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The stories that defined South Florida in 2024

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The stories that defined South Florida in 2024


MIAMI – In a year marked by soaring costs and economic strain, South Florida residents grappled with skyrocketing rents, surging insurance rates, and record-high grocery bills, all while navigating a mix of triumphs, tragedies, and unforgettable headlines — from the chaos of Copa America at Hard Rock Stadium to the rescue of a little dog named Lulu in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

The rising cost of living in South Florida 

In South Florida there is always plenty of news but the story that impacted everyone was, and is, the high cost of living and inflation.

“We have a very bad match in South Florida with high expenses and low salaries,” said Maria Castillo Dominguez who serves on the board of the Financial Planning Association of Miami.

It was a tough year for South Florida consumers, renters and homebuyers. Supermarket prices surged, landlords raised rents to cover their costs, and automobile and home insurance rates soared.

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“To see the housing market prices double in a few years, it is crazy,” said Tommy Bartolomeo who lives in Broward.

Tyreek Hill’s takedown, Copa America final and Taylor Swift

The Miami Dolphins season opener made news before the game’s kick-off. A Miami-Dade police officer pulled wide receiver Tyreek Hill from his car, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him when a traffic stop escalated. The citations Hill received were later dismissed.

Soccer fans at Hard Rock Stadium caused chaos in July when they rushed the gates before the start of the Copa America soccer final between Argentina and Colombia. Taylor Swift fans were better behaved in October when she took the stage at “The Rock.”

Traffic nightmares and South Florida’s most tragic stories  

Our everyday traffic troubles were a breeze compared to the nightmare one Sunday in April when hundreds of drivers were stranded on their way to Key Biscayne for up to six hours after the Rickenbacker Causeway flyover bridge was closed for repairs. 

South Florida lived up to its reputation for the bizarre and tragic when a 71-year-old man was found dead in a North Miami nursing home closet. He had been missing for weeks. A little girl died in a freak accident on a Lauderdale-By-The Sea Beach. She was buried while playing in the sand.

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There were stories with international impact that caused concern in South Florida. 

Haiti was racked with instability and violence. Cuba’s economic plight was worse than ever. Add to that Miami resident and former State Department diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha who was arrested and charged as a Cuban spy.

High-profile Miami figures that made headlines in 2024

Insiders were shocked over developer Sergio Pino‘s suicide amid an FBI murder-for-hire investigation.

The year also saw two local politicians convicted. Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez was found guilty of political corruption while former state Senator Frank Artiles received jail time and probation after a guilty verdict in a “ghost candidate” trial.

South Florida lost civic leader Enid Pinkney. The educator, historian and first Black president of Dade Heritage Trust helped save the historic Hampton House where Dr. Martin Luther King wrote a portion of his “I Have a Dream” speech.

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Months after the Miami Seaquarium‘s famous orca Lolita died, the tourist attraction received an eviction notice from the Miami-Dade County. Rent issues and maintenance problems plagued the long-time entertainment facility.

Florida and the 2024 hurricane season

Florida endured a rough hurricane season but South Florida escaped the devastating impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

We were very lucky and so was a little dog in Fort Pierce, whose story went viral after being pulled from the rubble of a tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton. The rescue was due in part thanks to CBS News Miami’s Morgan Rynor who was live on air when she realized the dog had been rescued reporting, ” He got Benji. He got Benji, Oh my Goodness.”

Benji, whose name we later learned is Lulu, was reunited with her family, a little bit of good news to wrap up the year 2024.

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’


It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.

Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.

But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.

William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.

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Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.

Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.

“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.

“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”

The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.

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He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.

At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.

Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.

Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.

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“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.

That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”

In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.

“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”

Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.

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Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.



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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'

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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'


A federal court in Tallahassee has issued a temporary injunction blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a “terrorist organization.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s order comes nearly three months after DeSantis signed his executive order on Dec. 8. The order directed Florida’s executive and Cabinet agencies, as […]



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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip

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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip



Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.

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“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.

“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.

Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”

The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.

“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”

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That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.



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