Miami skyscraper cheers on UM
The Paramount Miami Worldcenter skyscraper in Downtown Miami was lit up for the kickoff of the college football season, showcasing the green and orange logo of the University of Miami in support of the Miami Hurricanes as they prepared to face off against the Florida Gators. Other displays included the “Sebastian the Ibis” mascot and the phrase “Go Canes” moving vertically down the building.
The skyscraper is the creation of developer Daniel Kodsi, CEO of the Royal Palm Companies and an alum of the University of Miami class of 1990. The real estate mogul graduated from the Herbert School of Business and has a daughter in the freshman class at the U.
The Paramount is known for lighting up during special events, holidays, and to show support for local sports teams.
Hurricane Francine surges on
Category 2 Hurricane Francine made landfall on the Louisiana coast on Wednesday, Sept. 11,
knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of residents and strewing damage in its wake. While meteorologists initially believed Hurricane Francine would not strengthen past a tropical storm, the storm caught a second wind mere hours before crashing into Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, the city that received the brunt of Francine’s strength.
Louisiana’s smaller communities along the coastline are still recovering from hurricanes
that passed through in 2021, like Category 4 Hurricane Ida.
By the next day, Francine had weakened into a tropical storm. Local officials and residents continue to navigate flooding and debris.
Florida Supreme Court sees case on protections for minority voters
A case regarding discrimination and redistricting in northern Florida was heard at the
Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, Sept.12. This case is one of the many being brought forward by voting rights groups fighting against the state’s new congressional map.
The plaintiffs consist of representatives from several nonprofit organizations, including the
Equal Ground Education Fund. Their goal is to push back against Gov. DeSantis’ reconfiguration of the 5th Congressional District in northern Florida.
Originally, the 5th Congressional District was a historically majority-Black community,
and their electoral choices at the polls represented this. However, in 2022, DeSantis split the district into four, making it difficult for the Black communities in those districts to elect any one representative of their choice.
The appeal’s court that had previously seen the case failed to identify discriminatory
intent on the part of the state. The state’s argument reinterprets the Florida Constitutional provisions against gerrymandering as only being applicable if the district is “geographically compact,” something they say the former 5th district was not.
The case could potentially go to the United States Supreme Court sometime in the next few years.