Florida
This Week In South Florida: Billy Corben joins journalists to discuss Miami City Hall dysfunction
MIAMI – Anyone who thinks local government meetings are boring hasn’t been to one at City Hall in Miami. The latest spectacle of the dysfunction at a commission meeting was the ousting of Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez.
Commissioners Miguel Angel Gabela, Damian Pardo, Manolo Reyes, and Christine King voted to oust Méndez and placed her in an advisory role ending June 11.
“I was doing my job; that’s why you’re upset at me,” Méndez told Gabela during the meeting.
Gabela said he didn’t trust her. Commissioner Joe Carollo was the only dissenting vote. This had just followed Miami City Manager Art Noriega’s furniture scandal.
Filmmaker Billy Corben met with local journalists to discuss the madness during This Week In South Florida’s Roundtable on Sunday. He compared the city government to a mafia, a dictatorship, and a third-world banana republic.
“It runs on fear and intimidation, and I would say extortion,” Corben said.
The Miami Herald’s Sarah Blaskey, an investigative reporter, and Joe Flechas, an associate editor, joined the conversation on TWISF with Joshua Ceballos, the local government accountability reporter for WLRN.
Blaskey described Méndez’s role as someone who has a hand in “a lot of pots” and went beyond her role as a city attorney to comment on a case that resulted in a $63.5 million legal judgment against Carollo.
“She has been sort of proactive in that case,” Blaskey said adding she had defended Carollo.
Flechas said the attorney is tasked with interpreting the city’s code and charter. Instead, Méndez went on the record several times defending Carollo’s actions against the businessmen who won the judgment.
“She attacked these Little Havana businessmen and besmirched their reputations often as a means of justifying the taxpayers paying for the legal defense,” Flechas said referring to Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla.
Ceballos said Méndez was allegedly “the go-between” Carollo and Emilio Gonzalez, the former city manager. Corben said Méndez was tasked with spending taxpayers’ money to defend corruption, as Carrollo “weaponized” government.
“She has had a blank check to enable this corrupt behavior,” Corben said.
The furniture choices and the city’s legal costs were not the only scandals mentioned. Blaskey said Méndez’s husband had a company that flipped homes.
“The allegation is that through her work at the city, she had information that helped, you know, guide her husband’s business towards homes that, you know, could be flipped for a profit,” Blaskey said. “Often these were homes through the guardianship program.”
Blaskey said the program’s homes mostly belong to the elderly and people with disabilities.
“There is a lawsuit that Victoria Méndez and her husband are facing right now about this house flipping business. There’s also a bar complaint into how she has engaged with that business as the city attorney,” Blaskey said.
Corben said the city attorney also failed to intervene on the redistricting maps that prompted a federal racial gerrymandering suit. U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore found the city unconstitutionally drew district lines.
“This perversion of the redistricting is far more corrupt than even the judge decided,” Corben said.
Blaskey said that to notice the incumbent’s attempt to disqualify Gabela from running last November an observer has to “zoom in on this tiny, tiny little carveout around the part where” one home is.
There was speculation about the impact of the federal judge’s ruling, how this reflects on Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and how it affects other local governments.
“I think whatever happens in the city of Miami government is something that will influence the way other government officials act in their governments as well,” Blaskey said. “And so I think, that’s how it becomes relevant to everyone else.”
Watch more on TWISF: Debra Hixon talks about Broward schools
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Animals at Central Florida Zoo get extra care as temps drop
As cold weather sweeps across Florida, staff at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens are working to keep their animals safe and comfortable.
SANFORD, Fla. – As cold weather sweeps across Florida, staff at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens are working to keep their animals safe and comfortable.
Signs around the zoo highlight the efforts to protect animals during the chilly conditions. For example, Coral, a two-toed sloth, has temporarily left her outdoor enclosure to enjoy the warmth of a heater indoors.
“When it gets to about 40 degrees, like it will tonight, our primates are ushered inside to their dens,” said Chris Torge, director of animal operations at the zoo. “We also use different types of heat lamps, heat pads, and forced-air heaters for our animals.”
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Some animals require more care than others in cold weather. PJ, a temperature-sensitive rhino, stays warm under large propane heaters and a tarp when temperatures fall below 40 degrees.
However, not all animals mind the cold. The zoo’s Amur leopard thrives in cooler weather, as the species hails from the frigid regions between China and Russia.
Zoo staff customize preparations based on each species’ needs, with some animals requiring little to no extra heat.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
EUGENE – Since coach Dan Lanning took over at Oregon, the Oregon Ducks have become one of the top destinations for receivers all over the country. This season, Oregon had one of the best receiving corps in the nation and secured commitments from the top wide receivers in the class of 2025, including ESPN’s No. 3 overall prospect, Dakorien Moore.
Now, Lanning and his staff have landed a big-time transfer out of Florida State, Malik Benson.
