Supporters say the proposed law is a necessary step to
“In the future? I guess we’ll see. You never know. I feel like I’ve been doing pretty OK on the clay so far, even though it was my least favorite surface and I thought it was my worst surface, too,” Mboko said. “But you never know.”Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here:
MIAMI (AP) — Flamingos, pelicans, herons and parrots are just a few of the wild birds that call Miami home, but it’s the roosters, hens and baby chicks that have come to rule the roost in recent years.Not only found in residential neighborhoods like Little Havana, Little Haiti and Wynwood, the fowl families are also making their home among the high-rises and government buildings downtown. And while some people find the crowing to be a nuisance, many have adopted the rooster as an unofficial mascot for the city.Paul George, the resident historian at HistoryMiami Museum, said the chickens are closely connected to the people who have moved to Miami over the decades. For a long time, the domesticated birds were mostly kept in backyards, but George began to notice their feral cousins wandering in public areas about 20 years ago.
He said the chickens have a cultural connection to people who grew up in rural areas of Cuba and other parts of Latin America: “They’ve always had these hens and roosters around.”Wild chickens can be found in many Florida communities, from Key West to Tampa to St. Augustine, along with other large cities throughout the U.S., like New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles.
But Miami’s Little Havana truly adopted the birds as a symbol in 2002 when 6-foot (2-meter) fiberglass rooster statues began appearing outside shops and restaurants along Calle Ocho, which is Spanish for 8th Street, as part of a campaign to celebrate the area’s culture.
More than two decades later, dozens of the colorfully painted statues, designed by the late artist Pedro Damián, continue to attract tourists seeking fun photo opportunities.Too sick to care for himself alone, Hermida eventually moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be closer to family and in hopes of receiving more consistent health care. He enrolled in an
clinic that receives funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a federal safety-net plan that serves over half of those in the country diagnosed with HIV, regardless of their citizenship status.His HIV became undetectable after he was connected with case managers. But over time, communication with the clinic grew less frequent, he said, and he didn’t get regular interpretation help during visits with his English-speaking doctor. An Amity Medical Group representative confirmed Hermida was a client but didn’t answer questions about his experience at the clinic.
Hermida said he had a hard time filling out paperwork to stay enrolled in the Ryan White program, and when his eligibility expired in September 2023, he couldn’t get his medication.He left the clinic and enrolled in a health plan through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But Hermida didn’t realize the insurer required him to pay for a share of his HIV treatment.