Free Republic

An American Airlines flight from Miami to Milan has been diverted to Canada, with reports of injuries on board. Flight AA206 has been cleared to land at St John's International Airport in Newfoundland. There are paramedics on the ground waiting for the plane's arrival. Canadian newspaper The Telegram reports there are five ambulances at the airport, and "there are people with serious injuries on board". This is a developing story. More information will be added as it comes to hand.

Workers from nine U.S. airports are planning to block bridges, march through terminals and protest at airline headquarters during a day of civil disobedience on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The workers - a mix of cleaners, baggage handlers, fuelers and wheelchair attendants - will risk arrest at airports and other locations including the Mall, to bring attention to their campaign for better wages, the Service Employees International Union said. The actions are the latest in the airport workers' campaign for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, a benefits package and job protections. They're also protesting threats against their efforts to unionize....

The immediate fate of the open carry and campus carry bills in Florida rest in the hands of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.  From bizjournals.com: But the chances might be better that the Senate Judiciary Committee will look at allowing Floridians to openly carry sidearms than moving forward with another proposal that would allow guns on state university and college campuses. Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said he and committee staff members continue to review the high-profile proposals, which would apply to people who have concealed-weapons licenses. The Senate President,...

The family of the armed man, who they identified as 56-year old Richard Fernandez, said the officers ordered him to drop the machete, but he refused. “Instead, he lunged toward the officer with the machete,” said Perez. “The officer discharged her firearm and struck the subject that was holding the machete.” Fernandez was taken to Kendall Regional Trauma Center where he’s listed in critical condition. His sister told CBS4 her brother was shot twice in the head area and she didn’t think he was going to make it.

Protests and debates have erupted across the nation this week in the wake of a grand jury's decision not to indict the Cleveland police officers who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Most of that debate has centered on whether police had real reason to fear for their lives, as the grand jury believed. Few have suggested that Rice -- a preteen playing with a toy gun in a park -- deserved to be killed. But that's exactly what Lt. Javier Ortiz, president of Miami's police union, argues on Twitter during a debate with Billy Corben over the case. Ortiz writes...

TALLAHASSEE - One of Miami's top county GOP officials could be ousted from his post after he publicly endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential bid, a political sin in a city whose Republican establishment is firmly behind either Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush.Miami-Dade Republican Party vice chairman Manny Roman says that because he broke that political code, the Bush and Rubio camps are now coming after him, though the party's chair denies that charge."The official campaigns, they are not just supporters and people who want to see Bush and Rubio win," he told POLITICO Florida. "They are putting pressure on the...

A GOP leader in the Miami-Dade community has bucked conventional wisdom by endorsing a Republican presidential candidate that isn't Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio.In a letter published on Christmas Day in the Miami Herald, the Republican Party of Miami-Dade's Vice Chairman, Manny Roman, throws his support behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Both Bush and Rubio call the Miami-Dade County area home.Roman writes he "had every reason to support Senator Rubio," calling him "well-liked," and acknowledges him as a colleague at Florida International University, where Rubio often teaches politics.Instead, Roman writes that Cruz breaks through the noise and the "overwhelming indirect...

Miami-Dade Police are investigating a shooting on the 21000 block of SW 120th Avenue in Southwest Miami-Dade. Officers discovered five people shot at the scene. According to officials, all five of the victims were in the parking lot of a grocery store, when a newer model silver vehicle began shooting. The vehicle is described as possibly a Chrysler 200 with dark tinted windows and the passenger side mirror missing.

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Gunfire erupted in a Miami neighborhood, Saturday afternoon, sending a teenage boy to the hospital with seven gunshot wounds, the latest in a string of shootings involving local students. Miami Police said 30 to 40 rounds were fired at 16-year-old Jamal Pieze in the area of Northwest 39th Street and 17th Avenue in Miami, at around 2:45 p.m. Investigators said the victim was walking down the street when the shots rang out. "Suddenly, two other black males approached and started shooting at him," said Miami Police Officer Rene Pimentel. "The victim ran."

