Mayor Daniella Levine Cava

A new budget proposal from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava restores grant funding for local cultural organizations using newly identified temporary funds.

Members of two advocacy groups say arts and culture organizations and events pump $2.1 billion into the local economy each year and support 32,000 jobs.

Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez is convening what he calls “a rare meeting” outside the commission’s regular meeting schedule “to identify immediate budget cuts and reduce government waste.” He's inviting Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia to a planned August 20 meeting to find ways to cooperate and work in tandem with the state officials.

In an interview aired Friday on WLRN’s South Florida Roundup, Levine Cava outlined the key factors behind the shortfall, including the creation of five new state-mandated constitutional offices, inflation-related cost increases, and a sharp drop in state and federal funding.

Curley’s House Food Bank, located on the edge of Liberty City, is one example of a non-profit that may be affected by the budget cuts.

The mayor on Tuesday unveiled her proposed budget for the new fiscal year and is recommending eliminating about 350 jobs, including vacancies, to help close a $400 million deficit.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Friday that Miami International Airport and PortMiami broke records in revenue, collecting more than $242 billion and supporting nearly 1.2 million jobs.

“The unbelievable cruelty of the DeSantis and Trump Administrations towards hard working, honest, and law abiding Hispanic, Haitian, and other foreign born residents of this state needs to stop,” Justin Mendoza-Routt, President of the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, in a statement.

The Florida Immigrant Coalition has commissioned a pair of billboards calling on Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to take state officials to court to shut down legal action against the now operational the immigration detention camp in the Everglades, a facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava late Tuesday acknowledged that Gov. Ron DeSantis had the power to buy a county-owned airport in the Everglades to build an immigration detention center, but said she has “significant concerns” about the project.

The veto by the Democratic mayor comes at a moment when critics of adding fluoride to the water supply have a newly powerful ally: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s health secretary, who this week called for states to ban fluoride in drinking water.

One bit of optimism came from Miami-Dade County's State of the Arts, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his fiscal year 2025-26 proposed budget includes $27 million for cultural and museum grants for the state of Florida.