Miami Herald

Brutality, incompetence and a cover-up: Unraveling a deadly attack inside a state hospital

Sean was a 44-year old former salesman, church volunteer and father of two whose severe neurological disorder left him wasting away, unable to speak or care for himself.

Half Sean’s age, Markeith Loyd Jr. was an accused carjacker and son of a convicted cop killer, who had cold-cocked a nurse in the face at a hospital for criminal defendants.

His severe mental illness left him prone to outbursts of rage. When they were assigned rooms on opposite sides of the hall at a North Florida state psychiatric hospital, that decision would eventually lead to Sean’s death

A baby stopped breathing on a packed Miami highway. What happened next changed lives

MIAMI -- Pamela Rauseo is stuck in gridlock on the Dolphin Expressway, a crying baby in the backseat.

She’s on the phone with her husband and also listening to the radio about the crisis in Venezuela. The baby’s wails are deafening.

And then, suddenly, silence from the backseat. Rauseo pulls the car partially onto the shoulder and jumps into the backseat. Her 5-month old nephew Sebastian is still, his face blue.

She tries calling 911, but her fingers won’t move. So Rauseo rushes into the bumper-to-bumper traffic, cradling her nephew, shouting for help.

K.C. tragedy latest reminder of America’s gun epidemic

By Greg Cote

MIAMI — Kansas City’s celebration of itself and its champion Chiefs was winding down at storied Union Station.

The day was idyllic, sun bright, air crisp, temperature in the 60s. Then came that popping sound, the one you might first mistake for fireworks, until the screaming starts.

Panicked moments later amid a terrified stampede, Super Bowl-winning Chiefs coach Andy Reid knelt to comfort a teenager who had been shot.

“Please breathe,” he told the boy.

It happened on Main Street. It can happen anywhere. It can happen everywhere.

Because this is America.

Top White House adviser on Latin America is set to depart

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top adviser at the White House on the Western Hemisphere is set to depart his post in mid-March, a National Security Council official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.

Juan Gonzalez, special assistant to the president and senior director for the Western Hemisphere, advocated for direct talks with Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and for avoiding U.S. military involvement in Haiti throughout his tenure at the White House.

Super PAC backing Miami Mayor Suarez’s presidential bid reported super high fundraising costs

MIAMI — A political action committee supporting Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s failed presidential campaign paid its top fundraising consultant more money than the super PAC raised in new donations last year, according to an analysis of the committee’s latest report filed last week.

The pro-Suarez super PAC paid nearly $2.2 million to Virginia-based consulting firm Starboard LLC, while raising just $1.5 million, the report showed.

The report underscores the desperation and inexperience of Suarez’s campaign, which relied on gimmicks to drum up support, including an AI version of the candidate.

Florida GOP formally endorses Donald Trump’s bid for Republican presidential nod

MIAMI — Florida Republicans voted on Saturday to endorse Donald Trump for the GOP’s presidential nod – an unusual step for the party given that the former president still faces a primary challenge, but one that reflects the widely held belief that Trump has already run away with the nomination.

The endorsement came amid a flurry of votes by members of Florida’s Republican Party during their annual meeting in Wesley Chapel.

Prosecutors ask Miami judge to detain Haiti orphanage founder accused of sexual abuse

MIAMI — Federal prosecutors have filed an appeal with a Miami judge seeking to overturn a Denver court’s decision that allowed an American man accused of sexually abusing boys at a Haitian orphanage to be sent to a halfway house until trial. Earlier this month, Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak in Colorado denied a request by federal prosecutors to detain Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 71, after he was indicted on Jan. 18 by a grand jury in Miami. Geilenfeld, who was arrested in Denver, is accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti 14 times between November 2006 and December 2010 to engage in “illicit s...

