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for News Service of Florida  

The panel charged by Gov. Rick Scott with reviewing the state's 'stand your ground' self-defense law did not recommend any major changes to the statute, although it did make suggestions for tweaks by the Legislature in the upcoming session. The basic premise of the law isn't challenged in the final report released Friday. Scott's Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection included lawmakers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, representatives of minority communities and law enforcement. 

The audio/visual set-up at ArtServe, an "arts incubator" in Fort Lauderdale, could use an upgrade. To get there, the organization needs equipment like XLR cables and a 12-channel mixer, plus permits and the manpower to install the gear. In total, it's expected to require nearly $7,500 in funds. 

As Mike Perez mingled with visitors at the recent Python Challenge awards event in Miami, his left arm supported the weight of a black-and-white lizard with a body as thick as a linebacker's bicep. Gazing through heavily hooded eyes, the lizard rarely moved, save for sticking out its forked tongue for an occasional sniff . 

 Chefs and food personalities flock to  Miami this week to take part in the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which starts this Thursday. We asked some of the out-of-town chefs which Miami restaurants they want to check out while they are here:  

Do you have what it takes to navigate the political swampland of Florida and come out clean?

WLRN and the Miami Herald have partnered to create a  new interactive experience that will allow you to put your political integrity to the test.  After a cutthroat election, you have officially begun your career as a Florida politician.

Now it is up to you to make the right political and personal choices.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE 'TALLANASTY' ETHICS GAME

On the Florida Roundup, we have on the slate:

Florida -- and Miami in particular -- should prepare for habitat destruction, loss of cropland, increased salt-water intrusion, worsening coastal flooding, and a host of related disasters if climate change and sea level rise patterns continue, according to findings in a federal "draft climate report."

This weekend, music lovers have a special treat with the second annual Virginia Key Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance at Key Biscayne. This four-day event of live music,  includes camping, a sustainability fair, along with great food, meditation and yoga.

Reporter Patricia Sagastume tells us why the event is coming back despite last year’s rough start:

When Richard Blanco got the call that he'd been chosen to write a poem for President Obama's second inauguration, at first he thought it was a prank. He still has no idea how he ended up on the President's radar.

"I would dream actually that the President has actually read my work and was so moved by it," says Blanco, laughing, "that he said, 'I want this guy to read a poem at the inaugural.'"

David "Ras D" Reuter began at WLRN in 1986 as a volunteer for WLRN's Radio Reading Service. In February 1988 he became a regular staff member of the Reading Service. Before coming to WLRN, David worked a variety of radio jobs including working on "Caribbean Rendezvous," a Caribbean music show that aired on a variety of radio stations in the South Florida market. It was there that David was exposed to not only a variety of music from the Caribbean, but its various cultures as well. David was also a musician and vocalist, performing throughout the Keys and South Florida.

In Lake Worth, where the prevalence of gang graffiti motivated city commissioners to create an anti-spray paint ordinance in 2010, artist/business owner Adolphe Latorre has his work cut out for him. 

South Florida's beaches in late spring through much of the fall resemble something of a crime scene, or rather, dozens of miniature crime scenes. Brightly colored caution tape and wooden stakes can be found scattered throughout the sand, sectioning off areas where sea turtles have left the water to build nests.

That tableau could look a bit different this year, says marine conservationist Dr. Kirt Rusenko, who is based at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. 

Community Contributor

I’m a Northern California boy, through and through. I grew up ten minutes north of Berkeley, went to college at Davis, about forty five minutes away, and then was fortunate enough to have the industry I went to school for bloom around me. I spent my post-university career living around the Bay Area, the last four years in the Mission in San Francisco. I am attuned to things that are uniquely San Francisco: burritos, surly Asian women serving me pho, co-workers into fringe politics, passive-aggressiveness.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is back in his home country after more than two months recovering from his latest cancer surgery in Cuba. Celebrations ensued throughout the country on Monday as he made his way back to the capital, Caracas, following his extended absence.

But as tens of thousands of Venezuelan expatriates monitor in South Florida, his return may raise more questions than it answers.

For example:

For artburstmiami.com

A gong hangs suspended from its stand, light dancing across its bronzed surface, each hammered dent hinting at some mysterious overtone waiting to be released. If you grab the right mallet and strike it, that light turns into sound, the complex interplay of indentations drives the air, caresses your eardrums, and vibrates your body. The sound swells, fills the room, and gradually dissipates.

Discovery Channel's Shark Week isn't until August, but South Florida is in the midst of its own shark celebration of sorts. Now through the end of April, the inshore waters off the coasts of Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County will teem with shark activity.

In October, the best surf we have experienced in South Florida in a generation got me thinking about how surfing taught me important lessons about social media. Our shared passion for surfing was evident in five ways, which are similar to what happens on social media.

1. Behavior, Culture, and Norms

Thursday is the first day of the 2013 South Beach Wine & Food Festival. In our interactive timeline (below), we take a look back at the indulgent and now-famous South Beach Wine & Food Festival last year, in 2005 and back in 2001, when it was still known as the "Florida Extravaganza."

How have ticket prices, visiting chefs, food trends and popular events changed (or not changed) over the years?

What's on state lawmakers agenda for the upcoming session? Sen. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) and Sen. Maria Sachs (D-Boca Raton) discuss what's on their list with WLRN's Phil Latzman.

For Republican Anitere Flores, there's little hesitation when she's asked what she'll be working on first when the session begins. 

"The most important issue that I'll be tackling this year," she says, "is Citizens Property Insurance."