Florida

MIAMI (AP) — Conspiracy theorists took to social media in a flurry of excitement Wednesday after a mysterious flying object resembling an orange fireball streaked across the Florida sky.

The American Meteor Society reported two dozen sightings from Jacksonville to Key West after midnight and tweeted there’s “no real explanation yet.”

MIAMI (AP) — The largest presidential field in modern Democratic politics could quickly shrink as more than half of the contenders are in real danger of failing to meet tougher requirements to participate in the fall round of debates.

MIAMI (AP) — The Latest on the second Democratic presidential debate (all times local):

11:45 p.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden says Kamala Harris mispresented his position on school busing decades ago, but he doesn’t think she did it intentionally.

The California senator challenged Biden’s stance on busing to desegregate public schools during the 1970s during Thursday’s Democratic debate in Miami. Harris, who is black, was part of a busing program as a child and her pointed questioning of Biden was one of the night’s breakout moments.

MIAMI (AP) — The roster for Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate demonstrated some of the party’s major divisions — even before the candidates started talking.

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BAD MOMENT FOR BIDEN

Former Vice President Joe Biden entered Thursday’s debate with the most to lose. In one powerful moment, it did not go well. Kamala Harris of California, a former prosecutor, invoked race and identity, challenging Biden to apologize for working with segregationist senators and for opposing aspects of school busing in the 1970s.

MIAMI (AP) — Democratic divisions over race, age and ideology surged into public view in Thursday night’s presidential debate, a prime-time clash punctuated by a heated exchange between former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

It was one of several moments that left the 76-year-old Biden, who entered the night as his party’s fragile front-runner, on the defensive as he worked to convince voters across America that he’s still in touch with the Democratic Party of 2020 — and best-positioned to deny President Donald Trump a second term.

MIAMI (AP) — Ten Democrats railed against a national economy and Republican administration they argued exist only for the rich as presidential candidates debated onstage for the first time in the young 2020 season, embracing inequality as a defining theme in their fight to deny President Donald Trump a second term in office.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a new poll shows.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jabbing at the press and poking the eye of the political establishment he ran against in 2016, President Donald Trump officially kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday with a grievance-filled Florida rally that focused more on settling scores than laying out his agenda for a second term.

Addressing a crowd of thousands at Orlando’s Amway Center, Trump complained he had been “under assault from the very first day” of his presidency by a “fake news media” and “illegal witch hunt” that had tried to keep him and his supporters down.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s early strength in Florida on the night of the 2016 election was the first sign that he was about to score an upset victory. In an otherwise bleak 2018 for the GOP, the state was again a bright spot for Republicans who won the governor’s mansion and flipped a Senate seat.

But as another campaign heats up, Democrats aren’t ceding the Sunshine State.

MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration’s new restrictions on travel to Cuba will sting the cruise industry, taking away a new and increasingly popular destination at the start of the critical summer vacation season.

Major cruise lines on Wednesday immediately began dropping stops in Cuba from their itineraries and hastily rerouting ships to other destinations including Mexico.

The changes affect thousands of passengers already on cruises or booked for future trips, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry trade group.