Author: Broward County Public Schools

At the magic hour, before the sun set and street lights came on, a line of whimsical creatures stepped off Saturday for Fort Lauderdale’s first Mardi Gras parade. Led by the Big Chief Brass Band playing “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In,” people dressed as sharks riding bicycles; fish playing ukuleles and honking on kazoos; sea horses; mermaids and jellyfish walked from Esplanade Park east along the city’s Riverfront to Southwest Third Avenue. They were followed by a crowd that... Read More

National Transportation Safety Board investigators have begun working to find out what caused a small plane, towing an advertising banner, to crash into a Fort Lauderdale condominium. The Friday morning crash killed the pilot, who has yet to be identified. Investigator Tim Monville said the NTSB has talked with the FAA and the owner of the banner-towing company, Aerial Banners Inc., along with several witnesses. The wreckage of the plane, a Piper PA-25, was removed from the pool deck of the... Read More

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were working Saturday to find out what caused a small plane towing an advertising banner to crash into a Fort Lauderdale condominium Friday. The crash killed the pilot, who has yet to be identified. Investigator Tim Monville said the NTSB has talked with the FAA and the owner of the banner-towing company, Aerial Banners Inc., along with several witnesses. The wreckage of the plane, a Piper PA-25, was removed from the pool deck of the Berkley... Read More

An Oklahoma man was sentenced to life in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2008 suffocation death of Coconut Creek resident Ralph Apuzzo. Appuzo’s bound body was found by relatives at his home in late December 2008. Prosecutors Antonya Johnson and Molly McGuire said he was killed by two men he had met hours earlier at a Wilton Manors nightspot. One of those men, James Gentry, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced Friday to life in prison... Read More

A pilot died Friday when a yellow plane towing a banner crashed into a Fort Lauderdale high-rise condominium and fell onto a pool deck several floors below. The accident happened at the Berkley South condominium that is across the street from the beach on the west side of A1A, just south of East Oakland Park Boulevard. It was about 11:42 a.m. when many callers reported to 911 that a small plane had crashed into an 18-story condominium building at 3015 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Fire... Read More

A pilot died Friday when a yellow plane towing a banner crashed into a Fort Lauderdale high-rise condominium and fell onto a pool deck several floors below. The accident happened at the Berkley South condominium that is across the street from the beach on the west side of A1A, just south of East Oakland Park Boulevard. It was about 11:42 a.m. when many callers reported to 911 that a small plane had crashed into an 18-story condominium building at 3015 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Fire... Read More

On your mark, get set, nest! Thousands of female sea turtles are about to begin their annual rite of spring when they invade South Florida beaches for nesting season. Here is what residents and visitors need to know about the turtles’ pilgrimage and how to help them safely lay their eggs. When is nesting season? It starts March 1 and runs through Oct. 31. Three species of sea turtles that regularly nest on our beaches: Green turtles, leatherbacks and loggerheads, with the latter being the... Read More

A pilot died Friday when a banner-towing plane crashed into a building along the beach in Fort Lauderdale. The crash happened near the beach just south of Oakland Park Boulevard and just west of A1A. It was about 11:50 a.m. when calls came that a small plane had crashed into an 18-story condominium building at 3015 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Battalion Chief Stephan Gollan said. The plane then tumbled to the building’s pool deck several floors below. People were inside the condo... Read More

Two brothers are facing a murder charge for the death of a man in a dispute over a parking space, Fort Lauderdale police said. Alfred West, 56, and David Eugene West, 64, are accused of killing Henry Lee Brown, 48, of Fort Lauderdale, following an argument that began about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday outside a home in the 2300 block of Northwest 14th Street, investigators said. Brown had parked his vehicle in front of the Wests’ house to mow some lawns in the neighborhood but the Wests had told... Read More

A Boca Raton gymnastics instructor has been charged with possessing child pornography and detectives are concerned about his contact with children, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. Hassan Jawad, 37, was arrested at his Deerfield Beach home about 9 a.m. Thursday after investigators received a tip that child pornography files had been shared with a computer at that address, officials said. Detectives with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force uncovered several videos and pictures... Read More