Patricia Mazzei

John Koch, a radio reporter in North Florida, at home with his dog in McAlpin on Dec. 14, 2025. Koch witnesses every execution in Florida to keep close tabs on what he considers one of the most consequential actions the state takes. (Zack Wittman/The New York Times)

Florida had a record number of executions in 2025. He witnessed them all.

December 19, 2025 at 2:37 p.m.

Florida had a record number of executions in 2025. A radio reporter has witnessed them all, to keep close tabs on what he considers one of the most consequential actions...

A restaurant in Doral, a heavily Venezuelan city outside Miami, on Nov. 22, 2025. Venezuelans’ ties to South Florida date back decades, but their numbers grew significantly during the Chávez era and again after Nicolás Maduro came into power. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)

Send troops to Venezuela? In Florida, the question splits a community

November 25, 2025 at 9:12 a.m.

President Trump’s military actions and immigration policies have divided Venezuelans in South Florida, many of whom fled the Maduro regime.

A view of the Miami skyline in February 2023. Some brokers and developers in Florida are waiting eagerly to see if the election of a democratic socialist will drive more wealthy New Yorkers south. (Scott Baker/The New York Times file)

Will South Florida’s real estate market benefit from Mamdani’s New York City victory?

November 7, 2025 at 12:54 p.m.

From the moment that Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June, real estate circles from Miami to Palm Beach have been aflutter. Would the...

Justin Mandel, who moved to Miami Beach from New York during the pandemic, plays a round with Javier Colberg and two others at 7 a.m. to beat the heat at Wynwood Padel Club, north of downtown Miami, on July 30, 2025. Local residents who love fitness and socializing — and can afford to play — cannot get enough of padel, the racket sport with international cachet. (Scott McIntyre/The New York Times)

Miami has a padel ‘obsession’

September 10, 2025 at 10:57 a.m.

South Florida residents who love fitness and socializing — and can afford to play — cannot get enough of padel, the racket sport with international cachet.

Michael B. Fernández in Coral Gables, Fla., on Aug. 1, 2025. Michael B. Fernández’s goal for the ad campaign is to help oust three Florida Republicans from Congress, who he says have failed to push back against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. (Alfonso Duran/The New York Times)

The billionaire behind mysterious immigration ads targeting Miami Republicans

August 4, 2025 at 11:08 a.m.

“Deporting immigrants is cruel,” some of the ads against Cuban Americans in Congress read. Michael B. Fernández wanted to “wake up” Miami’s conscience.

President Donald Trump speaks while touring a newly constructed area for a detention camp known as “Alligator Alcatraz” with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, foreground, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, second from right, after arriving at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee on July 1, 2025. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has followed an aggressive playbook similar to that of DeSantis, for whom he used to work behind the scenes as chief of staff. (Doug Mills/The New York Times file)

Florida’s new attorney general, a DeSantis appointee, is making waves

July 28, 2025 at 6:58 p.m.

James Uthmeier, the new attorney general, has followed an aggressive playbook similar to that of Gov. Ron DeSantis. “The guy’s got a future,” President Trump said.

Adelaide Sandwith recently finished her sophomore year at Fort Walton Beach High School, where classes begin at 7 a.m. A Florida effort to require public high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m., was repealed by lawmakers. (Micah Green/The New York Times)

How Florida’s attempt to let teens sleep longer fell apart

June 19, 2025 at 10:22 a.m.

After Florida lawmakers required high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., school administrators complained that it was unworkable. Last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a repeal.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, right, delivers his State of the State address as Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, center, listens during the first day of the legislative session at the Florida State Capitol on March 4, 2025, in Tallahassee. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS)

Florida’s House speaker stood up to DeSantis, and shifted the power dynamics

June 18, 2025 at 4:47 p.m.

For years, Florida legislators bent to the will of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Daniel Perez, the Republican speaker, said his goal this session was “to be a coequal branch of government.”

Tornado damage to houses on the north side of St. Louis on May 17, 2025. President Trump’s efforts to downsize the government threaten essential functions that Americans have come to rely on before, during and after natural disasters. (Bryan Birks/The New York Times)

States and cities fear a disaster season full of unknowns amid federal cuts

May 23, 2025 at 9:44 a.m.

States and cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are heading into hurricane season with an extraordinary level of uncertainty, unable to gauge how significant cuts at vital federal agencies...

Back when she was Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi was caught cashing an improper $25,000 campaign check from Donald Trump when her office had been asked to investigate his business operations in Florida. Bondi’s office gave Trump University a pass while New York’s attorney general secured a $25 million settlement. Now Trump wants Bondi to be the U.S. attorney general. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

Pam Bondi’s journey from traditional Republican to warrior for Trump

December 6, 2024 at 12:30 p.m.

Over the past eight years, as Florida became Trump’s home, a cradle of right-wing politics and a solidly Republican state, Pam Bondi went from being a traditional Republican to a...

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