Here’s your Friday news dump: I’ve joined @usatoday.com as an investigative and storytelling editor. I’m thrilled to be working closely with such a talented group of writers.

Today the man who shot and killed my father was sentenced to 30 years in prison. And today, in court, I said out loud what I’ve felt from the very beginning, from the day I learned my dad was taken from us: "All our lives are ruined in a way we can never make whole.

Local journalism matters. “Kuscher is building 10 studio apartments above one of his restaurants in the Wynwood neighborhood, a once-edgy area now packed with stylish stores and expensive eateries.” In WSJ today: www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

How GLP-1s are changing restaurant menus in Miami www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/re...

Join us live at 1 pm! Link here: youtube.com/@southflorid...

Everything you need to know about a city is in its sandwiches. A city's food culture is literally at your fingertips. My friend Greg Castillo and I partnered to tell a story about the city where we were born, Miami, through its most iconic sandwiches. More: carlosfrias.com/blog/f/miami...

The peerless Ada Ferrer, with history and heartache on her side, writes a letter to Cuba's leader — just as her father did decades ago. We should all read it — including our leaders in Washington. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/o...

Does hearing expletives in music at a restaurant affect you? Does it make a difference whether the restaurant owner is white? @washingtonpost.com asked me to contribute to Lenore Atkins’ deep dive and her story has been named a James Beard Award Finalist. wapo.st/4dsQ26c

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Support local & keep in mind it’s not a 🍣 contest & no trophies are awarded for biggest check.

Greg Maddux, a career .171 hitter, legged out a triple the same day as the Kentucky Derby, which we writers used to watch during the game. Announcer Skip Caray later says: "Maddux running the bases replaces the Derby as the most exciting 2 minutes in sports." #kentuckyderby

Restaurants close — even our favorites. When we love them so much we put them on The New York Times list of 25 favorite places to eat in Miami, it hurts. The silver lining is we have an opportunity to share more of our favorites with a national audience. Enter: Ricky Thai Bistro and Drinking Pig

We are TIRED of $600/person sushi restaurants. Make it stop. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/d...

This vintage Ford pickup truck starts with the flip of a switch and pulls onto the road with a futuristic warble instead of a vroom. That's because powering this 1974 Ford F-100 is an all-electric motor. Meet the Miami man and his creation. carlosfrias.com/blog/f/why-t...

Powering this vintage truck is an all-electric motor. Amaury Betancourt, of Miami, converted this 1974 Ford F-100 into an electric vehicle. To make his electric truck, Betancourt used the motor from a Nissan Leaf and the battery from a Tesla Model S. www.tiktok.com/@carlos_fria...

Jorge Más (not that one) and Pedro Sarracino had never made pizza before opening Casetta in Little Havana. They were fine dining chefs. But a friend presented them with a location for a local pizza joint. Más bought Marc Vetri’s “Mastering Pizza” and made a “f-cking good” dough.

We talk mangos, fritas, my narrating a play at the Coconut Grove Theater Festival next week — and what happens to your timeline when Mia Khalifa magically RTs one of your IG posts. open.spotify.com/episode/3umZ...

Slam on the brakes or your’ll miss Manantial Colombian market. It's wedged between businesses off busy Flagler. At the bright-red building, flip on your indicator, flip off a driver and swerve in. If you survive, crispy fried Colombian empanadas are your reward. www.instagram.com/p/DWtsYznkTbT/

Ed Barber was a Hialeah boy, a veteran, a journalist and a friend and mentor to generations of young reporters. We were lucky to know him and have him as a force behind the scenes in our lives at the Alligator. www.alligator.org/article/2026...

The prize inside this claw machine is art. The Miami street artist David Anasagasti, who creates under the name Ahol Sniffs Glue, brought an arcade-style claw machine to the Ratcliffe Art and Design Incubator at @fiu.bsky.social He filled it with his art. More at carlosfrias.com/blog/f/this-...

100% agree - best baklava in South Florida (1715 Coral Way, Miami).

Chef Ali Aziz sips a colada at one of the two tables inside The Middle East Best Food. “You like baklava? I make seven kinds. Seven! No one else makes seven,” he yells. The colada has done its work. A classic Miami spot. www.instagram.com/p/DWUS6-ECWh...

How to spot a classic Hialeah bakery: Great Cuban bread with a gauzy crumb Fried beef empanadas that make the paper bag translucent Intricate birthday cakes that may infringe on copyrights. Bonus points if the cakes make you blush. Barbie Bakery nails it. www.instagram.com/p/DWKRkboCTd...

Downtown Miami coffee bar All Day is coming back — for just two days this weekend. The café was a breakfast favorite of downtown dwellers and a destination for folks who wanted a quality breakfast with expertly roasted and brewed coffee. March 20-21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Two styles, similar message: What Anthony Bourdain and Rick Steves taught us about Iran

Rick Steves and Anthony Bourdain never gave us the crossover television travel episode we deserved. But their distinct voices were important in opening up the world, including Iran, to Americans. carlosfrias.com/blog/f/what-...

