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The Miami River is a river flowing through Florida that drains out of the Everglades and runs through downtown Miami, Florida. The 5.5 mile (8.9 km) long river flows from Miami International Airport (Miami Canal) to Biscayne Bay. The river was originally a natural river inhabited at its mouth by the Tequesta Indians, but it was dredged and is now polluted because of its proximity to the Miami-Dade metropolis. The mouth of the river is now home to the Port of Miami and many other businesses whose pressure to maintain it has helped to improve the rivers condition. While it is widely believed that the name is derived from a Native American word that means "sweet water", the earliest mention of the name comes from Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who was held captive by Indians in southern Florida for 17 years, when he referred to what is now Lake Okeechobee as the Lake of Mayaimi, which is called Mayaimi because it is very large. The river has also been called the Garband River, Rio Ratones, Fresh Water River, Sweetwater River and Lemon River. It has also been known as the Miami River since the Second Seminole War of 1835–42.
Brothers to the Rescue (Spanish: Hermanos al Rescate) is a Miami-based activist organization headed by José Basulto. Formed by Cuban exiles, the group is widely known for its opposition to the Cuban government and, then, President Fidel Castro. The group formed in 1991 and describes itself as a humanitarian organization aiming to assist and rescue raft refugees emigrating from Cuba and to "support the efforts of the Cuban people to free themselves from dictatorship through the use of active nonviolence." The Cuban government on the other hand accuses them of involvement in terrorist acts. In the course of many flights throughout the early 1990s, the group's planes made repeated incursions into Cuban territory. While these were widely considered airspace violations, Brothers to the Rescue believes that these were acts of legitimate resistance against the government. In 1996, ignoring a final warning by Cuba, two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by the Cuban Air Force, leading to international condemnation.
Fort Lauderdale, also known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 185,804. It is the county seat of Broward County, and a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which is home to over 5,463,857 people. The city is a popular tourist destination, with 10.35 million visitors in 2006. It is also a major yachting center, with 42,000 resident yachts and 100 marinas and boatyards. Fort Lauderdale and its suburbs host over 4100 restaurants and 120 nightclubs.
Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the US during the Second Seminole War. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend, in what is now known as the Sailboat Bend neighborhood, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, who was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort.
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the strongest tropical cyclone during the 1935 Atlantic hurricane season. The second tropical cyclone, second hurricane, and second intense hurricane of the season was the most intense Atlantic hurricane that affected the United States, and it remains the first of three Category 5 hurricanes that struck the country. After forming as a weak tropical storm east of the Bahamas on August 29, it slowly proceeded westward, became a hurricane on September 1, and underwent rapid intensification prior to striking the upper Florida Keys on September 2. After landfall at its peak intensity, it continued northwest along the Florida west coast, and it weakened prior to landfall near Cedar Key on September 4.
The compact and intense hurricane caused extreme damage in the upper Florida Keys, and a storm surge of approximately 18 to 20 feet affected the region. The hurricane's strong winds destroyed most of the buildings in the Islamorada area, and many World War I veteran workers were killed by the storm surge. Portions of the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad were severely damaged or destroyed. The hurricane also caused additional damage in northwest Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In total, more than 400 people were killed.
Hurricane Georges (IPA: [ʒɔʒ]) was the seventh tropical storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. The tropical cyclone made seven landfalls on its long track through the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico during September, becoming the second most destructive storm of the season. Georges killed 603 people, mainly on the island of Hispaniola, and caused nearly $6 billion (1998 US dollars, $7 billion 2006 USD) in damages, mostly in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. The hurricane affected at least six different countries (Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and the United States) — more than any other hurricane since Hurricane Inez of the 1966 season, and more than any other hurricane until Hurricane Wilma in the 2005 season affected ten different countries.
Florida International University, commonly referred to as FIU or Florida International, is a public research university located in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park. Florida International University is a Comprehensive Doctoral Research University with very high research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation. Florida International University is also the youngest university to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the country's oldest academic honor society.
The university comprises 26 separate colleges and schools offering 205 programs of study with more than 280 majors. Florida International University is also the fifth-largest university in Florida and the thirteenth-largest university in the United States in terms of enrollment. For Fall 2007, total enrollment was 38,614 students and 2,974 full-time faculty with more than 150,500 alumni around the world.
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida which decided the National Football League (NFL) champion following the 2006 regular season. Kickoff was at 6:27 p.m. (EST.) The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts (16-4) defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears (15-4), 29-17.
