Firefighters responded to a massive blaze at a Miramar house Thursday.
The fire was reported at a home at 8624 Miramar Parkway, officials said.
Footage showed flames and heavy smoke coming from the home, which appeared to be a total loss.
It's unknown whether anyone was injured.
Check back with NBC 6 South Florida and NBC6.com for updates.
A Margate man was arrested on multiple charges that he allegedly tried to lure a 15-year-old girl, who was a friend of his family, for sex.
According to Margate Police, Kevin Millsap, 31, allegedly sent a text message to the 15-year-old girl expressing an interest in chatting with her. The girl told her parents and the Broward Sheriff’s Office assigned a detective who took over the identity of the girl and began chatting, allegedly with Millsap.
Detectives said that over the span of less than a week, Millsap allegedly sent multiple sexually explicit pictures and told the girl (detective) about the types of sexual activity he’d like to engage in with her.
BSO said Millsap then suggested meeting the girl so that they could have sex in his car. According to the arrest affidavit, Millsap allegedly told the girl that he would bring protection and sex toys and have about three hours to spend with her.
Detectives arrested Millsap when he arrived at the defendant’s house Wednesday evening. According to the affidavit, Millsap allegedly had sex toys and condoms in his car when he was arrested.
Millsap is being held on at least $50,000 bond and faces four counts of transmitting information harmful to minors, use computer to solicit a child, and traveling to meet to lure a child. It’s unknown if Millsap has an attorney.
The woman sentenced Wednesday for passing through airport security without a boarding pass and stowing away on a flight from San Jose to Los Angeles earlier this week was arrested again Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport.
Marilyn Hartman, 62, was arrested after she was seen wandering through several terminals at LAX.
"I just knew she would come back," said Los Angeles World Airports Police Chief Pat Gannon after her arrest. "She is a serial attempter of being a stowaway."
Gannon said arrangements had been made for her to go to a homeless shelter, but he believed she would return to the airport despite being ordered to stay away without an airline ticket.
"I just knew she would come back," said Gannon, adding he had fliers distributed with the woman’s picture on them to agents and officers. "We were keeping an eye out for her."
Hartman was arrested near Terminal 7 and transported to Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Jail where she was being held Thursday night in lieu of $10,000 bail.
A judge on Wednesday ordered Hartman to "stay away from LAX" unless she had the necessary documents to board a flight.
She did not try to go through any TSA screenings, Gannon said.
The stay-away order was part of a sentence handed down Wednesday after Hartman pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor trespassing charge. She had been arrested two nights earlier at LAX after arriving on a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose.
She was charged in connection with willfully and unlawfully entering LA as a stowaway on an aircraft, a misdemeanor, according to the LA City Attorney's Office. She was ordered to serve a 24-month probation term and three days in jail.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, she said she was trying to reach Hawaii earlier this week but did not say how she bypassed security. She described herself as homeless and "desperate."
Gannon countered that, telling reporters "She actually has the means to take a flight or two."
Hartman has previously breached security at San Francisco International Airport and has a history of trying to get on flights without a ticket, officials said. She had at least seven encounters with police at SFO and was arrested four times, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told NBC Bay Area Hartman tried to sneak onto planes at SFO on Feb. 15, 18 and 20. The remaining four arrests, he said, were for violating her court order and trespassing at the airport. In those last cases, she was "simply found sitting outside the security in places, like the food court."
Gannon said he had hoped Hartman would buy a plane ticket and leave LA.
"I was hoping she'd be somebody else's problem," he said.
NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez and NBC4''s Nyree Arabian and Mateo Melero contributed to this report.
With Sun Life Stadium’s long-awaited renovations now underway, the next step is to bid on bringing a Super Bowl to Miami. But that process is currently on hold, according to the Miami Herald.
According to the Herald, the South Florida Super Bowl bid committee is ready to make a bid on Super Bowl 53. It was believed that a bid would have been due in August, but the league has put a hold on determining the home of Super Bowl 53, according to the Herald.
South Florida hasn’t hosted a Super Bowl since 2010 when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts. While the Super Bowl festivities were ongoing that year, NFL commissioner said the big game wouldn’t return until significant improvements were made to Sun Life Stadium.
