A lawsuit filed this week by the prison reform advocacy group Florida Justice Institute says that extreme heat in unairconditioned cells at a prison near the Florida Everglades has contributed to the deaths of four people and that state officials have failed to take “meaningful action” to mitigate the risk posed to the elderly and disabled inmates in their care.

Country Bay Music Festival is returning to Miami for its second year, with organizers hoping the event can earn a permanent spot in the city's music scene alongside events like Ultra and Rolling Loud.

Florida has a tough new law aimed at getting the homeless off the streets.

Some churches are launching new Christian schools on their campuses.

The puck went into the corner, to the left of Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, with 14 seconds left in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Scientists have moved about 300 endangered sea corals from South Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast for research and restoration.

Jalen Milroe ran for two touchdowns and threw for a pair of fourth-quarter scores to help No. 4 Alabama pull away to beat South Florida 42-16 on Saturday night.

The annual Florida Python Challenge this year begins the competition between hunters to capture the most and longest Burmese pythons.

A female capybara has arrived at a Florida zoo as part of a breeding program to bolster the population of the large South American rodents.

Although more rain could trigger additional isolated Florida flooding on Friday, forecasters say the strong, persistent storms that dumped up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in southern parts of the state appear to have passed.

Rapper and singer Sean Kingston is back in South Florida, where he and his mother are charged with committing more than a million dollars worth of fraud.

Progressive civic groups have challenged how four congressional districts and seven state House districts in South Florida were drawn by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature.

The NCAA has approved a waiver that will allow men’s and women’s basketball programs to pay for unlimited official recruiting visits to help teams deals with roster depletion caused by transfers, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Since Florida enacted a six-week abortion ban, clinics in several other Southern and mid-Atlantic states have sprung into action.

Stanley Cup contenders aren't waiting until the NHL trade deadline day to shore up depth for what they hope is a long playoff run.

Now it’s Houston’s turn at the top of The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

South Florida rapper Kodak Black has been freed from jail after a federal judge sentenced him to time served for a probation violation, though a drug trafficking case from 2022 remains ongoing.

Kasean Pryor made a go-ahead free throw with 4 seconds left, and South Florida rallied from a 20-point deficit to stun No. 10 Memphis 74-73.

Police in South Florida say a man fatally shot a 30-year-old Buffalo Bills fan during an altercation near Hard Rock Stadium after the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins in the final regular season game.

The body of a woman who went missing 12 years ago appears to have been found last week in a minivan submerged in a central Florida retention pond near Walt Disney World.

In Florida, this year has been a tale of two states as far as rainfall totals, with the southeast coast deluged by sometimes-record rainfall and much of the Gulf coast facing a major precipitation deficit.

Rapper Kodak Black was arrested in South Florida on cocaine possession and other charges.

The Southeastern Conference championship game will remain at Mercedes-Benz Stadium through at least 2031.

The matriarch of a wealthy South Florida family has been arrested on charges that she arranged her ex-son-in-law's murder.

U.S. support for Israel's offensive against Hamas is being closely watched in South Florida's Jewish community.

Alabama is turning the offensive reins back over to Jalen Milroe, but the messy quarterback situation has been only part of the problem.

No. 13 Alabama is out of the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in eight years and Georgia remains No. 1.

College football's top statistical performances in Week 1 begins with Colorado's Shedeur Sanders.

Communities from Houston to New Orleans are opening cooling centers to bring relief as steamy hot temperatures settle across a broad swath of the U.S. South.

Federal investigators say the swimming pool deck of a beachfront South Florida condominium that collapsed two years ago, killing 98 people, failed to comply with original building codes and standards.

South Florida has suddenly become the center of the sports universe.

Across Florida, workers didn’t show up at construction sites and tomato fields, and scores of restaurants, shops and other small businesses never opened their doors.

A federal jury in Florida has awarded $63.5 million to a pair of businessmen who claimed a city of Miami commissioner used his office to harass them after they supported the commissioner’s political opponent.

A poem written for President Joe Biden’s inauguration has been placed on a restricted list at a South Florida elementary school after one parent's complaint.

A man convicted of killing and sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman in separate South Florida attacks in 1984 is set to be executed next month.

The share of Americans who volunteer their time to help charities build houses, serve food, do environmental cleanup, and much else has been on the decline nationwide but nowhere as sharply as in Florida, where only 16% of residents donate their free hours to local organizations, according to the latest available statistics.

Fort Lauderdale's 25 inches of rain is a case of a strong thunderstorm not knowing when to say when.

The county that encompasses Manhattan added more than 17,000 residents in the year ending last July.

Two Cuban migrants used a motorized hang glider to fly the approximately 90 miles from the communist island to Key West, Florida.

The NHL took advantage of holding All-Star Weekend in South Florida by holding two Skills Competition events outside in the sun.

