Soccer, beach erosion and Dolphins

Arguably the most controversial issue in front of the Village City Council last week wasn’t even listed on the agenda. Word filtered out into the community that the contract to run the Key Biscayne Soccer Club – a service that touches numerous families on the island – had been put out to bid.About 1,000 kids participate in the Key Biscayne Soccer Club which has been run in some capacity by Marcelo Radice, president and executive director of business operations since 2010. Radice is also the general manager for Florida International University athletics.The program is renowned, capturing youth soccer championships, No. 1 rankings and generating professional talent like Benjamin Cremaschi, who plays for Inter Miami alongside Lionel Messi. Read more.

Florida state officials agreed to replace thousands of yards of sand on Key Biscayne after a storm washed part of the beach out to sea earlier this month.Village Manager Steve Williamson wrote Council members Nov. 17 that the Department of Environmental Protection will pay for up to 25,000 cubic yards of sand – up from 17,000 that was planned during a beach renourishment project next year “We are working out the costs now,” he told Council.Williamson said the Village will be able to use $1.3 million the agency budgeted for beach renourishment on the island, plus $450,000 in direct appropriations from the Legislature. Read more.

Give Miami Day set charitable giving records both county-wide and in Key Biscayne, nonprofit officials said, a bright spot against national trends that saw a drop in donations in 2022.“We are blown away by the generosity of our community,” said Miami Foundation President Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, of the $34.1 million raised in a four-day period culminating Nov. 16. The total was $2 million more than the previous year and also set a record number of donations at 96,000, an increase of 18% over the year before.“96,000 donations means that more nonprofits are diversifying their funding bases and building increased networks of support,” Lipsey said. Read more.

Before Christophe Pierre Ribot, anyone wanting to learn how to kiteboard in South Florida had to figure it out for themselves. The French-born Ribot pioneered how to teach the risky sport, establishing Miami KiteboardingMiami Kiteboardingat Crandon Park Beach more than 20 years ago.Ribot died on Nov. 6, at the age of 52, leaving the kite-boarding community in shock. On Tuesday, amemorial gathering is scheduledat Paradise Cove starting at 1 p.m. It will conclude with Ribot’s friends and loved ones paddling out on Biscayne Bay to scatter his ashes. His three teenage sons, who live in France, will be at the memorial.The cause of death was not listed on his extensive online obituary. Read more.

In South Florida, some immigrants complain that people who came to America later are getting work permits that are out of reach for them. In New York, migrants at a city-run shelter grumble that relatives who settled before them refuse to offer a bed. And in Chicago, a provider of mental health services to people in the country illegally pivoted to new arrivals sleeping at a police station across the street.Across the country, many local officials have been forceful advocates for newly arrived migrants seeking shelter and work permits. But their efforts and existing laws have exposed tensions among immigrants who have been in the country for years, even decades, and don’t have the same benefits, notably work permits.Some new arrivals feel established immigrants have given them cold shoulders. Read more.

In 2000, the U.S. set out on one of the most ambitious environmental projects ever attempted: to wind back the clock and make the Everglades function like it once did — in 1900. The plan could have given Florida a 20-year head start on climate change, but that didn’t happen. Listen to WLRN’s new podcast seriesBright Lit Place.South Florida is a paradox: a vast cityscape built on and around one of the world’s great wetland systems.For decades, that paradox persisted with the help of pumps and levees and ever more pavement. But in the era of sea level rise, the contradictions are becoming untenable as water rises through the limestone bedrock and saltwater pushes its way inland. Read more.

In late 2022, Melissa Marro got a notice from her private home insurance company that her rates would soon go up to a degree she found shockingly high. The only option, her insurance agent told her, was to see if she qualified for Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created and taxpayer-owned property insurance company.Marro hired a licensed inspector to come to her Palm Harbor home in the Tampa Bay region in order to do a four-point inspection and a wind mitigation inspection. After she sent in the resulting reports, Citizens accepted her home, and she breathed a sigh of relief.It was much cheaper than the private cost of insurance she had just been quoted. Read more.

Sports betting can continue in Florida — for the time being.The Florida Supreme Court decided last week not to step in as a legal challenge continues with the U.S. Supreme Court.Florida is far from the first state to have legal sports betting. But it will be the biggest state so far.The Seminole Tribe relaunched its sports betting app to a limited group of people this month. It plans to offer in-person sports betting at its six Florida casinos in early December. Read more.

Tua Tagovailoa keeps reiterating that the Miami Dolphins aren’t satisfied yet.Miami improved to 8-3 with a dominant 34-13 win over the struggling New York Jets on Black Friday. The Dolphins are looking to win the AFC East for the first time since 2008, and then make a deep playoff push.“The sky’s the limit for us,” Tagovailoa said. “Whatever we want to accomplish, everything’s right there in front of us and we basically turn it on fate here in this league. So, we just have to continue stacking those wins.”Miami improved to 8-3 with a dominant 34-13 win over the struggling New York Jets on Black Friday. The Dolphins are looking to win the AFC East for the first… Read more.

There was no shortage of reasons why theNBA In-Season Tournamentwas put together. And the benefits are already clear: ratings are up, people are talking about games before Christmas and some players say there’s an extra energy in those contests.That means it’s working. And given that knockout-round spots are at stake starting this week, it’s reasonable to think the interest will only keep growing.“I was just interested to see how it would happen, how it would work,” Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox said last week after his team moved to 2-0 in tourney play. “I’m not one of those guys who are like, ‘I think it’s dumb,’ because I don’t. I think it could be interesting for this league.” Read more.