The South Florida Roundup

On the South Florida Roundup, we discussed the Broward bog-down: Schools superintendent Peter Licata retires after less than a year on the job – while the district settles in court to pay tens of millions of dollars to charter schools (01:03). We also looked at how West Palm Beach is restoring the idea of public spaces as “third places (18:37).” And we examined why the Biden Administration had to re-tighten the oil sanctions screws on Venezuela this week – and what it all means for expat voters here (34:45).

On the South Florida Roundup, we spoke with Ben Crump, the attorney for Donald Armstrong, the Liberty City man shot by Miami police last month during a mental health episode. Does the case revive issues about Miami police training? (01:03) We also looked at what happens now that Miami’s district map has been dumped because of its racial gerrymandering (15:10). And we talked about the new interactive Everglades restoration visuals for the WLRN podcast Bright Lit Place (28:09).

On the South Florida Roundup, we updated listeners on the worsening crisis in Haiti: Powerful gangs making a violent bid for political clout; political bosses holding up a new transitional government; the deeper suffering of Haitians themselves (01:02). We also looked at the legal battle raging in Broward County over how much money public schools are required to give charter schools (08:20). And we examined whether Florida’s draconian new abortion law may steer women here toward Latin America (21:38).

On the South Florida Roundup, we talked about a lawsuit filed by two FIU students from China and a UF professor that challenges a Florida law blocking some foreign research recruitment (00:04). We also discussed Miami-Dade County’s new tourism district in the Redland and what it could mean for the area (16:58). And the economic engine of pornography in South Florida (32:23).

On the South Florida Roundup, we speak to the president of Stand with Parkland, Tony Montalto, ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ scheduled tour of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (01:02). We discuss elections in Palm Beach County and spoke to the youngest person ever voted into the Pembroke Pines city commission (16:53). And we hear the latest on Miami City Manager Art Noriega's controversial furniture business dealings from the WLRN Investigations team (34:04).

On the South Florida Roundup, we spoke to Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried about her decision to suspend two of the party’s South Florida chairpersons, amid fears that Democrats could lose once reliable Miami-Dade County (01:01). We also discussed Miami-Dade’s decision to scrap the Seaquarium — and what a more 21st-century use for that site is (19:25). And we examined whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ prep for more Haitian boat people is just more political grandstanding (35:13).

On The South Florida Roundup, we examine a disturbing maritime mystery: sawfish deaths in the waters off the Lower Keys, and bizarre behavior from other fish species (01:02). We also talked to a Haitian-American leader in South Florida who, like most Haitian expats, is urging President Biden to change course in Haiti before it’s too late (18:37). And we heard from Cuban exile and Hialeah son Edel Rodriguez about his new graphic memoir, Worm (35:05).

On the South Florida Roundup we spoke to the mayors of Miami Beach and Hollywood about why we’ve come to dread the month of March here, and whether some efforts to block the spring break crowds are crossing a line (01:03). We took a look at whether Miami International and Florida-Hollywood International Airports have fixed their nagging problems in time for the spring break wave (19:08). And we examined whether throwing more sand at the problem is really the way to save our beaches (35:29).

On The South Florida Roundup, we discussed our latest history education controversy and we asked, "if we teach the evils of communism, shouldn’t we include fascism?" (01:03) We also talked (or vented) about how unaffordable many South Florida events have become for average South Floridians (19:17). Plus we examined how the left and the right are taking Latin American human rights back to the bad old days (35:33).

On The South Florida Roundup, we discussed the age and competency anxieties that are gripping this year’s presidential election, because if South Florida – America’s Senior Citizen Central – can’t address them, who can? (01:03) We also looked at the animal welfare and other concerns swirling around the Miami Seaquarium (19:01). And we talked with the daughter of the late Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley, Sharon Marley, about the new biopic Bob Marley: One Love (34:35).

