Lance Dixon

For nearly a century, Black History Month has been a time to celebrate the achievements of groundbreaking people who have shaped our country’s history. Much of this focus is on trailblazers like Kamala Harris, civil rights pioneers, advocates, politicians, policymakers and entertainers from Beyoncé to Cardi B.
But as those leaders spoke to crowds and infiltrated halls of power, millions of Black people lived their lives and made their own history. Often those contributions were more humble. E...

Brian Rudolph, was incarcerated for about three and a half years. During his time in prison he discovered a program called Exchange for Change by seeing fliers about a writing class and said it “seemed a lot better than sitting in the hot sun.”
He attended about four semesters during his time in prison and said he became obsessed with writing and did it whenever he could, on any scrap of paper, and anywhere he could find a space to write.
And Exchange for Change teachers worked to get his, an...

The shortage of affordable housing is an issue that plagues cities across the U.S., however Miami ranks among the worst. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there are only 22 affordable housing units per 100 low-income renter households, when the national average is 35 units per 100 low-income-renter households.
When people can’t afford to live here, they can’t afford to work here. And that lack of affordable housing not only affects residents’ quality of life and health, ...

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored how longtime and younger members of the Overtown community have shaped it into the neighborhood we know today. But long before those new restaurants and community events came to be be, there was one big construction project that changed the face of Overtown, and Miami, for generations to come.
The expansion of Interstate 95 in the 1950s and 1960s went right through the heart of Overtown and displaced thousands of residents. You asked us to explain how a...

You’re taking a drive along Biscayne Boulevard, taking in the sights and then all of a sudden you see it—a random car attached to the side of a building.
We can’t tell if it’s mid-chase or parked, but either way, it’s a totally random thing to be affixed to the Biscayne Medical Plaza (unless they’re trying out a new valet system).
It’s actually not so random. The car is the last trace of the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in 1990 and used to be housed in the building. I...

Our Civics 101 series has mentioned Miami-Dade County, cities, towns, and we’ve taken a dive into what millage rates mean, how to speak up at a public meeting, and how ordinances go from proposal to law.

But for this latest entry, we wanted to zoom out a bit and look at the municipalities that make up the 305. Longtime residents may already know a lot of this info, but we want to give a brief refresher and look at the 30-plus cities, towns, and villages that make up Miami-Dade County.

So, I k...

Downtown’s attracting plenty of new residents and developments, but it’s still not a destination like South Beach or Wynwood, and it’s quest to become a real neighborhood has been a major focus for city leaders, the Downtown Development Agency and groups like the Downtown Neighbors Alliance.
Residents like Stephen Dutton are hoping to change that by getting Downtown residents to stroll, browse, and dine their streets. And Steve hopes to kickstart that with Avenue 3, a plan to turn Northeast T...

Note: We’ve updated this guide to reflect the runoff election happening June 19.
Everyone’s talking about the August and November elections, but there was an important local election on May 22 that will have an impact for a lot of folks in Miami and Miami Beach—the race for the District 5 county commission seat.
Candidates Eileen Higgins and Zoraida Barreiro earned about 35 and 33 percent of the vote respectively in the May special election, forcing a runoff between the two.
The district is d...

A group of Miamians decided to build on the energy from Wednesday’s #NationalWalkoutDay by gathering more than 100 students from across Miami to talk about gun control.
The event was hosted in the Liberty Square community center so that students from that area—who live with and see gun violence on a regular basis—could talk with students who don’t see gun violence as often.
“The media coverage they [Parkland] got is not the media coverage we get when lose a black male in this community,” said...

Last Wednesday, our legislature sent a bill to Gov. Rick Scott for approval and Friday he signed that bill into law. So what exactly changes? We have the tl;dr version for you below.
Remind me what was in the bill?
Here are the biggest changes:
A Floridian would have to be at least 21 years old (instead of 18 years old) to buy a gun from a licensed seller.
Someone purchasing a gun would have to wait three days from the time they buy it until they take it home.
The police could report a person...

For Jocelyn Altamirano, home has always been a distant concept.
It’s a concept she couldn’t grasp as a child who suffered from mental, physical and sexual abuse. It’s one that eluded her as she fought for food on the streets of Nicaragua as a preteen.
The concept of a comforting home led her to travel through three countries, while pregnant, in search of another chance in the United States.
And even when she arrived in Miami, she still had to bounce from couch to couch and from shelter to she...

For three decades, tourists and locals have sought out the Rickenbacker Causeway and Hobie Beach for windsurfing, and the company Sailboards Miami was as constant at the spot as the easy surf and shallow waters off the coast.

Then came Hurricane Irma.

Since then the business has been closed, and a portion of the beach off the causeway remains shut down to cars and might not reopen until next May. And Sailboards Miami’s future as a windsurfing business has been left adrift.

Before the storm hi...