Welcome to Florida

Craig has an environmental "to-do" list for the state's incoming governor.Kristen Hare moved to Florida in 2012 and has been on a mission to explore the state ever since. That mission went into high gear when she was asked to write "100 Things to do in Florida Before You Die." We discuss the highlights.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's enemies list included an elderly dementia patient. She was surveilled by the agency.Edwidge Danticat is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant, the so-called "genius grant." She's also a three-time National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature this year.She spent 22 years living in Miami, primarily the Little Haiti neighborhood. Her latest book, Dèy, published in August of 2026, takes place there.

Craig turns his attention to wildlife underpasses in Florida in his latest Florida Phoenix column. He wrote previously about the largest wildlife overpass in the United States.Andrew Otazo has pulled nearly 50,000 pounds of trash from the mangroves around Miami. He tells us how and why he does it.Read about how corporations shifted the blame for litter from their products to consumers.

Florida's solution to cleaning much of its stormwater - ditches, drains, and retention ponds - is not working and the state's Department of Environmental Protection isn't all that interested in improving it.Addison Mizner was an architect who came to great reknown in 1920s South Florida popularizing a style of building known as "Mediterranean Revival." Susan Gillis, author, historian, and longtime curator at the Boca Raton Historical Society joins us to discuss his continuing legacy. 

A developer - and county council member - in Volusia County wants to build a motocross track on conservation land in the Florida Wildlife Corridor.Author and historian Robert Redd joins us to discuss his recent book, "100 Things to do in Daytona Beach Before You Die."

Congressional Republicans are trying to make it easier for developers to pave over wetlands in Florida. Byron Donalds is attempting to do the same thing from inside the state."Romper Room" was a wildly successful television show that attempted to bring kindergarten to TV. It ran more than 40 years on station's across the country. Wayne Hicks, author of "Did All My Friends Have Fun at Play: An Oral History of Romper Room," joins us to discuss the program.

The Boy Scouts organization in Hernando County wants to sell roughly half of a 1300 acre natural area it owns and uses for outdoor recreation for potential development.Our guest this week is long-time Florida cave diver Tom Morris. Morris was featured in the famed "Water's Edge" PBS cavediving documentary. Morris tells us about the volume of caves in Florida, what causes them, and what's down there."Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to our weekly Florida conservation newsletter for just $5 per month.

Lee County planning officials wanted to exclude public comment from rezoning decisions; residents laughed out loud!Roseate spoonbills are one of Florida's iconic wading birds. Florida Audubon Executive Director Julie Wraithmell joins us to discuss the gorgeous pink bird.

On this episode we celebrate Florida's lifestyle magazine, 'Flamingo' magazine, as it enters its next 10 years of publication. Our guest is the magazine's founder and editor Jamie Rich.

The Hope Florida scandal involves Ron DeSantis, Casey DeSantis, and Ashley Moody, but the figure at the center of the theft is Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. Amaris Castillo's parents run the Orlando Latin Market bodega in St. Pete. Several years ago, she began sharing stories of the bodega online; that effort has become a new book, "Bodega Stories," published in September of 2026.