The Miami Lakes town council honored Alfredo Vargas, owner of Havana Group Cigars. Vargas has owned the business in the Royal Oaks Plaza since 2005. Vargas is “a long-time Miami Laker who brings people together,” Mayor Manny Cid said before the council meeting on Jan. 18. Vargas was a Colombian Air Force veteran who immigrated to the United States in 1989. After leaving his position at a national hotel chain,...

      It’s one of the great quirks of golf: A player could place a ball exactly 150 yards from the hole one day, then place a ball in the exact same spot and hit to the exact same pin a day later, only to have the shots seem wildly different.      The reason: Wind.      There’s no escaping the elements, particularly in South Florida, where we can get breezes at any time from just...

      Miami Dade College is adding soccer programs this fall.       The school recently hired MDC alumnus Ramiro Vengoechea to coach the inaugural women’s team.       Giuseppe DePalo is head coach of the men’s program that is returning for the first time in more than three decades.       “I look forward to working with students and developing a winning...

Five candidates have qualified to run in the April 9 special election to fill a seat on the Miami Lakes town council. Seat 6 became vacant when Vice Mayor Carlos Alvarez resigned in November, citing personal reasons. The candidates who completed their paperwork on Feb. 14 are: Hector Abad, a social worker in Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Esther Colon, a former manager of the town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea; former Vice Mayor Nelson...

      Bacon the Chihuahua is named for one of his favorite foods. The way he dived for a piece of pork that had fallen to the floor when he was a puppy inspired owner Chu Diaz to name him after the treat.       Bacon almost didn’t live 11 years. He was struck by a car when he was 4-years-old but survived.       “He was born again,” Diaz said of his pup. Diaz is a radio...