Surfside

Antisemitic flyers distributed in South Florida, January 24, 2022 (via Twitter)

January 24, 2022, 9:22 pm

Antisemitic flyers distributed in Florida list health experts claimed to be Jews

‘Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish,’ pamphlet reads, with names of officials leading fight against pandemic

By AP

Mordy Oknin, left, and Natali Oknin, right. (Courtesy/Facebook)

November 14, 2021, 2:11 pm

Daily Briefing Nov. 14 – Why is Turkey detaining two Israeli bus drivers?

ToI editor David Horovitz and diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman discuss detainees in Istanbul, US firefighters in Israel, and religious affairs

By TOI staff

IDF Home Front Command soldiers train with US firefighters who worked at the Surfside condo collapse with them, Novemer 2021 (courtesy IDF)

November 13, 2021, 5:00 am

After Surfside tragedy, US team visits Israel to develop joint rescue doctrine

American firefighters spend five days training and learning with IDF team they met amid the rubble in Florida

By Lazar Berman

Illustrative: People look at a portion of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building that partially collapsed on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty images via AFP)

October 18, 2021, 3:18 am

Venezuela’s tight-knit Jewish community is still mourning its Surfside victims

After the number of Jews dwindled to roughly 6,000 from a peak of 25,000 in the ’90s, denomination and ethnicity are not dividing lines and most people know each other by name

By Orge Castellano

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, and Rabbi Sholom Lipskar participate in a moment of silence, June 14, 2021, at The Shul of Bal Harbour, Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

September 14, 2021, 5:36 am

For a Surfside-area rabbi, these High Holidays are for processing communal grief

Sholom Lipskar built his community from the ground up and keenly feels the loss of several members in a high-rise collapse in June. But that doesn’t stop him from moving forward

By Shira Hanau

People look at a memorial that has pictures of some of the missing from the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 7, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP)

September 10, 2021, 4:09 pm

Four arrested for stealing identities of Surfside victims

Plot uncovered when relative discovered victim’s bank account and credit card passwords and contact information had been changed; prosecutors call them ‘skilled identity thieves’

By AP

Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

September 4, 2021, 5:18 pm

Land swap proposed to allow on-site memorial for Florida building collapse

Financial viability of proposal to be examined, as many survivors and victims’ families oppose memorial at nearby park, are uneasy with building luxury units at site of disaster

By Curt Anderson

Rescue workers work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida, June 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

August 26, 2021, 4:13 pm

Report finds evidence of ‘astronomical’ corrosion in collapsed Surfside condo

2 months after disaster that killed 98, US National Institute of Standards and Technology announces investigation into fall of building

By AP

This June 1, 2021 photo provided by Liz Segel shows Estelle Hedaya at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. (Liz Segel via AP)

July 24, 2021, 7:09 pm

As rescuers end search, family of last missing Surfside victim has no closure

Friends, relatives worry Estelle Hedaya will be forgotten; brother regrets not telling her how much he respected her: ‘Never thought there’d be a day I’d be here, but she wouldn’t’

By TOI staff and AP

Search and rescue workers oversee an excavator dig through the rubble of the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 9, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

July 23, 2021, 10:32 pm

Firefighters officially end search for bodies at collapsed Florida condo

Forensic specialists continue working to identify human remains; inspector warns unstable retaining wall could cause site and nearby road to collapse

By DAVID FISCHER and TERRY SPENCER

People visit the memorial that has pictures of some of the victims from the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 15, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

July 22, 2021, 4:10 am

Surfside collapse victims, families to get $150 million initially, judge rules

Amount, which does not include expected proceeds from several lawsuits filed over disaster, announced as crews remove last of debris to secondary sites; death toll at 97

By Curt Anderson and KELLI KENNEDY

Estelle Hedaya, left, and Linda March, April 13, 2021. (Leah Sutton via AP)

July 20, 2021, 8:40 am

For families of last missing victims of Florida condo collapse, wait is agony

US officials lament it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify victims among debris of crumpled building where 97 died and at least one more is believed still buried

By KELLI KENNEDY

A wooden heart at a makeshift memorial remembers the family of Vishal and Bhavna Patel, who died along with their 1-year-old daughter Aishani, in the collapse of the nearby Champlain Towers South building, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Removal and recovery work continues at the site of the partially collapsed condo building, Wednesday, in Surfside. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

July 17, 2021, 1:55 am

Judge says all options open as families debate future of Surfside collapse site

Families grapple with difficult decisions of personal and financial loss, with some wanting to rebuild while others say property, where so many died, needs to become a memorial

By AP

A worker waits to load his truck with debris from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South building, as removal and recovery work continues at the site of the partially collapsed condo building on July 14, 2021, in Surfside, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

July 16, 2021, 2:09 am

92 of Florida condo’s 97 confirmed fatalities identified, as recovery nears end

County officials account for 240 people connected to collapsed Surfside building, with several people still classified as missing, or ‘potentially unaccounted for’

By AP

In this July 6, 2021, file photo, a memorial for the Guara family is posted on a fence near the Champlain Towers South, in Surfside, Florida (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP, File)

July 13, 2021, 11:04 am

Child’s necklace, wedding album: The hunt for keepsakes in Florida condo rubble

As rescuers recover personal possessions of the dead and missing, rabbis work in the processing area to ensure that religious artifacts are handled with care and properly stored

By TERRY SPENCER and KELLI KENNEDY