That started a process of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross first seeking public money to upgrade the facility before settling on paying for the renovations on his own.
But, in a deal struck with the Miami-Dade County Commission, if the stadium can host another Super Bowl; the county will pay the team $4 million. The renovations at Sun Life will include new seats, suite upgrades, and a partial roof over the stadium.
Ashley Diaz and her two-year-old baby girl are trying to get their lives back on track after her boyfriend, Jorge Fuentes, 29, was murdered, allegedly by a one-time friend.
“I loved him. He loved me. He is going to be in paradise,” Diaz said.
Fuentes’ body was found shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Police said he was babysitting for Diaz at his home on the 3000 block of Southwest 11th Street. According to Miami Police, Jonathan Jimenez, 23, and Alexander Porta, 24, came to the home over an argument over money and drugs.
Police said the argument surrounded Fuentes allegedly trying to conceal money. He was shot dead and his friend, David Martinez, was released by the alleged murderers after pleading for his life. Jimenez and Porta allegedly ransacked the house before taking off.
“He (Fuentes) knew them. He used to come to the house,” Diaz said of the alleged gunmen.
The duo then allegedly went back to Porta’s home where they split up the recovered money from the murder scene.
“Detectives have been able to pinpoint a witness that was with the two men,” said Kenia Reyes of Miami Police. “She is a key witness to this entire case.”
Jimenez and Porta have both been charged with first-degree murder and false imprisonment and are being held in jail without bond. It was unknown whether they have attorneys.
Neighbors said the couple had lived at the home for just a short while, and that Fuentes worked at a nearby restaurant.
"Wow, incredible. I've been living here for almost fifteen years, never like that nothing has happened, so that was very hard for us to swallow," neighbor Rene Arregui said.
If you have any information about the crime call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).
Miami Herald columnist, and ESPN radio/television host Dan LeBatard was suspended by ESPN for not one, not two, not three…well, it ended up being a two day suspension after he trolled former Miami Heat superstar LeBron James.
The news was first reported by USA Today’s The Big Lead.
LeBatard first tried to run an ad in an Ohio newspaper telling James he’s welcome for the two rings. But the paper declined, so he put up a billboard in James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio.
The billboard says “You’re Welcome, LeBron. Love, Miami” and it’s got a picture of two NBA championship rings on it. LeBatard even managed to troll Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert by putting the text at the top of the billboard in Comic Sans font.
Gilbert famously penned a letter after LeBron left Cleveland for Miami where he ripped James’ decision and said that Cleveland would win a championship before James did, all in Comic Sans font. Miami went to four straight NBA Finals, winning two, while Cleveland has been a cellar dweller until James returns this year.
An ESPN spokesman told USA Today, “His (LeBatard) recent stunt does not reflect ESPN’s standards and brand. Additionally, we were not made aware of his plans in advance.”
The Miami Herald also reported that the suspension comes as "ESPN seems determined not to have a direct role in anything else that would embarass or anger James."
Update: 104.3 The Ticket in Miami released a statement on the incident that read in part:
"The fans were offended, so for the Ticket, it was a brilliant local promotio and meant for fun, but I have to respect stunts like this don't work for a national outlet like ESPN...We look forward to Dan's return on Monday, August 11th. I can only imagine, everyone's going to be listening." - Maureen Lesourd, GM of 104.3 the Ticket
Drivers trying to get to Miami Beach Thursday evening ran into a massive traffic jam on the MacArthur Causeway due to a car crash.
The crash was between a white sedan and a black Ford truck. The white sedan’s rear end was crushed almost up to the passenger compartment while the truck suffered damage to just the right front part of the vehicle.
The crash shut down all eastbound lanes on the MacArthur as police investigated the accident. Lanes were closed for at least two hours before being re-opened aroudn 7:30 p.m.
A total of four people were taken to the hospital. Two of the patients were taken to Ryder Trauma Center while two others were taken to Mt. Sinai Medical Center.
Bayside Marketplace is one of the first shopping centers in South Florida to begin accepting a new type of credit card intended to prevent fraud.
The new cards have an electronic chip inside that require special readers. NBC 6 first told you about the cards coming to South Florida earlier this year. The chip inside the credit card makes it almost impossible to breach.
