, we can make sure that we punch her through.”

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, the city’s first openly LGBTQ mayor, implored people to make sure voters don’t just vote for president and high-profile offices and go home.

Broward County School Board member Sarah Leonardi along with her 3-year-old daughter Lia speaks during a political event at Tropics restaurant in Wilton Manors on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. Kristen Prata Browde, president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus is holding the microphone. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

“As you go down on the ticket, it’s really, really important because we are the people that impact your day-to-day life,” said Trantalis, who is running for reelection.

Democrats have had election-season offices before in Wilton Manors, the unofficial capital of the LGBTQ+ community in South Florida. This year, a second office is being established, opening Tuesday in Tampa.

Jason Loring, president of the LGBTQ+ Log Cabin Republicans of Broward County, said he wasn’t familiar with what the Democrats groups did on Friday, and declined via text to comment.

Kristen Prata Browde, president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, also said with enough work Democrats have reason for optimum, and invoked Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to motivate the volunteers. “There’s not much time. But we are going to take back Florida.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

Friday

Miami Central 35, American Heritage 32

Piper 21, Blanche Ely 20

St. Thomas Aquinas 56, McArthur 0

Santaluces 49, Seminole Ridge 21

Boyd Anderson 41, Stoneman Douglas 6

Cardinal Newman 48, Clewiston 0

Suncoast 23, John I. Leonard 14

The First Academy 41, Atlantic 28

Plantation 23, South Broward 0

Dillard 14, Miramar 12

Spanish River 51, Wellington 15

West Boca Raton 48, Treasure Coast 0

Park Vista 14, Boynton Beach 12

Dr. Joaquin Garcia 41, Olympic Heights 0

West Broward 35, Flanagan 0

Royal Palm Beach 38, Forest Hill 16

St. Andrew’s 24, North Broward Prep 8

Fort Pierce Central 34, Inlet Grove 6

Hallandale 20, Coral Glades 19 (OT)

Cardinal Gibbons 27, Coconut Creek 25

Calvary Christian Academy 48, North Miami 36

Monarch 42, Fort Lauderdale 8

Ransom Everglades 37, Pine Crest 6

Somerset Academy Key 43, TRU Prep 8

Jupiter Christian 50, Boca Raton Christian 7

 

Thursday

Chaminade-Madonna 45, Miami Norland 20

Glades Central 33, Dwyer 7

Western 7, Taravella 0

University School 46, Lake Highland Prep 10

Benjamin 21, Jensen Beach 14

Everglades 32, Mater Academy Charter 31

Coral Springs Charter 30, Pompano Beach 0

St. John Paul II Academy 28, Somerset Prep 22

LaBelle 23, Glades Day 0

In the summer of 2017, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Panhandle Republican, attended a party filled with drugs and paid escorts that was hosted by former state Rep. Chris Dorworth at his Heathrow home, according to witness testimony in newly filed federal court documents.

One of the escorts attending the get-together was the 17-year-old girl — known only as A.B. in court filings — who is at the center of the Joel Greenberg sex-trafficking scandal. Call girls roamed the premises with “access to the bedrooms in the Dorworth residence to engage in sexual activities, as well as alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, also known as molly and marijuana,” according to statements quoted in the documents.

The case-file material, emerging as part of Dorworth’s April 2023 federal lawsuit against his former friend Greenberg, includes some of the most extensive details made public so far regarding a sex-trafficking controversy that has swirled around Gaetz for several years.

But while witnesses place him at the scene of illicit activity, the documents don’t include allegations or evidence that Gaetz himself used illegal drugs or had sex with the underage girl, a charge he has denied and federal investigators last year chose not to pursue. One document does quote the girl saying she had sex with Dorworth in exchange for $1,000, an allegation Dorworth, now a lobbyist, strongly disputed on Friday.

The tale told in the documents — primarily in a document submitted by Greenberg’s ex-wife that recounts evidence gathered as part of the suit — is lurid. It includes descriptions of two separate parties at Dorworth’s house a week apart, both attended by Gaetz although A.B. is only mentioned as attending the first one.

A.B., 17, had just completed her junior year at a local high school and drove her mother’s car through the upscale community’s security entrance at about 6:15 p.m. on July 15, 2017, the date of the first party.

Upon arrival, attendees were told to put their cell phones into a large bowl on a counter, apparently to prevent photos and videos. As the party went on, A.B. was naked among the adult attendees, according to material in the document from Greenberg’s ex-wife Abby attributed to an affidavit from one of the escorts, identified as K.M.

Besides Gaetz, Dorworth and Greenberg also were at the party at the 8,200-square foot, six-bedroom home on Whitstable Court, according to K.M. Greenberg had taken office as Seminole’s tax collector just six months earlier.

Jacob Bliss, a spokesman for Gaetz office, said in a brief email to the Sentinel Friday that Gaetz “has never participated” in the alleged events.

