
North Broward Prep's Alexa Schwartz is the Broward Girls' Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Schwartz set a state meet record in track and field and became a state champion.
She also helped resurrect a girls' basketball program, making them a playoff regular again while securing a place at the top of the school record book in multiple categories.
Schwartz did all of this while excelling as a student as well, earning herself a scholarship to attend Florida State University.
For her long list of accomplishments, Schwartz is the Miami Herald's Girls' Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Broward County.
Schwartz is heading to FSU after graduating with a 4.7 GPA and scoring a 30 on her ACT.
On the basketball court, Schwartz heads to the college level as North Broward Prep's all-time leading scorer with over 1,000 points and single season assists leader. Schwartz, who recorded the school's first triple-double in a game, was a Florida Athletic Coaches Association All-State selection and led the Eagles to the regional finals in 2023. That appearance broke a 12-year drought of not advancing to the regional playoffs. North Broward Prep made it back to regionals again this season, losing in the quarterfinals.
Schwartz also excelled as the state's best javelin thrower.
In an event, which was added as a regular event in state competition in recent years, Schwartz set a new state meet record earlier this month when she won the Class 2A state title with a throw of 47.04 meters. Schwartz was a two-time state champion and three-time district champion in the event.
Schwartz was a Miami Herald Silver Knight nominee, was part of the school's Honor Roll every semester, and is a member of seven different National Honor Societies.
Schwartz also became a leader at her school and in the community, volunteering over 700 hours as she was involved in several Jewish youth organizations as a teacher and mentor.
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Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
‘I won't sleep': Fort Lauderdale's Brian Entin will drop everything for a scoop
NewsNation senior correspondent Brian Entin was enjoying the Florida Panthers victory parade in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale a few Sundays ago. Suddenly, his phone rang. On the other end was his editor, Cherie Grzech. Question: Are you willing and able to fly to Qatar, like, now? He had just returned from covering the lawmaker shootings in Minnesota and reality star Todd Chrisley's release from a Pensacola prison, but Entin didn't hesitate. In the sweltering heat, surrounded by wall to wall screaming hockey fans, he began checking flights on his phone. By that evening, he was on a plane to Doha, roughly 8,000 miles away. Grzech called the right man for the job. 'You send Brian because his on the ground reporting is unmatched,' she told the Miami Herald. Entin, whose suitcase is half-packed at all times, has developed a wide following (some Redditors call him 'News Daddy') because of his willingness to go wherever, whenever for the sake of good journalism. 'I've had success because I'm willing to drop everything at the drop of a hat to pursue a good story,' said Entin. 'I stay places for extended periods and just wait it out. I'll sweat. I won't sleep. I'll watch a house all night if I think something's going to happen there. I'm crazy that way. I don't leave.' South Floridians may recall the intrepid reporter from his early days, first at NBC affiliate WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, then at WSVN-7News, where he honed a very particular set of skills. Still pretty green, Entin soon had enormous shoes to fill, taking over for the late, great Carmel Cafiero who retired in 2016. The station's first female on-air reporter exposed corruption in South Florida for more than four decades. 'I knew it was a big responsibility to be her successor, so went really hard,' Entin said. 'I learned that Carmel was really into old-school surveillance and chasing people down with her microphone. I just kind of took that and ran with it.' There's a good chance his curiosity about crime came from tagging along at work with his father, criminal defense attorney Michael Entin. While other kids his age were playing Pac-Man at the arcade, Entin was attending trials and hanging around the Gold Coast Railroad Museum while dad saw clients at the nearby Federal Correctional Institution. 'Crime, drugs, jails. None of it ever freaked me out,' said Entin. 'I was exposed to a lot.' But neither law enforcement nor the legal profession was his jam; Entin preferred the more human, storytelling side. While attending the University School in Davie and editing the campus newspaper, the ambitious teen began contributing to the Sun Sentinel's community page, 'Next Generation,' which came out every Saturday. 'Your picture was printed along with your article, and you got paid,' he explained. 'It was a big deal. I was super into it.' Entin learned the trade by watching the pros, specifically '7News.' 'Forget Hollywood actors like Brad Pitt. Local anchors were my celebrities. I was obsessed,' Entin said, laughing. 