WLRN interns

Tayson Defas had difficulty growing up in Ecuador where it wasn't easy for him to find his identity as an LGBT youth.

"I was born here, but I was raised there. And in Ecuador, the LGBT community is not very strong. It's even ridiculed on TV, so you can understand how I felt when I was trying to come out," he said. "At the time, I had no idea what the gay community was. I had no connection. I had no idea how to talk to gay people. I didn’t even know how other gay people looked like -- that's how much of a problem I had."

Earlier today, President Barack Obama proclaimed that the policies toward Cuba over the past 50 years have not worked and announced major changes in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Obama reiterated that opening travel, financial exchanges, and telecommunications between the two nations will allow American values to be more easily shared with the Cuban people.

A filmmaking company from North Carolina will be building a new state-of-the-art production studio near downtown Miami. It’s an effort by the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to revitalize 14th Street and provide filmmakers incentives to shoot in South Florida.

The construction of the 70,000-square-foot production studio, called Florida Film and Television Center, is already underway. It will be located on Northwest Miami Court and 14th Street.

On a warm afternoon in Wynwood, just minutes away from their homes in Allapattah and Overtown, a group of students is making images. 

The group, 25 students selected by the Play to Win Foundation, is part of the program's Through My Lens: Art Is Life workshop. The mission is to empower students through art. 

Students paired with mentors spent all day on Nov. 8 crafting their photography skills. Armed with state-of-the-art Nokia phones, they snapped photos of each other in front of murals. 

Faena Art has announced it plans to build a new arts and cultural center in Miami Beach. 

The 50,000 square-foot building, which was designed by Rem Koolhaas and Netherlands-based architectural firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), will be located on Collins Avenue and 33rd Street.

It won't be built with a typical square design, though. Instead, one half of the building will be shaped like a cylinder, with a 40-foot high ceiling similar to a dome. The second half will be shaped like a cube. 

At 19 years old, Jose Machado has already been living without his mother for several years. She was deported back to Nicaragua, where he was born, for driving without a license.

“The state was not aware that we were here without any parents. They were not aware about our living conditions. So I presented myself to the authorities, the process began, and I ended up in a Jewish foster home,” Machado said.

Imagine being told you have only 11 days to live. That’s what Glen Weinzimer’s doctors told him when they diagnosed him with AIDS in 1993. 

“I was forced to retire and made final arrangements,” he said. “I was in the hospital, and it made me very angry.”

After a rough patch, he started taking new drugs his doctor had prescribed him. He then became energized and started volunteering.

Your local public radio station is on the hunt for spring interns. Interested? Here's the deal:

WLRN-Miami Herald News offers interns significant professional experience in a supportive environment. These are not coffee-making internships. Here are only some of the stories our interns have produced recently.

Medical marijuana supporters in Florida were unsuccessful Tuesday night in garnering enough votes to pass Amendment Two.

Although 57.6 percent of votes were in support of Amendment Two, which would have legalized medical marijuana, the votes did not meet the 60-percent requirement to pass the amendment. 

WLRN reporter Diego Saldana-Rojas attended an Amendment Two watch party at Gramps Bar in Wynwood.

He said supporters were sharing drinks and watching the results fluctuate on large TV screens.

A few voters at the John A. Ferguson Senior High School polling location in West Kendall were turned away before the polls closed at 7 p.m.

Orlando Duluc says he was turned away at 6:49 p.m.

"[At] 6:49, they say they are closed. They say the machines stopped just before 7 and that we cannot get in," he said.

WLRN intern Gregory Castillo was at the polling location when he heard an election official tell a voter that "it doesn't matter if it's five minutes off, it's whatever the election says."

As soon as Kimberly Standiford walked in, she noticed something was different. 

It was a Thursday morning and at Ruben’s Cuban Restaurant in Pinecrest, 34 years of home cooking would soon be gone.  

"We just had breakfast there and I didn't realize that they were closing,” says Standiford, a longtime patron. “It's a special place and it has told so many stories from years in this community."

Singer Chris Brown and local artist Ron Bass have collaborated on a mural painted in Overtown on the wall of a restaurant called House of Wings.

It was unveiled Monday -- thanks to the help of Headliner Market Group -- to a crowd of schoolchildren eager to meet Brown, said Nikki Williams, the restaurant owner's sister. City of Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon was also in attendance.

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office announced Thursday night that it is posting notices throughout early voting and Election Day polling locations to remind voters to thoroughly analyze each form.

The ballots will have selections on both the front and back of the forms.

Several state and municipal offices are listed throughout the ballot.

Six local arts organizations are each hoping to receive the most votes in the Knight Foundation's People's Choice Award competition for a $20,000 cash prize.

The prize will allow the winning organization to use it to fund or expand an arts project of its choice in its community.

Voting begins Monday, Oct. 20, and will end Monday, Nov. 17. The votes can be casted by texting each organization's unique number, which can be found here, to 22333.

Past the flashing lights of slot machines and green poker tables, a battle for fried finger food supremacy raged on at the Magic City Casino Sunday afternoon. 

Hundreds gathered for Croquetapalooza, the first event of its kind, honoring the crispy, gooey Cuban snack.

"This is an idea we had to simply find out who has the best croqueta in Miami," says Sef Gonzalez, event mastermind and creator of the Burger Beast blog. 

Ten restaurants accepted the challenge of creating the best possible dish for what was the Super Bowl of croquetas.