Nancy Klingener

A commercial fisherman in the Florida Keys has been sentenced in a case involving undersized lobsters. The sentence also keeps him out of the water for quite some time.

Last February, a Chinese man was sentenced to a year in federal prison after he got caught taking photographs of military buildings on the Navy base in Key West. Now, another Chinese man faces the same charge.

A couple weeks ago during Art Basel, the news was all about fruit as art — specifically a banana duct-taped to the wall that went for $120,000.

But there was other fruit-related art news in South Florida at the same time that didn't get quite as much attention.

School is out for two weeks around the holidays in South Florida. That's a welcome break for some kids — but it also means some aren't getting meals they rely on. One nonprofit in the Keys is keeping its after-school meals going, even while school is out.

The Keys get freshwater from the mainland — it's pumped in Florida City and sent down a pipeline all the way to Key West. In an emergency, they can make some freshwater. But the plant that does that is obsolete and in line for replacement.

For decades, most of the news about coral reefs has been pretty gloomy. Now the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is launching a new mission to bring back a few of those reefs.

New sea level rise projections for South Florida were released Wednesday. And the numbers are up.

Hurricanes and high water don't recognize the boundaries between counties.

Driving down the Overseas Highway is always a challenge during the busy season: the cooler months. And it's about to get even trickier, with two major construction projects scheduled to start the week of Dec. 2.

After Hurricane Irma slammed into the Florida Keys in September 2017, the island chain saw a drop in visitors. Now the primary industry in the Keys is back — and it's booming.

Over the last 20 years, the Keys have been on a major mission to clean up nearshore waters.

That meant spending a billion dollars to install central sewage systems along the island chain. And the waters surrounding the islands are a no discharge zone.

To help make that happen, the county offers free pumpouts for vessels, including those in marinas without pumpout facilities and boats that are tied up behind people's homes.

The Monroe County Public Library system is celebrating its 60th birthday this month. But the Key West library calls itself South Florida's oldest, dating back to the 1800s. 

There's a big pot of money coming to Florida from the federal government to help communities hit hard by recent hurricanes be more resilient in future storms. The Keys are making the case for a good chunk of that money.