Chaplains in public schools? Florida bill would give options for religious counselors

A Florida bill that would allow chaplains to provide counseling services to public school students is gaining traction — and opposition — in the Legislature. The bill (SB 1044) would give schools districts and charter schools an option to use volunteer chaplains to provide counseling and other services to students. Supporters say chaplains would help address a shortage of mental health counselors in many schools and that parents would have to approve counseling. But opponents argue it’s a slippery slope that opens the doors of public schools to religious influence, and could put some students ...

Biden administration refutes Cuba’s claim that the U.S. ‘supports’ Miami ‘terrorists’

Biden administration officials rejected claims by Cuban authorities that the United States is supporting people in Miami plotting “terrorist” actions against Cuba after Cuban officials again raised the issue during a meeting centered on law enforcement cooperation between the two countries that took place in Washington D.C. earlier this week. In a statement, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said island officials had provided the U.S. with “information … on the activities of people living in the United States, identified by their links to terrorism.” Last December, the Cuban government pub...

Trump floats Florida Republican Joe Gruters as potential RNC chairman

MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump has privately floated Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters as a potential replacement for Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel should she decide to step down later this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. Gruters, a former Sarasota County and Florida GOP chairman, previously ran for RNC treasurer with Trump’s support in 2023, but ultimately lost that race to Kentucky Republican National Committeewoman K.C. Crosbie. Still, Gruters has remained a loyal ally to Trump, who recently expressed support for change within the RNC and...

Miami city attorney investigated by Florida Bar over ties to alleged house-flipping scheme

The Florida Bar is investigating Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez and her close connection to companies that purchased homes belonging to vulnerable Miami residents at well below-market-value and then sold them — sometimes the same day — at a large profit. The investigation, which has not been previously reported, has been open since at least last April, according to an email sent at the time from Rick Courtemanche, deputy general counsel of the Florida Bar, which was obtained by the Herald. A spokesperson for the Bar told the Herald the investigation is ongoing, but provided no further inf...

A crime surge led to U.S. travel warnings. These Caribbean destinations are pushing back

The governments of Jamaica and The Bahamas, pushing back against a recent advisory by the U.S. State Department warning Americans visiting both places to be aware of violent crimes — including a wave of recent killings — insist that the island nations remain safe for tourists.

“Not withstanding the advisory, Jamaica remains not only a desirable destination but a safe and secure destination for international visitors,” Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett told the Miami Herald.

Cuban newspaper calls Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar a 'hyena'

During Ileana Ros Lehtinen’s decades in Congress, Cuban government officials and state media journalists referred to the Cuban-American politician as "la loba feroz"— the big bad she-wolf — an attack on her tough Cuba policies as well as a display of the common sexism at the top of the island’s hierarchy. Now, the communist government has identified a new female foe. And she, too, is being called names. A story in the Communist Party newspaper Granma on Friday lashed out at Miami congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, a former journalist who now chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on We...

More than 100 people got sick on a world cruise that just left Fort Lauderdale, CDC says

MIAMI — More than 100 people have fallen ill with stomach problems on a monthslong world cruise that recently stopped in Fort Lauderdale. At least 123 passengers and 16 staff members have reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness, including diarrhea and vomiting, while on board the Queen Victoria ship, operated by Cunard Cruise Line, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The UK cruise line has been owned since 1998 by Doral-based Carnival Corp. The cruise, which initially departed from Southampton, England, in early January, is on a 107-night sailing journey. Th...

Both sides bicker over leaks, media hype in OnlyFans model murder trial

MIAMI -- Attorneys in social media star Courtney Clenney’s murder trial sparred in open court Thursday, with the sides accusing each other of leaking information to try and manipulate the media. State prosecutors were incensed that attorneys, potential witnesses and the defendant’s parents had co-operated with the online celebrity website TMZ, which plans to air a show on Clenney’s travails in two weeks. And Clenney’s attorneys were still seething over arrest warrants issued earlier this week that implicated them in the attempted break-in of a computer owned by the man Clenney is accused of mu...