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Miami-Dade And Broward School Board Elections, Deadly I-95 Highway, How You Can Collect Local Art

JOHN VAN BEEKUM/FLORIDA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
/
Miami Herald

Miami-Dade and Broward school board races. The perils of driving on I-95 and a program for art lovers to get personalized pieces.

On this Tuesday, Oct. 13, episode of Sundial:

Miami-Dade And Broward School Board Elections

There’s a lot to consider on the November ballot besides who will be the next president.

Local school board members have a direct role in your child’s education. And this pandemic has illustrated their power in determining when kids were allowed to return to the classroom.

In these uncertain times, you can rely on WLRN to keep you current on local news and information. Your support is what keeps WLRN strong. Please become a member today. Donate now. Thank you.

In Miami-Dade County, three school board seats are up for grabs and in Broward County, there’s just one runoff.

“Three seats is a third of the school board and I think there’s been a lot of eyes and ears on the school board right now because of the controversial decisions they’ve had to make recently regarding opening schools during this pandemic,” said WLRN’s education reporter, Jessica Bakeman.

We spoke with Bakeman about the key races for the school board in Miami-Dade and Broward. Read her full story here.

Miami-Dade & Broward School Board Elections

Deadly I-95 Highway

If you’ve lived in South Florida for even a short time, you’ve likely had to get onto Interstate 95. So you know how harrowing an experience it is: Speeders. Constant crashes. And a lot of fatalities.

Would it surprise you to know that on this highway that stretches all the way to Maine, the most dangerous parts are in South Florida? In fact, it’s the deadliest highway in the state.

The Sun Sentinel recently investigated data from 2014-2018 and found 530 people died in fatal crashes on I-95 in the Sunshine State. That’s more than 30% of all the deaths that occurred on the interstate over that time.

When we started looking into the statistics we found that the number of cars registered in Florida has increased by more than 3 million in the last decade but the number of highway patrol officers that are devoted to general enforcement has dropped,” said Sun Sentinel investigative reporter Megan O’Matz.

We spoke with O’Matz and Brittany Wallman, who is also a reporter on the Sun Sentinel’s investigative team.

Deadly I-95 Highway

How You Can Collect Local Art

Art shows and concerts as we know them may now be a thing of the past. The way we buy and enjoy art is also changing because of the pandemic.

A local program called Commissioner is connecting aspiring art collectors to local artists and their unique work. And the program is helping to provide a steady income for artists who have been affected by the pandemic.

“We want collectors and our members to get to know the artist first and then get to know the object or the art second. It really is all about relationships and context and knowing our group of collectors is going to be there for the artist even beyond Commissioner is the kinds of ripple effect that we’re going to achieve,” said the co-founder of Commissioner Dejha Carrington.

We spoke with Carrington about Commissioner season three and the future of arts patronage.

How You Can Collect Local Art

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