It’s almost noon when Christian Valdes blinks open his eyes. The muscular 32-year-old with short black hair and a goatee quickly realizes he’s hung over. His head is pounding, and his mouth is parched. If he doesn’t get water soon, he may puke. The last thing he recalls is stumbling…
Spurred by articles in publications from Vanity Fair to the New Yorker, the nation finally seems to be waking up to the fact that Miami is slowly being swallowed by the sea. With predictions ranging from eight inches to six feet of sea level rise over the next century, it’s…
Three-and-a-half years after a drive-by shooting in Miami Gardens sent a bullet through the trunk of a car and into Megan Hobson’s pelvis, the 20-year-old from Miami Lakes continues to heal. She has had four surgeries to reconstruct her intestines, uterus and hip, and still has trouble walking on her…
For so long, the rallying cry of conservationists has been: “Plant a tree, save the planet.” But in Florida, it may be more appropriate to plant a coral—to save the ocean. So much of our state’s magic and beauty is hidden underneath the ocean’s surface. Our hundreds of square miles…
It started like a normal art auction: Late Monday afternoon in the Design District, a smattering of well-heeled buyers sipped champagne and prepared their numbered paddles, ready to bid on some 200 pieces from a collection of works by famed Cuban sculptor Agustín Cárdenas. The items up for sale included…
Aaah, Thanksgiving. The holiday when we’re called to give thanks for the fall harvest and harken to centuries past, when scores of immigrants arrived to the shores of the New World to begin to build the United States of America. It’s a time to share — and to be grateful,…
Just before sunset, comedian Lisa Corrao loads up a backpack full of snacks and libations for the night ahead. She throws in a sweater in case it gets chilly. “And an umbrella,” she says via phone from New York. “You can never forget an umbrella.” It’s just another night on…
After a controversial development proposal that would have transformed a historic beachfront stretch of North Beach was rejected by Miami Beach voters earlier this month, many residents were left wondering about the fate of their neighborhood. They got some clues Monday night, when esteemed urban planning firm Dover Kohl launched…
A conversation with José Díaz-Balart is a master class in journalism. The MSNBC and Telemundo anchor, a 30-year TV news veteran, repeatedly directs the conversation away from himself and toward the people and stories he’s reported on across the world. In an age when journalists increasingly lay out their own…
To designer Isaac Stein, there’s no reason to be scared of the rising seas in South Florida. Instead, the encroaching water should be embraced as part of the next phase in Miami Beach’s evolution. In fact, Stein has proposed one of the most creative solutions yet to save South Beach…
Every year during Art Basel, traffic between Miami Beach and the mainland becomes a vivid nightmare straight out of Hieronymus Bosch’s imagination. And Basel’s 2015 installment is going to be the worst traffic ever, as the Venetian Causeway — a preferred route of many to the Beach — remains closed…
In its 32nd year, Miami Book Fair International brings a bevy of authors — both world-renowned and local gems — to downtown Miami for eight days of all things literature. With headliner Patti Smith having given a successful talk the opening night of the festival last Sunday, and the likes…
On a hot July afternoon, Steve Murphy was sweating inside a yellow, one-story house in West Little River. It was 1989, the height of the Cocaine Cowboy era, and Murphy and his partner, Kevin Stephens, were Drug Enforcement Administration agents working a sting deal on 17 kilos of coke. An…
The fight over solar in Florida has gotten awfully shady lately. As you may know, two competing organizations are circulating petitions related to solar power access in the state of Florida. Floridians for Solar Choice is pushing for an amendment to open up the solar marketplace, allowing consumers to do…
Tomorrow, we’ll give thanks for the brave men and women who served in our armed forces. But for veterans in Miami, there’s little to celebrate; it turns out Miami is one of the very worst cities for vets in the country. The personal finance website WalletHub recently analyzed the best…
The fiercest critic of the Colombian peace accords took his message to Miami on Friday, telling journalists the treaty as it’s currently being negotiated will result in criminals and terrorists going free. “Peace with impunity isn’t a sustainable peace,” said Senator Alvaro Uribe, the former president of Colombia, at an…
The day after Miami Beach voters rejected a measure that would have allowed a developer to build a 250-foot-tall luxury condo and hotel tower on a historic beachside strip in North Beach, there were few hints about what may come next for the neighborhood. Developer Sandor Scher, who spent over…
In a small room inside the beachfront Days Inn Hotel in North Beach, a dozen business owners and condo heads sidled up to mics to support a plan to drastically change this neighborhood. Voters will decide today whether to allow developer Sandor Scher to build a 250-foot luxury condo and…
The results of local elections have a huge impact on our lives. But across Miami, local election turnout has historically been meager. In the last Miami Beach mayoral race, in 2013, just 25 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot. In Miami, that number fell to 11 percent. And across…
As developers and residents duke it out over the future of a beachfront strip in North Beach, activists contend Mayor Philip Levine and Miami Beach commissioners were unduly influenced by big money from businesses with stakes in the controversial development. Voters next week will decide whether to allow developer Sandor Scher…
The breeze whips off the sand as Kirk Paskal sweats under a hot October sun, his back to the turquoise Atlantic. With one hand over his brow, he squints longingly at a boxy, two-story beige hotel. Formerly known as the Ocean Way, the hotel is decayed, the paint now cracked…
As the biggest hurricane ever recorded ripped into Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday night, singer Natalia Lafourcade pleaded on behalf of her country — for the world to wake up to the realities of an ailing planet. “I invite you to reflect,” the Mexican indie pop star said in Spanish to…
