Governor Ron DeSantis signed on Monday his first law since taking office and legalized smokable medical marijuana in the sunshine state. It was one of his top priorities for this year's legislature and he had given the state's Senate and House leaders a deadline of March 15 to get a bill to his desk. Last month, Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried appointed Holly Bell as Florida's director of cannabis. In her new position, Bell will be charged with overseeing the state’s growing hemp industry and the massive market of Cannabidiol, also know as CBD, products across the state. Bell joined Sundial to talk about the future of medical marijuana and what she hopes to achieve in her new position.
Last Friday, a deadlocked jury forced a mistrial on 3 counts against North Miami Police Officer Jonathan Aledda. Officer Aledda made national headlines back in 2016 in the shooting of Charles Kinsey, the caretaker of Arnaldo Rios Soto, an adult autistic man. Soto and Kinsey were in the middle of an intersection and Aledda thought Soto was holding a gun. The entire event was caught on video andwent viral.A jury acquitted Aledda on one misdemeanor but the judge had to rule it a mistrial because there was no unanimous decision on three other charges. Miami Herald David Ovalle joined Sundial to give an update.
Alexandra Glorioso,a 31-year-old health care reporter for Politico, was diagnosed last summer with stage 2 breast cancer. Instead of leaving work for treatment, it became a part of her job. Glorioso wrote a story “I’m Coping with Cancer by Reporting On It." For months she has tweeted about her treatment, her dealings with her insurance company and funding for hospitals. She talked to WLRN’s Jessica Bakeman on Sundial about her experience of reporting on a subject so close to home.
Miami New Drama is presenting a new play called, “Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy.” It is based on the documentary “Cocaine Cowboys,” directed and produced by Miamians Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, and which chronicles the drug wars of the 1970s and 80s through the life of drug lord Jorge ‘Ravi’ Ayala and drug queen Griselda Blanco. For the play, Billy Corben worked with award-winning Miami playwright Aurin Squire to bring to life Ayala’s deposition in the case United States of America v. Griselda Blanco. This marks Corben’s first time working in theatre and he joined Sundial to talk about it.