Uncommon Knowledge
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Florida animal control officials are warning owners of lost pets that they may be targeted by a scam that preys on their desperation to find their missing companions.
The Palm Beach County Department of Public Safety’s Animal Care and Control division (PCB ACC) alerted pet owners to the scam in a Facebook post on Tuesday. The scheme apparently involves phone calls that fraudulently attempt to convince locals that their lost pets have been found while demanding money for their safe return.
Scammers target the owners of missing pets somewhat frequently. Those who publicly share details about their lost pets and contact information online are particularly vulnerable.
“It has come to our attention that scammers are targeting owners of lost pets,” the post reads. “Someone is representing themselves as an employee of our shelter and trying to collect money. PBC ACC will never and ask for money over the phone.”
“Please do not transfer funds or share account/credit card numbers with anyone representing themselves as us,” it continues. “If you have a lost pet, please post your pet on our SNAP website and continue to check the website daily.”
Jovanmandic
In an additional Facebook post, public safety officials said that the targeted victims of the scam were “community members who post their information on lost pet websites” before receiving “calls from someone identifying themselves as an employee of ACC.”
Local ABC affiliate WPBF reported that some victims were targeted after sharing lost pet posts on the app Nextdoor. Scammers also reportedly targeted those who made similar posts on the Pawboost and Petco Love Lost websites and the Loxahatchee Lost and Found Facebook page.
Newsweek reached out for comment to PBC ACC via online contact form and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office via email on Wednesday night.
Palm Beach County’s “SNAP” website hosts a large number of listings for lost and found pets, primarily cats and dogs, alongside photos of the missing animals. The site also features a section listing unclaimed pets that have an “urgent” need for adoption.
Officials in Wake County, North Carolina, issued a similar scam alert last month, informing locals that someone was calling those with missing pets while claiming to be an employee of the Wake County Animal Center and demanding money for urgent pet surgery, according to The News & Observer.
Newsweek previously reported on a woman who said that she was targeted by a scammer who contacted her with claims of having found her missing husky. When she refused to pay $400 for the dog’s return, the scammer tried to extract money from the woman, who is straight, by threatening to expose an affair to her non-existent wife.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Florida rapper Lil Poppa has died, Georgia authorities said. He was 25.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the rapper’s death in a statement to NBC News, but did not provide further details. The cause and manner of death are under investigation, the office said.
The Jacksonville rapper, whose real name is Janarious Wheeler, was signed to rapper Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group and released songs including “Love & War,” “Mind Over Matter,” and “HAPPY TEARS.” His most recent studio album was last year’s “Almost Normal Again.”
Days before his death, he released the new track “Out of Town Bae.”
A representative for Wheeler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Music producer Scotty OTH told NBC affiliate WTLV of Jacksonville that Wheeler was a “very hard worker.”
“I ain’t never seen nobody outwork Poppa. Poppa is the last man standing in the studio,” he said.
The pair made their first song together over five years ago.
“I was making beats, then he was making music, and 2019, 2018, we ended up making our first track together, but outside it’s deeper than music,” he said. “That was family to me. We called each other cousins.”
Photographer Terrence Tyson, who said he documented Lil Poppa’s rise to fame, told WTLV that the death has stunned the Jacksonville community.
“I know how myself and a lot of other people, how hard we went for him to get where he needed to be. It was a shock and it was a big loss,” Tyson said.
“When he made it, it felt like everyone made it,” Tyson said. “He was a star.”
A new bill has been introduced in the Florida Senate to allow high school coaches to spend personal funds on their team.
“We treat them just like our kids, our sons,” said Antonio Seay.
Seay has been an assistant football coach at Miami-Northwestern Senior High School for the last four years. He worked alongside former head coach Teddy Bridgewater, who was suspended last year for impermissible benefits.
“It brought camaraderie, the brotherhood with everyone,” Seay said. “Kids came together, worked together, built a bond, and became champions at that point.”
Now there’s a bill aimed at reversing the rule that led to Bridgewater’s suspension.
Senate Bill 178 would allow high school head coaches from any sport to spend up to $15,000 in personal funds per team, per year, to pay for items like food, transportation, and recovery services in “good faith.”
This would change the current Florida High School Athletic Association bylaws that call those actions “impermissible benefits.”
“Teddy owned up to this outright, saying he provided food, Ubers, and recovery services to his players throughout the season,” said Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, as he presented the bill to the Florida Senate.
Jones sponsored the bill after there was an outpouring of support following Bridgewater’s suspension. He said he is casually calling it the Teddy Bridgewater Act.
“They are sometimes the parents for some of these young people, and sometimes these are the one individual or individuals that a lot of these student athletes trust,” Jones told CBS News Miami. “They should be able to help those student athletes with things like getting home safely after practice they should be able to help them with food if they have not eaten. Those are good faith tactics that I believe should be allowed.”
Jones said that, according to the bill, each coach must report the funds spent to the FHSAA to determine if the spending was in “good faith.”
The funds can not be used for recruiting.
“What I can’t deal with is a child walking home from school after practice at 8 p.m., and something happens to them,” Jones said.
Saey said he only has one concern.
“People taking advantage of the bill, to try to bring success with recruiting, not the good of it, to make sure that you can provide for the kids to perform on the field and in life,” Seay said.
The bill will be on the floor again on Thursday.
If passed and signed off by the governor, the legislation would take effect on July 1st.
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Florida lawmakers are one step closer to renaming Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump.
The Republican-led Florida House voted 81-30 in support of the name change to “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.” A similar bill moved to the Senate floor after it cleared the state’s Rules Committee.
The legislation was filed by State Rep. Meg Weinberger and would give Florida control over renaming major airports, including the name change at Palm Beach International.
Attorneys for Trump recently filed to trademark “Donald J. Trump International Airport” and “DJT,” according to new filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Usually, having a trademark allows the holder to license its use for a fee, but Trump’s trademark attorney said that isn’t what is happening.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – JANUARY 19: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) talks with reporters as U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (R) looks on at Palm Beach International Airport on January 19, 2026 in West Palm Beach, Florida. President Trump attended this year’s college football national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Michael Santucci, of Fort Lauderdale-based 500Law, told USA TODAY the president is “protecting his legal rights to prevent bad actors from misusing the most infringed trademark in the world.”
“To be clear, the president and his family will not receive any royalty, licensing fee, or financial consideration whatsoever from the proposed airport renaming,” Santucci told USA TODAY. “The Trump Organization is, and always has been, willing to provide this right to his hometown county at no charge.”
Santucci told the outlet that Trump is honored by the potential airport renaming.
The name change would be subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as an agreement between Palm Beach County and the trademark holder authorizing the commercial use of the name.
Trump regularly travels from Washington, D.C., to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago Golf Club. Trump and Air Force One land at Palm Beach International for those weekend trips.
In January, President Trump attended a ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, where the segment of Southern Boulevard between Kirk Road and South Ocean Boulevard — covering the highly visible route from Palm Beach International Airport to Mar-a-Lago, was renamed “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.”
I love the people of Florida, I love the entire Palm Beach area. I’ve been here for a long time and I want to thank you all for being here. I’ll remember this amazing gesture for the rest of my life,” he said.
There is also a proposal before Congress to rename D.C.’s Dulles Airport “Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
In a Truth Social post this week, Trump said he did not suggest renaming New York’s Penn Station after himself, after reports that union officials and politicians suggested the change.
In December, a unanimous vote by the board formally changed the name of the Kennedy Center to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
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