A 14-year-old girl suffered a significant hand injury and minor burns to her face Monday night in a fireworks accident.

Bell is waiting at the Humane Society of Broward County, along with all the other fabulous friends in this slideshow looking for a family to call their own.

The U.S. Air Force begins accepting female recruits, the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack falls from No. 1 after six months, LeBron makes "The Decision," and the last space shuttle mission launches, all on this day.

Broward County Mayor Tim Ryan said Tuesday that Uber's future in Broward County is in the company's own hands.

"I suppose it's up to Uber to save itself," Ryan said.

Related: Online petition created to keep Uber in Broward County

After Monday's announcement that the popular car-sharing service will stop all pickups in Broward County on July 31, Ryan is standing by the county commission's vote in April to force Uber drivers to submit to fingerprint checks, which is what Ryan and other commissioners said is the chief new rule that is driving Uber out of the county.

"The reason they are concerned about fingerprint checks is that it will cause less people to apply to be Uber drivers," Commissioner Marty Kiar said. "With less drivers out there, it increases pickup time and makes them look bad."

Ryan said it's all about safety.

"South Florida is the epicenter for identity theft so it's very important that a consumer knows that the person that is operating that Uber vehicle is who they say they are," Ryan said. "That's the way the reason to have the verification with the fingerprinting."

But others said it's about politics. The chief proponent for the fingerprint provision after all was Jesse Gaddis, the politically connected multimillionaire who owns Yellow Cab, Uber's chief competition in Broward County.

Gaddis and his business interests have contributed big money to commission campaigns and have hired a bevy of lobbyists, including Bernie Friedman, George Platt and Judy Stern, to push for the new regulations that have Uber threatening to leave.

Ryan, however, said Gaddis and his companies, which also have to follow the fingerprinting provision, had no special influence on the April vote.

"I doubt that there's been anyone who has hijacked this system," he said. "In fact, the discussion is really about public safety and consumer protection."

The mayor said campaign contributions he's personally received from Gaddis-related taxi industry and their lobbyists had no effect on his vote either.

"I make my decisions on what I think is best in the community," he said.

Commissioner Chip LaMarca, who is perhaps the most pro-Uber commissioner, said the new background checks are unnecessary.

"Us setting up this whole level of regulation in Broward County to me is a complete waste of taxpayers' money," he said.

LaMarca said Uber background checks, which track criminal records and other data, are sufficient.

"I can't understand why a progressive commission wouldn't see this ride-sharing shared economy, what's going on in this country, really in the world, as a benefit to open competition," LaMarca said.

Ryan said the commission will take up the Uber issue when it returns from summer break in August after Uber has promised to stop conducting pickups in the county. Ryan said he wants to negotiate with the company, but he doesn't understand why it is so dead set against the fingerprint requirement when Uber continues to provide service in three cities that have the same requirement: Columbus, Ohio, Houston and New York City.

"If those other markets are acceptable for fingerprinting, I'm at a loss to understand why Uber wants to draw a line in the sand for South Florida," he said.

Follow Bob Norman on Twitter @NormanOn10

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Members of the Marion County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to reinstate the Confederate flag atop a county building.

The flag will be raised once again over the Fallen Officers Memorial outside the Marion County administration building on Southeast 25th Street in Ocala. Interim County Administrator Bill Kaufman and Marion County Board Chairman Stan McLain had decided to take down the Confederate flag at the end of June after South Carolina started discussing its laws surrounding the flag at its government centers.  The discussion was prompted by the shooting deaths of nine people inside the Emmanel AME Church in Charleston. Kaufman and McLain's decision was not approved by the Board of County Commissioners, nor did it show up in any agenda.

On Tuesday, board members voted to restore the flag, adding they will be talking with the historical commission for its advice, as well.

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A woman convicted of killing her 70-year-old boyfriend inside his Fort Lauderdale mansion in June 2011 was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday.

Catherine Pileggi showed no visible reaction when she was convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm in November 2014.  Her attorney told Local 10 News that she didn't have unrealistic expectations.

"I know that she is a gentle, sweet, kind, timid person who would never hurt a fly unless she was severely provoked, and she was that night," attorney Bruce Udolf told Local 10 News at the time.

