Nancy Klingener

Monroe County voters will have more than just presidential primary candidates to consider on their March 17 ballots—all voters, regardless of party, will be asked to weigh in on an ongoing tax earmarked for teachers.

Coping with storm surge fueled by rising seas in the Keys means elevating homes, buyouts in vulnerable areas, protecting important places like hospitals and wastewater plants and stabilizing parts of the Overseas Highway that could get washed out in storms.

The endangered Key deer are one of the iconic animals of South Florida. The small deer are popular with tourists for photos. But, it can be dangerous for the deer when they get too comfortable with humans.

Case in point: Last year, a Key deer buck started showing up at the CVS on Big Pine Key.

The coronavirus is affecting the local economy through important local industries, like tourism. It's also having a severe impact on another industry — commercial fishing.

All across the Navy, bases are holding drills over the next two weeks to test their security. In Key West, they started out with an active shooter drill at the VA medical clinic on Monday. 

Key West last year became the first place in the mainland U.S. to ban the sale of sunscreens containing two chemicals that studies have found harm coral. Now, a bill is making its way through the Legislature that could overturn that ban before it is implemented.

Starting high school later in the morning for health reasons is under discussion locally and nationally. The Monroe County school district is considering pushing back the start times — but for a different reason.

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.