'My bedroom was full of their autographed pictures. I'd make my mom drive me around to follow the news trucks!' Some of his idols, OGs like Lynn Martinez, Belkys Nerey, Patrick Fraser are still working there. So is Craig Stevens, a family friend who put in a good word or two to the brass to get him hired. 'Craig is the greatest, someone I grew up looking up to,' said Entin of his mentor. The feeling is mutual. 'He's just a first-rate guy, smart supremely talented and deserves all the success he is enjoying,' Stevens told the Miami Herald. 'He's a superb journalist and a fine human being, and it's been a pleasure growing our friendship.' After graduating with a BA from the University of Missouri, Entin got hired at a small station close to his alma mater, then cut his teeth at WTOC in Savannah, Ga., before returning home to South Florida in 2013. As for how it felt to get hired full time alongside the folks he once worshipped from his living room? One word: 'Insane.' While enjoying household-name status for a hot minute at '7News,' Entin really hit the big time after getting hired as senior correspondent at NewsNation in the summer of 2021. The breakthrough assignment: Covering the disappearance of van life influencer Gabby Petito from Northport, Fla. The missing blogger's fiancé-travel partner Brian Laundrie had been named a person of interest, and his family lived there. 'I remember thinking at first, 'This is nothing, she's going to be found.' It was very early on and not getting much attention,' Entin recalled. 'Little did I know how huge it would become.' After Laundrie returned the van solo to his parents' place, Entin locked in. He shrewdly paid neighbors about $100 a day to use their lawn, camping out in his car for up to 20 hours a day for six weeks straight. Because Entin was on site almost around the clock, he built relationships with key witnesses and snagged coveted interviews with police, feds, and even keyboard sleuths. The exclusives rolled in. Other established, mainstream outlets ended up aggregating Entin's stuff. 'I just decided I would live and breathe this thing, and do a stakeout like Carmel Cafiero did in her day,' he explained. 'I was in my car all the time, really embracing the 24-hour news cycle. I would start recording and posting over and over again. And people responded.' After Northport came the so-called Moscow Murders involving Brian Kohberger, who'd been accused of slaughtering four University of Idaho students in late 2022. Entin ended up again scooping other outlets as the first one on the scene when Kohberger was arrested at his family's home in Pennsylvania. Entin had initially blocked out his whole summer for the trial before the shocking plea deal came through. In July, Kohberger received four life sentences, plus 10 years. News doesn't take a break, much like Entin. Next dateline is New Orleans for a 20-year anniversary special on Hurricane Katrina, airing Aug. 24. In between desk duty filling in for colleagues Ashleigh Banfield and Chris Cuomo, the unexpected could always pop up. So be forewarned, if you see Entin in town, something pretty bad might have happened, and he'll be around to knock on doors and take names. 'I have several things planned, but that could all change with one phone call,' Entin said. 'I could end up literally anywhere... And I'll go!'


Axios
5 days ago
- Axios
How much Miami's local governments are paying for the World Cup
A county budget crunch has led to calls for Miami-Dade officials to cut back on the $46 million it's paying to host the FIFA World Cup at Hard Rock Stadium next summer. Why it matters: The county isn't the only local government shelling out millions to subsidize the tournament. The big picture: Miami's World Cup host committee estimates the tournament will generate at least $920 million in economic impact. There's a caveat, though: The assumptions in the committee's analysis don't take into account the local costs of hosting the matches. Follow the money: Besides the county, the cities of Miami and Miami Beach are spending public funds to host the World Cup. That's according to Janelle Prieto, the chief marketing and community officer of Miami's host committee. 💸 The city of Miami gave $5 million to the World Cup on July 24, Prieto tells Axios. 💰 Miami Beach approved $1.25 million in payments and up to $500,000 of in-kind support, including police, fire, sanitation and other services. The county has committed $21 million in cash and up to $25 million of in-kind support, including free police and paramedic overtime, the Miami Herald reported. Zoom in: The host committee says South Florida will benefit from increased hotel occupancy during the low season; new jobs; investments in soccer facilities and youth programs; and free fan festivals with live match broadcasts, concerts and family activities. In Miami Beach, the host committee plans to set up a "media row" in Lummus Park for live TV broadcasts, according to a city memo. The Lummus Park beachfront will host a free kickoff concert ahead of the first matches in Miami, with designated seating for residents, per the memo. The host committee has plans to fundraise for and build a "high quality" soccer pitch for youth in the city, the memo says. Flamingo Park, Fairway Park and Normandy Park are being considered for the new field. What they're saying: When Miami Beach commissioners voted unanimously to approve the subsidies in July, several commissioners called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Commissioner Joseph Magazine said the funding is coming from resort taxes, "which are designed to essentially promote and enhance tourism." He said the city would recoup the $1.25 million "multiple times over" through international media exposure, marketing and official watch parties. "Those things are incalculable, immeasurable," Magazine said. "The money that we will essentially be sharing will have a significant ROI — return on investment — so this isn't just some sort of giveaway or we're giving money to FIFA. It's because of the substantial benefits that we're getting back."