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🌴Will we step up to save our parks?
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🌴Will we step up to save our parks?

Ok, Election Day is finally here. We can all breathe a little sigh of relief.

TODAY IS THE DAY

If you missed allll the reminders to vote early, it’s OK – you’ve still got today to vote. The polls are already open, and they’ll stay that way until 7 p.m. If you’re not sure where to vote, you can get that info here. (Reminder: You can’t just go to any polling station like you can during early voting.)

Our voter guide has the download on key races.

Find the full voter guide here.

And if you used our voter guide to cast your ballot, we would love to hear what was great, what could have been better, and what we were missing that you would be super happy to see in the November voter guide. (Yep, you’ve got one more of these this year. It’s OK, together we can get through anything. Even the midterm elections.)

THE POWER OF CURIOSITY

The first lionfish was reported in South Florida in 1985 and they continue to pose a problem for the waters of the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico (check out our video report).

Lionfish are not the only toxic species in South Florida. We partnered with Frost Science and spent the summer exploring all things poisonous and venomous:

If you’ve been putting it off all summer, this is your final chance to check out Frost Science’s Power of Poison exhibition. It closes Monday, Sept. 3 (yeah, that’s this coming Monday).

PRODUCED BY THE NEW TROPIC CREATIVE STUDIO WITH THE PHILLIP AND PATRICIA FROST MUSEUM OF SCIENCE

WHAT’S NEW IN THE 305

“A hole that will never be filled.” After Sunday’s mass shooting in Jacksonville, the Democratic gubernatorial candidates repeated calls for stronger gun reform and bans on assault weapons. The Republican frontrunners said either that the shooting – which came during a video game tournament and ended in the deaths of the shooter and two others – shouldn’t be politicized, or just didn’t directly address the issue. Meanwhile, more details are emerging about the shooter and the gamers he killed, including police confirming that the attack was directed at the players in the tournament and that the shooter likely knew the victims from previous tournaments. (Twitter, Politico Florida, Florida Times-Union)

Today’s test. Today’s election isn’t just a big deal because of the elected offices voters will decide, it’s also a dry run for the digital security of polling places across the state before the November election. Officials are taking extra steps to make sure workers can recognize potential threats and spam emails, and have used a share of more than $15 million to protect servers and install extra surveillance cameras. (Miami Herald)

Bringing the Heat. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem have shared the basketball court for some of the Miami Heat’s biggest moments, and now they’re teaming up to open a fancy pizza place in Aventura. Their company, Forty-Three, is bringing 800 Degrees Woodfired Kitchen to a shopping center near Aventura Mall this fall. (Eater Miami)

Respect the scene. The usually chill vibe at Wynwood Yard last Sunday got disrupted as a fight ended with shots fired in the space. Most importantly, no one at the Yard was hurt but it was a scary scene for visitors, especially since Sundays at the Yard are so popular among for families and tourists. Police are looking into the situation. (Facebook)

Protecting a precious park. A recent county study estimates that it’ll cost more than $55 million over the next 20 years to protect Matheson Hammock from flooding and rising water as sea levels rise. If that work – which could include building boardwalks and elevating the park’s parking lots – doesn’t happen, the park could be flooded on a regular basis by 2075 and pretty much completely underwater by 2100. So far, this year’s county budget only has about $4 million set aside for protecting the park – and the Parks department has an unmet sea level rise need of $175 million for parks across the county (Miami Herald)

From bad to worse. Red tide has already been a plague on the southwest coast of Florida this summer, killing thousands of fish and marine animals, but things could get worse if it combines with a similar bloom called brown tide that may be creeping up on the area. So far, officials have only found it in offshore waters, but brown tide could show up just about anywhere. The bloom isn’t harmful to marine animals on its own but if it combines with red tide, it could be deadly. (Bradenton Herald)

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY.

But Miami Spice is still going through the end of September. We’re plotting our next moves over on Instagram, and we would love to hear your recs for spots we should hit up next.  Our stomachs (and wallets) say thank you.

– The New Tropic

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