New Jersey Devils associate coach and former Florida Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette has been arrested in South Florida and charged with driving under the influence.

Houston and Kansas remain firmly atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll after a record weekend of Top 25 losses.

A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government was arrested Monday on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering.

Authorities want a man brought to back to Oklahoma to face charges in the execution-style killings of four people at a marijuana farm after he was arrested in South Florida.

The turnout machine that left-leaning Latino activists have built since Arizona enacted a tough crackdown on immigrants will be put to the test in Tuesday's election.

An evacuation order has forced out residents of a 14-story oceanfront building in Miami Beach, on the same avenue where a condominium collapse in Surfside killed nearly 100 people last year.

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to 17 as Florida authorities confirmed several drownings and other fatalities Friday afternoon.

Orlando’s training camp schedule is no match for Hurricane Ian.

Florida, South Carolina and South Florida are taking steps to salvage home football games as Hurricane Ian approaches.

The storm strengthened enough late Friday into Saturday to become Tropical Storm Ian, forecast to aim for the Florida Peninsula by mid-next week

The Republican governors of Florida and Texas have delivered migrants on planes and buses to Washington, D.

Trevor Etienne’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes remaining helped No. 18 Florida rally to beat South Florida 31-28.

Tua Tagovailoa passed for 270 yards and a touchdown, and the Miami Dolphins provided an early look at their ability to contend in the AFC East as they beat Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots 20-7 Sunday.

A restaurant customer in Fort Lauderdale has died of a bacterial infection after eating raw oysters.

Atlanta and South Florida have been selected to host College Football Playoff national championship games for the second time.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist have held their first and only debate before the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Authorities have arrested rapper Kodak Black in South Florida on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance.

The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is headed toward Bermuda after killing three people in Cuba and flooding roads in Florida.

Parts of Florida were facing heavy rain and wind as a storm system that battered Mexico moves across the state.

Much of the Florida peninsula, along with parts of Cuba and the Bahamas, are under a tropical storm warning as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, killing at least two in Cuba and bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.

President Joe Biden is seeking to calm concerns about recent cases of monkeypox that have been identified in Europe and the United States.

Ross Colton scored with just under four seconds remaining, giving the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

A poll finds that a majority of people in the United States continue to support a mask requirement for people traveling on airplanes and other shared transportation.

For 70 years a group of non-native monkeys has made their home next to a South Florida airport runway, delighting visitors and becoming local celebrities.

Tiger Woods is at Augusta National and the golf world is wondering: Will he play in the Masters.

Republicans promoting claims of widespread voter fraud in at least two politically important states are turning to a new tactic to appease voters who falsely believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The Florida Supreme Court is telling Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis it will not answer his question on whether a Black congressman’s district is unconstitutional.

The U.S. government has launched a criminal investigation into whether a smuggling ring is behind a boat that capsized off Florida with 40 migrants onboard.

Authorities say rapper Kodak Black has been arrested on a trespassing charge Saturday in South Florida.

In Florida, for the first time in modern history, registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats.

Maryland dropped six spots to eighth in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll after losing two games in a week that saw eight of the top 10 teams change places.

Republican coal lobbyist Mike Carey has defeated a two-term state lawmaker to win an open U.S. House seat in central Ohio, while Democrat Shontel Brown coasted to victory in a second up-for-grabs congressional district in the Cleveland area.

No. 13 Florida tuned up for the start of Southeastern Conference play with a 42-20 rout of overmatched South Florida that did little to answer the question of whether starter Emory Jones or backup Anthony Richardson is best suited to run the Gators offense.

The South Florida house that gangster Al Capone owned for nearly two decades, and died in, is facing demolition plans.

Joe Thornton’s pursuit of the elusive Stanley Cup is bringing him to the Florida Panthers.

Tropical depression Fred is heading for a drenching of Cuba and the Bahamas on a forecast track that would carry it toward South Florida as a tropical storm by Saturday.

Tropical Storm Fred has weakened to a tropical depression while sweeping over the Dominican Republic and dumping heavy rains that forecasters warn could cause dangerous flooding and mudslides there and in neighboring Haiti.

The problems of two tiny Caribbean states, Cuba and Haiti, have vexed U.S. presidents for decades.

Demonstrators backing rare street protests by thousands in communist Cuba have blocked a stretch of a major South Florida highway.

Authorities searching for victims of a deadly collapse in Florida say they hope to conclude their painstaking work in the coming weeks as a team of first responders from Israel departed the site.

Rescuers who responded to past disasters say the search for victims of the Florida condo collapse brought back memories of the Oklahoma City bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The tragedy in Surfside, Florida, is exposing voters to a different side of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for a reelection bid next year that could propel him into a presidential campaign.

The White House party for the July Fourth holiday has the hallmarks of both happiness and commiseration.

