The Cooler

As always, it seems as though there's an endless supply of strange news happening in South Florida. Here's a taste.

A- Herald: Life in South Florida.

A toddler briefly kidnapped when his parent’s SUV was carjacked in Hialeah Wednesday was quickly found, but the man who took him is still on the loose.

Hialeah police said Daniel Rivero, 3, was dropped off in front of a TD Bank at Northwest 57th Avenue and Seventh Street. The SUV and carjacker, Pedro Luis Valdes, 48, are still missing.

B- Herald: Second life for the Vagabond?

But for the first time in years, things are suddenly looking up for the Vagabond Motel and its droll architectural calling-card: a corner-piece fountain with three naked nymphs on a clamshell and two frolicking dolphin companions.

A developer with a solid track record has signed a contract to buy the1953 motor-hotel and submitted plans to the city’s historic preservation office for what could be the top-to-bottom renovation that advocates of Miami Modern design have yearned for.

C- Herald: Convincing endorsement from the local community regarding the Midtown Walmart.

Countered Raymond Machado, executive director of the Wynwood Homeowners Association: “In Wynwood we’ve lived with nothing but drugs, so we’re used to traffic. We want this project for the sake of the community, and jobs.”

D- CBS4: Why, of course it had a pink sweater.

A small dog who fell off the Brickell Avenue drawbridge as it was being opened has been found alive, more than 18 hours later.

The mixed breed dog in a pink sweater was found in a restricted area below the bridge. Bridge operators say it is a miracle the dog was able to land safely on a cement slab, but recent rains had cushioned the fall.

[...]

Bernstein was first in line at the closed bridge gates. He immediately exited his car and tried desperately to alert the bridge operator of the dog’s impending doom, then tried calling the dog back to safety. Other motorists joined the effort, honking their horns and screaming at the bridge operator.

“There were quite a few people who saw the events unfolding right before their eyes and who were causing quite a scene,” said Bernstein.

The dog continued across the rising drawbridge. That’s when the unthinkable happened: the dog reached the middle, where the drawbridge’s halves meet, and plummeted into the Miami River.

“She starts sliding … and I literally just missed her by a foot,” Bernstein said.

E- Herald: Like a dog.

A man found dead on the MacArthur Causeway was likely killed by a hit-and-run driver, Miami Beach police said Wednesday.

Someone walking along the causeway came across the body in the bushes. The body, which was not decomposed, had been there less than a day, police said.

F- Herald: Morin.

G- WPLG: Wearing out his welcome.

DETROIT - U.S. border agents say they arrested a Cuban immigrant crossing from Windsor, Ontario, after discovering he was wanted for attempted murder in Miami.

Customs and Border Patrol said in a statement Wednesday that Pablo A. Perez-Castellanos was on a bus carrying passengers through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel on Sunday.

The agency says Perez-Castellanos told them he was returning to the U.S. after a three-month visit to Cuba. He's a Cuban citizen with U.S. residency status.

The agency say a check revealed that he had a March 19 felony warrant from Florida accusing him of kidnapping, burglary with assault and battery, attempted premeditated murder and child abuse.

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