By Gabriel Velasquez Neira/Fresh Take Florida

The bill that would outlaw abandoning a pet outside during a natural disaster – prompted by a viral video of a bull terrier rescued last year ahead of an approaching hurricane – passed its first hurdle Tuesday in the Legislature with unanimous approval.The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved the bill 8-0 during a brief hearing in Tallahassee. The bill’s sponsor and his colleagues in the Senate referred to the proposal as “Trooper’s Law,” named after the dog tied to a pole in standing water along Interstate 75 near Tampa before a Florida Highway Patrol trooper saved him.

As President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans ramp up, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski says the president is taking the wrong approach.“ Migrants are not a problem,” Wenski said in a Zoom interview. “Our broken immigration laws are a problem, but the migrants are not a problem. These people represent an opportunity.”Wenski, 74, a South Florida native and son of Polish immigrants, oversees the pastoral care of over 1 million Catholics, according to the Archdiocese of Miami. Wenski was appointed archbishop in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.