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  • Ads in the Parks? Miami-Dade Voters Will Decide in November

    Ads in the Parks? Miami-Dade Voters Will Decide in November

    Should the view at your neighborhood park include a sponsor’s logo? Miami-Dade voters will settle that question in November, after the county commission voted to place a charter amendment on the ballot that would lift the county’s prohibition on advertising in county-owned parks.

    The measure squeaked through. Getting a charter amendment on the ballot requires a two-thirds supermajority, and the proposal, sponsored by commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez, passed 8-4, with commissioners Regalado, McGhee, García and Steinberg opposed and Commissioner Hardemon absent.

    A Hedge Against a Tax Hit

    The timing is no accident. The same November ballot carries a statewide vote on expanding homestead exemptions, and county officials fear that if it passes, it will drain local property tax revenue, leaving departments like parks scrambling for money. Advertising, the argument goes, could backfill some of the loss without raising taxes.

    What the ads would actually look like is where things get fuzzy, and where the debate turned lively. The ballot language will not specify permitted formats, and commissioners disagreed openly about where the line should fall, with options floated ranging from banners to billboards. Rodriguez described a modest vision: small digital kiosks where parkgoers could charge phones, check maps and find nearby restaurants, emphatically not towering billboards looming over the tot lot.

    Skeptics on the dais worried that once the charter door opens, the distinction between a helpful kiosk and a revenue-maximizing digital sign could prove hard to police, and that green space is one of the few refuges left in a county already saturated with commercial messaging.

    Miami-Dade’s park system is one of the nation’s largest, spanning hundreds of parks from urban playgrounds to beachfront preserves, which is exactly why the proposal cuts both ways: a vast canvas for advertisers is also a vast landscape of public space that has never carried ads. Voters get the final word Nov. 3. Until then, expect the quintessentially Miami debate, palm trees versus pixels, to keep simmering.

  • Zoo Miami Welcomes First-Ever Wombat Birth, the Only One in the U.S. This Year

    Zoo Miami Welcomes First-Ever Wombat Birth, the Only One in the U.S. This Year

    Zoo Miami has pulled off a marsupial milestone. The zoo announced that a southern hairy-nosed wombat joey, the first successful birth of the species in the zoo’s history, and the only successful southern hairy-nosed wombat birth in the United States this year, has begun emerging from her mother’s pouch.

    Because wombat newborns are roughly the size of a jellybean and develop hidden inside the pouch, the birth itself went unseen. Zoo staff estimate the female joey was born around Jan. 19, following a pregnancy of only about 30 days. She then spent months growing in her mother’s rear-facing pouch, an arrangement that keeps dirt out while mom digs, before offering keepers their first glimpses this summer.

    The proud parents are Gordon, an 8-and-a-half-year-old male who arrived from the Los Angeles Zoo, and Adelaid, a 9-and-a-half-year-old female from Illinois’ Brookfield Zoo. The pairing was part of a coordinated effort to breed a species that is rarely reproduced successfully in American zoos.

    Built Like a Tank, Poops Like a Dice Factory

    Southern hairy-nosed wombats are the smallest of Australia’s three wombat species, typically weighing 45 to 65 pounds, with oversized ears and broad, fuzzy snouts. They are engineering marvels: powerful claws let them excavate sprawling burrow networks called warrens, and their rumps are reinforced with tough cartilage, a built-in shield they use to block burrow entrances against predators.

    They are also the animal kingdom’s reigning oddballs in one memorable respect: wombats produce cube-shaped droppings, a quirk scientists believe helps the pellets stay put when marking territory.

    Zoo officials say the joey is healthy and increasingly bold about poking her head into the world, giving visitors to the zoo’s Australia-themed area a shot at spotting one of the rarest baby animals on display anywhere in the country. In a summer when South Florida’s animal headlines usually involve pythons and iguanas, a homegrown wombat, born in Miami, no less, makes for a welcome change of species.

  • Python Challenge Hunters Pull 280 Snakes From the Everglades; Champ Bags 96

    Python Challenge Hunters Pull 280 Snakes From the Everglades; Champ Bags 96

    Florida’s annual python roundup delivered again. Wildlife officials announced that 907 participants from 30 states, plus Canada and Vietnam, removed 280 invasive Burmese pythons from South Florida during the 10-day 2026 Florida Python Challenge, held July 10-19 across eight official competition locations.

    Tom Rahill claimed the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize after removing 96 pythons, all taken from Everglades National Park, which returned this year as an official competition partner. The longest snake of the event, a 16-foot-5-inch python, was hauled out of the park by Rahm Levinson.

    Inside the Media Day

    The South Florida Water Management District, which co-hosts the challenge with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, streamed its 2026 Python Challenge media day on its official channel in May, the event featured in the video above. District and state officials used the airboat-flanked event on the edge of the Everglades to open registration, demonstrate safe capture techniques and make the pitch that ordinary Floridians, with training, can join one of the country’s most unusual conservation competitions.

