On her real honest-to-goodness last day of summer break, the one that came two drizzly days late, Lanie Switken was looking forward to finally going back to school.
LAUDERDALE LAKES
Two statues depicting angels flanked the bed where Mylissa Williams and her two young children slept early Tuesday while a fire was blazing in her daughter's room. To Williams, the angels helped keep them all from harm.
The mother of former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, Beulah ''Billie'' Deutsch, died Monday night. A resident of the Kings Point community in Tamarac, Deutsch was a fierce campaigner for her son and many other Democrats. Over the past year, she volunteered at the Ben Gamla charter school founded by her son. She read books to the kindergarten class three times a week.
FAY RESPONSE
If South Florida had its own late-night comics, this week's civic shutdown would feed every monologue. Hundreds of thousands of people were kept out of school and work for little more than a stiff breeze and summer shower.
As part of her back-to-school preparations, Dusti Arrowood stopped by a Broward County health department clinic to vaccinate her daughter, Patrice, who starts kindergarten at Stirling Elementary in Hollywood on Wednesday.
HOLLYWOOD
A Fort Lauderdale man with a history of domestic violence has confessed to stabbing his girlfriend to death in her Hollywood home, according to police.
With schools closed because of Tropical Storm Fay, what will they do with their children as a regular workday looms? That's the real wrath Fay brought when it forced the cancellation of school Monday and Tuesday in Broward and Miami-Dade, leaving 600,000 kids -- many too young to stay home alone -- with no one to watch them.
DEERFIELD BEACH
A man being suspended in the air by six metal hooks clamped to his skin during an act at a tattoo convention fell and broke a leg.
Broward sheriff candidate Scott Israel drew some stares at a candidate forum at a Deerfield Beach clubhouse last week when he showed up wearing a gun and police uniform.
DEFECTIONS
The students stream into the Miami classroom after a long day at work as spa assistants, cable installers, and home health aides. They whip out their notebooks for a crash refresher course in biochemistry, anatomy and microbiology. Many of them, already sporting graying hair, are long past the years when they expected to be scribbling furiously into a students' notebook.
STREETWISE
Public schools open this week -- Fay willing -- in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and with it comes the pain cave that is the unofficial opening to peak driving season in South Florida.
CAMPAIGN 2008 | U.S. HOUSE
Joe Garcia says he has already raised $1 million in his fight to take on U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart in Miami-Dade County. U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has knocked on an estimated 2,000 doors in Broward County as he defends his seat.
DELRAY BEACH
Police shot a man multiple times just south of West Atlantic Avenue after he shot a Boynton Beach officer following a chase on Interstate 95 from Boynton Beach into Broward County and back to Delray Beach, officials said.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Tropical Storm Fay may spare South Florida but it knocked out Monday's official first day of school. ''It rocks,'' said Alexander Sosa, 14, who attends the Youth Co-Op Charter School in Hialeah. ``I still have another day of summer vacation.''
READY FOR FAY
Tropical Storm Fay may have steered away from a direct hit Monday on South Florida, but not before causing a stir of school closures, evacuations and cancellations.
slams Rodstrom's outside work Bryan Caletka, challenging John Rodstrom for a Broward County Commission seat, takes a swipe at the incumbent by promising on his website and in a television ad that he'll be a ''full-time'' commissioner.
POMPANO BEACH
Things went from bad to worse for the Broward County Fair as negotiations with the city of Pompano Beach for necessary permits fell apart.
PJ is a cute gray and white fellow who gets along great with children and other cats. Before he came to the shelter, PJ lived with a family who had a little 2-year-old girl and they were great friends. Now 6 months old, PJ has a velvety coat and enjoys people and playing with toys.
SOUTH BROWARD
Monday marks not just the beginning of the school year, but also a renewed recruiting campaign by South Broward's Boy Scouts, which hopes to reach 1,700 members by year's end.
BROWARD SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Former Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne admitted in a deposition from prison this week that BSO botched the 2004 raid that led to the death of Deputy Todd Fatta, contradicting statements he made at the time over his own agency's handling of the emotionally charged case.
BROWARD SCHOOLS
One day before 600,000 South Florida students start school, parents and students might spend Sunday wondering if Monday will be the first day of classes after all.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
Property Appraiser Lori Parrish and Supervisor of Elections Brenda C. Snipes face political newcomers in their Democratic primaries.
ELECTIONS
Two well-financed Broward County commissioners will try to fend off several spirited challenges in the Aug. 26 primary. Commissioners John E. Rodstrom Jr. and Josephus Eggelletion Jr. each face three opponents. The winner then will likely face a smooth path to office against write-in candidates Nov. 4.
FORT LAUDERDALE
Shaded by a large tree, young geologists scoured the sand for small gems. ''Mommy, I found a sparkly!'' 4-year-old Isabella Chenet of Plantation exclaimed as her mother watched.
CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
At a suit-and-tie send-off for C.P. Ricardo Allicock in a Fort Lauderdale arts venue, supporters, colleagues and office mates rained the departing diplomat with praise and plaques.
CRIME | BSO ARREST
A Broward man has been charged with killing his roommate, leaving his body to rot behind their house and selling his possessions to fuel a drug addiction.
LEOLA 'LEE' McCOY, 70
Leola ''Lee'' McCoy, the Fort Lauderdale civic activist who fought environmental pollution in the city's largely black Northwest neighborhoods, died on Sunday at 70.
JACK ZINK, 61
Jack Zink, longtime critic and cultural affairs reporter who covered the arts in South Florida from 1969 until illness forced him to step away from the work he loved, died Monday at age 61.