“If people said otherwise, they are either confused or lying,” Bliss said.

Dorworth eventually dropped his federal lawsuit against Greenberg this month, without giving a reason.

But now, Greenberg’s family, and the other defendants are seeking to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in attorneys fees, court costs and other expenses defending themselves against Dorworth’s litigation. That led to the filing of hundreds of pages of documents Thursday night.

Other material collected as part of the case remains sealed, including an interview with A.B., although it is briefly excerpted in the material from Abby Greenberg. That excerpt quotes the underage girl as saying she “engaged in various sexual activities” with Dorworth in a hotel in Lake Mary in the summer of 2017 while Joel Greenberg watched. She also says that at the conclusion of the encounter, “Mr. Greenberg provided me with an envelope with one thousand dollars in cash and said to me ‘this is from Chris’ or words to that effect.”

Dorworth denied ever meeting the girl in a Friday text message interview with the Orlando Sentinel, and said again as he had previously that he did not have sex with her. He also said he did not attend the July 15 party at his home.

“I was not there that evening,” Dorworth said by text. “I was at a friend’s birthday party on a lake far away.”

Attorneys for the defendants in Dorworth’s federal lawsuit against Greenberg and his family and businesses, however, presented Dorworth with evidence that he received phone calls from a cell tower less than two miles from his Heathrow home to an area in Maitland several times in the afternoon on the day of the July 15 party. He then received calls even closer to his home that evening, according to court records.

A week later, on July 22, a second party allegedly was held at Dorworth’s home, according to lawsuit documents from another female escort identified as L.P.

L.P. said Gaetz and Greenberg again were in attendance, along with several other call girls and lobbyists. A.B. is not mentioned by L.P.

L.P. said she also was told to put her cell phone in a bowl on the counter when she walked into the home.

“It was my understanding that this was done because the partygoers did not want  any photographs or videos taken of the event,” according to her testimony. “The party included alcohol, drugs, middle-aged men and young and attractive women.”

L.P. also makes no allegation that Gaetz used illegal drugs or had sex with the escorts.

The U.S. Department of Justice in February 2023 decided against pursuing sex-trafficking charges against Gaetz, whose House District 1 lies in the Florida Panhandle.

The decision came after the Washington Post reported that federal prosecutors had credibility concerns with witnesses, including Greenberg.

Still, a U.S. House Ethics Committee continues with its own investigation into whether Gaetz did have sex with A.B. when she was 17 years old.

Greenberg was a friend of Gaetz and Dorworth while he was Seminole County’s tax collector from January 2017 until June 2020, when he resigned after he was first indicted on several federal charges.

The trio were often seen at parties at Dorworth’s house and dining at restaurants in Orlando and Tallahassee.

In the spring of 2019, they all visited Washington D.C. with their families and took photos with then U.S. President Donald Trump on the White House lawn.

A.B. is now 25 years old and living in Colorado.

Greenberg is serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to identity theft, stalking, conspiracy to bribe a public official and child sex trafficking, tied to A.B.

 

Today is Friday, Sept. 20, the 264th day of 2024. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 20, 1973, in their so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in the Houston Astrodome.

Also on this date:

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships completed the first circumnavigation of the globe three years later.)

In 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival, lasting 16 days, opened in France.

In 1962, James Meredith, a Black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett.

In 1964, The Beatles concluded their first full-fledged U.S. tour by performing in a charity concert at the Paramount Theater in New York.

In 1967, the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

In 2011, the repeal of the U.S. military’s 18-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise took effect, allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years, struck the island, wiping out as much as 75 percent of power distribution lines and causing an island-wide blackout.

In 2019, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the 1979 site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, was shut down by its owner after producing electricity for 45 years.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Sophia Loren is 90.
• Author George R. R. Martin is 76.
• Actor Gary Cole is 68.
• TV news correspondent Deborah Roberts is 64.
• Actor Maggie Cheung is 60.
• Actor Kristen Johnston is 57.
• Rock singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are 57.
• Race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya is 49.
• Actor Jon Bernthal is 48.
• Actor Aldis Hodge is 38.
• Mixed martial artist Khabib Nurmagomedov is 36.
• Singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips is 34.