    The stakes go well beyond prize money. Burmese pythons, an invasive apex predator with no natural enemies in Florida, prey on the native mammals, birds and reptiles the Everglades ecosystem depends on. Challenge events have now removed more than 1,600 pythons since the competition began, while paid contractor programs run by the FWC and the water management district have eliminated more than 19,000 snakes since 2017.

    Scientists acknowledge the challenge alone will not eradicate a python population estimated in the tens of thousands, but they credit the annual event with recruiting new hunters, generating field data and keeping public attention fixed on the Everglades’ most notorious invader. Registration details for next year’s event will be posted by the FWC, and, as this year’s tally of international competitors shows, python hunting has become a draw well beyond state lines.

  • NOAA Doubles Down on Quiet Hurricane Season as El Niño Muzzles the Atlantic

    NOAA Doubles Down on Quiet Hurricane Season as El Niño Muzzles the Atlantic

    Halfway through what is normally the scariest stretch of the calendar for South Florida, the Atlantic is unusually silent, and federal forecasters expect it to stay that way. In its August update, NOAA maintained its call for a below-normal season, raising the probability of below-average activity from 55 percent to 75 percent.

    The updated outlook, issued Aug. 6, calls for seven to 13 named storms, two to six hurricanes and up to two major hurricanes, well short of the long-term average of 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three majors.

    The National Weather Service’s official press conference video, recorded when the initial outlook was released May 21, shows agency forecasters walking through the seasonal setup, an initial forecast of eight to 14 named storms and three to six hurricanes, issued with 70 percent confidence, and explaining the dominant force behind it: a strengthening El Niño that forecasters say could reach “super” intensity, driving wind shear that tears Atlantic storms apart before they organize.

    Two Storms, Zero Hurricanes

    So far the season has produced just two named systems, both in the Gulf. Arthur formed in mid-June off the Texas coast and dumped record rainfall on parts of Louisiana while spawning tornadoes along the Gulf Coast. Bertha organized south of the Florida Panhandle before making landfall in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Neither reached hurricane strength.

    NOAA attributes the lull to El Niño conditions that emerged in the equatorial Pacific in June and are expected to temper Atlantic activity for the remainder of the season.

    Forecasters are quick to add the caveat that matters most locally: it only takes one. Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida in 1992, itself a below-normal El Niño year, a point emphasized in every seasonal briefing. The peak of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October, and emergency managers across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties continue to urge residents to keep supplies stocked and plans ready, quiet forecast or not.

  • Messi Brace Lifts Inter Miami Over San Luis in Leagues Cup Opener at Nu Stadium

    Messi Brace Lifts Inter Miami Over San Luis in Leagues Cup Opener at Nu Stadium

    Lionel Messi picked up right where he left off. In his first start for Inter Miami since returning from the World Cup, the Argentine scored twice and set up another goal as the Herons rallied past Atlético de San Luis 4-2 in their 2026 Leagues Cup opener on Aug. 6 at Nu Stadium.

    The full match highlights, posted to the Leagues Cup’s official channel, show the sequence fans will be replaying all month: Messi arriving at full sprint to volley home a cross from Noah Allen, then later tiptoeing through two defenders to bury a close-range finish after an intricate buildup. In between, his outswinging corner found Micael for a header, while Telasco Segovia added another for Miami. David Rodríguez and Rafael Llorente scored for the Mexican side.

    A Record and a New Home

    The brace carried historic weight. Messi became the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup history with 14 goals, moving one clear of LAFC forward Denis Bouanga in the cross-border tournament between MLS and Liga MX clubs.

    The night also showcased the club’s new stage. Nu Stadium, the 26,700-seat centerpiece of the Miami Freedom Park development, opened in April as Inter Miami’s permanent home after years at the club’s temporary Fort Lauderdale grounds, and its sweeping canopy, the largest in Major League Soccer, frames nearly every aerial shot in the highlight reel.

    Head coach Guillermo Hoyos said afterward that the club was happy with the result and grateful for the players’ effort in a match Miami had to chase after falling behind early.

    The win opened Phase One play for Miami, which returned to Nu Stadium two days later to face CF Monterrey. For fans tracking the bigger picture, Messi’s post-World Cup form, two goals and an assist in 90 minutes, suggests the 39-year-old has no interest in easing into the back half of the MLS season.

  • Pink Is Back: Flamingos Rebuild a Wild Foothold in Florida Bay

    Pink Is Back: Flamingos Rebuild a Wild Foothold in Florida Bay

    The most photogenic comeback in South Florida is unfolding in the shallow, glassy waters of Florida Bay, where American flamingos, birds once all but erased from the state, are again wading within sight of Everglades National Park’s aptly named Flamingo outpost.