MIAMI (CBS12) -- A flight from Paris is being held on the tarmac at Miami International Airport due to a suspicious item. Miami-Dade Police are investigating the item on board American Airlines flight 63 from Paris. There are 214 people on board. The search by the bomb squad is not impacting other operations at the airport. The plane has been moved to a remote area of the airport for the investigation, according to Miami-Dade Aviation Department Communications Director Greg Chin.

The American Airlines flight, a Boeing 777 aircraft, landed at Miami International Airport at 3:32 p.m. ET on Tuesday after departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 6:14 a.m. ET. The aircraft, which was carrying 217 passengers and 14 crew members, was led to a secure area of the airport. Two units of the local bomb squad are on scene, but it is unclear if anything suspicious had been found. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as other federal agencies, have been notified and the area has been secured. Other details were not immediately available.

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - Police are searching for two men who broke into a North Miami hobby shop and stole several pricey items.

One of Florida's biggest conservative Republican moneymen - and a billionaire backer of Jeb Bush - is so disgusted by Donald Trump's candidacy that if he has to, he'll do the unthinkable: "If I have a choice - and you can put it in bold - if I have a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, I'm choosing Hillary," Miami healthcare magnate Mike Fernandez told the Miami Herald on Friday.

Miami is expected to hire former Georgia head coach Mark Richt as its head coach, a source told SI's Thayer Evans. Peter Ariz of CanesInSight.com first reported the news. Richt, who played quarterback at Miami from 1979–1982, coached Georgia for 15 seasons starting in 2001 until he was fired earlier this week. He compiled a 145–51 record with the Bulldogs, including an 83–37 mark in conference play.

Employees at a Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Miami Beach, FL are in hot water after video of a fight with a customer has surfaced. Although it is unclear what started the brawl, NBC New York reports that the customer was drunk and was being loud, but was not physical. The employees then threw cups at the woman, which is when things started to escalate. Five Guys area supervisor Tina Holley released the following statement to NBC 6 via email: The actions displayed in this video are simply unacceptable. We are working with the franchise owner to do a...

NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Two South Florida mothers are uniting in making a painful plea after another Miami Northwestern Senior High student was shot several times over the weekend. The latest victim's mother ran outside when she heard the gunshots. The 16-year-old Miami Northwestern Senior High student, Hasam Williams, was making a convenience store run when he was gunned down on Saturday night. He is currently in the hospital and is expected to recover, unlike three other students from the same school, who have died in shootings since the beginning of the school year.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has suspended the officiating crew that worked the Miami-Duke game for two league games following what it called "a series of errors" on the final play.

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, who has cycled through eight "permanent" managers and two interim managers since buying the team in 2002, on Thursday landed the man he targeted in his latest skipper search: former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly, sources said. Mattingly, as expected, agreed to a four-year contract to replace Dan Jennings, who was reassigned to the front office but instructed not to return to work until he has more conversations with Loria. Mattingly, 54, and the Dodgers parted ways recently after he led the team to three consecutive National League West titles but no World Series...

Businessman Donald Trump held a rally Friday night at the Miami at the Trump National Doral Miami resort. Several leftist agitators made their way into the Trump rally on their feet. They left the room on their backs. Hasta la Vista, baby!

Ariel Rojas wasn't the only protester inside Donald Trump's campaign event at Trump National Miami Doral Resort on Friday. At least three separate groups could be heard interrupting Trump and chanting pro-immigration messagesRojas' group, comprised of eight Florida International University students, each holding up one letter, spelling out the word E-Q-U-A-L-I-T Rojas, a senior at FIU, was holding up the letter Q before, he said, the Trump supporters standing in front of him turned around, grabbed their signs, and tore them to pieces. "There were some choice moments of irony,' said Rojas, whose friend reported seeing a Trump supporter whacking...