General Daily Insight for September 20, 2024

Today is mired in astrological murk. The Moon in Aries is pushing us along at a dizzying pace as it squares off alchemical Pluto, though things slow down once Luna slips into Taurus. Meanwhile, Venus in Libra will make an uncomfortable quincunx to Uranus, shaking up our value systems. Regardless, solutions will probably be difficult to find when the Sun in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces at 8:17 pm EDT. We would all be wise to avoid jumping to any conclusions.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

It’s dangerously easy to get lost in the details. The Sun in your efficient 6th house is making its annual opposition to foggy Neptune in your mystical 12th house, which could turn your usual routine into a tumble down the rabbit hole. Things that might normally make perfect sense won’t appear that way! Unusual approaches may attract your attention, but “unusual” doesn’t necessarily mean “effective,” so be wary of grasping at potentials rather than realities. Neptune can make everything look good behind rose-colored glasses.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

It’s not always easy to follow your heart, no matter how hard you try. Currently, there is cause for some confusion as the Sun in your passionate 5th house opposes Uranus in your communal 11th house. This makes it difficult to know whether to chase your specific bliss or join up with the herd. You may feel like you owe others your time, or that you must play a role to please authorities. Still, make sure you aren’t sacrificing your needs in doing so.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

The road ahead doesn’t look as clear as it usually might. You’re focused on your foundations while the Sun rolls through the base of your chart, even as its opposition to Neptune in your ambitious 10th house casts a veil over your goals. Why are you chasing those things in the first place? It’s natural to ask questions or feel a bit lost under this alignment. Instead of worrying about overthinking your ideals and somehow “ruining” them, give yourself permission to wander a bit.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

The world is so big that it may seem excessively daunting at present. You might be feeling somewhat dazed by all the options currently available to you, thanks to today’s opposition between the Sun in your local community sector and Neptune in your brave 9th house. Just because you can’t yet settle on a specific direction doesn’t mean the path forward won’t become clear soon enough. Just keep reminding yourself that the universe has plenty of time for you to figure out where you want to be.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Nothing is what it seems right now — as you’d expect, this can quickly complicate your day. There is a frustrating opposition between the Sun in your income sector and Neptune in your shared resources sector. Be cautious regarding any fog around issues of what is yours versus what is mine versus what is ours. You may feel like someone is encroaching on your generosity, or that you are being taken advantage of. Either way, wait for clearer skies before you jump to conclusions.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

There’s rarely been a worse day to rely on others. The Sun in your 1st House of the Self is shying away from illusory Neptune in your 7th House of Interdependence, which can create all sorts of confusion with the important people in your life. The more you expect of others or hope that they will save the day in any kind of capacity, the more likely it is that you’ll be disappointed by them. Do your best to rely on yourself for now.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Libra, it’s alright if nothing feels as urgent as you think it should. You’re cosmically clocked out while the Sun rolls through your 12th House of the Subconscious. Plus, the Sun’s opposition to mystical Neptune in your routine-oriented 6th house will potentially make things seem even less pressing. If you have nothing on your plate, you can float along without worry. That said, if you planned a busy day, consider calling a rain check until a time when you’ll be more with it.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

There’s nothing wrong with following the herd at a time like this. There is a strange opposition between the Sun in your 11th House of Groups and Neptune in your 5th House of Personal Pleasure. Their missed connection could leave you feeling a little uncertain of what, exactly, you want for yourself. Even if you normally prefer to forge your path, you’ll likely find less resistance if you go with others’ flow for the time being. You can stand out soon enough.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Your foundations may seem somewhat wobbly. You’re focused on moving onward and upward while the Sun tours your 10th House of Reputation, even as its opposition to Neptune in your 4th House of Emotions reminds you of how lonely being off in the stratosphere can get. If you feel like you don’t have proper support, take a step back and ask yourself why that is (and if it’s even true)! Neptune loves to cause confusion, so this may be merely a temporary glitch.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

It sounds exciting to go off on an adventure, but the wisest way to do it isn’t going to be very clear. The Sun in your open 9th house is snapping at mysterious Neptune in your communications sector, which could leave you feeling like there is a piece of the puzzle missing. No matter where you look, answers and solutions will probably evade you, thanks to Neptune’s machinations. Avoid chasing after any excitement for the moment, since it won’t pan out as you hope.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Your financial state may seem a bit too nebulous at the moment. There is a confusing opposition between the Sun in your big money 8th house and Neptune in your grounded 2nd house, which could make it difficult to maintain a proper grip on what you’ve got to work with. Figures may not seem to add up, or perhaps there is a mistake somewhere and you’ve been overpaying for a service which you no longer need. Careful inspection can reveal major revelations.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

People may simply not understand you for seemingly no reason. Actually, there is a good reason for that! The Sun in your relationship sector is forming an uncomfortable opposition to vaporous Neptune in your whimsical sign. This casts a confusing veil between you and the rest of the world. You’d do well to avoid any important conversations or negotiations, because someone will be missing something — and that person could turn out to be you. Don’t make it easy for yourself to get lost!

By JULIA FRANKEL and MAJDI MOHAMMED, Associated Press

QABATIYA, West Bank (AP) — Israeli soldiers pushed three apparently lifeless bodies from rooftops during a raid in the northern part of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene and video obtained by AP.

An AP journalist in the town of Qabatiya witnessed three soldiers push the bodies off the roofs of adjacent multi-story buildings, sending them falling out of view. It was the latest in a series of suspected violations by Israeli forces since the start of the Israel-Hamas war that rights groups say show a pattern of excessive force toward Palestinians.