Benson, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior from Florida State, has committed to Oregon. The former No. 1 overall junior college recruit out of Hutchinson Community College in Kansas played one season at Alabama and one with the Seminoles before entering the portal and committing to Oregon.
Benson chose Oregon over both Tennessee and Kansas State. He was ranked the No. 91 wide receiver in the transfer portal, according to On3’s 2025 Transfer Portal Player Rankings.
The former Seminole told ESPN on Tuesday that he picked Oregon because he was impressed with the coaching staff and intrigued by the opportunity to play with quarterback Dante Moore, a transfer from UCLA who served as Oregon’s backup QB this season.
“He’ll be a Heisman finalist next year. 100%. Next year,” senior wide receiver Tez Johnson said of Moore. “That boy can throw a ball like no other. I’ve never seen nothing like it.”
Next season, Moore will have another experienced receiver to target in Benson.
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The 2024 season was anticipated to be Benson’s final season of collegiate football before presumably testing his chances in the NFL Draft. However, he now has one more year of eligibility remaining due to the NCAA waiver granted to former junior college players.
“I’m just glad that the Lord blessed me with another opportunity and another year,” Benson told ESPN. “I will not take this for granted.”
In 2024, Benson appeared in all 12 games for the Seminoles. He finished the season with 25 catches for 311 yards and a touchdown. Benson also recorded two rushing attempts and one punt return.
Prior to playing at Florida State, Benson played at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban. While at Alabama, Benson made 14 appearances and six starts. He had 13 receptions for 162 yards, with his best showing of the season coming against Texas, where he recorded two receptions for 33 yards.
Before transitioning to Power 5 football, Benson had the challenge of proving himself at the junior college level, and he exceeded expectations. During his two seasons at Hutchinson, Benson recorded 2,152 receiving yards while ranking second in program history with 21 receiving touchdowns.
Benson has the opportunity to make an impact right away with Oregon, as the Ducks have lost multiple receivers to the NFL, including Johnson, Traeshon Holden, and potentially Evan Stewart, who has yet to make a decision. Benson is sure to provide a boost to Oregon’s 2025 roster as the program looks for redemption after falling to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Although it is very early, given the talent and experience on Oregon’s future roster, the Ducks have another opportunity to make the College Football Playoff and contend for a national championship.
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By finishing off the give-and-go, Verhaeghe netted his 10th goal of the campaign.
“He made an awesome pass, really deceptive,” Verhaeghe said of Lundell’s set-up dish.
Starting the second period on the penalty kill, the Panthers held Colorado’s vaunted power play to just two shots on goal. Later in the period, the Panthers got the job done once again with another stalwart showing on the penalty kill, this time surrendering zero shots on goal.
Despite taking the ice without two of their top defensemen and penalty killers in Ekblad and Mikkola, who are both sidelined by injuries, the Panthers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
“I think we did a good job,” forward Eetu Luostarinen said of the team’s work while shorthanded. “We know they have a lot of guys that can make plays and score. I think we didn’t give them too much time and space.”
Evening the score for Colorado, Devon Toews fired a shot through traffic that went off the cross bar, hit Sergei Bobrovsky’s back and then fluttered into the net to make it 1-1 at 18:18.
A grinder of a second period, the two teams combined for just five shots at 5-on-5.
After being shut down on the power play once again early in the third period, the Avalanche found the go-ahead goal they needed at even strength. Notching his second goal of the game, Toews found the back of the net with another point shot to make it 2-0 at 8:54.
From there, Bobrovsky and Blackwood went save for save for several minutes.
A great goaltending battle, Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves, while Blackwood made 26.
“He’s our wall back there,” Verhaeghe said of Bobrovsky. “I can’t say enough.”
Sealing the win for Colorado, Miko Rantanen made it 3-1 with an empty-net goal at 18:03.
“I think it was a tight game, a 2-1 game,” Verhaeghe said of the third period. “It’s a game we’re used to playing in. The last time game we got the better of it. It just took one break. We had our chances and looks to get back into the game or to tie it up. It didn’t go for us.”
THEY SAID IT
“We supported pretty well, moved the puck pretty well. Both team’s penalty kill was really strong. It was going to be a tight game.” – Paul Maurice
“It was kind of back-and-forth of a game. We had our chances, but they capitalized on one, which was kind of the difference. Yeah, we’re comfortable playing in those games. We usually pull it out.” – Carter Verhaeghe
CATS STATS
– Aleksander Barkov went 8-for-13 (61.5%) in the face-off circle.
– Dmitry Kulikov blocked a team-high three shots.
– Tobias Bjornfot saw 15:29 of ice time in his season debut.
– Sergei Bobrovsky made 10 high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will close the book on their two-game road trip with their first-ever trip to Salt Lake City for a matchup against the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, click HERE.
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