“We are not happy to say that Miami is again one of the cities where fraud is a major issue,” said Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. “So, hopefully the partnership with the Secret Service and the new way of using the credit card; we will be able to save money.”
The card is either tapped or inserted into the reader instead of swiped like current cards. Experts said every transaction stands alone, so even if a thief could, they could only use it once. The cards, Europay MasterCard Visa, or EMV, can reportedly cut fraud up to 63 percent.
Bayside was selected as the first location to use the cards as the downtown landmark proposes a major facelift, including a 1,000 foot observation tower.
“Actually, what this is going to do is to limit the credit card fraud throughout Bayside Marketplace and increase traffic and sales,” said Pamela Weller.
Merchants met with technical experts Thursday night and by the weekend, some of the stores will have the new machines in use. Other merchants can also sign up for the program by clicking here to find more information.
A pint-sized intruder managed to squeeze through the fence outside the White House Thursday evening, causing a lock down.
According to NBC News correspondent Chris Jansing, a toddler briefly got away from his parents just after 8 p.m. and entered the grounds of the arguably most famous --and protected -- residence in the world.
A brief lock down was instituted by the Secret Service, and the scene was quickly cleared.
Neither the parents nor the tiny intruder was detained for questioning, according to NBC News.
"We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that he got a timeout and was sent on way with parents," according to the White House pool report.
Some polls and surveys have given negative marks to South Florida’s traffic, people, and demeanor. But a recent test by a tea company showed that there is one word that describes a majority of South Floridians…honest.
The Honest Tea Company decided to test out the honesty of residents in Tampa, Miami, and Orlando. So, the company set up a booth called “The Honest Store” and stocked it with ice cold tea in all flavors and asked people to put a dollar into a box beside the bottles, according to WFLA in Tampa.
A little way down the beach from the tea stand, a worker kept a tally of who paid and who didn’t, along with personal characteristics of everyone who interacted with the stand. Believe it or not, almost everyone who decided to take a bottle put a dollar into the box.
“It’s definitely non-scientific,” Steve Ozer of the Honest Tea Company told Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA. “We don’t have a large area here, so it’s more of a light-hearted social experiment.”
So how did Floridians do on the test? Miami came in with 92 percent of those who took a bottle dropping a dollar. Orlando was slightly higher and Tampa was just a notch below with 89 percent of the people paying up.
“I would love to see a hundred percent,” Ozer told WFLA. “Alabama and Hawaii, a hundred percent last year.”
The company said it will be performing the test in all 50 states and is expected to release the full results of the nation in a few weeks.
A Tampa mother was standing over her son’s casket recently when the phone rang with news that she called “devastating.”
The church where the funeral, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, was to be held canceled the service after the pastor learned the dead son was gay, according to the NBC affiliate in Tampa, WFLA.
Julie Atwood said the pastor learned her son, Julion Evans, 42, was way when his obituary listed a surviving husband. She claims she was told that it would be “blasphemous” to hold the services at the church.
Evans died at home after a four-year battle with an illness called Amyloidosis. The disease is rare and is caused by an abnormal protein produced in the bone marrow and can lead to organ failure, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Atwood said the church was large enough to accommodate hundreds of mourner and the church agreed to a service on July 26. But, the pastor of the church, T.W. Jenkins, said he wasn’t aware Evans was gay until members of the congregation saw the obituary and called to complain about the service, according to WFLA.
Jenkins told WFLA that it would have been an “error” to allow the service at the church.
The Miami Marlins lost on Thursday to the Pittsburgh Pirates by a final of 7-2 in a game that featured a scary incident on the mound.
Dan Jennings was hit on the left side of his head by a line drive off the bat of Jordy Mercer in the seventh inning. The reliever almost fell down after the impact and was helped from falling over by Marlins' catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Jennings would end up being carted off the field after a nearly five minute delay.
The ball came off the bat at 101 miles per hour according to the Marlins' broadcasting team. Trainers from both teams checked on Jennings and the crowd gave him an ovation as he was driven off. Jennings raised his hand to the crowd which was an encouraging sign.
Jennnigs was taken to a local hospital where he will be evaulated further.
Before the scary moment, Brian Flynn was on the mound and ended up taking the loss in this one. Flynn who was making a spot start in place of Jarred Cosart went four innings in which he allowed five runs on eight hits. Flynn walked two and struck out three in the brief start.
