Fort Lauderdale

Drivers and beachgoers in South Florida are no strangers to road closures and months-long of construction projects. 

But Fort Lauderdale’s latest road closure could affect summer tourism on the city’s busy Las Olas Blvd.

Starting on Monday July 9, the two blocks of Las Olas Blvd. that connect to Fort Lauderdale Beach will be closed for construction...for nearly four months. 

Over the last two years, Gaia Calcaterra has learned how to run a global nonprofit from South Florida.

The burn scars on Jaime Paz Zamora’s face and body are the most vivid reminders of why many consider him a hero of Latin American democracy.

In 1980, Paz was a vice presidential candidate in Bolivia, campaigning in an election meant to restore democratic rule after decades of military dictatorship.

One day, the small plane carrying Paz and his staff crashed after takeoff. Everyone on board was killed – except Paz. Authorities later called it an assassination attempt by military leaders.

Joe Trembly knows homelessness firsthand. When he moved to South Florida in the 80s, he found himself out of a job and living on the streets.

He's since spent decades working with Fort Lauderdale’s large LGBT community and with people affected by homelessness at the local sober living facility, Keystone Halls. 

Fort Lauderdale residents who wanted to sit down with city officials to talk about issues like traffic got the chance Wednesday evening.  

The Neighborhood Leadership Academy hosted ‘Food For Thought,’ a free dinner for residents and city staff, held at The Hub in the Mass District. 

More than 80 residents from neighborhoods across Fort Lauderdale shared food and a community brainstorming session. The theme was transportation. The inspiration for a civic dinner came from a similar city program in Atlanta. 

Ten people who are homeless and have been suing the City of Fort Lauderdale  for the past year, have reached a settlement with the city.

In Fort Lauderdale City Hall,  city commissioners voted Tuesday night in favor of settling the lawsuit for a total of $82,020 dollars. 

That money is expected to be paid out to 10 of Fort Lauderdale’s homeless, which will be divided up between each of the plaintiffs, and attorney's fees and costs.

Fort Lauderdale made national headlines last year when bulldozers cleared out a homeless encampment in Stranahan Park. Before that the city had become part of late night talk show fodder after authorities arrested then 90-year-old Arnold Abbott for feeding the homeless in areas not designated for that activity.

On May 19, 2017, LaLa Dior arrived home from cosmetology class at the Florida Barber Academy to find her belongings thrown in a bright blue trash bin.

Dior, who was living in a homeless encampment next to Downtown’s Stranahan Park, learned 80 city employees came with a front-end loader and dumpster truck and threw away her belongings, along with those of some 40 to 50 other people.

Fort Lauderdale’s New River Inn has worn many hats since it was built in 1905. It started as a railroad hotel in 1905, then it became city offices. In 1977 it became the original site of the Museum of Discovery and Science before it became what it is today, a museum for the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. 

Fort Lauderdale City Commissioners voted 3-2 to adopt a resolution that asks Broward County to stop The Wave project by not giving the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) the required consent to keep going.