Here Are the Worst Ideas the Florida Legislature Proposed This Year

Well, we’ve pretty much survived another 60-day Florida legislative session. As in most years, this lawmaking period involved hatred toward immigrants, crazy ideas about guns, extremely mean and regressive laws aimed at drug addicts, rules designed to destroy the environment, and liberal use of the N-word…

Bill Cooke, Photographer and Reporter, Dies

“Chuckie, I got a great one for you today.” I’ve heard it hundreds of times over the last 20 years. It didn’t matter that Bill Cooke’s health was failing. When getting around to take pictures got tough because of failing health, Bill Cooke transferred seamlessly to working as a writer…

Miami Moves to Ban Styrofoam From City Parks and Beaches

Sure, that Styrofoam cooler is handy when it’s keeping your drinks cold. But once you’re done with it, the light-as-a-feather material doesn’t go away — it crumbles into chunks of plastic that clog waterways, threatening sea life for years to come. Mindful of the environmental ramifications, several South Florida cities have banned polystyrene products…

American Crime Story Comes to Ocean Drive to Re-Create Versace Murder

When Gianni Versace was shot on the front steps of his Ocean Drive mansion in 1997, Miami and the rest of the world mourned the loss of one of fashion’s most iconic and influential personalities. His horrific murder was such a defining event that many residents still think of his death as a way to mark the passage of time, almost like a local BC/AD.

Miami-Dade Police Deleted Body-Camera Footage After Someone Requested to View It

On November 2, 2016, the Professional Law Enforcement Association, a police union, requested Miami-Dade County Police airport cop Mark Allen’s body-camera footage from the week of September 7 that year. According to MDPD bylaws, the department must preserve nonevidentiary footage for a minimum of 90 days — the union requested copies of Allen’s footage in less than 60.

Miami-Dade Says Airbnb Hosts Should Make Sure Tenants Aren’t Sex Offenders

Renting out your house on Airbnb is a good way to make some extra money, but it can also be a real pain in the ass. Your tenants might be deranged meth heads, but even if they aren’t, your neighbors will probably still complain that the guests’ rolling suitcases are too noisy. And in certain parts of Miami, you could be fined up to $20,000 just for listing your place.

State Finally Passes Everglades Restoration Reservoir Bill After 20 Years of Fighting Big Sugar UPDATED

There is no more obvious symbol of the sugar industry’s stranglehold on Florida, or its waning grip on the state Legislature, than the story of the Everglades reservoir plan. The idea — to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee back from sugar growers in order to let water flow freely south to the Glades after close to a century of misdirection and mismanagement…

Miami Beach Commissioners Vote to Ban Casinos From City

For now, the state’s headlong rush to allow more casinos in Miami-Dade looks to be dead in the water. But Miami Beach commissioners aren’t taking any chances when it comes to slot machines in SoBe. The commission voted this morning to push forward a zoning change that would ban all gambling establishments anywhere in the city.

City of Miami Slams FPL’s Plan to Inject Nuclear Waste Below Dade’s Drinking Water

For the past seven years, Florida Power & Light has battled environmentalists over its plans to build two new reactors and inject their radioactive waste 3,000 feet underground, just below the aquifers where South Florida gets its drinking water. Environmentalists have vigorously argued that science shows the dangerous waste could leech upward into Miami’s drinking water. And yesterday, those green activists finally earned a hearing before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Florida House Passes Medical Marijuana Bill That Bans Smoking Weed

Florida’s House of Representatives proved today there is nothing its grubby little hands can’t screw up. After more than 72 percent of voters statewide voted to legalize medicinal marijuana for people with “debilitating diseases,” a term that includes cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s, the Florida House today passed its own series of rules regulating the state’s new medical weed industry.

Mayor Philip Levine Invites Climate-Denying NYT Columnist Bret Stephens to Experience Sea-Level Rise in Miami Beach

Bret Stephens, the New York Times’ newest opinion writer, clearly needs to get out and experience the world. In his previous gig at the Wall Street Journal, Stephens’ writing suggested he’s rarely, if ever, hung out with anyone who isn’t white, wealthy, or Christian. He has argued that the “Arab mind” is predisposed to anti-Semitism and that the “campus-rape epidemic” among collegiate women is a myth. Both of those opinions can be changed by simply hanging out with women and Arabic people.

The Five Scariest Climate-Change Studies Affecting Miami

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that federal officials won’t begin treating climate change like a real problem until a whole lot of people die or lose their homes. Donald Trump is trying to cripple the Environmental Protection Agency, and his latest budget asks Congress to strip funding from every single federal agency studying global warming.

The ABCs of Living in Miami

Like the famed python that tried to eat an entire alligator, Miami is literally exploding with new residents. Census figures released in April show South Florida has grown by nearly half a million people since 2010. They’re drawn to the balmy weather, white-sand beaches, and, of course, Miami’s proximity to…