“This is a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values ​​and the expectations from IDF soldiers,” the military said in a statement, using the acronym it goes by. “The incident is under review.”

Israel said its troops had killed four combatants during operations in Qabatiya on Thursday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah did not immediately confirm multiple deaths, but said one person had been killed in the town and that Israeli gunfire sent 10 Palestinians to the hospital.

In the video obtained by AP, three soldiers can be seen picking up what appears to be a stiff body and then dragging it toward the edge of the roof as troops stand on the ground below. The soldiers on the roof peer over the edge before heaving the body off.

On an adjacent rooftop, the soldiers hold another apparently lifeless body by its limbs and swing it over the edge. In a third instance, a soldier kicks a body toward the edge before it falls from view. Photos captured by AP during Thursday’s raid show an Israeli army bulldozer moving near the buildings where the bodies were dropped.

Other journalists at the scene also witnessed the bodies being pushed off the roofs.

The identities of the dead and the cause of their deaths were not immediately known.

When withdrawing from raids, the army usually leaves behind any Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire. Occasionally the army brings dead bodies into Israel.

Under international law, soldiers are supposed to ensure dead bodies, including those of enemy combatants, are treated decently.

“There is no military need to do this. It’s just a savage way of treating Palestinian bodies,” said Shawan Jabarin, the director of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, after watching the footage.

Jabarin said the video was shocking but not surprising, and he was doubtful Israel would properly investigate the incident. The Israeli military rarely prosecutes soldiers in cases of reported harm to Palestinians, rights groups say.

“The most that will happen is that soldiers will be disciplined, but there will be no real investigation and no real prosecution,” said Jabarin.

The AP reporter who witnessed the raid saw a blindfolded and shirtless Palestinian man kneeling before an Israeli army jeep and armed soldiers. Smoke billows from several buildings that appeared damaged.

As the world’s attention focuses on the far more deadly war in Gaza less than 80 miles away, scores of Palestinians have been killed, shot and arrested in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has waged a months-long crackdown.

Over 700 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war erupted on Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The northern West Bank has seen some of the worst violence since the war’s outbreak.

Israel says the raids are necessary to stamp out Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union. In that time, Palestinian gunmen have attacked Israelis at checkpoints and staged several attacks within Israel.

Earlier this month, Israel staged its deadliest raid into the northern West Bank since the war began, killing at least 33 people.

___

Frankel reported from Jerusalem. AP reporter Jack Jeffery contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.

MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to exceed 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season during the most spectacular game of a history-making career for the Los Angeles Dodgers star, going deep three times and swiping two bags on Thursday against the Miami Marlins.

Ohtani hit is 49th homer in the sixth inning, his 50th in the seventh and his 51st in the ninth. He finished 6 for 6 with 10 RBIs while becoming the first big league player to hit three homers and steal two bases in a game.

“It was something I wanted to get over as quickly as possible. And, you know, it’s something that I’m going to cherish for a very long time,” Ohtani said through an interpreter in a televised interview.

The Japanese superstar reached the second deck in right-center on two of his three homers at LoanDepot Park. In the sixth inning, he launched a 1-1 slider from George Soriano 438 feet for his 49th.

Ohtani hit his 50th homer in the seventh inning, an opposite-field, two-run shot to left against Marlins reliever Mike Baumann. Then, in the ninth, his 51st traveled 440 feet to right-center, a three-run shot against Marlins second baseman Vidal Brujan, who came in to pitch with the game out of hand. The Dodgers won 20-4 and clinched their 12th straight playoff berth.

“To be honest, I’m the one probably most surprised,” Ohtani said. “I have no idea where this came from, but I’m glad that it was going well today.”

Ohtani took care of the stolen bases earlier in the game, swiping his 50th in the first and his 51st in the second.

He broke the Dodgers’ franchise record of 49 homers set by Shawn Green in 2001. And he became the third player in major league history with at least six hits, three homers and 10 RBIs in a game, joining Cincinnati’s Walker Cooper in 1949 and Washington’s Anthony Rendon in 2017.

The Japanese superstar led off the game with double against Edward Cabrera and swiped third on the front end of a double steal with Freddie Freeman, who reached on a walk.

Ohtani has been successful on his last 28 stolen base attempts.

He reached the 50-50 milestone in his 150th game. Ohtani was already the sixth player in major league history and the fastest ever to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season, needing just 126 games.

Ohtani hit home runs in each of his final three at-bats and also became the 16th major leaguer to drive in at least 10 RBI in a game.

Ohtani’s previous career high in homers was 46 for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021, when he also made 23 starts on the mound and won his first of two American League MVP awards.

Already the consensus best player in baseball whose accomplishments as a pitcher and batter outpaced even Babe Ruth, Ohtani reached new heights as an offensive player while taking the year off from pitching.