Pileggi took the stand in her own defense, telling jurors she suffered through two decades of verbal, physical and sexual abuse before she killed Ron Vinci. She also claimed Vinci pointed a loaded gun at her earlier that fatal evening and said she soiled herself.

According to police, Pileggi shot Vinci in the head, stabbed him in the chest nine times, slashed his throat with a knife and crushed his skull with a hammer before wrapping his body in bedding and plastic bags with duct tape.

A video showed Pileggi buying a blue plastic 45-gallon container at Home Depot on the morning of Vinci's death, police said. An identical container appeared in the crime scene photos taken at Vinci's home.

She later confessed, telling detectives her plan was to dump his body in the ocean before she was caught.

Pileggi faced up to life in prison.

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Officials are investigating after a child suffered burns to her body after lighting her shirt on fire.

The child was playing with the cigarette lighter when she accidentally lit her shirt on fire, burning the upper torso of her body, according to Florida City police.

The girl was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Burn Center, where her condition is unknown.

Police said the girl's mother, Heydi Teresa Soledad-Triminio, was taken into custody. She faces charges of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm and culpable negligence/expose to personal injury.

The Florida City Police Department, the Department of Children and Families and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue continue investigating.

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Miami-Dade's proposed budget released Tuesday included dozens of new correctional jobs and multimillion dollar upgrades at detention centers -- including an expansion of one of the most well-known immigration centers in the country.

Other  General Obligation Bond program projects: Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium Facility: $165 million Coconut Grove Playhouse: $15 million Wolfsonian Museum: $10 million Lyric Theater: $10 million Virginia Key Beach Park museum: $15.5 million PAMM: $100 million Vizcaya Skylight: $2.5 million Equestrian Center at Tropical Park: $8.6 million

If Mayor Carlos Gimenez' proposed budget is approved, Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department will also be able to hire 198 workers, according to the proposed budget.

Metro West Detention Center, 13850 NW 41 St., Pre-Trial Detention Center, 1321 NW 13th St., and Krome Detention Center, 18201 SW 12 St., were also set to get upgrades.

The proposal allocates millions from The Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond Program to fund construction projects at Krome and at the Pre-Trial Detention Center.

Aside from funding public safety projects, the bond program is also used to fund projects related to culture and education, healthcare, affordable housing, infrastructure, parks and recreation and water and sewer.

The proposed budget allocated $87.5 million from the bond program to fund a  $330 million project to build a new detention center with 2,000 beds at Krome, also known as the Krome Service Processing Center.

Since 2009, the majority of detainees at Krome have been Haitians. Others include Mexicans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans. Late last year, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children reported allegations of widespread sex abuse and harassment at the facility.

Akima Global Services, the company overseeing the operations would stand to benefit from the expansion.

At the current size, ICE awarded the $324 million operational contract to AGS April 11, 2014, records show. The government contract's guaranteed minimum of people detained at Krome increased from 250 to 450 between 2008 and 2014.

The proposed budget also allocated about $7.8 million from the bond program to fund  $47 million renovations at the Pre-Trial center. And about $700,000 would help move forward a $3.6 million project to replace windows at Metro West's housing.

Follow Local10.com reporter Andrea Torres on Twitter @MiamiCrime

Some Haitian families are living in fear along the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Before the deportation deadline had passed, many said they were being rounded up and forced over the border.

The death of a 90-year-old woman who was found dead inside a Hollywood apartment Monday morning has been ruled a homicide.

Hollywood police officers were called to the Town Mar Apartments, 2842 Fillmore St., about 8:30 a.m.

Officer Meredith Elrich said Helen Townsend was found dead inside one of the apartments.

Elrich said there were no obvious signs of trauma.

A man who identified himself as the apartment complex's maintenance man said he found Townsend on the floor, couldn't feel her pulse and called 911.

"There's bleach stains in the living room," he told Local 10 News.

The man also said he thought it was odd that the window drapes were closed.

"I reached over (and) I tried to feel her pulse," he said. "I didn't get anything and the next thing I did was call 911."

Anyone with information about the murder is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

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A Miami man who is HIV positive was arrested Monday on charges of raping an underage family member, police said.

According to an arrest report, Gamalier Lopez Vargas, 37, raped the child after her mother left her alone with him while she went grocery shopping in late May.

Police said the girl refused Lopez Vargas' advances, but complied after he threatened to take her younger sister away from her, so she would never see her again.

