Kwanzaa is celebrated this year from Dec. 26 – Jan. 1.      The National  Museum of African American History & Culture says the holiday is an African American and Pan-African celebration of culture.      The word Kwanzaa is from Swahili, meaning first fruits or harvest festival, the museum website says.      Created in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa is a time...

Students at the  Rilion Gracie Miami Lakes jiu-jitsu academy led the competition at the South Florida JitzKing Open in Miami on Oct. 29.      The academy said it placed first overall.     Seventeen students ages 6 - 13 demonstrated their skills in grappling, wrestling and the martial art, with some taking home more than one gold medal.      “I’m really proud of our team,...

ay hello to Coco! He’s a 1-year-old Shiba Inu, owned by Alejandro Simon of Miami Lakes.       Simon found Coco on Craig’s List.       “I wanted a companion,” Simon said. “I wasn’t looking for a fancy breed. He turned out to be a great dog.”       They became fast friends.          Simon lives downtown  and walks...

Ana H. Knapp, district outreach liaison for the North Region of Miami-Dade County Project UP-START, receives Publix gift cards from Denis Brenes, vice president of the Giving Gators charity.      The Giving Gators Thanksgiving drive raised $2,500 to feed students in Miami-Dade County public and charter schools who are in unstable housing.       Project UP-START distributed the gift cards to...

William Dean Gross of Miami Lakes and Pembroke Pines died unexpectedly Nov. 23 of natural causes, according to the T. M. Ralph Plantation Funeral Home.        He was 59-years-old.      Gross grew up in  Miami Lakes, graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School and attended the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, his family said in a published...