© 2024 WLRN
SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mayor Gimenez On Phase 3, PBS Turns 50, 2020 Gets Spookier With A Drive-Thru Haunted House

Halloween is not canceled. There is a new Haunted House in South Florida you can experience from your car.
Live 305 Entertainment
Halloween is not totally canceled. There is a new Haunted House in South Florida you can experience from your car.

Mayor Gimenez On Phase 3 reopening in South Florida. PBS celebrates 50 years. Plus, a Haunted House experience from your car.

On this Thursday, October 1st, episode of Sundial:

Mayor Gimenez On Phase 3

Governor Ron DeSantis brought the entire state into the same state of reopening last week, allowing all businesses to reopen.

But the governor's announcement caught some local leaders off guard and left them scrambling to determine what it means for local restrictions.

WLRN is committed to providing the trusted news and local reporting you rely on. Please keep WLRN strong with your support today. Donate now. Thank you.

The new order stops cities and counties from fining people for not wearing mandated face coverings. It also suspends fines issued so far. Some local governments are looking into legal loopholes so they can still enforce these guidelines.

“We will continue to cite you. And then once the the the emergency orders for COVID-19 expire, then we will be able to collect on those fines," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in response to the governor's order.

We spoke with Mayor Gimenez about the governor’s decision and the timing of it.

PBS Turns 50

Over the past five decades, the Public Broadcasting Service has educated and entertained millions of people. From Sesame Street, to Ken Burns, to Frontline, to Downton Abbey.

The pandemic forced the broadcasting network to change programming to meet the needs of parents with children at home. It also re-evaluated news programs in light of the racial justice protests happening nationwide.

“People are looking for facts. They don’t need someone to tell them what to think," said PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger. "This is a critically important moment for us to do what we've always done—which is to dig hard and get at the issues that people need to understand in order to make the most important decisions that affect all of us."

We spoke with Kerger about the challenges PBS has undergone because of the virus, and the changes on the horizon.

2020 Gets Spookier With A Drive-Thru Haunted House

Halloween in 2020 will be different from any we’ve celebrated before.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines for celebrating safely. No door-to-door trick-or-treating, no crowded costume parties and no indoor haunted houses.

But that doesn’t mean Halloween is completely canceled.

The Horrorland drive-thru haunted house starts Thursday night at the Miramar Regional Park. Organizers promise ghosts, zombies and maybe even getting chased by a guy with a chainsaw––all while practicing social distancing from the car.

“Each road has a different theme,” said Francisco Santos, a Cirque du Soleil veteran and the director and creator of Horrorland. “The very last one is apocalyptic, it’s called, 'zombie apocalypse.' It's pretty large and we have, like, high air performers and different things surrounding them.”

We spoke with Santos about this untraditional haunted house and the measures he's taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The drive-thru haunted experience runs through the end of October. Tickets are only available online here.

Leslie Ovalle Atkinson is the former lead producer behind Sundial. As a multimedia producer, she also worked on visual and digital storytelling.