Another year is almost behind us, and, as ever, there was no shortage of headlines in South Florida. There were stories of challenges and struggle — but also much hope and joy.
Our work from 2022 picked up multiple honors this year at the Florida News Awards and the Sunshine State Awards, as well as a prestigious national Edward R. Murrow prize.
In 2023, with accountability investigations and series like Unguarded, Bright Lit Place and Waiting for America, the WLRN News team shone a light on issues facing our environment and our community — including those who risk their lives to make it to Florida. We covered treacherous weather, a rapidly-changing educational landscape and a complex economy, as well as local elections, sports and the arts.
As the year comes to a close, we have collected some of our most impactful work of 2023, along with some of the stories that brought us joy.
The year in... Impactful stories
UNGUARDED: How a tight-knit network of Miami real estate players bought and sold Guardianship homes for profit
One of the first projects by WLRN's newly-established investigations team was a three-part exposé that made national headlines, led to a watchdog investigation and is still having repercussions in Miami City Hall. The 'Unguarded' series looked at the work of a county-backed program that looks after "incapacitated" people in Miami-Dade, raising some of the funds for their care by selling their homes.
"With Miami−Dade officials continuing their investigation of the Guardianship Program of Dade County and its real estate transactions, WLRN has learned that two companies — linked to Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez — purchased and sold for hefty gains nearly three dozen properties that were once owned by the nonprofit, through a network of businesses or individuals."
Read the full story here. Read other WLRN investigations here.
Pulling the curtain behind WLRN's new podcast 'Bright Lit Place'
For six months WLRN’s environment reporter Jenny Staletovich slogged through mud with Miccosukee tribal elders and local fishing guides, while also plodding through years of legal wrangling, as she explored two decades of troubled Everglades restoration. The results were the astonishing podcast series Bright Lit Place — which is being distributed by the NPR network — and an interactive website featuring images by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Patrick Farrell and a multimedia history of the Everglades.
"I think what this podcast tries to do is to point out the flaws, but also highlight the beauty and highlight the fact that it is worth saving," Jenny told WLRN's Sundial. "But you go back to willpower. We just need to make hard choices. And those hard choices are going to mean compromise for a lot of people. We're going to have to just treat the Everglades more carefully and more thoughtfully."
Read the full story here.
In push to remove homeowners from Citizens, the state-run insurer uses unlicensed inspectors
The revelation that Florida taxpayer-owned Citizens Insurance has been using unlicensed inspectors as it tries to deal with a skyrocketing number of policies became WLRN's most read and shared story of the year. It was the latest blow to Floridians already struggling with the affordability crisis and worried about a precarious insurance market as climate change continues to bite.
“They were not supposed to have this many policies. They were not supposed to be the primary insurer,” homeowner Robert Mitchell told investigative reporter Daniel Rivero. "I think they have to find a way to get fewer policyholders with them and to get more money out of the policyholders they have. But I think they're doing it in an at best shady way, and possibly a very underhanded way.”
Read the full story here.
Venezuelans call Biden's humanitarian parole their ‘best hope’ — but ‘the waiting hurts’
In the special series Waiting for America, WLRN found that the one-year-old Biden administration humanitarian parole program was hampered by bureaucratic problems that were undermining its success: Demand was higher than anticipated. It was difficult if not impossible for some migrants to find sponsors and get passports. Work permits were taking months to secure.
"Venezuelans were the first to receive Biden's humanitarian parole, so their experience has become a bellwether — and a reminder that the administration may have underestimated demand. Some migrants call it a "miracle" ticket out of their awful crisis. But others, growing impatient as their applications linger for months, are setting out on the dangerous journey to the southern border — exactly what the program was designed to prevent."
Read Americas Editor Tim Padgett's full story here. Read the series here.
And if you want to revisit Tim's Americas commentaries, here are some of the highlights from 2023:
- Welcome, Messi, to Miami — a city that may not really care you're here
- From Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego, they heard Trump howling in Hialeah
- Massacres show Haiti needs outside force to reach its promised land
- Democracy faces Argentine peril in Buenos Aires — but also in Rome
- Presidente Petro, meet Governor DeSantis. You deserve each other
Reports on Fort Lauderdale flood show heroism, weaknesses as city ramps up infrastructure projects
Before hurricane season had even started, Fort Lauderdale was hit with a devastating flood in April when a historic rainstorm dropped a record of over 26 inches of rain in a span of hours. WLRN's reporters brought on-the-ground reporting of the immediate aftermath as well as residents' struggles as the city recovered from the event. As attention turned to improving defensive infrastructure, reporters Gerard Albert and Joshua Ceballos undertook a detailed investigation of the city's response
"In requesting and obtaining public records, including disaster response reports and emails and texts between city employees, WLRN reporters were able to chronicle the frantic rescue and recovery operations during the historic rainfall, and how a regional network of first responders ultimately helped saved the lives of those trapped by rising waters."
Read full story here.
A battle over the soul of Miami Beach: Will developers destroy or save Art Deco?
Miami Beach is known for its colorful Art Deco buildings. But more and more, only real estate developers are willing to spend the money it takes to preserve them — if they can build a tall, high-end residential tower on the property. This strategy saves at least part of the old buildings but changes the skyline forever.
WLRN's Verónica Zaragovia in-depth story in early 2023 covered the history of Art Deco and the simmering tensions over its preservation in the city. The issue only gained significance as the year went by, as Florida passed a new bill to prevent local governments from blocking the demolition of structures and a developer presented plans to convert an Ocean Drive landmark into a high-rise residential building.
Read the full story here.
Idalia hit one of Florida's poorest areas. How could that impact an economic recovery?