Sam Dyson was first out of the bullpen for Miami and turned in two innings of shutout relief. Next Jennings entered and retired the only two batters he faced before the injury. A.J. Ramos would pick up the last out following the delay. In the eighth, the Pirates added two more runs off of Steve Cishek.
In the ninth inning, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 27th home run of the season for the lone Miami run on the day. The Marlins had two hits in the inning after only having one hit total in the first eight frames.
The Marlins will head to Cincinnati on Friday to take on the Reds with Nathan Eovaldi slated to make the start.
Two men were arrested when a Florida police officer making a traffic stop spotted a marijuana plant sticking out of a car window.
A Clearwater officer had stopped the car, which was in the street without headlights following a burglary, on July 24, WFLA reported.
When the officers approached, they found one marijuana plant sticking out of the window, and the back seat of the car loaded with more plants, police said.
Justin Goodloe, 20 and Alan Barnes, 19, were arrested and charged with manufacturing marijuana.
One of the men told the officers the pot plants had been stolen from an "acquaintance" who owed him a drug debt, police said.
An 18-year-old woman who was walking on a stretch of the Florida's Turnpike was struck and killed early Thursday, authorities said.
The woman, Nohely Pichardo, was walking along the northbound lanes of the Turnpike near Griffin Road when she was struck by a black Audi around 5 a.m., Florida Highway Patrol officials said.
Pichardo, from Hialeah, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash had all northbound lanes of the Turnpike closed early Thursday as authorities investigated, causing heavy traffic delays. The lanes were later opened back up.
FHP spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky said investigators are still trying to determine why she was walking on the Turnpike.
"We're still gonna look, check the area to see if there's any disabled vehicles in the area that she may have been walking from or what the other circumstances would have been," Wysocky said.
"She was truly an amazing person," said Genesis Rodriguez, a friend of Pichardo's. "A disagreement in the car. She got out of the car and walked off. She didn't deserve to die like that you know."
The Miami Springs volleyball team said they were retiring the number 10 jersey which Pichardo wore last season.
Isolated showers and storms were popping up in South Florida Friday morning with more storms expected later.
The storms will be more scattered in the afternoon following a break around lunch time. Highs will be in the low 90s.
More scattered showers will stay in the forecast for Saturday, with Sunday featuring more sunshine.
Business is busier than ever for some hospitals across North Texas as a baby boom, not so surprisingly, is hitting almost nine months after the ice storm wreaked havoc across the Metroplex.
"The storm comes, and what else is there to do but stay inside and keep each other company?" said LaToya Scales, a nurse at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.
She said it's not uncommon to see more births during the later summer months, but now more than ever, Baylor is bursting at the seems with babies.
"We're seeing more births. We've had 50 more deliveries in July than we did this time last year," Scales said.
She said on an average day, doctors will deliver 10 babies per day. Last month, they had 24 deliveries in just one day.
"We say it's job security. We'll never be out of a job," Scales joked.
One couple who cozied up during the storm was Monica and Marcus Sais.
The family had wanted a second child and after years of trying and no luck, but just weeks after the storm, Monica Sais said she got her Christmas present early when she found out she was pregnant.
Monica Sais said it's not just her. She has at least five friends who are all due within the upcoming weeks.
"It all makes sense. What else are you going to do when it's cold outside? Snuggle up!" she said.
This week, she received the perfect present in the form of her newborn son, Luca.
Weighing in an 9 pounds 2 ounces, he has a new nickname his parents might keep to themselves.
"We can call him that: Luca Winter Baby Boom," Monica Sais said.
One Brooklyn man is hoping to make a stand against subpar breakfast sandwiches in midtown Manhattan and is raising money to send out instructional pamphlets to the area’s delis and bodegas.
Journalist Joseph Checkler launched a Kickstarter campaign to print and mail recipe suggestions to every business that sells egg sandwiches between 33rd and 55th streets from Park Avenue to Ninth Avenue.
“I will save the adequate-but-underachieving NYC egg sandwich by delivering instructional leaflets to all Midtown egg-sandwich makers,” Checkler said on the campaign's Kickstarter page.