Thanks for inviting me, Ari, and for amplifying this pretty cool story. Background: carlosfrias.com/blog/f/burge...

Matt Kuscher finds a way to stash hidden elements into his Kush burger and beer restaurants, like a milkshake bar. Now, he’s adding a new element: affordable housing. Kuscher worked with Omni CRA to build 10 affordable apartments above his restaurant. Read more: carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Matt Kuscher finds a way to stash hidden elements into his Kush burger and beer restaurants, like a milkshake bar. Now, he’s adding a new element: affordable housing. Kuscher worked with Omni CRA to build 10 affordable apartments above his restaurant. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Today is a good day to read Ada Ferrer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Cuba: An American History.” If you’re hungry for an eminently readable 473-page Reader’s Digest version that will illuminate why Cuba still matters to us in the U.S., I can’t recommend it enough.

I wrote this Saturday and Sunday I wake up to more families destroyed by gun violence. Eventually, the bullet finds someone you love. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

My dad was yet another gun violence victim. Why does America not care enough to make a change? carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Jeff Galloway spoke so passionately about running that I followed his method and ran my first 10K, the Peachtree Road Race. He got countless people off the couch and into a healthy lifestyle. An Olympian, scholar, Atlanta icon, and a helluva nice man. Godspeed, Jeff.

The late Rev Jesse Jackson made a controversial visit to Cuba in 1984 to ask Fidel Castro face-to-face to free American and Cuban political prisoners. Miami’s Armando Yong was one of them.

The late Jesse Jackson met Fidel Castro in Havana and negotiated a controversial release of Cuban political prisoners 42 years ago. This Miami man, who served 23 years in prison, was one of them. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

My friend and I were young sportswriters in Atlanta, watching “Varsity Blues” in the theater, and after the halftime scene where the coach walks out on his team, he turned to me and said, “Imagine having to write this game story.” Rest easy now, Mox.

"Volunteers are trained in what to do should ICE agents follow them ... including eating the slips of paper that contain the addresses of aid recipients." Meet the network feeding poor children as federal agents use them as bait to nab their parents: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/d...

Benito Bushes join the Super Bowl pantheon alongside Left Shark.

Sportswriters don’t cheer for teams; they cheer for the story. The best stories make you hold your breath, shake your head, think fast — and write your ass off. Lessons from a life in journalism: www.instagram.com/p/DUYkxqRERW...

Tom Petty, Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston and Michael Connelly are some of the Florida writers whose short stories about growing up in Florida are included in the anthology, “Homegrown in Florida.” My story, “Twelve,” was among them. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Godspeed, Pepe Peña. Fitting that Manolo Villaverde of ‘Que Pasa, USA?’ get a send off in @nytimes.com. Thanks to Times writer Richard Sandomir for referencing my obit to Villaverde. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/a...

UM played a great game, Fernando Mendoza, a Miami kid, had the toughest run of the night and a Miami Northwester kid (go Bulls 🤘), Jamari Sharpe, sealed the win with an INT. Miami, the city, won today.

Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators won the 2008 championship the night I covered the big game at Hard Rock Stadium, the site of this year’s title game between the Miami and Indiana. Tebow seemed super human in that game, which UF won 24-14 vs Oklahoma. www.instagram.com/p/DTtyeEKEXr...

“If someone serves you Cuban coffee without sugar, that person doesn’t love you,” is what I told The New York Times when they asked me about Miami’s cafecito culture. The Canes have embraced this Cuban-Miami tradition and incorporated it into their game day ritual. Story now in The Athletic.

It’s 54 degrees in Miami, and you know what time it is

Boos rained down on Hugo Chavez, throngs thrust their fists into the air, chanting, “fuera!” — and that was before he threw his first pitch. I was in Venezuela in February 2000 to interview Braves’ Andrés Galarraga at a celebrity softball game in Caracas. Chavez named himself pitcher. More on IG

Manolo Villaverde showed us through his sensitive cubanaso character on the landmark PBS show “Qué Pasa, USA?” that there was a little bit of his Pepe Peña in all of us. And it’s why we feel it today on learning that he has died at age 89. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Manolo Villaverde showed us through his sensitive cubanaso character on the landmark PBS show “Qué Pasa, USA?” that there was a little bit of his Pepe Peña in all of us. And it’s why we feel it today on learning that he has died at age 89. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

David Anasagasti is the reason I got to say “a-hole” on NPR and write it in The New York Times. David is one of Miami’s longest-running street artist, Ahol Sniffs Glue. You’ve seen his spray-painted sleepless eyes. He presented me with one of 25 prints to celebrate Miami at his studio, Frame Art.

It had been a couple years since I soaked up the public art surrounding the annual Art Basel Miami. So we got up before dawn, drove over the causeway into Miami Beach before the tourists awakened and took in Es Devlin’s “The Library of Us.” It really is an impressive spectacle.