News

Hurricane Sandy's devastation has the National Weather Service considering changes to how it issues hurricane watches and warnings.

The National Hurricane Center was criticized last month following Sandy after it stopped issuing hurricane warnings because the storm wasn't technically going to be a hurricane anymore when it made landfall.

Foreclosure rates remain high in South Florida, but the good news is those homes are selling.

During the three months of last summer, nearly 30 percent of all real estate sales in South Florida involved homes in some stage of foreclosure.  

While trying to navigate the colorful, crowded labyrinth that is Art Basel Miami, we reached a tiny oasis of calm smack dab in the middle of the "Art Positions" sector (whatever THAT is.)

It was a patch of soft, green artificial turf, about 40 by 60 feet, resembling a tiny putting green.  It had diminutive peaks and valleys and even shade trees.

Aaaahh.

Along with the ever-expanding constellation of art fairs and gallery events during Art Basel, pop-ups are mushrooming at this time of year, including bars, shops and restaurants.

Pop-up restaurants have been trending in Miami and around the country for years now. The term "pop-up" restaurant has typically meant that the eating location is temporary, whether it's open one night or multiple nights.

Art Basel is a large universe with vague boundaries, but the places you seek within Art Basel have absurdly specific locations.

So, you'll need maps. Here are two of them. One is an interactive map prepared by the Miami Herald, which is good for planning before you even leave the house.

Artists won’t be the only ones getting international exposure at Art Basel Miami Beach this year. Some Florida breweries might share the spotlight as well at the first annual Basel Biergarten.

Alongside “The Factory” art show, Wynwood Cigar Factory (101 NW 24th St.) is hosting a pop-up beer garden which will serve Florida brews exclusively.  It’s an example of the many things that have grown up around Art Basel over the past ten years.

State elections chief Ken Detzner told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee on Tuesday that it was five "underperforming" counties that caused the delays in reporting the Florida vote count after the Nov. 6 election.

Chairman Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater) said he'll call for the elections supervisors from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Lee counties to testify before his committee next month. "There's enough blame to go around," Latvala said.

Prayer is coming back to Miami-Dade County Commission meetings starting Dec. 18.

In a 8-3 vote on Tuesday, commissioners signed off on a change to a current rule that only allowed for a moment of silence before meetings.

Now, commissioners will be able to invite a religious leader of their choosing or a fellow commissioner  to lead everyone in a prayer before each meeting. 

A bill that should help fix Florida's python problem is slipping out of the hands of lawmakers in Washington.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, has been trying to get legislation passed that would broaden a ban on invasive species in the U.S. In effect, the bill would slow down a recent influx of invasive snakes taking over the Everglades in Florida.

The man charged with overseeing elections in Florida got an earful from state Senators Tuesday in Tallahassee over the state's voting troubles.

Secretary of State Ken Detzner says most of Florida's 67 counties performed well during the general election.

But Detzner will begin an investigation next week in five counties, including the three largest in South
Florida.

Prayer is coming back to Miami-Dade County Commission meetings starting December 18.

In an 8-3 vote Tuesday, county commissioners signed off on a change to a current rule that only allowed for a moment of silence before meetings.

Fifty years ago Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett played the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach. Now a handful of college students will have their day at the Deauville.

Miami-Dade Commissioners said they could bring back prayer to their public meetings and now they have. It came in an 8 to 3 vote. They signed off on a change to a current rule that only allowed for a moment of silence before meetings. Now, commissioners will be able to invite a religious leader of their choosing to lead everyone in a prayer before each meeting. Baylor Johnson is a  spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union      of Florida and says the commissioners are inviting conflict and a possible lawsuit by doing this. A commissioner can also lead a prayer themselves if t

The Florida Legislature has struck out again with an attempt to privatize some or all of the state prison system.

A Tallahassee judge ruled today that lawmakers chose an unconstitutional method to turn prison health care services over to private contractors. As Mary Ellen Klas reported for The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times:

Progress Florida and Florida Watch Action-- two influential progressive groups in the state-- have launched a preemptive attack on the influence of ALEC in the Florida Legislature. 

ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a pro-business political outfit that hands out model conservative legislation to state lawmakers who follow a conservative agenda.

Leaders from throughout the region meet in Jupiter later this week for the fourth annual Regional Climate Leadership Summit, and the timing couldn't be better. Or worse, depending on your perspective. 

Pounding surf and high tides from Hurricane Sandy's passage have put the issue front and center, especially in Fort Lauderdale.

Art Basel opens Thursday for the 11th year of staging the "most prestigious art show in the Americas."  

So, if anything is prestigious at Art Basel, everything must be prestigious at Art Basel. The New York Times describes the event this way: "bigger, richer, longer and, if it’s possible, snobbier than ever before."

What is the value of living on a golf course? Michael Rosenberg isn’t sure. And though he doesn’t play the game, he likes the idea of sitting on his deck and looking out at serene green fairways, not someone’s rusty barbecue pit or swing set.

It’s why he bought his home on the Calusa Country Club in South Dade, paying a premium for his four-bedroom home.

Cash and opportunity are on their way to 34 winners of the Knight Arts Challenge, announced last night in Miami. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation selected the winners from 1,100 applicants.

The agendas probably say nothing about amends-making or damage control, but the mission is already clear as House and Senate elections committees begin hearings today in Tallahassee on overhauling Florida's elections system.

The lawsuit brought by Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones argues that Mayor Tomas Regaldo and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle plotted to end her political career and ruin her reputation.

Just when it looked like it would be a good two years before the next major election campaign , Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist are at it already.

Though he rarely mentions his name, Scott was pretty clearly campaigning against his predecessor this weekend on the CBS4 show, "Facing South Florida With Jim DeFede." And Crist is losing no opportunities to tell potential voters how he objected and even blocked Republiucan voter law changes, signed into law by Scott,  that ultimately turned ordinary ballot-casting into an endurance challenge on election day.

As the state decides how to implement the Affordable Care Act,  which is also known as Obamacare, opponents of the new law converge on Tallahassee.

  Indiana's ousted education chief says he's applied for the Sunshine State's top schools job.

Tony Bennett lost his bid for reelection last month.

Bennett says he first met Jeb Bush after winning election as the Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction four years ago.

Since then, Bennett has taken education policies Bush first in Florida tried and brought them to Indiana. Those ideas are often called "The Florida Model."

City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones is suing Mayor Tomas Regalado and state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle for what she says is a plot to destroy her political career by accusing Spence-Jones of political corruption.

On Monday, Spence-Jones filed a lawsuit claiming that Fernandez Rundle and Richard Scruggs, the lead prosecutor in a case accusing Spence-Jones of corruption more than a year ago, misled key witnesses.

These criminal cases surrounding Spence-Jones turned out to be unsuccessful.

WLRN Public Television won three Emmy Awards for two documentaries and one promotion video this week.

WLRN was granted these prestigious awards  by The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit organization committed to honoring excellence in television.

WLRN‘s documentary Out of Darkness, Into Light received an award in the Societal Concerns category. The award went to producer Mia Laurenzo, director Doug Clark and editor Jamie March.

A state appeals court on Friday said the Florida Department of Health used an invalid rule to approve new trauma centers in Pasco, Manatee and Clay counties, handing a victory to nearby hospitals that have waged a long-running battle against the facilities.

Art Basel begins this week, and WLRN will be your guide.  In a special hour hosted by WLRN's arts editor, Alicia Zuckerman, we give you tips on what to see, and how.  Plus we look at the fair's history and how it's shaped Miami. 

After  helping direct a successful re-election campaign, a top Democratic official says President Obama wants South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to stay on as party chair.