News briefs

Firefighter sues after pulling daughter’s body from Surfside rubble

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Miami firefighter who frantically worked to free to his 7-year-old daughter from the rubble in Surfside has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The suit, filed Tuesday by firefighter Enrique Arango, seeks unspecified damages. It names multiple companies “involved in the ownership, maintenance, restoration, management, inspection and oversight of the building.”

In the decades leading up to the catastrophe, building officials knew about “deplorable conditions,” such as seawater pooling in the garage, the suit alleges.

The girl, referred to by her initials, lived with her mother and grandparents in Unit 501 at Champlain Towers South. The collapse of the 12-story building on June 24 killed 98 people.

At 1:30 a.m. that morning, Arango was at the fire station when he heard about the collapse.

“He stood motionless waiting for the live feed to reveal the extent of the collapse, hoping the unit that housed his daughterwas still standing. Tragically, it was not,” according to the lawsuit.

In less than an hour, Arango and his brother, also a firefighter, were at the scene.

—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 2nd special session to start on Saturday

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special session for Saturday with an even more expansive agenda that includes the contentious elections bill Democrats fled the state to protest and hot-button social issues, such as transgender sports.

The Republican governor is also asking the Legislature to reconsider its own rules that require a certain number of lawmakers be present to debate bills. House Democrats foiled Abbott’s first special session by leaving en masse for Washington, D.C.,and depriving the chamber of a quorum.

It is unclear whether Democrats will even show up on Saturday, leaving the fate of the session in limbo.

On Thursday, Abbott promised to keep reconvening lawmakers in Austin until the elections legislation and other priorities get to his desk.

“Passing these Special Session agenda items will chart a course towards a stronger and brighter future for the Lone Star State,” Abbott said in a statement.

Other items on his 17-issue agenda include addressing “border security,” overhauling the state’s bail system and further restricting abortion-inducing drugs. The highly partisan agenda is largely favored by Republican lawmakers who control the Legislature and the GOP primary voters they are courting. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and every member of the House and Senate are up for reelection in 2022.

—The Dallas Morning News

Coast Guard’s record-breaking drug offload worth an estimated $1.4 billion

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The largest offload of illegal drugs in U.S. Coast Guard history, about 26 metric tons in all, was displayed on two large palates at Port Everglades on Thursday.

The record-breaking haul — roughly 59,700 pounds of cocaine and 1,430 pounds of marijuana — has an estimated street value of more than $1.4 billion, according to the Coast Guard.

It was collected among 20 seizures over the last several months in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The drugs were likely on their way to Central America and then the United States, the Coast Guard said.

According to officials, it was nearly double the amount of drugs seized during patrol last fall.

—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Boris Johnson: Constitutional change, Scotland independence vote 'not top of agenda'

EDINBURGH, Scotland — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has continued to deny Nicola Sturgeon's demands for a second Scottish independence referendum, with Johnson using a visit north to make clear that constitutional change "is not top of (his) agenda."

Instead he insisted that there are "phenomenal" opportunities for the United Kingdom to look forward to as the country seeks to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, has repeatedly argued for the powers of independence to shape a new Scotland in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has previously made plain her desire to have another vote on the future of the U.K. before the end of 2023.

But the prime minister, speaking towards the end of a two-day visit to Scotland, declared: "I think the priority for our country as a whole is bouncing back together, working our way forward from this pandemic together, and I think the opportunities are absolutely phenomenal.

"But the emphasis, I think, has got to be on economic recovery and I think constitutional change, it's not top of my agenda,let me put it that way."

—PA Media/dpa