Ohtani signed a $700 million, 10-year deal with the Dodgers last December. The two-way star, who previously spent six years with the Los Angeles Angels, has played exclusively at designated hitter this season as he rehabilitates after surgery a year ago for an injured elbow ligament.

Preparation was a key to Ohtani becoming the first member of the 50-50 club. He regularly huddled with the team’s hitting coaches and studied video of opposing pitchers to understand their tendencies with hitters and baserunners.

“I see all the work he puts in,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said recently. “It’s not like he goes out there and it’s too easy for him. He works harder than anybody. He scouts really hard. He’s playing a different game so it’s fun to see.”

Ohtani appeared to make the 50-50 mark his mission. He increased the frequency of his base-stealing attempts and in turn his success rate went up.

But that may not be the case next year when he returns to the mound.

“He’s not pitching this year so I think he is emptying the tank offensively,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “I do think the power, the on-base (percentage), the average, I think he can do that as a pitcher. He’s done something pretty similar like that with his OPS. But as far as the stolen bases go, I’m not sure about that.”

Ohtani’s teammates have enjoyed watching him crush home runs and scamper around the bases.

“I’m honestly kind of trying to learn from him just seeing the way he goes about his day-to-day business. He’s very consistent, the same demeanor throughout,” outfielder Tommy Edman said recently. “I think that’s why he’s such a good player.”

Third baseman Max Muncy added, “Every night I feel like he does something that we haven’t seen.”

What’s next for Ohtani?

The Dodgers are headed to the postseason in October, which will be another first for Ohtani. He never made it there with the Angels, who never had a winning record during his tenure in Anaheim.

Another potential first could be earning National League MVP honors as a designated hitter. No player who got most of his playing time as a DH — without pitching — has ever won MVP, although Don Baylor, Edgar Martinez and David Ortiz placed high in the vote.

It would be Ohtani’s third career MVP award.

An 11th-grade student at McArthur High School died Wednesday evening after he was apparently struck by lightning in Pembroke Pines, according to officials.

Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue found the student lying motionless underneath a tree in the 600 block of Southwest 67th Avenue, a residential area not far from the high school. He was in cardiac arrest and taken to Memorial Regional Hospital as a trauma alert, Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue Division Chief Jason Stepp said in an email Thursday afternoon.

“We don’t have confirmation yet, but it does appear as though the patient was struck by lightning with burn wounds noted to the patient’s chest and inner thighs,” Stepp wrote.

The student died Wednesday evening, McArthur High Principal Mark Howard said in a message to parents Thursday. The student was identified in the message, but his name was redacted in the copy of the message school district spokespersons shared with the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“Though I’m unable to share additional details regarding the student’s untimely death, I offer my deepest condolences to the student’s family and loved ones, teachers and classmates,” Howard said. “He will be missed.”

Grief counselors will be at the school starting Friday and will be “for as long as it is necessary,” Howard said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were 444 deaths from lightning strikes in the U.S. between 2006 and 2021. Florida and Texas are the only two states with more than 30 deaths in that time frame, the data shows.

“Florida is considered the ‘lightning capital’ of the country, with more than 2,000 lightning injuries over the past 50 years,” the CDC’s information says.

Out of the 10 people who have died from lightning strikes nationwide so far in 2024, Florida has recorded the most, with four deaths, data from the National Weather Service shows. A 19-year-old man was struck by lightning in June while running under a tree in Davie, according to the NWS data.

Deaths from lightning strikes nationwide in the past decade have ranged from a low of 11 deaths in 2021 up to as many as 40 deaths in 2016, the NWS data shows.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff’s department whose officers tortured two Black men in a racist attack that included beatings, repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth, officials said Thursday.

The Justice Department will investigate whether the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force and unlawful stops, searches and arrests, and whether it has used racially discriminatory policing practices, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.

Five Rankin sheriff’s deputies pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking into a home without a warrant and engaging in an hourslong attack on Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. A sixth officer, from the Richland Police Department, was also convicted in the attack

Some of the officers were part of a group so willing to use excessive force they called themselves the Goon Squad. All six were sentenced in March, receiving terms of 10 to 40 years.

The charges followed an Associated Press investigation in March 2023 that linked some of the officers to at least four violent encounters since 2019 that left two Black men dead.

“The concerns about the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department did not end with the demise of the Goon Squad,” Clarke said Thursday.

The Justice Department has received information about other troubling incidents, including deputies overusing stun guns, entering homes unlawfully, using “shocking racial slurs” and employing “dangerous, cruel tactics to assault people in their custody,” Clarke said.

The attacks on Jenkins and Parker began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence, according to federal prosecutors. A white person phoned Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton.

Once inside the home, the officers handcuffed Jenkins and Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces while mocking them with racial slurs. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and assaulted them with sex objects.

Locals saw in the grisly details of the case echoes of Mississippi’s history of racist atrocities by people in authority. The difference this time is that those who abused their power paid a steep price for their crimes, attorneys for the victims have said.