The city of North Miami Beach has ordered the evacuation of a condominium building after a review found unsafe conditions.

North Carolina State, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona wrapped up their NCAA super regionals and locked up spots in the College World Series.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is plunging Florida deeper into the culture wars.

Here are this morning's top stories.

Two people died and an estimated 20 to 25 people were injured in a shooting outside a banquet hall in South Florida, police said.

Police in South Florida are looking for suspects involved in a pair shootings that brought a deadly start to the Memorial Day weekend.

A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 years in urban South Florida, near jets taking off from a nearby airport and next to fuel storage tanks.

Florida may lift its three-decade ban on catching and killing goliath grouper.

A private school founded by an anti-vaccination activist in South Florida has warned teachers and staff against taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

Congressional leaders and colleagues have used a memorial service for Rep. Alcee Hastings to remember him as a straight-talking champion for the disadvantaged who overcame hurdles in his own life.

But their life may change drastically this year after the decision of President Joe Biden’s administration to offer temporary legal residency to several hundred thousand Venezuelans who fled their country’s humanitarian crisis. “As long as someone does not have a significant criminal record, it’s a pretty straightforward application, and I would expect nearly all to be approved,” Kagan said referring to the temporary protected status program. Gustavo Acosta cheered loudly upon learning that the Biden government had ordered temporary protected status for Venezuelans. Republicans in recent days had urged the Biden administration to formalize Trump’s executive order, but the temporary protected status issued Monday provides immigrants a more formal status that cannot be as easily reversed. “I feel happy, not only for me but for all the Venezuelans who are here.”___Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

The administration is invoking the Defense Production Act, a wartime measure that gives the federal government authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of the national defense, to equip two Merck facilities to produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. AdBiden said Johnson & Johnson will operate 24/7 to produce the vaccine. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that teachers will receive doses of the newly approved one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, under a plan his administration will release. AdHe gave few details, but said he and a bipartisan legislative task force agreed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be set aside for teachers and then other workers considered to be essential, but who are not included in the first vaccination phase. States are receiving 2.8 million doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.

Florida is moving to restrict 16 invasive reptile species that have wreaked havoc in the Everglades and across the state. “Breeding invasive species in Florida is like playing with matches in a tinder box,” said Julie Wraithmell, vice president and executive director of Audubon Florida. “I'm very sensitive to the people in the pet trade and enthusiasts,” said Robert Spottswood, a member of the Florida commission. “But this action is a result of the invasive species that continue to get in the wild. Some kill native Florida wildlife as well as pets, while others dig burrows and become a threat to human constructions such as manmade fountains and gardens.

Now their first scheduled game with Houston has been added to the postponement list. ___The Big 12 has announced the reschedule dates for nine women’s basketball games postponed this season because of COVID-19 protocols. ___The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Thursday that Louisville's men's basketball game at Virginia Tech scheduled for Saturday has been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. Ad___Saturday’s men's basketball game between Texas A&M and Florida has been postponed due to COVID-19. It's the third straight Florida men's game affected by the coronavirus.

The 14th-ranked Bulls were put on pause because of COVID-19 issues on Jan. 21, 2021 when a Tier I member in the women's basketball program tested positive. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)It's been a rough few weeks for Jose Fernandez and his South Florida team. The 14th-ranked Bulls were put on pause because of COVID-19 issues within the women's basketball program on Jan. 21. You’re risking soft tissue injuries if you come back right away.”This pause came a few days after the Bulls were awarded a rare forfeit win over Memphis. AdSo, South Florida’s only game in the conference standings since Jan. 13 was the forfeit win over Memphis.

Two of the wounded agents were taken to hospitals to be treated and were in stable condition, said Miami FBI Agent Michael D. Leverock. Hours later, Sunrise Police urged residents of Water Terrace to remain inside their homes while law enforcement blocked the entrances to their community. The FBI agents had come to the apartment complex to serve a federal search warrant in connection with a case involving child pornography and violent crimes against children, according to Leverock and FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare. Law enforcement officials from numerous agencies lined up to pay their respects as a flag-covered body was removed from the vehicle and taken inside. Five other FBI agents were wounded in that shooting, which led the bureau to upgrade the weapons that agents carry.

He was convicted in April 2017 on 67 counts, including health care fraud, submitting false claims and falsifying patient records. A White House statement credited Menendez with supporting clemency for Melgen, who was a donor to Democratic politicians and a longtime friend of the Cuban-American New Jersey senator. In a statement of his own, Menendez said he did very little on Melgen’s behalf and did not expect the clemency decision from Trump. “I don’t pretend to know what motivates President Trump to act, but I am pretty sure it’s not me,” Menendez said. A federal jury in New Jersey failed to reach a verdict on charges that Melgen used his relationship to bribe Menendez.