    Photographers working the remote flats of Snake Bight have documented as many as 50 flamingos at a time this past winter, and researchers estimate roughly 60 birds now count as regulars in the Flamingo area, though the wary waders can be difficult to track down across the bay’s vast mudflats.

    The sightings build on a milestone survey in which an avian ecologist counted 125 flamingos in Florida Bay, the largest flamboyance recorded in South Florida in a decade and the biggest since a group of 147 was spotted in the northern Everglades in 2014.

    Blown In by a Hurricane, and Staying

    Many of the birds trace their arrival to 2023, when Hurricane Idalia’s winds carried flamingos from Cuba and Mexico into Florida. Instead of leaving, a contingent settled along the Florida Bay coastline. Audubon Florida research director Jerry Lorenz has said the 100 flamingos counted in 2024 likely represent a floor for the new population, with more birds probably going uncounted during brief survey windows.

    Scientists caution that no nesting colony has yet been documented, the true test of whether flamingos are reestablishing themselves rather than merely visiting. But they note the birds are returning to an ecosystem in mid-repair, as Everglades restoration work aimed at reviving historic freshwater flow helps estuarine habitats rebound, replenishing the shrimp and other invertebrates that give flamingos their signature color.

    For now, the payoff belongs to anyone with a kayak, a long lens and patience. Against the silver-green sweep of Florida Bay at low tide, a line of hot-pink birds reads like a hallucination, living proof that one of Florida’s original icons is finding its way home.

  • Sargassum Peak Passes, Sparing South Florida Beaches a Second Record Year

    Sargassum Peak Passes, Sparing South Florida Beaches a Second Record Year

    The rafts of brown seaweed that carpeted South Florida’s shoreline for much of the summer are finally in retreat. Scientists with the University of South Florida’s Sargassum Watch System say this year’s inundation has peaked, and 2026 is now expected to finish second all-time for the tonnage of sargassum washing onto beaches, short of a new record.

    Brian Barnes, the lead scientist tracking the great Atlantic sargassum belt, said the update deflates earlier concerns that this summer would surpass last year’s record-setting, beach-spoiling season. Consistent with the pattern seen in most previous years, total sargassum in every region of the Atlantic began declining in July while its distribution held stable.

    That is cold comfort for the tri-county coast, which sat squarely in the seaweed’s path. Beach trackers reported that Florida’s Atlantic side took the hardest hits this year, with Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and the ocean side of the Keys seeing the worst accumulations, while the Gulf coast stayed largely clear.

    A Strange Kind of Spectacle

    Sargassum is a leafy, rootless alga that drifts across the open ocean in vast floating mats, sheltering crabs, shrimp and juvenile fish along the way. The trouble starts onshore, where mounded seaweed decomposes into a sulfurous stench that can clear a beach faster than an afternoon thunderstorm.

    It also produces some of the most surreal coastal imagery in Florida: golden-brown windrows stretching to the horizon, front-end loaders working the sand at dawn, and turquoise water fringed in amber. Drone photographers have documented the belt’s arrival each summer as it snakes from the coast of Africa through the Caribbean and up the Florida Straits.

    With the peak behind it, South Florida can expect gradually cleaner sand through the fall as beach crews work down the backlog. Researchers caution, though, that the sargassum belt has trended dramatically larger over the past decade and a half, meaning the seaweed-framed postcard view is likely to remain a fixture of South Florida summers for years to come.

  • Record Sea Turtle Season Brings Waves of Hatchlings to South Florida Beaches

    Record Sea Turtle Season Brings Waves of Hatchlings to South Florida Beaches

    South Florida’s beaches are having a season for the record books. State biologists have documented an unprecedented 2,152 leatherback sea turtle nests across Florida, a figure that, once confirmed, would stand as a new statewide record for the massive, deep-diving species.

    Loggerheads are surging, too. Researchers counted 94,667 loggerhead nests statewide by the end of June, the highest end-of-June tally recorded in the past five years, putting the state’s most common nesting turtle on track for a potential record season of its own.

    The boom is concentrated in South Florida. Scientists monitoring Boca Raton’s shoreline have documented 42 leatherback nests, more than double the area’s typical annual average and the most ever recorded there. Palm Beach County ranks among the most important leatherback nesting zones in the continental United States, and researchers believe the county’s proximity to the Gulf Stream may help draw nesting females ashore. To the south, Broward County conservation groups are likewise reporting a strong nesting season along the county’s monitored beaches.

    What Beachgoers Should Know

    Florida’s nesting season runs March through the end of October, which means August visitors are walking beaches at the height of hatchling activity. The staked-off nests dotting the sand from Key Biscayne to Jupiter are now releasing tiny loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks that scramble to the surf under cover of darkness.