He briefly outlined his suggestions for improving the breakfast sandwiches, recommending that cooks fry the eggs for shorter periods, use fresh sausage or bacon rather than reheated meat and put up to three slices of cheese on each sandwich.
Checkler said he didn’t want to offend cooks at delis and bodegas across the city -- he just wants to improve the quality of one of the Big Apple’s breakfast staples.
“I just think that at some point, certain delis started making sandwiches in a less delicious way and I want to revisit the time where they were more delicious,” he said.
The fundraising campaign, launched on July 24, has already hit its $310 goal. Checkler said on the page that for additional funding, he would send his pamphlets to more restaurants in Manhattan.
He said he also plans to for similar campaigns in the city’s other four boroughs.
A brutal carjacking and hit-and-run crash that killed three children nearly two weeks ago has claimed another victim: the kids' mother.
Keisha Williams died just before 10 p.m. Thursday night at Temple University Hospital where she had been undergoing trauma care since the July 25 incident, Philadelphia Police said.
The 34-year-old mother was hit by an out-of-control SUV, that had been carjacked minutes earlier, at the intersection of Germantown and Allegheny Avenues. She, her three children and a family friend were selling fruit to raise money to build a playground.
All three children -- 15-year-old Keiearra Williams, 10-year-old Joseph Thomas Reed and 7-year-old brother Terrence Moore -- were killed while the family friend, 65-year-old Thelma Brown, survived.
Williams remained in a coma after the crash, officials said. It appears she did not know her children had been killed. She leaves behind two other children who were not involved in the crash.
Jonathan Rosa, 19, and Cornelius Crawford, 23, are already charged with second-degree murder in the deaths children and face other charges for allegedly carjacking and sexually assaulting the real estate agent before running down a family selling fruit on the sidewalk.
Prosecutors say they plan to add an additional murder charge in light of Williams' passing.
Homicide Capt. James Clark said Crawford and Rosa wanted to commit a robbery when they forced a real estate agent into her white Toyota SUV at gunpoint at 6th and Cumberland Streets around 11 a.m. that Friday. They then took off. Inside the truck, the Realtor was sexually assaulted as the suspects sped through the streets of the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.
After one of the SUV's tires blew, the vehicle jumped the curb and slammed directly into the family as they stood at their fruit stand.
The children were laid to rest earlier this week. The funeral was paid for by Philadelphia 76ers legend Charles Barkley, according to authorities.
Rosa admitted to being involved in the carjacking, but denies driving the car and sexually assaulting the realtor, according to his attorney. Crawford has not made any statements and has a court appointed attorney.
Both are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing next Wednesday.
Some unsuspecting New Yorkers were treated to a surprise performance from the megahit Broadway musical "The Lion King" when cast members took over a subway car and sang "Circle of Life."
The impromptu performance happened on June 28 while the cast was taking a break between shows, though the video was only posted to YouTube on Tuesday by cast member Jamal Lee Harris.
The video shows the plainclothed actors getting on an A train at 59th Street and busying themselves at first with typical subway activities: reading books, listening to music, scrolling through cellphones.
Then the first telltale notes of "Circle of Life" ring out, and cast members stationed up and down the car join in.
Fellow subway riders initially appear confused and surprised, then delighted before bursting into loud applause and cheers at the end of the song.
In April, the Australian cast of "The Lion King" put on a similar performance on a flight leaving Brisbane.
Based on the popular Disney film, "The Lion King" is the fifth longest-running show and the highest grossing show in Broadway history, according to The Broadway Box.
A 65-year-old man has been charged in an Oakland Park crash that killed a 4-year-old boy last month, authorities said.
Delivrance Delien was taken into custody Thursday and faces multiple charges including aggravated manslaughter, reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.
He was being held on $25,000 bond Friday and it was unknown whether he has an attorney.
Authorities say Delien was behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Tracker when he struck a parked vehicle in the 700 block of Northwest 42nd Street on July 5.
The parked vehicle struck 4-year-old Joshua Snyder and his grandmother, 54-year-old Estelida Morales. Snyder later died of his injuries. Morales has been released from the hospital.
Several witnesses said Delien was driving erratic and reckless, and detectives discovered evidence that Delien was trying to flee the scene when he ran over the victims multiple times, the BSO said.