Police said Lopez Vargas told detectives that the victim knew he was HIV-positive.

Lopez Vargas is being held in jail in lieu of a $75,000 bond. A Miami-Dade County judge ordered him not to have further contact with the girl, and he will be placed on house arrest if he posts bail.

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The president of the Dade County Police Benevolent Association is raising concern after he found out the Homestead Police Department was storing human fetuses inside a compact refrigerator for years.

"They opened it up, and they found fetuses in there," PBA President John Rivera told Local 10 News. "We have irregularities at best, maybe criminal actions at worst. We want it exposed."

Rivera did just that in an open letter to PBA members this month. In the letter, Rivera outlined how during the department's recent move from its old station downtown to its new, temporary location, the refrigerator was discovered in a property room wrapped in evidence tape with instructions "not" to open.

"Why were fetuses put in a refrigerator and not sent to the medical examiner's office?" Rivera said.

But others who work for the police department defend the actions and claim storing the fetuses in the refrigerator was proper protocol.

"The Homestead Police Department did absolutely nothing wrong," Detective Fernando Morales said.  

Morales said the department has been storing four fetuses for at least 10 years. He said the fetuses are all from sexual assault cases.

"This is not something preserved out of malice," Morales said.

Morales insists the department is just following the standard operating procedure established by the Miami-Dade Police Department, which says property collected from sex crimes cases shall be retained for 75 years.

According to the department's property and evidence section's technical manual, "evidence collected for the investigative and prosecutorial process of sexual crimes will be retained by MDPD for a period of 75 years, unless written notification is received from the state attorney's office that the case is closed and property can be destroyed."

But a former Homestead police officer finds that explanation difficult to understand.

"I just can't believe you would dispose of it properly by leaving it in a refrigerator for years to come," Steadman Stahl said. "If you had a body, you certainly wouldn't leave a body in a refrigerator for years."

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Police said a man is dead after several witnesses reported hearing shots fired near Northwest 70th Avenue and 16th Street.

Plantation police gave no other information about the victim except that he is a black man.

The shooter left the area in a white vehicle, according to police.

No other information was immediately released.

Watch Local 10 News and refresh Local10.com for updates on this developing story.

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A president dies, new nations are born, the MLB All-Star Game goes indoors, and a jam band performs for the last time, all on this day.

A 22-year-old musician was arrested and cited by police after playing the national anthem on a Neptune Beach sidewalk on the Fourth of July.

Lane Pittman said he was playing his electric guitar around 3 p.m. Saturday on 1st Street and Margaret Street, in front of his friend's home. He said a sergeant from the Neptune Beach Police Department came by and told him to move out of the street or he would go to jail.

Pittman said he politely asked if he could play on the sidewalk instead, and the sergeant said he could.

He moved to a nearby sidewalk and then played "The Star-Spangled Banner," drawing a crowd of about 200, who cheered him on and chanted his name.

"I don't think I ever played that song as good in my life as I did on that day. It felt right. It was an emotional roller coaster," Pittman said.

A video of the performance has received more than 16,000 views on YouTube. Toward the end of the video, officers can be seen approaching Pittman and asking to speak with him. Pittman puts his guitar away and goes with the officers.

video

Pittman said what happened next took him completely by surprise. The officers handcuffed him and drove him to the police station.

"He goes, 'Spread your legs. Put your hands behind your back,' and that was when I was like, 'Oh my gosh. Is he serious? I'm getting arrested for this after I was told I could do it?'" Pittman said.

"Out of respect for the national anthem, they let them finish the National Anthem," Neptune Beach Police Chief David Sembach said. "He was told he was going to have to stop playing. He went to the sidewalk and continued playing, and it was only after that that the crowd was getting hostile, so the only way to stop it, since he wasn't going to stop playing, was to take him out of the location."

Pittman said he tried to respectfully explain that another officer had told him it was OK to play on the sidewalk. He said the officers were rude and would not tell him what he was being arrested for. He said they never read him his rights.

Pittman said he was charged with breach of peace, which is a misdemeanor, and was given a notice to appear, which is a written arrest.

Pittman said the officers told him they wanted to charge him with inciting a riot and take him to jail to keep him overnight, but they didn't have the resources to take him downtown.

"That blows my mind, because it was peaceful up until the time they arrested me," Pittman said.