    Wildlife officials ask residents and visitors to keep beachfront lights off or shielded at night, since artificial light can disorient hatchlings and send them toward parking lots instead of the ocean. Filling in holes, flattening sandcastles and packing out beach furniture at day’s end also clears the runway for the next wave of hatchlings. For photographers, the season offers some of the most striking wildlife imagery South Florida produces: tracks like tire treads running from dune to waterline, and palm-sized hatchlings silhouetted against the dawn surf.

    Whether 2026 finishes as an all-around record year will not be known until surveys wrap up this fall, but researchers say the early numbers point to one of the strongest seasons since standardized counts began, a hopeful sign for species that remain federally protected.

  • Big Money Reshapes South Florida Health Care as Mega-Gifts Multiply

    Big Money Reshapes South Florida Health Care as Mega-Gifts Multiply

    A wave of extraordinary private giving is remaking South Florida’s medical landscape, with donors pouring nine-figure sums into hospitals, research centers and medical schools across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, CBS12 reported in a June examination of the trend.

    Among the largest commitments: Dr. Herbert Wertheim’s $100 million to Baptist Health South Florida for a cancer institute and research center, according to CBS12.

    No donor has spread money more widely than Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who relocated his firm to Miami in 2022. His South Florida health care gifts include $50 million to Baptist Health for Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative disease research, $50 million to the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center for a 12-story research facility, $25 million to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for a pediatric surgical tower, $15 million to Mount Sinai Medical Center for its cancer center expansion, $10 million to UHealth’s digestive health division and $3 million to Ronald McDonald House Charities, per CBS12.

    Medical Education Gets Its Share

    The giving extends to the classroom. Helen and Jacob Shaham committed $30 million to Florida International University’s College of Medicine for an academic medical center — on top of $15 million to Nicklaus Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute — while John and Ann Wood gave $28 million to Florida Atlantic University for medical school scholarships and David Husman gave $20 million to Nova Southeastern University for an ALS research institute, according to the report. Broward Health received $5.2 million from the Henry E. Haller Jr. Foundation for cardiac labs at its Fort Lauderdale flagship.

    Philanthropy leaders trace the surge partly to the pandemic. “COVID brought home the fact that you need extraordinary good healthcare where you live,” Baptist Health Foundation CEO Alexandra Villoch told CBS12, describing the gifts as investments in the community’s future rather than traditional charity. Loreen Chant, president and CEO of the Health Foundation of South Florida, said philanthropic leaders recognize that investments in hospitals, medical education and research create lasting regional benefits.

    The momentum has continued into the summer: on Aug. 3, Baptist Health Foundation announced a $1 million gift from Julio C. and Alexandra Herrera for maternal and neonatal care. For patients, the payoff is measured in new towers, expanded trial access and specialists who no longer require a flight north — a quiet transformation funded gift by gift.

  • Herrera Family Gives $1 Million to Baptist Health for Moms and Newborns

    Herrera Family Gives $1 Million to Baptist Health for Moms and Newborns

    MIAMI — Baptist Health Foundation has received a $1 million gift from Julio C. and Alexandra Herrera to support care for women and infants at two of the system’s flagship hospitals, the foundation announced on Aug. 3.

    The gift is divided evenly: $500,000 will support the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at South Miami Hospital, and $500,000 will help fund the transformation of the Lake Pavilion at Baptist Hospital, according to the announcement.

    For the Herreras, the cause is personal. The couple’s commitment stems from their own experience when their son required NICU care at South Miami Hospital, and the family has multi-generational ties to Baptist Health, the foundation said.

    “Their gift reflects a deep commitment to advancing healthcare in our community and ensuring future generations receive highest quality care,” said Alex Villoch, CEO of Baptist Health Foundation, in the announcement.

    Where the Money Goes

    South Miami Hospital’s NICU operates 62 Level III beds in private and semi-private rooms outfitted with specialized lighting and noise-reduction surfaces, plus secure remote-viewing cameras that let parents see their newborns when they cannot be at the bedside, according to the foundation.

    The Lake Pavilion gift feeds into a much larger project: Baptist Health is investing $120 million to modernize the pavilion at Baptist Hospital with expanded labor and delivery suites, postpartum care, Level II and III NICU services, gynecology and specialized emergency care for women. Baptist Hospital welcomes more than 3,000 births annually, and both hospitals hold Level IV Maternal Care Verification from The Joint Commission — the highest designation for maternal care, per the announcement.

    The Herrera gift is the latest in a run of significant private investment in South Florida health care. Donors have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the region’s hospital systems in recent years, a trend that industry leaders attribute in part to a post-pandemic conviction that world-class care close to home is worth funding, CBS12 has reported.

    For families like the Herreras, the giving closes a loop — turning a frightening chapter in a hospital room into resources meant to steady the next family that finds itself there.