In addition to McAlpin, the others convicted were former deputies Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called the former officers’ actions “egregious and despicable” and imposed sentences near the top of federal guidelines for five of the six.

“The depravity of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said after the sentencing.

Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker, the attorneys for Jenkins and Parker, said in a statement Thursday that Rankin County has a “long and extremely violent legacy of departmental abuse under Sheriff Bryan Bailey” and that they applaud the Justice Department for opening the civil rights investigation

“This is a first, critical step in cleaning up the Sheriff’s Department and holding Rankin County legally accountable for the years of constitutional violations against its citizenry,” Shabazz and Walker said. “All of this took place because, despite innumerable warnings, Rankin County and Sheriff Bailey belligerently refused to properly monitor and supervise this rogue department.”

The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department is the 11th law enforcement agency in the U.S. to come under a Justice Department investigation since 2021, Clarke said.

The U.S. attorney for the southern district of Mississippi, Todd Gee, said text messages between Goon Squad members, including officers who were not present during the January 2023 assault, showed that deputies “routinely discussed extreme, unnecessary uses of force and other ways to dehumanize residents of Rankin County.” He said deputies shared a video of an officer defecating in the home of one resident.

“In Mississippi and throughout the nation, we have learned over and over that real change in civil rights sometimes requires us to dig up the past, tell painful facts and offer new ways of doing things,” Gee said. “We intend for this investigation to do that same work in Rankin County.”

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Associated Press writer Michael Goldberg contributed.

MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins second-year running back De’Von Achane has four times as many touches as any other player on the team through two games in 2024.

He has 46. Star wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle have 11 apiece. Fellow running back Raheem Mostert, who missed last week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, has just eight.

With Mostert out in Week 2, Achane carried 22 times and had seven receptions for 29 total touches.

That’s quite a number for a 5-foot-9, 188-pound speedster who was questionable entering the game due to an ankle injury.

But Achane is not shying away from the added work. He only embraces it.

“I felt pretty good,” he said early this week coming off the extensive activity Sept. 12. “When you play those type of games, it’s exciting to me, playing division games. So in my mind, I had it to where, ‘I’m going to play regardless; it’s just a little ankle.’

“Raheem was down, so I felt like it was up to me to step up because, to have two of us out, I feel like that’s a big loss for the team. So me coming in and having a game-time decision, I had it in my head that I’m playing.”

And Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t feel he needs to tone down Achane’s chances, given his production with those opportunities. Achane has 120 rushing yards with a touchdown on the ground, and he has hauled in all 14 of his targets for another 145 yards receiving.

“He’s definitely earned all of the opportunities, and he could make a case for even more, McDaniel said. “I think his production with the ball right now is definitely a positive for us, because to get the ball away from him, you got to do some good stuff with it. So I think it puts pressure on all eligibles and what you do with the ball, because he’s made it very clear that, on the routine, he’s probably making the first guy miss.”

Achane could and should continue to play a large role against the Seattle Seahawks as the Dolphins prepare for backup Skylar Thompson to start at quarterback for Tua Tagovailoa.

Pounding the Seahawks with the run could work to ease Thompson into things and keep opponents from taking away Miami receivers Hill and Waddle with two-high safety looks over the top.

“I’m really hyped to see how we pound the ball with a guy that weighs 160 pounds,” Hill said laughing, exaggerating Achane’s diminutive weight for a running back by nearly 30 pounds. “Achane is different, dog. The amount of carries he had last week and to still be able to hold up.”

A potential return for Mostert could help spread the workload in the backfield.

“I always miss my dude,” Achane said of Mostert. “I can’t wait for him to come back and be back out there with us.”

But more than how many carries he gets in the run game, what’s astonishing is how proficient Achane has been as a receiver to start the season.

“Everybody doesn’t think a running back can go out there and be a receiver, but it’s — not new to me — but it’s new to other people,” Achane said.

Dolphins running backs coach Eric Studesville preaches versatility from his position group.

“One of the things in our room we talk about is being complete backs, not just runners,” he said. “If it’s pass protection, we have to be able to do that. If it’s making guys miss in space, we have to be able to do that. If it’s running routes and catching the ball, we need to be able to do that. We’ve kind of pushed that agenda, being complete backs, in the room. We’ve done that with De’Von more going forward.”

The pass-catching trait was something the Dolphins saw in Achane back when he was coming out for the draft out of Texas A&M.

“It wasn’t as much but you could see he could see the ball in the air and he could go find it,” offensive coordinator Frank Smith said. “So it was on his college tape, and his ability as a runner was on his college tape, so really, it’s like him now knowing how he needs to play, how he fits in the offense and his timing and his understanding of stuff, and I think that all goes into his process and his work ethic.

“I’m very excited with what he’s done and really look forward to Sunday and the rest of the year and seeing how he keeps growing throughout the whole season.”

