U.s. Could Use More Friends Like Faieq Zarif

Local entrepreneurs have a message for Fort Lauderdale: The city’s homeless crisis is bad for business — and getting worse. The complaints take on a new urgency in light of a new state law that bans homeless people from sleeping in public. The new law, which goes into effect in October, also paves the way for critics to file lawsuits against local governments starting next year if they fail to enforce the ban. Bernie Bedor, a business owner in northern Fort Lauderdale, says he has sent email after email to City Hall, begging Fort Lauderdale officials to do something about the city’s ongoing homeless problem. “We take investors down to the beach and they see homeless people in tents,” Bedor told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

How badly does state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. want to depopulate? So badly that in addition to participating with private-market insurers in a “takeout” program, the residual insurer is trying to remove customers out of policies that haven’t even begun. And it’s doing so with confusing letters and questionable premium estimates that ensure the policyholder must take the private-market offer — at least for now. State officials make no secret of the fact they don’t want Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Q: In Saturday’s first quarter, the Heat missed shots, but the Celtics knew exactly what they Heat were trying to do. No one on the Heat was a trigger, with the Heat players making excessive passes and forcing the action to get the ball in the  hands of Tyler Herro to set up the offense, even if it wasn’t there.

Here are the top stories for Monday, April 29, 2024. Get the weather forecast for today here. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get our free Morning Update email. Sign up here. From hospitals to doctors’ offices, the frantic questions women are asking about the new abortion law Trump meets DeSantis in Miami seeking to tap ex-rival’s donor connections A Florida sheriff says 10 people were wounded by gunfire after a fight broke out at a party venue California Disney characters are unionizing decades after Florida peers.

By OLEG CETINIC (Associated Press) PARIS (AP) — French media are reporting that actor Gérard Depardieu is in police custody for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets. Broadcaster BFMTV and the daily Le Parisien reported that the 75-year-old actor was summoned Monday morning by Paris police and placed in custody. The Paris police force said it wasn’t authorized to comment and directed questions to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press) JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials appeared increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants against the country’s leaders, as international pressure mounts over the war in Gaza. Airstrikes overnight into Monday killed 25 people in a southern city, according to hospital records. The deaths in Rafah included nine women and five children, one of whom was just 5 days old, according to the records and an Associated Press reporter.