Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sen. René Garcia held one of his “Cafecito con René” gatherings at Holiday Bakery in Miami Lakes.      It was standing room only on June 11 at the store in the Cypress Village Shopping Center.       Garcia was running for re-election for Commission District 13 and won his race in the primary after an opponent did not file the proper...

     Boy Scouts from the Miami Lakes area attended a BSA National Youth Leadership Training Program in March held at Camp Elmore in Davie.      Over six days and five nights, the scouts learned advanced corporate team building; leadership and critical thinking and management skills, which they will bring back to their troops.     Fifty young people from Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties...

     Gino and Jack are two lucky felines. They were foster kittens who Marie and Harold Korenstein met through Adopt A Stray, Inc.      Though they aren’t blood brothers, they act like it sometimes, especially when a random invader such as a cockroach or lizard appears in the couple’s Miami Lakes home.      That’s when the cats imitate a SWAT team and take down the offender,...

 Each year, the American Legion presents awards to approximately 30,000 students for demonstrating character traits that the group calls American ideals: courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service.      Young people in elementary, middle and high schools and at colleges are chosen by faculty for the Legion’s School Medal Award Program, said Gary Cardenas, commander of American Legion Post 144...

    Like many authors do, Jackie Morera drew from her own life when writing her first book, “Abuelo’s Flower Shop.”       Morera, 34, grew up in Miami Lakes. Her grandfather’s flower stand in Miami inspired her tale of Elena, a little girl who is finally old enough to help her grandfather sell his flowers.       “I would visit my abuelos (grandparents) when...