A caller woke Reny Gonzalez at 3:30 a.m. with bad news: There had been a fire at his Latin American Grill in Miami Lakes.      “Part of the kitchen, the cook line, is destroyed,” Gonzalez said two days after the Nov. 19 blaze that fire inspectors told him started in the fryer.       The fire scarred the inside of the property, displaced his 40-member staff and left...

    If you live in downtown Miami Lakes, chances are you’ve seen Dixie as she takes in the sights from her perch in the basket on Chris Conte’s bicycle.     An adorable mix of breeds, the 15-year-old girl is doted upon by the Conte family:  Michael and Deedee and their adult children, Carly and Chris.      “I got her as a puppy from the pound in Broward County,” Chris...

    Corporate Courts is a commerce center on the east side of Miami Lakes, along Northwest 151st Street near Northwest 59th Court.       Numerous businesses and a variety of industries are based at the yellow office park with green trim and awnings.       The complex was built in 1974 and renovated in 1986, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s...

     The Aguirre Obando family of Pembroke Pines and Miami Lakes have enjoyed the Main Street Festival of Lights so much that they brought a relative visiting from Costa Rica to the 37th annual event.       “Everything is bigger and nicer [this year],” Estevaly Obando said in Spanish. The family have attended the festival during four previous years and were among those who cheered when Santa...

     Seventh and eighth grade students from Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic School’s National Junior Honor Society helped fill 1,035 bags with fixings for side dishes to be served at Thanksgiving. The bags of goods donated to the church and school by students and parishioners filled the gym/cafeteria at the school and were to be distributed to needy families by Our Lady of the Lakes, Catholic Charities and other local...