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The only instrument you notice walking into Juanes' sun-dappled home on Key Biscayne is an upright piano, covered with lesson books for his daughter Paloma, 7, who on this weekday morning is sprawled on a sofa, along with siblings Luna, 9, and Dante, 3, in pajama-clad, spring-break bliss.

The 19 Grammy Awards, racks of guitars and other trappings of the 40-year-old Colombian rock star's career are in his recording studio upstairs.

I am a Miamian. Miami is and will always be my hometown. I graduated from Miami Central High School, Miami Dade Junior College and Florida Atlantic University. And basketball is and will always be my favorite sport. My only son is a 23-year-old named Michael Jordan Sheer, which means he got his name before Jordan got any rings.

Everyone knows that South Florida has a seedy underbelly. The American fascination with crime-sex-and-violence-laden stories about South Florida has been going strong for quite some time, particularly on the silver screen.

Thanks to YouTube, anyone can be a filmmaker. Thanks to Quirky, anyone can be an inventor. And now thanks to Miami natives Sabrina and Silvia Scandar and their soon-to-be-launched website, Vividly, anyone can be a fashion designer.

  The rise in the number of Haitians being detained at sea, at airports and at border crossings this year has the international community scratching as well as turning its head. More than 70 picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard in the waters off Puerto Rico; 33 by authorities off Jamaica; almost 3,500 in or off the Dominican Republic; 65 as far away as Peru.

Gov. Rick Scott has signed a bill that prohibits local governments from crafting their own sick leave policies for private employers.

Supporters say the new law will prevent an array of ordinances that could be confusing for businesses.

Five million dollars will go a long way toward helping The Wolfsonian-FIU museum share its collection with the world.

When Andrés Moreno, the chief executive officer of Open English gets off the plane in Bogotá, São Paolo, Caracas or pretty much any other major Latin American city, people who recognize him from the company’s TV ads stop to ask for photos and autographs.

So why, with all this notoriety, did the CEO of a $350 million dollar company that specializes in teaching English online to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking students move the company’s main office from Latin America to Miami three years ago?

The 2013 Miami Performance International Festival obliterates the line between viewers and mid-career and emerging artists from Miami and around the world. In its second year, the festival, curated by Charo Oquet, takes place in Miami’s Design District and the Miami Beach Botanical Garden and runs through the month of June.

South Florida’s diverse Hispanic community requires some extra attention when it comes to electronic health records.

Over the last few years, doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals have been getting federal funding through the HITECH Act to go paperless.

That means more patients have access to their medical records online.

The quality of the video is low budget and low sound quality but high energy.

A guy is standing in his bedroom with his hair gelled up. He’s wearing a Dwyane Wade jersey. “Guys, Miami, you know what time it is and you know I had to make another video!" he exclaims. "The 2013 playoffs are back! The Miami Heat. The greatest season ever! And I got my money on it that we going to win the championship again!” 

It’s finals week at Park Vista Community High School and a small group of students buzzes over an assembly line of used Dell computers that lie cracked open with all their electronic guts exposed.

Many of the donated computers that Stabio refurbishes in class will be given to families who don’t have computers at home. It’s part of a Palm Beach County program aimed at closing the digital divide.

Dr. Trine Engebretsen bristles at the mere hint of anyone expressing sympathy for her – something she makes clear when strangers ask about her story.

After all, Engebretsen’s entire life has been one display after another of fortitude.

“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue,” she states, calling upon a quote. “Realize the strength, move on.”

The strait doesn’t wanna be swum.

Last week, for the fifth time in two years, a swimmer’s attempt to become the first human to cross the Florida Strait between Havana and Key West without a shark cage was thwarted.

When Naomi Rolle talks about her childhood home in Overtown, tears fall from her eyes.

Her father, Jerod Hastings Rolle, and his mother — her grandmother — constructed the cozy peach-colored home with swirling concrete pillars in the 1920s.

“It was beautiful,” she said. “It was one of the only houses built with concrete and stucco. The other homes around us were made out of wood.”

Slow Burn Theatre Compnay has grown by leaps and bounds in just a few short years.  As they get ready for their summer musical presentation The Wedding Singer, Co-Artistic Directors Matthew Korinko and Patrick Fitzwater talk about the history of Slow Burn and what it takes to run a successful company.

Have you seen that now classic commercial where a bunch of cowboys get all freaked out about a salsa that is produced in New York City?!

Whether or not a hurricane hits South Florida, residents pay a price. Insurance is the biggie for most people.

On the flipside, however, there are companies here that exist and even thrive specifically because of hurricane season.

Steve Sherman is CEO of the Hurricane Store,  an online business based in Davie that sells emergency supplies and kits. He loves his product.

Egyptian Lover, a 49-year-old electronic musician born Greg Broussard, is a rare West Coast artist whose imprint looms large on the Miami underground music world.

In the ‘80s, when he first emerged from the fringes of the Los Angeles breakdancing scene, there was something of a bicoastal rivalry among similarly minded producers.

Miami may have an emerging start-up culture but it definitely does not have much of a publishing culture.

Bookigee

For Bookigee, a Miami-based startup looking to help authors market their own books, that absence has brought attention to the company. But its founders say there have also been real challenges in reaching the rest of the industry and much-needed capital from South Florida.

Quoting the revolutionary icon might not be such big deal in some media markets, but in South Florida it is a different story.  Here, he is remembered mostly as a murderer and oppressor of political dissent in Cuba's Revolution.

The deck at iconic bayside bar Shuckers Bar & Grill in North Bay Village collapsed into Biscayne Bay around 9:45 p.m. Thursday night, as dozens of Miami Heat fans cheered on their team for Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

In a special edition of The Florida Roundup, we focus on our broader region, Latin America and the Caribbean. 

China's President Xi Jinping recently concluded a visit to Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad, shortly after President Obama and Vice President Biden paid visits there.

We discuss if Obama's second term will include stronger Latin American relations and China's ambitions in the Western hemisphere. 

Plus: why Venezuelans are buying suitcases of toilet paper and other basic goods in South Florida.

L'Hermitage One Condominiums on Ocean Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale is in an enviable location right on the beach. But when a hurricane is brewing, it's on the front lines of the storm.

On Monday's Sunshine Economy, come along as we talk with the building's manager, engineer and residents about their investment in storm preparedness.

In South Florida, we live with the risk of a big storm for six months of the year... every year. Like no place else in the U.S., we know the devastation a hurricane can bring. And the expense to protect ourselves.

For me, the most important journeys have led to South Florida.
 

The Blog Roundup is a weekly look at noteworthy South Florida blogs and posts:

Rubio's Immigration Reform Amendment Flops

Sen. Marco Rubio's amendment  to the immigration reform bill, which mandates English proficiency for those seeking citizenship, is getting attacked from all sides, even his conservative base.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made significant waves Tuesday when he announced a comprehensive $19.5 billion plan to gird the city against the threat of sea level rise.

The long-term plans include a series of levees and storm barriers to protect against waters that are expected to rise anywhere from 20 inches to more than six feet in the next century. 

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was perhaps the most influential playwright of the twentieth century.

During the 1940s and 1950s, his work took the American theater by storm, achieving enormous popular success and the sort of feverish criticism only accorded writers of groundbreaking genius.

His best-known works include A Streetcar Named Desire, whose 1947 Broadway production launched the careers of Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy, and the 1955 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Thursday was a big day for one of the largest publicly traded companies in South Florida.

Miami-based Carnival Corporation sent back to sea one of its more storied vessels: The Carnival Triumph.

In February an engine fire knocked out the Triumph’s power. No one was injured, but passengers complained of food shortages and a lack of working toilets.