"There's always two sides to the story. They only show on YouTube what they want you to see," Sembach said. "The whole thing was not on YouTube, and as I said, he was told the first time, 'You could not play. It was causing a disturbance.'"

Attorney Caleb Rowland is representing Pittman.

"I've never seen a law that says you can't play the national anthem on a sidewalk," Rowland said. "Disturbing the peace could be used to cover a lot of conducts that may not necessarily be criminal. I guess we're going to have to wait and see what the state attorney decides to do with it."

Pittman has no criminal record. He plays in his church's band, is a high school lacrosse coach and is well-known in the beaches community. Pittman said he is hoping to be the next Jaxson de Ville.

Sembach told News4Jax he thinks because of Pittman's mascot ambitions, it's possible the whole incident was a publicity stunt on his part.

"It looked to me like he was enjoying the Independence Day festivities, and the guy can clearly play guitar," Rowland said. "I can understand if he was out there screaming profanities or something like that, that there wold at least be an arguable basis for criminal charges, but given what he was doing, I don't see it that way."

Pittman said he does not drink and had no alcohol in his system when the police took him away. He said he's worried the incident will affect his future and the possibility of getting a good job.

Pittman said he respects police officers, but incidents like this give the small city of Neptune Beach a bad name, and he might not want to come back anymore.

"I'm hopeful that we can get his resolved without any charges," Rowland said. "And Mr. Pittman can go on his merry way and play the national anthem as loud as he wants to, pretty much wherever he wants to."

A "Call Christina" investigation led to citations against a property owner and an awareness of the city of Hollywood's current efforts to enhance code enforcement.

The city of Hollywood is working to toughen up code and address code officer shortage.

One woman living in Hollywood said she is fed up with all the junk cluttering her neighbor's yard -- objects she said could prove dangerous during a storm.

Local 10 News viewer Pamela "Ella" Haws contacted the Call Christina hotline after claiming the city of Hollywood was not doing enough to crackdown on a neighbor's code violations.

According to Haws, her neighbor's yard contains a "mixture of garbage" and "hard junk" to include 2x4s, crates, bed frames, plywood, and an un-permitted shed that houses a washing machine.

"My fear is that hurricane season is coming. Some of these things are flying around. I don't want my house damaged," said Haws.

After repeated contact with the city's code enforcement team didn't result in new citations, she grew frustrated, and contacted the Call Christina team for help. 

"With the city codes in place, I don't feel like I should have to be looking at this in my yard," Haws said.

"It is a discussion that is going on a lot here at City Hall, because we have recognized that code enforcement in the city is a real problem and we are working to address that," said Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey. "In some cases, we actually need tougher codes to address some of the problems you identified at the property."

Take for example, the debris scattered around the yard which Haws fears could pose a safety risk during a storm.

Storey said current code does not "adequately address" people who store items on their property that they don't plan to dispose of.

There is also a matter of personnel.

"Is there an issue with boots on the ground to be able to enforce the codes that currently exist?" Local 10 News reporter Christina Vazquez asked Storey.

"There has been," said Storey. "That's been an issue and that's one we are seeking to address right now. At one point in time, around 2009 we had 19 code officers, in 2011 that number was down to 11 code officers, now we are at 14 and we're still down about two and a half code officers, so we're trying to build that force back up and it does make a difference."

When it comes to Haws, Storey said, "I think she's made a lot of outreach, but I don't think it would be fair to say we didn't respond. The code enforcement officer over that area went back out to the property after the pictures that you had sent us and looked at it and found that some of the efforts to bring the property owner in to compliance had either fallen back, and they had more stuff out, or they hadn't really complied. So at that point in time, two different citations were cited to the owner."

One was for the grass code requires people to maintain grass on their property, and the other was for a "comingled materials" violation, which essentially addresses the storage of various materials on the property.

Haws' neighbors are tenants and told Local 10 News they don't see anything wrong with the condition of the property. They had vowed to remove some of the clutter and said patches to the roof installed with metal sheeting would soon be repaired.

A code officer also told property owner Gino Tavormina he would need a business tax receipt. Attempts by Local 10 News to speak with Tavormina were unsuccessful.

Communities like the city of Hollywood enact codes in order to maintain property values. These codes are put in place in hopes of establishing a baseline of what an acceptable property standard is.

