David Ovalle

Arrested was Rashaun Jones, 35, of Lake City, a former UM defensive back. He’d long been a suspect in the Pata case — he’d once gotten into a fistfight with Pata and also dated the slain player’s girlfriend — but had never before been charged.

But within minutes, as water was gushing through the parking garage over the pool deck and dropping chunks of concrete, the scope of the unfolding disaster at Surfside’s Champlain Towers South began to emerge. Caller after caller began frantically relaying their stories to emergency dispatchers. One woman could be heard saying “it’s an earthquake outside.”

With a tropical storm headed toward South Florida, the upright portion of the doomed Champlain Towers South building will be demolished within days to allow rescue crews to eventually resume searching the site safely, officials said.

So far, five lawsuits have been filed stemming from the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South building on June 24. As of Thursday morning, the bodies of 18 people have been discovered and 145 remain missing in the unprecedented condo collapse. Rescue work was halted early Thursday over concerns that the remaining structure could topple.

Miami-Dade County reports another deadly weekend after police responded to a shooting that happened near a graduation party.

Frank Artiles, the Republican political operative suspected of secretly arranging a sham candidate to run in a key 2020 state senate race, surrendered to a Miami-Dade County jail on Thursday to face felony campaign finance charges.

One federal law enforcement source said at least five agents were shot during the raid.

Over decades he became a revered figure fighting on behalf of Miami’s Hispanic and minority communities. Soto, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, died Saturday of natural causes at age 91.

The highly contagious coronavirus is quietly ravaging South Florida’s Haitian-American community. And there are complex cultural factors that make COVID-19 a particular challenge to deal with — and sometimes to even discuss — for many Haitians.

Recent conflicts caught on video clips that have gone viral, are raising questions about whether police officers should have used brute force on people whose main offense appeared to be mouthing off to cops. In each case, the officers wound up facing no discipline.