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was named the game's Most Valuable Player, completing 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. This was Peyton Manning's first super bowl title after being one of the leagues most dominant quarterback for eight years. Nielsen Media Research reported 93 million viewers for Super Bowl XLI, making it the fourth most-watched program in U.S. television history (trailing only the M*A*S*H finale and Super Bowls XLII and XXX). This game featured two teams ending long Super Bowl appearance droughts. The Colts made their first appearance in a Super Bowl game since winning Super Bowl V in the 1970 season during the team's tenure in Baltimore; they moved to Indianapolis during the 1984 NFL season.
Key Biscayne is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami. The Key is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originally built in 1947.
The northern portion of Key Biscayne is home to Crandon Park, a county park. The middle section of the island consists of the incorporated Village of Key Biscayne. The southern part of the island is in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, and is adjacent to Biscayne National Park, one of the two national parks in Miami-Dade County. Key Biscayne, while named a 'key', is not geologically part of the Florida Keys, but is a barrier island composed of sand eroded from the Appalachian Mountains, carried down to the coast by rivers and then moved down the coast from the north by coastal currents. There is no hard bedrock close to the surface of the island, only layers of weak shelly sandstone to depths of 100 feet (30 meters) or more.
Boca Raton ("bōkə rə-tōn") is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida incorporated in May 1925. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. The majority of population using the postal address of Boca Raton are not actual residents of Boca Raton, and thus 120,000 people who do not live within the incorporated city are not counted as population. The number of people using the postal address Boca Raton is about 200,000. The city of Boca Raton estimates that on any given day, there are roughly 350,000 people in the city itself.
Boca Raton is the largest city between West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach. On November 2, 2004, the voters of the Via Verde Association, Waterside, Deerhurst Association (Boca South), Marina Del Mar Association, Rio Del Mar Association, and Heatherwood of Boca Raton Condominium Association approved annexation into the Boca Raton city limits, increasing the city land area to 29.6 square miles (77 km²). According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 86,629.
The Okeechobee Hurricane, also known as the Hurricane San Felipe Segundo, was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin, and, as of 2006, it remains the only recorded hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength, and one of the ten most intense ever recorded to make landfall in the United States.
The hurricane caused devastation throughout its path. 1,200 people were killed in Guadeloupe. The storm directly struck Puerto Rico at peak strength, killing at least 300 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. In southern Florida at least 2,500 were killed when storm surge from Lake Okeechobee breached the dike surrounding the lake, flooding an area covering hundreds of square miles. In total, the hurricane killed at least 4,078 people and caused approximately $100 million ($1 billion 2006 US dollars) in damages over the course of its path.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in Florida. The archdiocese is the metropolitan see for the Roman Catholic Church in the State of Florida. The current archbishop is John Favalora. As archbishop, Favalora also serves as pastor of the Cathedral of Saint Mary, the mother church of the archdiocese. Also serving are 428 priests, 160 Permanent Deacons, 50 Religious Brothers and 300 Religious Sisters who are members of various Roman Catholic religious orders. These priests, deacons and religious serve a Catholic population in South Florida of 1,300,000 in 118 parishes and missions.
Because of the vast number of immigrants, Catholic Mass is offered in at least a dozen languages in parishes throughout the archdiocese. Educational institutions consist of two schools for the disabled, 60 elementary/middle schools, 13 high schools, two universities, and two seminaries. Radio, print, and television media outlets owned and operated by the archdiocese supplement teaching, communication and ministries.
The Miami Terrace Reef is a coral reef off the coast of Florida stretching from South Miami to Boca Raton, in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies in depths of 650 to 2,000 feet (200 to 600 meters) on top of a geological formation known as the Miami Terrace, a 65 km long shelf about 15 miles off shore. Much of the platform remains unexplored, and new portions of the reef are still being discovered. University of Miami researchers discovered new reef sites there in December 2005.
The terrace consists of long and well-defined rocky ridges made of limestone that provide a habitat for many types of corals, sponges, and fish. Fish species observed there include wreckfish, barrelfish, and bright red alphonsinos. Recently observed intertebrate species have included Lophelia pertusa coral, stylasterine hydrocoral (Stylasteridae), bamboo coral (Isididae), and various sponges and octocorals. Motile invertebrates such as crabs and urchins have also been observed there, including Asteroporpa sp. ophiuroids, Stylocidaris sp. urchins, Mollusca, Actiniaria, and Decapoda crustaceans (Chaceon fenneri and Galatheidae.)
