News

Miami-Dade County's Community Relations Board -- peacekeeper for the last half-century among the region's raucously contentious cultures and between the people and the police -- is getting ready for the aftermath of the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford.

Birding blogger Nicolas Lund recently argued in an article for Slate magazine that Florida should change its state bird to the Flamingo.

He was actually advocating for several states to change their birds, but he seemed particularly peeved with Florida’s current choice:

In the world of technology, the idea is critical. But how to turn it into application and how to monetize it are how start-ups live and die.

And that’s where business incubators come in.

During a recent tour of one incubator in Palm Beach County, the conversation quickly turned to real estate, or where incubation actually takes place.

South Florida may be known for its sun and sand, but software? There is a burgeoning effort to grow, encourage and attract the technology industry to South Florida.

Silicon Beach

Local entrepreneur advocates have been very active building the necessary infrastructure to support local start-ups. What else is needed? Can Miami really become “Silicon Beach?”

Future of Technology

Ever since a car crash that left him a quadriplegic 12 years ago, 50-year-old Ronald Fulton has been making the best of bad situations.

His experience as a patient led him to found a healthcare advocacy organization called You Are Knot Alone. Life in a wheelchair turned him into a campaigner for disability rights who also advises Miami-Dade County commissioners. But for one thing in his life, there is no upside: the loss of his nephew, Trayvon Martin.

On today's edition of The Florida Roundup... 

Immigration: 

Immigration reform is stalled in Congress.

Is Marco Rubio backing away from own bill?

When will there be resolution?

Has the issue been a net loser for the freshman senator, and when will there will a resolution in Washington?

Governor Scott vetoes a law that would have allowed illegal immigrants drivers licenses.

Which way is he heading this time as we approach his re-reelection campaign?

Is he heading back to his tea party roots?

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez is reaching  out to religious groups to forge a social safety net that would be bigger and better than public or private sectors could achieve on their own.

Plans for the Engage305 project were announced Wednesday at a conference at Miami Dade College.

The folks who live along a small stretch of Fort Lauderdale Beach just north of Sunrise Boulevard know the drill.

Actually, they spent the first part of 2013 hearing little else.

Nearly every day since early January, work crews have been out between Northeast 14th Court and Northeast 18th Street  installing a new sea wall.  The first phase involved a huge rig drilling 40 feet down to make way for 500 pieces of sheet metal pilings.

More than four years ago, when Congress passed the Obama stimulus, nobody in Fort Lauderdale would have imagined that a ripple effect from the legislation might become a "Wave" for Broward County commuters and businesses.

"This is the beginning," said Diana Alarcon, director of the city's transportation and mobility department, smiling as she described the new Wave streetcar project for downtown Fort Lauderdale during a recent public workshop in Oakland Park.

Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg has been covering the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba for twelve years.

“The only people who have been at Gitmo longer than me are the prisoners,” she said in a recent phone interview.