Dorothy Olsen Ball, 81, a 30-year resident of Miami Lakes, died due to Parkinson’s Disease on May 28 in her home in Gainesville. Ball dedicated her life to helping others, empowering women through her work with Zonta International (area director), helping those less fortunate than her through United Protestant Appeal (president) and recording audio books for the blind. She also counseled girls at a Miami juvenile detention...

Miami Lakes K-8 Center eighth grade Language Arts teacher Virnalis Arvelo treated her top writers to dinner at Shula's 2, as she does every year to the students who achieve a perfect writing score on the Florida Standards Assessment. “I’m so proud of all my students and their hard work, I was speechless and overcome with emotion when I counted 26 perfect writing scores,” said Arvelo. “That's a record! I started...

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise have scheduled a public information meeting and two public hearings on the proposed improvement plans along Florida’s Turnpike between the Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) and I-75 in Miami-Dade County, on Thursday, July 20, at Shula’s Hotel on Main Street in Miami Lakes.The Public Information meeting is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed by an Access...

Not bad for a rookie. Jacob Thomas’ first ever experience playing organized sports is memorable, as the seven-year-old claimed the MVP award after leading his Giants flag football team at the Miami Lakes Optimist Club to an undefeated record, 10-0, and the spring league championship for the 5-7 age division.Thomas is a multi purpose player, playing quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and he helped his team out on defense.The...

Among the many students that roam the halls at American Senior High School are seniors and Silver Knight nominees for 2017 Chinenye Ibemera, Aniah Watts and Sydney Vallejo. Despite their age, their knowledge and dreams extend far beyond the average high school teen. Ibemera was born in Antigua and Barbuda and came to the United States in the fourth grade. Whatever setbacks emigrating to a new country may cause, Ibemera’s academic...