"We would love it if people would exceed that, but certainly they need to meet that," said Storey, "Owning property is a responsibility. Maintaining your property is everyone's responsibility and does impact your neighbor's quality of life."

Storey tells Local 10 News the "property currently has cases open for dead and missing ground cover and the un-permitted shed in the back yard that contains a washing machine."  The current tenants have indicated to a code officer that they plan to move out by this weekend.

Storey added that the city recently held a property standards workshop and are reviewing property standards. Any proposed code change would need to be approved by the city commission.

The city plans to continue to dispatch code officers to ensure the property owner is in compliance.

Follow Christina Vazquez on Twitter @CallChristinaTV

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The Miami-Dade Police Department is investigating the death of a 53-year-old woman whose body was found outside an abandoned home Tuesday night.

Police said someone called 911 at about 8 p.m. to report a body found on the front porch of an abandoned house at 10215 SW 171st St.

Police identified the woman as Francis Harris.

According to Harris' boyfriend, Kenneth Bethel, he was doing yard work at a neighbor's home when he returned to find Harris missing.

He said the couple was staying at a relative's home about two blocks away from where Harris was found. Bethel believes Harris walked to a home that was up for sale to use the bathroom.

Bethel also said he believes Harris was beaten and raped because Harris was discovered without her underwear on and her body was bruised.

He said he noticed a group of guys racing off on bicycles shortly before her body was found.

"She ran out of the back yard and made it to the sidewalk where they found her at," Bethel said. "Come to find out what might have happened --one of the boys hit her (and) probably thought she was knocked out and did what they wanted to do to her and left her there."

Police have not confirmed the boyfriend's claims and said Harris' body was taken to the medical examiner's office so a cause of death could be determined.

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A puppy that was thrown off a second-floor balcony in Pompano Beach on the Fourth of July is expected to make a full recovery.

The Lab mix is recovering at Coral Springs Animal Hospital. Dr. Justin Fyfe said the puppy is lucky to be alive and said she suffered scrapes between her eyes, and bruising and scrapes on her legs.

Robert Noel, 29, was arrested on a charge of causing cruel death, pain and suffering to an animal.

According to the report, Noel admitted to throwing the dog over the railing.

"I went crazy," Noel said in the report.

Noel said the dog, which belonged to a friend with whom he was feuding, wouldn't leave his apartment, "so he started to strike the dog" before throwing her over the balcony railing, the report said.

"The dog was located nearby, cowering and scared," the report said. "The dog had some bleeding coming from her nose."

Detectives said they are still investigating the case and it's unclear when the puppy will be reunited with its owner.

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Several Hollywood streets signs were blacked out this week, all of which had names of Confederate soldiers.

Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez made false statements to the public twice about interest income he earned from a private loan, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust determined Wednesday.

By unanimous vote following a public hearing, the ethics commission found Hernandez violated the Citizens' Bill of Rights "Truth in Government" provision as alleged in a complaint filed by a commission advocate, officials said.

Hernandez was fined $3,000 for two counts of violating county ethics rules and assessed another $1,000 for investigative costs. The commission said the amount of the fines was doubled as a result of a finding by the commission that Hernandez knowingly violated the rules.

The commission authorized that a Letter of Reprimand be issued against Hernandez, who did not attend the hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Commission Advocate Michael Murawski presented evidence during the hearing that in October 2011 the then-interim mayor said one thing at press conferences in English and Spanish, but made contrary statements while testifying under oath during the federal tax evasion trial of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina early last year.

At the 2011 press briefings, held during the mayoral campaign, Hernandez repeatedly disputed reports he failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in interest income on his Source of Income Statements for 2007, 2008 and 2009 when he was a Hialeah councilman, according to the ethics commission.

Instead, Hernandez contended the monthly payments from Hialeah jeweler Luis Felipe Perez represented the return of his principal investment and not interest payments on loans. However, under oath during the Robaina trial in April 2014, Hernandez testified that he did receive monthly interest payments totaling $100,000 over the three-year period, contradicting his previous public statements denying any reportable income, according to the commission.

"He was really insulting the intelligence of the public," Murawski said during closing remarks about the mayor's claim he expected to receive no up-front interest on his loans to Perez.

The chairman of the ethics commission, Nelson Bellido, noted that although Hernandez chose not appear before the commission to present a defense, he received "a very fair hearing."

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