The woman who ran the company that was supposed to provide around-the-clock in-home nursing care to a little boy who starved to death last Christmas, will not be allowed to post bond and go free, a Broward judge ruled Thursday.

Mirlande Moltimer, 47, owner of Samaritin Home Health Care, told Children’s Medical Services, the state agency that administers Medicaid, that she last saw Deonte Atwell on Oct. 23, 2023, according to a motion filed by the Broward State Attorney’s Office. By that time, Deonte’s health was deteriorating, from a normal weight of 46 pounds when he was 5 years old to an emaciated 7 pounds when paramedics were called to his Fort Lauderdale home two days after his 7th birthday.

“The victim was subjected to prolonged food deprivation that was carried out systematically resulting in his death by starvation,” wrote Assistant State Attorney Melissa Kelly, who heads the prosecutor’s Child Fatality and Abuse Unit. “Had the victim been receiving in-home skilled nursing in the days, weeks and months leading to his death, he would not have starved to death or have been subjected to severe medical neglect.”

Moltimer is one of five people charged in what a grand jury called Deonte’s murder. Molitmer is charged with aggravated manslaughter and third-degree murder. She’s also accused of billing Medicaid somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 for services the child never received.

Deonte had thoracic spina bifida and hydrocephalus, a medical condition that required 24-hour in-home care and left him immobile from the waist down.

Broward Circuit Judge George Odom on Thursday granted a state motion to keep Moltimer in custody over the opposition of defense lawyer Bruce Lehr.

Also charged are Moltimer’s employee, Cassandre Lassegue, 33, whose charges include first-degree murder, and three members of Deonte’s family.

Deonte’s mother, Michelle Doe, 37, and his brother, Tyreck Irvin, 21, also face charges that include first-degree murder. The child’s grandfather, James Graham, the only one of the five to be released on bail, is facing charges of aggravated manslaughter, child neglect and failure to report child abuse.

All are due back in court on Oct. 31.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda. 

By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the FBI said this week that Iran had tried to provide Democrats with material stolen from Donald Trump’s campaign, it was only the latest allegation of foreign interference with the U.S. election.

The 2024 presidential campaign is encountering a spate of efforts by adversaries to weaken faith in the outcome and potentially alter the results. While much of the attention has been focused on Iran, Russia is still seen as the biggest threat.

The Biden administration has moved aggressively in recent weeks to call out the operations in hopes of alerting Americans so they remain vigilant to wide-ranging, often hidden, foreign efforts to influence their views on hot-button social issues as well as the candidates.

A look at the latest development and broader concerns about foreign election meddling:

What Iran is alleged to have done

Iranian operatives stand accused of hacking the Trump campaign and attempting to spread internal communications they pilfered. They also sought access to the Democratic presidential campaign, but there’s no indication those efforts were successful.

Several media organizations said last month they received apparently stolen information but declined to publish it. Politico, for instance, reported that it began receiving emails in July from an anonymous AOL account identified only as “Robert” that passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

The latest revelation came Wednesday when intelligence officials disclosed that Iranian operatives had offered people associated with the Biden campaign information stolen from the Trump side.

The FBI said a few people connected to Biden’s reelection effort received unsolicited emails in late June and early July, before he dropped out of the race, that contained an excerpt “taken from stolen, non-public material” from the Trump campaign.

The outreach to both the media and to Biden campaign associates suggests Iran was trying to pull off a hack-and-leak operation reminiscent of the Russian election interference that was meant to benefit Trump during his 2016 race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

No signs Democrats accessed the stolen material

The effort fell flat: There’s no evidence anyone ever even responded to the emails.

Morgan Finkelstein, a spokeswoman for Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign, said in a statement that the material was not sent directly to the campaign but rather to just a few people associated with the campaign and that the emails looked like a phishing attempt or spam.

She said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement ever since being made aware that Biden associates were “among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation.”

“We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity,” she said.

Trump’s unsupported claims

Despite the lack of evidence that anyone connected to the Biden or Harris campaigns tried to take advantage of the stolen material, Trump has seized on the FBI announcement. He falsely claimed on his Truth Social platform that the Harris campaign had been caught “illegally spying on me.”

“This is real election interference, not the phony crap they’ve been trying to pin on me with Russia, Russia, Russia for years,” Trump said in a Wednesday night campaign appearance.

That’s a reference to an FBI investigation into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russian operatives to tip the outcome of the 2016 election.

Though the investigation did not establish a criminal conspiracy, officials did determine that Trump associates actively welcomed the Russian assistance and hoped to exploit the help for political gain. That includes Trump, who on July 27, 2016, memorably said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,”

That was a reference to the 30,000 emails reportedly stored on the private email server that Clinton, his opponent, used as secretary of state. Within hours of his statement, Russian hackers for the first time targeted Clinton’s personal office.