Everglades National Park is a national park in the state of Florida. The largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, it contains the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades marshland region of southwestern Florida. Visited by one million people each year, it is the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states after Death Valley National Park and Yellowstone National Park. It has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance.
Unlike most other U.S. national parks, Everglades National Park was created to protect a fragile ecosystem instead of safeguarding a geographic feature. Thirty-six species designated as threatened or protected live in the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee. Protecting the largest U.S. wilderness area east of the Mississippi River, the park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America, and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the western hemisphere. More than 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles live within Everglades National Park. All of southern Florida's fresh water is recharged by the park, including that of the Biscayne Aquifer.
Florida Atlantic University, also referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public, coeducational research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university has six satellite campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and in Fort Pierce at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. Florida Atlantic serves a seven-county region that has a populace of more than three million people and spans more than 100 miles (160 km) of Florida's eastern coastline.
The university opened its doors in 1964 as the first public university in southeast Florida and the first university in the nation to offer only upper-division and graduate level courses. Although initial enrollment was only 867 students, this number increased in 1984 when the university admitted its first undergraduate students. As of 2007, enrollment has grown to approximately 26,000 students representing 137 countries, 47 states and the District of Columbia. Since its inception, Florida Atlantic has awarded more than 110,000 degrees to more than 95,000 alumni worldwide.
Jacksonville is the largest city in the state of Florida and the county seat of Duval County. In 1968, Jacksonville replaced Oklahoma City as the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States; this resulted from the consolidation of the city and county government, along with a corresponding expansion of the city limits to include almost the entire county. It is also the fourth largest city in land area in the world. In 2007, Jacksonville ranked as the United States' twelfth most populous city, with 816,159 residents. It is the principal city in the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area area, a region with a population of 1,300,823, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state, as of the 2006 Census Bureau estimates. Jacksonville is the third most populated city on the East Coast, after New York City and Philadelphia.
About 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia border, Jacksonville is in the First Coast region of northeast Florida and is centered on the banks of the St. Johns River. The settlement that became Jacksonville was founded in 1791 as Cowford because of its location at a narrow point in the river where cattle once crossed. The city was renamed in 1822 for Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of the Florida Territory and eventual seventh President of the United States.
Hooters is the trade name of two privately held American restaurant chains: Hooters of America, Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hooters, Incorporated, based in Clearwater, Florida. Between company owned locations and franchises, there are now more than 435 Hooters restaurants in 46 U.S. states and 23 other countries, including Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Australia, Panama, Costa Rica, China, South Korea, Greece, Venezuela, Spain, Switzerland, and Singapore — its first overseas location to open.
Hooters plans to open its first branch in Dubai and Guam in 2008. A Hooters was opened in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands in December 2007. Hooters targets male customers with a serving staff comprising only waitresses, although Hooters does employ males as cooks, hosts (at some franchises), busboys, and managers. The menu includes hamburgers and other sandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant's specialty, chicken wings.
The Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as South Florida, the South Florida Metroplitan Area, the Miami Metro Area, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach or the Tri-County Area, encompasses a three-county area of the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The metropolitan area covers the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. The three counties are the three most populous in Florida, respectively. The term "South Florida" is roughly synonymous with the Gold Coast.
Because the population of South Florida is largely confined to a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, the Miami urbanized area (that is, the area of contiguous urban development) is about 110 miles (180 km) long (north to south), but never more than twenty miles (32 km) wide, and in some areas only five miles wide (east to west). South Florida is longer than any other urbanized area in the United States except for the New York metropolitan area. It was the eighth most densely populated urbanized areas in the United States in the 2000 census.
Limp Bizkit is a nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. The current members of the band include vocalist Fred Durst, bassist Sam Rivers, drummer John Otto (Rivers' cousin), and Latvian turntablist/sampler player DJ Lethal. The band's guitarist Wes Borland departed in 2001 following the release of their first three albums to be replaced by Mike Smith for the band's fourth release Results May Vary. Wes rejoined for The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) only to quit once again in 2006 to work with other projects Black Light Burns and From First to Last. It's unknown if Wes will rejoin Limp Bizkit in 2008 for The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2). The band has sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
Fred Durst moved to Jacksonville, where he met Sam Rivers. Sam was introduced to music by his cousin, John Otto, a drummer. Fred asked Sam if he wanted to get together for a jam session, and Sam accepted. Sam brought his cousin John into the picture. Together they started an early version of the band. The trio soon recruited guitarist Rob Waters. In 1994 Limp Bizkit was established.
