South Florida Roundup

Lab-bred mosquitoes are flying in South Miami. It’s the latest effort to stop the type of mosquito that spreads the Zika virus.

From Delray Beach to Virginia Key, South Florida is spending millions of dollars to fix old sewer systems. 

Miami is still in the race. This week Amazon announced the 20 cities on its short list as it decides where to build its second headquarters (HQ2) – a $5-billion investment promising 50,000 high-paying jobs.

Though the final list singles out Miami, the proposal was a regional effort. 

President Donald Trump met with leading lawmakers last week to talk about immigration. According to the Washington Post and other media outlets, Trump asked, "Why do we want all these people from 'shithole countries' coming here?" referring to Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations. 

If you thought the first year of President Trump’s Administration was an unprecedented year in politics, just wait. 

2018 brings with it the midterm election, including the races for Florida governor, the U.S. Senate and House and the expiration of two federal immigration programs — Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Plus, a passenger train service is supposed to get rolling between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. 

A lot has happened in the past 365 days.

A Category 4 hurricane plowed across the Florida Keys. President Obama ended the “wet foot, dry foot” policy for Cubans. The death toll related to Florida's opioid epidemic climbed higher. Venezuela sank further into economic and social chaos.

For the last episode of The Florida Roundup in 2017, editorial page editors from the Miami Herald, the Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post — Nancy Ancrum, Rosemary O’Hara and Rick Christie — sat down with WLRN's Tom Hudson to review the year’s biggest news stories. 

Two of Florida’s largest counties, Palm Beach and Broward, have started a process that could take opioid drug makers to court for their roles in the opioid crisis. 

Sexual harassment, abuse and inappropriate behavior are not new, and South Florida itself is not immune. "Abuse isn't an economic issue; it's across the board. In Hispanic culture it is a double whammy: It's a culture of machismo and a culture of silence. It's a deadly combination," says Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago.

There are nearly two million gun licenses in Florida but figuring out exactly how many guns are in the state is a more challenging figure to extract. Florida, like most states, does not require gun owners to register their weapons. 

This week on a special edition of The Florida Roundup at the Miami Book Fair, WLRN's Tom Hudson spoke with a panel of authors about the changing political and cultural landscape of South Florida.

National Book Award finalist and MacArthur finalist Edwidge Danticat, host of NPR's Full Disclosure Roben Farzad and Dr. Andrew Frank, professor of history at Florida State University took to the stage to discuss everything from uncertainty over immigration to the slow expansion of medical marijuana and the backlash against Confederate symbols scattered across the state.