Author: Broward County Public Schools

Weeks after she filed a Florida Bar complaint against a lawyer who tried to take her picture in a public hallway, Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman tried to get appointed to the board that could ultimately decide the merits of her complaint. Forman applied on Jan. 4 to become a “public member” of the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors, which sets ethical and professional policies that must be obeyed by every lawyer in the state. Her application was turned down by a screening... Read More

The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation announced Thursday its intent to take over the historic Bonnet House, kicking off a fight for control of the beachfront, community treasure. The 35-acre estate, spanning from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean, offers visitors a slice of what life was like before developers reshaped the Fort Lauderdale shoreline. Swans float in the pond and monkeys play in the tree limbs outside the 1920s Bonnet House, and orchids beautify the natural... Read More

Arnold Abbott, the soft-spoken lifelong activist, has died — five years after he drew international attention for feeding the homeless despite threats he’d be jailed. Abbott, of Fort Lauderdale, died Friday at age 94, according to his caretaker and his attorney. Abbott began feeding the homeless on Fort Lauderdale’s beach in 1991, although it was illegal to provide such a social service on the beach. Years later, the city demanded he stop, but he refused, saying he and his corps of... Read More

The winds of Hurricane Irma may have swept away Brad McBride’s fence more than a year ago, but another kind of storm is now brewing. At the center of the controversy is a horse barn whose fate is wrapped up in a not-so-neighborly feud between McBride and Southwest Ranches, a small town at the edge of the Everglades. The fight, already getting nasty, looks to be heading for a showdown in court. All the trouble began when McBride tried to replace his hurricane-damaged fence, he says. To get... Read More

Dillard Middle/High School was on lockdown while a 12-year-old was being detained for firing a BB gun at a faculty member on campus, Fort Lauderdale police said. It started about 9 a.m. Friday at 2501 N.W. 11th St., said police spokeswoman Casey Liening. “He was in class, being disruptive the teacher told him to report to the front office,” she said. There were two faculty members in the administration office at the time. When one went to leave, the boy — a recent transfer student —... Read More

Dillard Middle/High School was on lockdown while a 12-year-old was being detained for firing a BB gun at a faculty member on campus, Fort Lauderdale police said. It started about 9 a.m. Friday at 2501 NW 11th St., said police spokeswoman Casey Liening. “He was in class, being disruptive the teacher told him to report to the front office,” she said. There were two faculty members in the administration office at the time. When one went to leave, the boy — a recent transfer student —... Read More

On Easter Sunday 2010, Pompano Beach resident Yvonne Oulton was found beaten to death inside her minivan. The case stunned the local poker community, which knew the 62-year-old woman and her husband Robert, also a gambler, who was ultimately convicted of killing her and sentenced to life in prison. The cable network Discovery ID will revisit the murder as part of a six-part series called “Heart of Darkness.” Oulton’s episode, called “Gambling with the Devil,” airs at 9 p.m.... Read More

A 70-year-old woman was flown to a hospital after a car struck her while she was riding a bicycle with her husband in Weston, rescue officials said. It happened about 7:48 a.m. Friday in a roundabout at Lakeview Drive and Saddle Club Road, officials said. The woman was flown by a Broward Sheriff’s Office helicopter to Broward Health Medical Center in serious condition, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Gina Carter. “The driver saw the first bicyclist, a man, but failed to see the second, a... Read More

A 70-year-old woman was flown to a hospital after a car struck her while she was cycling with her husband in Weston, rescue officials said. It happened about 7:48 a.m. Friday in a roundabout at Lakeview Drive and Saddle Club Road, officials said. The woman was flown by a Broward Sheriff’s Office helicopter to Broward Health Medical Center in serious condition, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Gina Carter. “The driver saw the first bicyclist, a man, but failed to see the second, a woman, and... Read More

The great white shark accounts for about half of fatal shark attacks. But scientists think the ocean’s most fearsome predator could one day offer hope for saving human lives. A team of scientists announced in recent days that they have cracked the genetic code of the great white, as a step toward unlocking the secrets of a species with a notorious reputation, an impressive resistance to genetic damage and a 500-million-year record of success. “It’s really a miracle of evolution,”... Read More