The Dixie Highway was a United States automobile highway first planned in 1914, to connect the US Midwest with the Southern United States. It was part of the National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of interconnected paved roads, rather than a single highway. It was constructed and expanded from 1915 to 1927.
The Dixie Highway was inspired by the example of the slightly earlier Lincoln Highway. The prime booster of both projects was promoter and businessman Carl G. Fisher. It was overseen by the Dixie Highway Association, and funded by a group of individuals, businesses, local, and state governments. In the early years the US Federal government played little role, but from the early 1920s on it provided increasing funding, until 1927 when the Dixie Highway Association was disbanded and the highway was taken over as part of United States highway system, with some portions becoming state roads. The route of the Dixie Highway was marked by a red stripe with the letters "DH" on it, usually with a white stripe above and below. This was commonly painted on telephone and telegraph poles along the route.
Launch Complex 39 is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida, USA. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built for the Apollo program, and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations. NASA began modifying LC-39 in 2007 to accommodate Project Constellation.
The first development on this site was in 1890 when several wealthy graduates of Harvard University purchased 18,000 acres for $1 per acre. Very nearly on the site, the graduates constructed a three-story mahogony clubhouse with twenty rooms for members and guests. The club featured a large dining room, a wine cellar and a trophy room, and plenty of storage for arms and ammunition. Atop the lodge, there was a view of both the ocean and wildlife that resided in the surrounding marsh. During the 1920s, P. E. Studebaker, son of the automobile magnate, built a small casino at De Soto Beach eight miles north of the Canaveral lighthouse to lure buyers to the site where plans were being developed for an elaborate resort city, complete with water, sewer, sidewalks, street lights, and landscaping. Also, the Playa Linda Development Corporation sought buyers to their 'proposed' development of 8000 quarter acre lots advertised as the "greatest beach development north of Miami." Prior to the construction of the complex, State Road A1A ran east of the complex. Along this rural ocean road was United States Coast Guard Station Chester Shoals built in 1885.
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, USA, nearly due west of Tampa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787; however, according to the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau's estimates, the city's population fell slightly to 108,687. It is the county seat of Pinellas County.[1] Clearwater is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area. The four-county area is home to roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the third largest in the Southeastern United States.
Present-day Clearwater was originally the home of the Tocobaga people. Around 1835, the U.S. Army began construction of Fort Harrison as an outpost during the Seminole wars. The fort was located on a bluff overlooking Clearwater Harbor in an area known today as Harbor Oaks. University of South Florida archeologists excavated the site in 1977 after Alfred C. Wyllie discovered an underground ammunition bunker while digging a swimming pool on his estate. The area's population grew in 1842, after the Federal Armed Occupation Act of 1842 offered 160 acres to anyone who would bear arms and cultivate the land. Early settlers included the Stevens, Stevenson and McMullen families, who claimed and farmed large tracts of land. Prior to 1906, the area was known as Clear Water Harbor.
Miami International Airport (IATA: MIA, ICAO: KMIA, FAA LID: MIA) is a public airport located eight miles (13 km) northwest of the central business district of Miami, in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is between the cities of Miami, Hialeah, Doral, and Miami Springs, the village of Virginia Gardens, and the unincorporated community of Fountainbleau.
The airport is a hub for passenger airlines American Airlines, American Eagle, and Executive Air; cargo airlines Arrow Air, Fine Air, UPS and Federal Express; and charter airline Miami Air. Miami International Airport handles flights to cities throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as Israel and cargo flights to Asia, and is South Florida's main airport for long-haul international flights, although most domestic and low-cost carriers use Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport, which charge significantly lower fees to tenant airlines.
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located near Vero Beach, Florida. The refuge consists of a 3 acre island that includes an additional 2.5 acres of surrounding water and is located off the east coast of Florida of the Indian River Lagoon. Established by an executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island was the first national wildlife refuge in the United States. It was created to protect egrets and other birds from extinction by plume hunters.
Pelican Island’s bird populations were threatened because of increased American settlement around the area in the mid 1800s. Many of the exotic birds were killed for their feathers, used in the fashion industry. Plumes from the birds were used to adorn ladies' hats of the day and at the time were worth more than their weight in gold. Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant, moved to Florida in 1881 and lived on the west bank of Indian River Lagoon. He was fascinated with the pelicans on the island. Being able to see the island from his home, Paul would watch the pelicans and other water birds. He eventually took an interest in the island and its protection.