"Florida’s Nature Coast, where Hurricane Idalia ripped through stands of pine and cedar trees, small towns and waterfront villages, is one of the poorest and least populated regions in the state. That may inhibit an economic rebound in the months ahead."
South Florida came through unscathed in a very busy hurricane season, but on Aug. 30 northwest Florida took a direct hit. In a detailed report, and on a special episode of The Florida Roundup, Tom Hudson looked at the impacts of the storm — and how a family and their business coped in the immediate aftermath.
“No matter what happens, I know I have a community behind my back to help me build myself back up and they know that I'll do the same for them,” said Gracie Derifield, who runs a small coffee shop with her family in Steinhatchee, a small town about 20 miles from the hurricane's landfall.
Read the full story here.
The year in... Stories of Joy
You ain't from Palm Beach County if you don't know Hubba Bubba
Since he was a child, Jamar Battle, a.ka. Hubba Bubba, has been bringing joy to people in his Palm Beach County community with his dancing and rapping. This profile brought the 36-year-old’s struggles and optimism to the world, airing on NPR and becoming one of our most read articles of the year. It inspired county commissioners to honor him with a proclamation and reminded reporter Wilkine Brutus of the resilience and joy that binds our communities.
“Everybody be looking at me. Looking for me. Now, where is our dancer at? We could be in a bad mood. He could be the one hyping us up and making us happy,” Hubba, who has development disabilities, told WLRN. “I look at what God allowed him to do with the disability. He is doing magnificent things and bringing people to him, you know," said his mother, Angela Battle.
Read the full story here.
Celebrating the finale of O, Miami and WLRN's Zip Odes — together
With the help of our [Your Poem Here] campaign we received nearly 2,500 Zip Odes — almost double the amount we saw in 2022. And for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, we gathered at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens to read poetry and celebrate all of the poets who shared their odes to home with us.
We also put a winning Zip Ode on a billboard at the corner of NE 8th Street and Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami. WLRN education reporter Kate Payne interviewed poet Luz Rossy about her poem the day she saw it in person. Among our other favorite Zip Odes were poems about cafecito, language, heat and I-95 traffic.
A South Florida hockey club carves out a space for women on the ice
It was good to be a hockey fan in South Florida this year — yes, South Florida. The Florida Panthers swept the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference playoffs and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 27 years. But another team also received a slew of accolades at every level. Meet the Lucky Pucks. — an ice hockey club for women and girls of all ages based in Fort Lauderdale.
WLRN’s Sherrilyn Cabrera and Alyssa Ramos told the unconventional journey of their founder, Karen Ota O’Brien — or as she’s known on the ice, K.O. Ota-O’Brien started playing hockey when there was no women’s program. In fact, she started playing in the men’s league. So, she formed a team of her own out of necessity.“That’s how I came over those hurdles,” Ota-O’Brien said. “‘You don’t want me to play on your team? Then, O.K., I will start my own team.’”
Read the story here.
Miami now has a Banned Books Club - founded by a 16-year-old
New regulations came into place this year that deepened the ongoing impact of Gov. Ron DeSantis' educational policies, including a ban on the discussion of gender and sexuality in classrooms, changes to the Black history curriculum to teach that enslaved people benefitted from forced labor and a greater ease for parents to challenge books in libraries.
Thanks in part to the latter, there has been a wave of censorship that the American Library Association has called “unprecedented." But one of the unintended consequences of banning books is sometimes it can make people want to read them more. WLRN's education reporter Kate Payne reported on a new club formed in Miami with the mission of reading banned books — and its young founder.
Read the story here.
A 'pink wave' could spell good news for American Flamingo conservation in Florida
Reporter Julia Cooper was interning with WLRN in August when Hurricane Idalia struck. As the storm battered the state's Nature Coast, she found a bright spot: Peaches, one of many flamingos that were being spotted in unusual locations.
"The birds were spotted as far north as Lake Michigan beach, Wisconsin. One of those fly-ins was “Peaches" who was found in deep water off Florida's Gulf Coast. Now the bright-pink bird is being tracked by a pair of researchers searching to see if wild, breeding populations may return to the state since they went locally extinct in the early 1900s."
Read the full story here.
Science lesson at the beach? In post-pandemic South Florida, 'unconventional' education thrives
The beach might seem an unusual place for a journalist to report a story, or for a student to go to school — but only if you don’t live in South Florida. WLRN editor Jessica Bakeman joined young students who take part in the Surf Skate Science homeschool program, to report on a growing phenomenon and share a spring afternoon on the sand.
“To Luna Ojeda, flipping over on a surfboard feels the same as riding a roller coaster. "I couldn't breathe," said the 6-year-old on a sunny afternoon this spring, hardly shaken up after a wave overwhelmed her tiny frame, knocking her into the ocean. "But I took a breath, and I felt okay." Her teacher was with her in the water, and her mom watched from the shore. Her classroom was the sand and sea of Deerfield Beach.”
Read the full story here.
'A hub of hope': What Miami means to Florida Grand Opera's new interim director
Miami's Florida Grand Opera got a new interim director in 2023. Maria Todaro, who was born in Paris to an Italian opera singer and a Brazilian mezzo-soprano, told WLRN's Christine DiMattei that the opera can be a healing force for a troubled world, and that multi-cultural Miami is a "hub of hope."
"We might not be saving lives [like] doctors do, but we are in a business of transformation — specifically in this world, so much in crisis and despair right now," she said. "I feel that from Miami there can be incredible ripples — finding bridges between all the different cultures and perspectives."
Read the full story here.
The WLRN News team also compiled the moments that brought them joy during their reporting in 2023. You can listen to those by clicking the 'Listen' buttons at the top of the story and below.
