Hialeah Gardens High School senior Caridad Cruz was among a group of students who Bank of America selected to take part in its 2016 Student Leaders Program.The eight-week program connects high school juniors and seniors based on their academic achievement and community service to employment, skills development and service. They are also awarded paid summer internships with local nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity and Boys and Girls...

As proposed by chair Perla Tabares Hantman, the Miami-Dade School Board unanimously voted to endorse the 2016 “Welcome Back to School” Safety Flyer for distribution during the first week of school. Also endorsed were International “Walk to School Day” and the 5-E School Assessment Tool developed by the University of Miami’s Walksafe and Bikesafe programs.“For the past several years the Community Traffic...

The Beacon Council, through JPMorgan Chase, recently contributed $30,000 to Miami-Dade College’s Idea Center to be used to create Webdev, a new course that allows participants to learn from the ground up on how to build responsive websites in eight weeks.The new class was launched on July 19.“By the year 2020, more than 60 percent of managerial positions will require coding as a skill,” said Idea Center’s executive...

Miami Lakes’ long-running Summerfest concert is back presenting its 25th Anniversary summer music festival at 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 6. The free concert will be held at Miami Lakes United Methodist Church, 14800 N.W. 67 Avenue.The Summerfest Chamber Orchestra will feature musicians and soloists who have participated in the festival over the past 25 years, including members of the Arpeggione Chamber Orchestra of Austria, the Mission...

Town of Miami Lakes is proposing the same rate for property taxes for the sixth consecutive year but more than $1 million for municipal services might go unfunded unless the town can find the money elsewhere or cut other services depending on what’s important to lawmakers and residents.According to a budget overview with preliminary figures for Miami Lakes’ spending plan for 2016-2017, $1.8 million of services were included in the...