One year ago, South Florida awoke to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma. The storm had slammed into the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm, bringing catastrophic winds and rain. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm surge and tide produced flooding of 5 to 8 feet in the Lower Keys and winds reached 120-mph in Big Pine Key. The storm left piles of torn down trees, couches, porta-potties, refrigerators, furniture and other debris across the islands. Over the past year, South

What is it like to be a teacher in South Florida? What are the challenges teachers face daily? According to the Florida Education Association (FEA) , approximately 250,000 students started school without a permanent teacher. There are more than 4,000 teacher openings across the state. La Shanda West is at Cutler Bay Senior High School in Miami-Dade County. Amy Jacobson is a teacher at Seminole Middle School in Broward County. Ebenson Michelin is a teacher at Key West High School in Monroe County

Aurora Oliphant uses the internet to look up Bible scriptures on YouTube for her church meetings and comedy videos like Abbott and Costello. Oliphant, 70, is a recent graduate of the Senior Planet program, a 10-week course in Broward County through the South Florida Institute of Aging that teaches people 60 years and older the basics of using the web. The group is bridging the digital divide for seniors by teaching them to use computers and mobile devices. Students of the program learn to use

Improv U, an improv school in Delray Beach open to people of all walks in life, is hosting the third annual Palm Beach Improv Festival on Sept. 6 to 9, where improv artists from across South Florida will perform and give workshops. Anthony Francis, founder of Improv U, and Rebecca Loveless, a teacher at the school, joined Sundial to talk about the improv community in South Florida, their journey to improv in South Florida and how they use it in their daily lives. WLRN: Rebecca, how did you get

On Wednesday, the Marjory Stoneman Douglass Commission met for the first time since the start of the school year. At the meeting, the commission discussed the implementation of school resource officers, funding for safety measures and surveillance video from the Parkland shooting. WLRN Broward reporter Caitie Switalski joined Sundial and offered an analysis of yesterday’s meeting. King Tide season is back, but how is Miami Beach preparing? From Sept. 8 to Sept. 13, numerous coastal South Florida

The Biscayne Aquifer is a long rock formation with tiny holes that allow for water from various sources to flow into it. Located below South Florida, it stores groundwater and is the main source of drinking water for Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. But climate change threatens the aquifer. Christopher Flavelle covers climate change and adaptation policy for Bloomberg News and joined Sundial to talk about the threats to South Florida’s drinking water. Overtown is one of Miami’s oldest

Saltwater intrusion is just one of the risks facing South Florida's drinking water. The Biscayne Aquifer, a 4,000-mile sponge-like rock formation that filters and stores the region's clean groundwater, is also being polluted by sewage runoff and other contaminants. Christopher Flavelle, who covers climate change and adaptation policy for Bloomberg News , told Sundial that protecting the aquifer will cost billions of dollars. WLRN: What are the risks and threats to South Florida's drinking water

In what some are calling the "Year of the Woman" in politics, Florida women are running for office in record numbers. More than 100 ran for local and statewide office in the state’s primaries and won. The Women’s Foundation of Florida is offering a series of classes called “Women on the Run.” Held once a month in West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, the classes are intended to train women on the campaign trail. Judith Selzer is President of the Women’s Foundation of Florida and director of “Women

The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, is collecting DNA to track a new snake hybrid in the Everglades. A genetic research study , published this month, examined the Burmese python and Indian python populations in South Florida. It found that the snakes have begun breeding and creating a new hybrid that could be the largest and most dangerous snakes in the Everglades. Margaret Hunter is a research geneticist for the USGS and was the lead author on the new report. She joined Sundial to talk about her

After a hard-fought gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, Florida announced its two candidates running for the governor’s seat: On the Democratic side, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and on the Republican side, Congressman Ron DeSantis. Sundial talked to CBS Miami's Jim DeFede about the primary election and what the results mean going forward. In recent months, the issue of affordable housing has made headlines. WLRN Reporter Nadege Green has reported on the state of public housing in Riviera Beach