In this week's top stories: We examine the popularity of electronic cigarettes, the woes of commuting on I-95, single-sex classrooms in the state and Haiti's new, young cardinal.
What's With All The Hype And Hope For Electronic Cigarettes?: Use of electronic cigarettes is gaining popularity. Health officials and legislators are concerned the lack of information about and regulation of e-cigarettes will lead more individuals to consume them, especially minors.
Devilish Commute: How South Florida Lives With I-95: South Florida's most popular commute is the Broward-to-Dade 1.5-hour-long ride on the southbound Interstate 95 hundreds of thousands take every day. This latest post is part of our ongoing, year-long coverage of South Florida's stretch of I-95. We're calling it “The End of the Road.”
U.S. Aid Official: 'We Have To Change The Way We Do Business In Haiti': Four years after the earthquake that killed more than 200,000 in Haiti, USAID mission director John Groarke says, "We have to change the way we do business in Haiti." $9 billion in international aid has solved some of the quake’s worst problems, including rubble clearing and moving refugees out of tent camps.
Another School Choice In Florida: Single-Sex Classrooms: A proposed bill would allow parents to send their children to single-sex schools. The bill would mandate that one school in each district be dedicated to single-sex education. Hialeah representative Manny Diaz is backing the bill, stating, “With the idea that children all learn differently, this is a way that we can provide those parents -- that don’t have the resources to send their students to a private school or a parochial school that has a gender-specific setting -- a local public school where they have access to it."
Holy Hispaniola! New Haitian Cardinal Rises While Old One Next Door Stumbles: Chibly Langlois of Haiti is one of 19 new cardinals assigned by Pope Francis. The 55-year-old clergyman reflects the modernity that Francis is projected to bring to his papacy. WLRN's Tim Padgett sees the pope's selection as a rebuke of controversial, conservative Dominican Cardinal Nicolás Lopéz.
