The South Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will host a panel Sunday, Sept. 23 that will look at all of the constitutional amendments on the November ballot. The ACLU has taken a public stance on a number of the amendments, including Amendment 4 (voting rights for felons), Amendment 6 (Marsy’s Law Amendment) and Amendment 11 (immigrants owning property). Melba Pearson is the Deputy Director for the ACLU Florida. She joined Sundial to explain some of the confusion surrounding the amendments.
Here is a guide to Florida’s ballot amendments.
Could vanilla become Florida’s new cash crop? As citrus greening and storms take a major toll on the citrus industry, researchers with the University of Florida are developing a more resilient vanilla plant that could potentially withstand severe hurricanes and disease. Dr. Alan Chambers is a professor of Genetics and Breeding of Tropical Fruits at the University of Florida. He joined Sundial to talk about how the vanilla crop may be a new alternative for the state's agricultural industry.
And for art collectors: there's a new way to own local art. Commissioner allows patrons to pay a $50 annual subscription fee to get a new piece of art each month. The program is funded by the Knight Foundation, the company Where-By-Us and the Miami gallery PRIMARY. The idea is simple: art collectors sign up for a monthly subscription, then the artists commission pieces for the collectors and send them out. Dejha Carrington is the founder of Commissioner and Typoe Gran is an artist who is commissioning pieces for the subscription service. They joined Sundial to talk about the program and how it is giving local artists an opportunity to generate a regular revenue stream for their work.