Newsbreak: Tropical Storm Eta kills 1, floods parts of Tampa Bay

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A truck drives through flooded streets from Tropical Storm Eta

Many schools and businesses remained closed on Thursday after Tropical Storm Eta ripped through the Tampa Bay area.

The storm is being blamed on one death. Mark Mixon of Bradenton Beach was electrocuted as he walked through high water in one of his rental properties on Wednesday.

Dozens of people had to be rescued. Flooding is expected to continue for the next couple of days. The National Weather Service also warned about dangerous rip currents in the Gulf through Friday.

The Pinellas County Sheriff is urging people to avoid driving through flooded streets and to watch for downed trees.

“The Sheriff’s Office deployed High Water Rescue Teams throughout the county and the teams used boats and high water vehicles to rescue 33 people from homes and roadways,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “The Sheriff’s Office Dive Team assisted in several recues from vehicle inaccessible areas. The high water vehicles deputies used to effect the rescues included Humvees, flat bottom boats, and inflatable boats.”

The sheriff said most of those efforts occurred from Pass-a-Grille to Madeira Beach.

Biden’s election likely bringing major changes to immigration policy

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to make sweeping changes to immigration policies institute over the past four years by President Donald Trump.

He just added Barack Obama’s top immigration advisor to his transition team. Cecilia Munoz is viewed as a moderate voice on immigration issues, according to the Associated Press. Some immigration progressives are signaling their displeasure.

Biden’s immigration changes could have a big impact on Florida. The state has an estimated 656,000 undocumented immigrants.

He’s expected to restore protection to “Dreamers” in the DACA program.

Biden also plans to overturn Trump’s Muslim travel ban.

Travel to and from Cuba may also get a lot easier. In September, Trump announced a crackdown on travel to Cuba, which had been eased during the Trump administration. U.S. travelers to the island nation would also once again be prohibited from spending money in Cuban-owned hotels or returning home with Cuban cigars or rum.

Recent upgrades help Pelican Golf Club host LPGA tourney

The women of the Ladies Professional Golf Association are coming next week to the Tampa Bay area for the first time since 1987, to the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association is one of the longest-running women’s professional sports associations in the world, and the Pelican Women’s Championship Nov. 16-22 will be a highlight for the region.

“We called the LPGA ourselves and proposed the idea, and now, here we are,” said Justin Sheehan, the director of golf at the club. “It means a lot to showcase the best women players in the world, to put Belleair, Florida, on the map.”

The course recently went though extensive renovations and is now suited to host world-class players. Photo Credit: Caylee Cottrell

“The physical facilities are phenomenal,” Sheehan said. “With a little hard work and some quality people, something special happens.”

Because of the pandemic, the tournament will be held without fans on-site this year. The tournament carries a $1.5 million purse in prizes for the top finishers.

‘An extra level of magic:’ app using augmented reality for language learning

USF is developing an app to help kids learn new languages using augmented reality.

 “I really think augmented reality brings an extra level of magic into the real world,” said Sara Smith, an English for Speakers of Other Languages assistant professor at US.

Kids scan flash cards with their cell phone or tablet camera.

A special QR code embedded in the card triggers virtual characters to pop up on screen and act out vocabulary words.

Smith says her app will focus on Spanish first, then expand to other languages like Haitian Creole, which is Florida’s third most common language.

Credits

Anchors: Alexandra Rodriguez, Payton Kirol

Reporters: Caylee Cottrell

Producer:  Dylan Zuccarello

Writer:  Gabe Castro, Nick Cousineau

Graphics editor: Zack Brown, Bryony Deighton

Video Editor:   Gabe Castro, Nick Cousineau

Videographers: Dylan Zuccarello, Bryony Deighton, Caylee Cottrell

Show Editor: David Jones

Associate Producer: Carla Ibanez

Graduate Assistant:  Emmanuel Maduneme

Faculty Adviser: Jeanette Abrahamsen, Wayne Garcia

Published by Wayne Garcia

Wayne Garcia is an award-winning journalist and educator, working in Florida newspapers, colleges and political campaigns for 30 years. He is a senior instructor and former director of Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications. His background is in political and investigative journalism. Garcia teaches courses in Mass Communications and Society, Beginning Reporting, Advanced Reporting, the Future of Journalism, Editing I, and Writing for the Mass Media. As a journalist, he worked for the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune and Gainesville Sun daily newspapers. During his tenure as the political editor for the alt-weekly Creative Loafing, Garcia won two Sunshine State Awards for his political writing and his widely read political blog. He was the 2009 recipient of the Irene Miller Vigilance in Journalism Award from the Pinellas Chapter of the ACLU. He is a past executive director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association, the leading advocacy group for high school journalists in the state. As a political consultant for nine years, he ran or was part of more than 100 campaigns in the state of Florida. A native of Scotch Plains, N.J., who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Garcia is a Florida Gator and a USF Bull, having earned his master’s degree from USF St. Petersburg.