In April, local fair housing organization Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE) held an event at Jungle Island, the tropical zoo park on Watson Island, to honor “housing heroes” who had fought back against discrimination. Due to being mobility impaired, three of the honorees required use of a ramp to…
Florida Bay, the body of water between the Everglades and the Keys that was once teeming with wildlife, may be on the verge of collapse. Last week, scientists reported that miles of sea grass have died in the bay in recent months, leaving behind a stinky smell and a cloud…
There’s a fierce battle being waged in Florida over access to one of our state’s greatest resources: the sun. With the effects of climate change ever more obvious, solar is a scorching hot policy topic, and we’re seeing a lot of activity around two competing solar ballot initiatives in Florida…
On a mild evening in early August, John Pate and Sally Elizabeth Evans’ Volkswagen Passat climbs the hills outside the lush Valle Arriba golf club in Caracas. The 70-year-old Pate, a tall, fair-skinned lawyer with red hair, glasses, and a soft face, had just finished his usual Sunday dinner at…
Since he entered office in January, Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo has made headlines for his progressive stance on environmental issues. Representing Florida’s 26th Congressional District, which stretches from Miami to Key West, he touts clean energy, and has split from much of his party in advocating for steps to…
As prices for beach and bayfront land continue to soar, developers are lining up for their parcel along the Miami River, which is quickly turning from a local hangout to the next Brickell. But not everyone’s in agreement about what the new neighborhood should look like. Plans and renderings were…
Just two days into an experiment to experience daily life on the minimum wage in Miami, Florida Representative Jose Javier Rodriguez says he failed the test. On Tuesday morning, Rodriguez planned to take the bus from home in Shenandoah to his downtown office. But after waiting for 30 minutes for…
As it turns out, Donald Trump may be the perfect presidential candidate for Latinos after all. No, no — not to actually be president. But to inspire millions to go out and vote. As Trump spews xenophobic anti-immigration rhetoric and vows to build an impenetrable wall along the Mexican border,…
On a drizzly September morning, Lynette Long sits rapt in the passenger seat, looking out the window at the passing Venetian Islands. The 67-year-old with short blonde hair and a slight smile carries a pad of paper and a pencil, ready to make a list. “See that there?” she says…
During a recent trip to Miami, San Francisco residents Heather Cox and Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa decided to take a trip to North Miami Beach’s Dean’s Gold strip club. On a Wednesday afternoon, they drove across the city through traffic to get there just in time for happy hour. But they were denied…
Few cases lit up Miami’s news cycle like the tale of “toxic tush” fake doctor Oneal Morris and the victims like Rajee Narinesingh brutally disfigured by injections of “Fix-a-Flat” and cement. But years later, that kind of illegal plastic surgery is still on the rise in Miami — at least according…
It’s no secret that virtually everyone in this town comes from somewhere else. But just where do we hail from and in what proportions? New migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows where people were coming from when they moved to the Miami area between 2009 and 2013. As…
For longtime Redland resident Pat Milone, the best part of her commute home from Kendall is a stop at a farm stand along Krome Avenue. She takes her pick from dozens of vendors selling fruits and vegetables — many grown just a few feet away. “There are grove trees and…
Most Miamians can never quite seem to get around to purchasing that pesky flood insurance for their house or apartment. Try as they might to put it on a to-do list, dishing out the bucks for a weather event that never seems to happen inevitably gets eclipsed by other tasks…
In the heat of summer, it seems President Obama is dancing la salsa dura. Along with 40 artists, including Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin and Bob Marley, the President chose Miami-based Colombian salsa band Sonora Carruseles to appear on his summer POTUS playlist late last month. The chosen song, “La Salsa…
North Miami’s most politically-connected restaurant is also be failing to pay its staff — at least according to a former chef at Moca Cafe and Lounge, who says he’s been waiting for a check since May. That’s despite the fact that Moca has gotten thousands from city taxpayers over the…
Not too long ago, South Florida was a prescription painkiller dreamland, luring people from West Virginia to Kentucky down “Oxy Alley” to get millions of pills. At the height of the wave, from 2008 to 2010, Florida doctors purchased nine times more oxycodone than doctors in the other 49 states…
Stan Hughes, a tall, thin, straight-faced man with a gray ponytail, shuffles through dozens of boxes lining the shelves of a small storage space. They’re filled with memories of his brother-in-law’s exuberant life: an old coin collection, semiprecious gemstones and geodes, slot cars. It’s dusty in the small unit at…
When 95-year-old Lloyd Miller stepped to the mic to testify at a congressional hearing in Homestead earlier this month, the three Republicans on the panel may not have known they were about to be versed by a conservation legend. U.S. Reps Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo had called…
During rush hour, the 18-mile commute from FIU to Miami Beach can easily take 45 minutes by car. On public transportation, that same trip now requires at least three buses and some two hours to complete. But a group of FIU students has a plan to make the trip far…
Cuba is now open for business — this morning, John Kerry is in Havana to officially inaugurate reopened diplomacy between the nations by re-christening the U.S. embassy there. There’s still plenty of debate about the pros and cons of the move: Kerry isn’t going to meet with dissidents, which has…
Plotting your long-awaited travel to Havana now that American access to the island is getting easier? Forget traveling by plane or cruise ship. Now you can legally get to Cuba from South Florida on a yacht — as long as you’re willing to pay at least $100,000. Last week, West…