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Uefa accused of promoting Jewish ‘blood libel' with ‘Stop Killing Children' banner
Uefa has been accused of promoting the 'blood libel' that Jews murder children by displaying a 'Stop Killing Children – Stop Killing Civilians' banner on the pitch before the Super Cup. The large display was placed in front of Tottenham Hotspur and Paris St-Germain players as they lined up before kick-off at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy. Two refugee children from Gaza also took part in the medal ceremony alongside Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, days after Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah took aim at the governing body over a tribute to late Palestinian forward Suleiman al-Obeid. The Campaign Against Antisemitism condemned the display, which took place amid Israel's ongoing military response to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on the country. A spokesperson said: 'Uefa has said nothing about the Jewish hostages kept in barbaric captivity for almost two years, nor about the incessant attacks on Israeli civilians throughout this war from terrorists in Gaza and throughout the Middle East. 'But all of sudden, they have chosen a Spurs match – a club commonly associated with the Jewish community – to unfurl a banner reading 'Stop killing children - Stop killing civilians'. For centuries, Europe has traded in the blood libel that Jews kill children, and clearly the trope remains as popular as ever. Uefa says that 'the message is clear'. 'After two years with no acknowledgement of the Jewish children murdered, maimed and traumatised by this war, the message is clear indeed. This selective outrage tells us everything about the double standard that still poisons European discourse on Jews.' Among the hostages taken on October 7, 2023, was British-Israeli Spurs fan Emily Demari. Supporters of the club helped campaign for her release and she was freed in January before making an emotional return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May. Uefa has been approached for comment. Former Jewish Leadership Council chief executive, Simon Johnson, whose children live in Israel, told Telegraph Sport: 'Jews get very, very, very anxious when they see signs that say 'Stop Killing Children' because, in the runs of anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish literature and iconography, the killing of babies by Jews for ritual purposes is one of those hideous accusations that has been levelled at Jews for hundreds of years by the worst anti-Semites. 'Unfortunately, those who are of an anti-Semitic nature do now apply the same criticism to Israel. Simply say, 'You're killing children. You're child killers'. There's no army in the world – certainly not the Israeli army – that sets out to kill children. There's no army in the world that kills civilians.' He added: 'It is very easy to sit in south-west Switzerland and decide that you want to sloganise all of the world's most complex, intractable and emotive conflicts and to boil it down to an accusation – if indeed that's what they were making, but it's certain implied – that one nation's army is deliberately killing children and deliberately killing civilians.' Uefa previously announced that one of the children involved in the medal ceremony would be a 12-year-old girl called Tala, who it described as 'a young Palestinian girl with fragile health who was transferred to Milan to receive appropriate medical care, as the adequate equipment was lacking in Gaza after the start of the war'. The other child in the ceremony was Mohamed, a nine-year-old who lost his parents in the war following an airstrike in Gaza. Under its own rules, Uefa states that political messages cannot be promoted in stadiums before, during or after matches. It had children from conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestine and Ukraine involved in the opening ceremony and did not name a specific war with its banner. Last week, Uefa paid tribute to Obeid, known as the 'Palestinian Pelé', who the Palestinian Football Association said was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid. The tribute read: 'Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the 'Palestinian Pelé'. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.' Egypt captain Salah quoted the tribute in his own post on X, adding: 'Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?' A former player of the Khadamat Al-Shati club in Gaza, Obeid played in 24 internationals for Palestine.