On The South Florida Roundup, we spoke to Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Peter Licata about how he’s adjusting to dramatically declining enrollment – and the growing competition that’s driving it (01:02). We also looked at the state legislature’s efforts to get sorely needed tourism workforce housing built in the Florida Keys (19:04). And we examined the case of Guatemalan migrant farmworker Virgilio Aguilar-Mendez, who community leaders insist was unjustly charged with a Florida police officer’s death (34:32).

On the South Florida Roundup, we looked at widening ethics investigations into Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s lucrative moonlighting – and Democrats telling him to resign as he proposes city reforms (00:05). We also discussed an exclusive WLRN report about Florida’s anti-'woke' government finding something positive about diversity, equity and inclusion (17:50). And we examined Haiti’s new struggles against violent gang government as its real government faces a deadline to step down next week (33:36).

On The South Florida Roundup, we examined a rash of inmate deaths and suicides in Broward County’s jail facilities (01:03). We also looked at the city of Hialeah’s vote this week to stop the rental of recreational vehicles as residences — and what it says about our affordable housing crisis (18:56). And we discussed the new debate about the Cuba crisis. But this time it’s not about communism — it’s about capitalism (34:45).

In this episode of The South Florida Roundup we’ll look at bills in the new Florida state legislative session that would roll back gun control measures passed after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School six years ago (01:02). We also discussed last week’s cancellation of the South Florida Muslim Federation’s annual gathering at a Broward venue (18:51). And we asked what could be done about the record logjam of asylum cases in U.S. immigration courts like Miami’s (34:48).

On the South Florida Roundup, we discussed more 'Miami mess': the arrest of former Miami-Dade County School Board Vice Chair Lubby Navarro for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the school system (01:03). We also talked to the makers of “Never Drop the Ball,” WLRN-TV’s new documentary about America’s pioneering 20th-century Negro baseball leagues (18:25). And we tried to make sense of the new outburst of narco-cartel violence plaguing Ecuador and Latin America (35:12).

In the first show of 2024, we discuss WLRN's investigation into Miami's hiring of the city manager’s wife for office remodeling. We look at a proposal to place homeless seniors and veterans into transitional housing in Cutler Bay that is being met with resistance (18:37). And we examine President Biden’s decision to free Venezuela’s alleged corruption mastermind, Alex Saab, from his Miami jail cell (35:29).

On the South Florida Roundup, we close out 2023 by looking at how tough the year was for South Florida’s most critical commodity: its environment. And that includes the Everglades, whose revival feels dangerously dormant (01:03). We also examine the face and the future of the Palestinians, both in Gaza and here, amid the brutal Israel-Hamas war (17:58). And we discuss new polls that suggest President Biden and the Democrats are in more trouble with Latino voters next year than they thought (34:00).

On The South Florida Roundup, with the year nearing its end, we look back at some stories that helped define 2023 in South Florida. First, education — and the often bitter debate here involving diversity, parental rights versus LGBTQ+ rights and book-banning (01:01). We also discuss how the affordable housing crisis finally took center stage across the region (18:01). And we examine the American immigration crisis — and the Latin American leaders, like Venezuela’s, who made it worse (33:04).

On the South Florida Roundup, we looked at the holiday edition of the Miami mess: embattled City Attorney Victoria Mendez gets to keep her job — for the moment — while the city commission corrects all the multi-million-dollar mistakes it’s made with the budget (01:01). We also spoke with Nancy Ancrum, the Miami Herald’s editorial page editor who is retiring after leading the paper to two Pulitzer Prizes (18:39). And we examined why Venezuela claims it should have two-thirds of neighboring Guyana (35:19).

On the South Florida Roundup, we looked at how Miami Art Week and events like it are now a development engine for some of South Florida’s once struggling communities like Opa-Locka (1:00); a retired U.S. diplomat and former ambassador to Bolivia who was charged with spying for Cuba (8:40); and how the state of Florida may soon loosen development restrictions in the Florida Keys (22:48).