If we were to create a fictional story based this week's top five stories, it might go something like this:
Traffic engineers use funds from parking meters to build the Orlando-Miami rail line. The colorful yellow meters do not actually pay the city for parking and were supposed to fund Florida鈥檚 desalination facilities. One outraged citizen got a hold of public-radio host Ira Glass, who is now producing a radio story for 鈥淭his Floridian Life.鈥�
Alas, none of those are stories. Here are the non-fiction versions:
: If you have ever put coins into a bright-yellow parking meter with flowers painted on it, you have not paid for parking. The 85 鈥淏ritto-meters鈥� dispersed around Miami-Dade County have so far raised $34,000 for the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. Wilson Sayre has the story:
: Not everyone is all aboard for a new railroad track that will connect South Florida to Orlando. The $1.5-billion project will add 32 passenger trains to the 14 that already traverse the Florida East Coast Railroad Tracks. Opponents of the project cite a lowering of property values, disruption of marine traffic and noise pollution.
You know there鈥檚 just something special about Florida when a national radio host says, 鈥淔lorida is just one of the most F鈥檇-up places in the country. There鈥檚 just no other way to say it.鈥� Listen to Ira Glass explain just what makes Florida so... special.
When you hear the word 鈥渄esalination,鈥� you might think of ocean landscapes, but not exactly Florida. But the state leads the nation in saltwater desalination, South Florida being its number one processer.
What if the symbolic Interstate 95 symbol was a giant letter 鈥淚鈥� with the number 95 strewn across diagonally? A map of the country with a 鈥�95鈥� across it? Or a giant eagle silhouette with a 鈥�95鈥� inscribed on its chest? Those were all some of the proposed design for the Interstate symbol, read Kenny Malone鈥檚 report on the iconic signs history.
