The Cooler

Here's your fresh news of the day, readers. Enjoy this morning's Cooler.

A- Herald: Surprise!

They spent big bucks on free agents. They moved into a state-of-the-art ballpark. They hired a marquee manager. They changed their name, their color scheme and their outfits. They even started letting players wear neck chains and grow beards.

The Marlins underwent the makeover of all Major League makeovers.

But the results on the field haven’t changed. The new-look, gussied-up Marlins have been a mammoth bust so far.

B- Herald: Reading the writing on the wall.

After asking the city of Miami to forgive its debts and expand its footprint on Watson Island, Jungle Island is standing down.

On Wednesday, the tourist attraction said it will cough up a pending $2 million loan payment and is ending negotiations with the city — for now, anyway.

“Jungle Island has made the decision to put its expansion plans on hold and reconsider our options for the future at this time,” park officials wrote in a statement.

C- Herald: Morin.

D- TC Palm: Life in South Florida.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Two people walking along Southwest Savage Boulevard apparently were struck at 10 p.m. Saturday by a white pickup truck with utility boxes that left the scene, according to a Port St. Lucie police released Wednesday.

Alex Hayden, 24, said he was with his 27-year-old brother, Tom Hayden, and friend Rachel Bonaminio, also 27, on Southwest Savage Boulevard at Southwest Logwood Road.

Alex Hayden said they were walking off the road in the grass, and the report states the truck was traveling north on Southwest Savage Boulevard at the time.

E- Miami Today: So Miami.

Miami International Airport's oldest terminal, dating to the 1950s, could be redeveloped to include a glitzy multi-level indoor shopping mall with escalators that officials say would set the standard for US airports.

The proposed mall is one of several concepts being considered for the Central Terminal under a strategic master plan being developed for Miami International.

"It would be a large retail development unlike what we have in travel anywhere in the United States," said Jose Ramos, who's overseeing master plan development for the county Aviation Department.

As currently envisioned, the Central Terminal would be completely modernized and continue to handle airline passengers alongside a retail, office and hotel cluster.

A section of the Central Terminal — called the Landside Terminal — could be developed up to nine levels and 160 feet tall.

F- CBS4: Creep.

MIRAMAR (CBSMiami) – Language arts teacher Frank Borzen has lost his job after an investigation revealed he posted inappropriate language in Facebook messages to one of his students.

[...]

In one case he wrote, “Everyone wants to rape me except you. How come when I said ‘let’s make out,’…you didn’t?” In another missive the teacher invited the girl to join him in his Jacuzzi. “If you wanted it bad enough, you would get here,” he is quoted as writing.

G- NBC Miami: This guy might be full of sh*t.

An American Airlines worker is suing after a food services truck allegedly hit the portable toilet on the Miami International Airport ramp where he works while he was inside it.

Rolando Luzbel said he seriously injured his knee in the crash, as he was knocked to the floor and jostled around while trapped in the Port-O-Let.

The toilet unit was in poor condition and not properly barricaded, Luzbel said.

H- WSVN: Miami not-so-nice.

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- A tourist visiting South Florida has been left with severe injuries after she went after the thief who took off with her purse at a parking lot.

Maria Beatrice is in excruciating pain on her face, shoulder and legs after a man ripped her purse from her shoulder in the Costco parking lot on North Miami Beach.

Beatrice is a tourist from Brazil and was with her sister and daughter when she ran after the man. "I run to him shouting 'I need my passport, just give me my passport,'" she said.

The suspect then hopped in a getaway car and Beatrice ran up to the car. "I put my arms into the window and asked, 'Give me my passport, please. I need my passport,' and she closed the window and started the car, and I had to run," said Beatrice.

A female getaway driver took off leaving Beatrice's hand wedged into the window of the car. Beatrice's sister said she thought she was dead. "And she was dragging and running and then she fell down, and then I think they opened the window and she was on the floor," said Maria Theresa. "She fell with her arms open like a dead person. Her face was on the floor. I thought she was dead."

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