The South Florida Roundup

On this episode of The South Florida Roundup, we looked at a citizen revolt brewing in Palm Beach County against those massive A.I., or artificial intelligence, data centers. Water waste. Noise. And big power bills (01:09). We also examined why a decade-old plan to create less driving and more walking along Miami’s iconic Calle Ocho in Little Havana is still in limbo (18:04). And after the Hurricane’s championship bid here Monday, we asked: Is there really such a thing as college football anymore? Or just money (34:39)?

On this episode of The South Florida Roundup, we unpacked what has happened in Venezuela since that stunning U.S. special forces operation that captured dictator Nicolás Maduro early Saturday. What is the Trump administration’s plan now for restoring democracy — as Venezuela’s regime holdovers order new repression? What about María Corina Machado — or is this just about oil? (01:09) And we also looked at the return of University of Miami football to national prominence (40:00).

In a re-broadcast of The South Florida Roundup, we revisited the stories WLRN reporters followed in 2025 on the South Florida cities that turned 100 years. It's WLRN’s fascinating series “History We Call Home: 100 Years of South Florida.” The reports take us back to the epic real estate boom of the 1920s, which spawned city charters up and down our coast. Was Al Capone a founding father of Deerfield Beach? Why did all those pink flamingos stay in Hialeah? And how did Boca Raton become a reverse, North-to-South Black migration magnet?

In a re-broadcast of The South Florida Roundup, we revisited conversations we aired last month with Miami Book Fair authors. Award-winning Miami journalist Mirta Ojito talks about her debut novel Deeper Than the Ocean — and the immigration mysteries it solves [01:09]. Honduran-American Oscar Fuentes — the Biscayne Poet — shares his odes to Miami in English and Spanish… with a little music [18:56]. And Miami Book Fair co-founder Mitchell Kaplan discusses why reading, against all odds, still has a future [36:37].

On this episode of The South Florida Roundup, we looked at an unusual, if not unconstitutional, move by the state to authorize charter schools in Miami-Dade County — without the authorization of Miami-Dade public schools [01:09]. We also discussed an important new Miami Herald series, “Haiti’s Lost Generation,” on the growing horror of women and girls raped by violent gangs [13:05]. And we tried to understand the uneasy place that our faiths — and our inter-faith efforts — are at in this year’s holiday season [29:58].