Marva Hinton

Earlier this spring, a typical school day turned into something a lot more memorable for one student at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School near Aventura.

It’s April. Natalie Hoberman was sitting in her advanced placement government class.

“It was one of my hardest classes," she said.

Miami artist Orestes De La Paz has an unusual piece of performance art on display at the Frost Art Museum on the campus of Florida International University.

Last December, FIU grad De La Paz had liposuction surgery. His plastic surgeon removed about three liters of fat from his body.

The work of the iconclastic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick is part of a retrospective this week at O Cinema in Wynwood.

South Florida native Rodney Ascher directed Room 237, a new documentary exploring the many interpretations of Kubrick's The Shining. Both films will be shown at O Cinema this week. 

Famed Cuban blogger and dissident Yoani Sanchez visited The Miami Herald editorial board Monday morning. We spoke to her in our studios with translation by WLRN's Patricia Sagastume.

Sanchez discussed the way people in Cuba perceive Miami, how she hopes to change things in Cuba through her blogging and the future for Cuba after the Castro regime ends.

You can read full coverage of her visit at miamiherald.com.

The Archdiocese of Miami is using a TV ad to encourage the Catholic faithful to come to confession this weekend as part of the Lenten season.

WLRN’s search for South Florida’s best block continues.

WLRN, the Miami Herald, the Townhouse Center and the Knight Foundation have joined forces to identify and celebrate the most vibrant city streets in South Florida.

So what does it take to be a best block?

“We’re trying to focus on areas where there’s mixed-use type buildings, where you might have a restaurant at the bottom floor, maybe some living spaces above it,” said Debra Acosta, a multimedia producer for the Miami Herald.

Miami-Dade voters could decide if public funds are used to renovate Sun Life Stadium. The county mayor and the CEO of the  Miami Dolphins held a joint news conference Monday to discuss the proposal. 

Just a few miles away from downtown Miami lies a natural beach in the city’s largest park.

The 82-acre Virginia Key Beach Park remains a bit of a hidden gem. The historic beach still attracts those looking for a quiet place to relax despite one drawback.

In season, about 2,000 people visit Virginia Key Beach Park every weekend even though swimming isn’t permitted.

“It’s a disadvantage - one we’re overcoming," said Guy Forchion, head of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust.

Ready. Set. Travel.

South Florida airports get ready to welcome millions of people coming in and out for the holidays.

Find out what you can expect travel wise this week in WLRN-MIami Herald News:

This time of year, many birds from the north began migrating south for the winter. Some will stay here in South Florida while others will pass through the region on their way to the Caribbean. Increasingly, these birds are running into man-made obstacles that leave them with injured eyes, wings and beaks.

There's more trouble for state-run Citizens Property Insurance.

Investigators look into lavish spending, misuse of resources and other ethical lapses.

Gov. Rick Scott has asked his Chief Inspector General to investigate Citizens after all four people in the company's ethics office were fired.

All week, we're talking with Florida authors appearing at the Miami Book Fair. So Spoke the Earth is an anthology of stories, poems and essays about Haiti.

The book is divided into three sections: death and tragedy; the nation’s rich storytelling tradition; and Haiti’s economic struggles.

Although the book was published in the United States (by Women Writers of Haitian Descent), all of the pieces in the second section are in French or Haitian Creole. 

The presidential race has been decided, but we still don't know where Florida fits in to the electoral puzzle.     

The vote counting continues in Miami Dade and either other counties including Broward and Palm Beach.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez says early voting should be extended to avoid problems like this in the future.

It's been 30 years since the independent bookstore, Books & Books, first opened its doors in Coral Gables, and this week, they're celebrating.
 

Today there are stores throughout the region and beyond. There are three South Florida stores, as well as outposts at the Miami International Airport and the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale,  and stores in Grand Cayman and Westhampton Beach, New York, too.

Election Day is less than three weeks away, but half a million votes are already in in Florida.

The Miami Herald reports the heaviest voting is taking place in Miami Dade, Tampa Bay and along the I-4 corridor.

About 500,000 Floridians have already cast absentee ballots, and 1.8 million more have requested these ballots be mailed to them.

Heavy interest in the presidential race is believed to be behind the rush to vote so soon.

After the final vote is cast next month, the country may be in need of some healing and reconciliation.

That's the idea behind Election Day Communion.

Hundreds of churches across the country will be holding services election night and serving communion including one in South Florida.

Reverend Spencer Potter is the rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Palmetto Bay.

He says the service will be a time for the whole congregation to unite.

Florida is number one when it comes to foreclosures. This is the first time since 2005 that Florida has held the top spot.

The rankings for September are based on figures released Thursday by RealtyTrac.

Within the state, Broward County has the highest percentage of homes going through the foreclosure process.

Voter registration ended on Tuesday, and elections supervisors are busy preparing for next month’s vote.

They say thousands of registrations have come in just this month, and the final numbers will come in next week once the state is done certifying all of the voter registration forms that came in at the deadline.

Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer says he’s expecting a big increase.

“Even before we get the final numbers in, we’re still ahead of 2008," said Sawyer.

Tom Wolfe’s latest novel, Back to Blood, takes place in Miami. It won’t be out until later in the month, but a new documentary about the years Wolfe spent here researching the book premieres Tuesday, October 9 at O Cinema in Wynwood.

Two federal government agencies are teaming up with Amtrak to fight human trafficking.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman announced the new partnership Thursday.

In South Florida it's pretty easy to find a plastic surgeon for a little nip and tuck. But finding a primary care doctor who can tell you how to lose weight by changing your diet is a different story.

When doctors write prescriptions, they know what their patient will receive. But when a patient asks what they should eat, it's hard to be that specific. A developing body of research shows most doctors receive little to no instruction in nutrition.