New Bill Would Ban Smoking on Florida Beaches

Two years ago, when Miami Beach commissioners wanted to reduce smoking on city beaches, they had only one option: asking nicely. Florida is one of a few states where municipalities cannot regulate tobacco use, so the commission created voluntary smoke-free areas at Fifth Street and 86th Street, where pastel-colored…

FPL Wins State Approval to Build New Natural-Gas Power Plant in South Florida

The United Nations recently told everyone on Earth to stop emitting carbon dioxide into the air by 2050. Despite this warning, Florida Power & Light (FPL), the largest energy company in the Sunshine State, is now all but definitely building a fracked-gas-burning power plant in Dania Beach. Today, Florida’s Siting Board, a panel consisting of Gov. Rick Scott and his cabinet, unanimously approved FPL’s $888 million plan.

New Lawsuit Challenges Rick Scott’s Last-Minute Help to Big Sugar

Rick Scott has been a friend to the deadly red tide that has killed millions of fish, fouled beaches in Southwest Florida, and even endangered Miami’s multibillion-dollar tourist industry. He has cut environmental regulation and limited crackdowns on sugar companies that dump fertilizer into the groundwater, which is the root…

Late-Season Storm Forms in the Atlantic

A late-season storm forming in the Atlantic has a 90 percent chance of evolving into something more serious, the National Hurricane Center reports. “The disturbance is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward for the next few days, passing near or north of the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and…

Global Warming Will Bake Florida’s Outdoor Workers, Study Warns

Climate change will hurt working-class and poor communities the hardest. Monsoons and absurd levels of heat are already battering huge portions of India, for example. Closer to home, much has already been written about “climate gentrification” in Miami — that is, the process by which wealthier people are buying…

Panama City’s Poor Suffer Most in Michael’s Aftermath

Hurricane Michael ripped a hole in the roof of Amy Bauer’s tiny apartment in Springfield, a poor Panama City neighborhood. An administrative assistant in her early 50s who gets paid by the hour, she met the storm with no cash on hand, no extra food, no batteries, no flashlights…

Hurricane Michael Winds Could Hit Miami by Tuesday Morning – Updated

Hurricane Michael continues strengthening this afternoon and could deliver strong winds and heavy rain to Miami by early Tuesday. By 2 p.m. Monday, the storm’s strength had reached 75 mph, and as it moves away from Cuba, it’s expected to strengthen all the way through Wednesday, when wind speeds might hit 120 mph, making Michael a strong Category 3.

Miami Will Be Screwed by 2050 Unless We Cut All Carbon Emissions ASAP, UN Warns

A new United Nations report warns that much of the world will be screwed by the year 2040 unless we basically reduce carbon emissions to zero. And Miami will likely be destroyed by hurricane storm surge. Happy Monday! The latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is, honestly, the sort of thing that should force the world’s citizens out into the streets.

Four Times Rick Scott Screwed Over Florida’s Waterways

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is a bad person. He’s now running for U.S. Senate, and one of his central campaign strategies is to flat-out admit he stole a then-record amount of money from Medicare and Medicaid when he ran a hospital system. He literally made it harder for poor people to go to the hospital.

Haulover Beach Closed as Red Tide Reaches Miami

After months of watching a wrenching natural catastrophe unfolding in slow motion across Florida’s Gulf Coast and hoping against hope it wouldn’t move to the Atlantic, Miami’s dreaded day has come at last: Red tide is here.