Why might Iran be doing this?

One goal, according to U.S. intelligence officials, is to stoke discord in the United States and to undermine public confidence in the integrity of an election that Tehran sees as consequential for its own security interests.

It’s also not the first time, either. In the 2020 election, American officials linked Iran to “a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump’s reelection prospects” that was likely authorized by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and implemented by Iran’s military and intelligence services.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposes Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran.

Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge. A Pakistani man who spent time in Iran was recently charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, including potentially of Trump.

What other acts of interference have been detected?

Despite all the news around Iran, the U.S. government still regards Russia as the primary threat to the integrity of the election.

The Justice Department announced a pair of criminal cases this month that officials say exposes the lengths that Russia is prepared to go to influence the election.

One case charged two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, with funneling millions of dollars through shell companies to a Tennessee-based content creation firm to churn out English-language, pro-Russia videos, which have generated millions of views. Right-wing influencers linked to the Tennessee firm, Tenet Media, were kept in the dark about the Russian funding and worked unknowingly for a company that was a front for a Russian influence operation.

Another case involved a Russian government scheme to produce AI-generated content on bogus news websites that masqueraded as legitimate outlets.

Speaking Wednesday at a cybersecurity event, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said a “more diverse set of actors” than before was threatening elections.

“They are acting more aggressively,” Monaco said. “They are doing so in a much more polarized environment than we’ve ever seen before. And they’re utilizing more and more disruptive technology.”

After more than a month of checkpoints and sheriff’s patrol cars snaking around the perimeter of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Palm Beach County officials are calling for help to fit the bill.

In a letter signed by County Mayor Maria Sachs, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Town of Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore, they detail how the Sheriff’s Office will have spent $6.8 million by heightening security for the “Trump detail.” That accounts for the “extraordinary measures for security” required by the Secret Service ahead of the November election to protect the homes around Mar-a-Lago and Trump himself.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a situation where we have been in such a conflict-ridden campaign, where violence seems to be everywhere,” Sachs said. “We just want to be sure that whatever extraordinary means are necessary to protect Trump as well as to protect any presidential candidate, including Vice President Kamala Harris, that those resources are here. … Palm Beach County taxpayers can’t do it alone.”

These enhanced security measures began on July 20, and the nearly $7 million needed to sustain them will cap out by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. And without reimbursement from federal funds, taxpayers may be on the hook for the extra costs.

PBSO and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue have both had to beef up security, much of which necessitates overtime pay. Beyond establishing a presence along Southern Boulevard before the Mar-a-Lago mansion at all hours of the day, PBCFR “has been asked to provide additional protective measures during motorcades and other times … primarily when the former president is in residence and while a local motorcade is mobilizing and in transit,” according to the letter.

A road closure prevents traffic from the Southern Boulevard bridge from passing Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach after a suspect was arrested Sunday afternoon after Secret Service agents saw a firearm sticking out of bushes at Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach where former President Donald Trump was playing. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Extra protection also has been needed for visits from dignitaries to Mar-a-Lago, such as when Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 26, just days after the first assassination attempt of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The letter also requests help in offsetting traffic-related costs, including the efforts to reduce the impact of the road closures and security measures on drivers.

The letter also details how the Town of Palm Beach has financially suffered from the weight of the new security requirements.

Law enforcement and fire rescue resources add up to at least $3,600 a day, which could increase if Trump or one of his visitors is in the area. The Palm Beach Police Department also has to spend money on ensuring 24/7 staffing and responding to any demonstrations near Mar-a-Lago.

“Prior to July, we didn’t have road closures in place. We didn’t have participation in a command center,” said Palm Beach Police Department spokesperson Will Rothrock.

Without the increase in security levels, Rothrock said the town would not have these costs.

“As you can see, our local governments are incurring significant expenses in safety and protective measures related to recent changes implemented by federal government agencies,” the letter states.

The letter is addressed to the county’s congressional delegation members, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Reps. Lois Frankel, Brian Mast, Jared Moskowitz and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

“I received the letter from Palm Beach County regarding the overtime costs incurred while assisting the Secret Service in protecting the former president, and I am always thankful to the Palm Beach County law enforcement officers working to keep our community safe,” Frankel said in an emailed statement. “I am working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to identify resources to support these efforts.”

Sachs said she has received assurances from the congressional delegation that the necessary federal funds will be requested.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of whether they would do it. It’s just a matter of when the monies will be coming into our budget to reimburse our security measures,” she said.

In 2017, Congress enacted a Presidential Residence Protection Assistance grant, which reimbursed state and local law enforcement agencies for costs spent on protecting any non-government residence for a U.S. president. But now, a new law needs to be created, and Palm Beach County is seeking reimbursement until one is, whether or not Trump wins or loses this year’s election.

“These extraordinary measures, these extraordinary means, do need to be taken care of by the federal government to reimburse our taxpayers,” Sachs said.