Miami International Airport (MIA) has set new all-time records for annual passenger and cargo traffic in 2012 with 39.5 million passengers and 2.1 million tons of cargo. The annual passenger total increased by 3 percent, up more than 1.1 million passengers from 2011, and cargo volume grew 4.6 percent. International passengers led the way with an increase of 5.2 percent to 19.4 million travelers, while domestic passengers grew by one percent to 20.1 million.

"Despite a national economy still struggling to rebound, MIA continues to reach new heights as our community's primary economic engine," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "I applaud the leadership team at MIA for another record-breaking year of outstanding growth."

MIA's passenger traffic benefited from hub carrier American Airlines beginning in November its largest schedule ever at the airport with 328 daily flights and expanded service to 38 cities. American launched six new routes from MIA in 2012 as well including Asuncion, Paraguay; Barcelona, Spain; Manaus, Brazil; Recife, Brazil; Roatan, Honduras; and Seattle, Washington.

Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez will be challenging incumbent Mayor Tomas Regalado in the next city mayoral elections on November 5. Suarez, 35, the son of former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez made the announcement on Tuesday at a press conference at his home.

Although there was some amount of speculation that Suarez who is thirty year's younger than Regalado could be challenging the incumbent his announcement was somewhat of a surprise as some city staffers and residents thought him too young and politically inexperienced to make the bid to lead South Florida's most prominent city.

In making his announcement, Suarez dismissed the age factor saying the time is now for people of his generation to take over the leadership role in South Florida.

Another reason why some Miami City personnel was surprised at Suarez's announcement is that he had been a close ally of Mayor Regalado. Residents of Miami's District 4 –which includes the western regions of the city – said it was Regalado who supported Suarez to succeed him as a candidate for the District 4 commission seat when he first ran for office in 2009. After he won the seat and joined the commission he was also determined to be close to the mayor, who then supported him to be the chairman of the City Commission in 2011.

Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen M. Ross has announced he is prepared to fund the majority costs for proposed improvements to Sun Life Stadium. These will make the facility competitive for hosting future Super Bowls, college championship games, the Pan Am Games, professional soccer, and other premier sports and entertainment events.
Ross stated private funds would cover the majority of construction costs, which would create over 4,000 local jobs for South Florida across various industries. The modernization plan would position Sun Life Stadium to continue competing for elite events, and most importantly without proposing any tax increases on Miami-Dade residents.
"I bought this team because I love this town. I went to high school here and built much of my business here," said Ross. "Like most Miamians, I believe no other community in America represents a better destination for blockbuster events. My goal is to secure the future of Miami-Dade and the Dolphins so we can remain a global competitor for sports and entertainment for at least another 25 years. That's why I'm willing to make the initial and most substantial investment in this project."

After failing in his first bid in 2008 to be elected sheriff of Broward County, Scott Israel, a Republican turned Democrat, convincingly defeated the former incumbent Al Lamberti in last November's general elections. On Tuesday he was sworn in before thousands of guests, including a large complement of deputy sheriffs from the Broward Sheriff Office (BS0) at the Faith Center in Sunrise.

Amongst a background of pomp and pageantry provided by bag-pipe and drum corps, Scott took the oath of office in the presence of his wife, and triplet children. The new sheriff was sworn-in by Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes.
After Sheriff Israel was sworn-in he addressed the large audience pertaining to his plans for the department, consisting of some 5,700 employees, that he'll lead for the next four years.

Punctuated by a series of standing ovations, Israel said there would be changes in BSO, and he planned to be inclusive representing all the diverse ethnicities of the county. He said he planned to be the sheriff of everyone, and treat everyone with respect, including people he'll work with daily.

He cited that there are four priorities that he plans on addressing immediately.
The first was to solve the murder of BSO Sergeant Chris Reyka who was gunned-down outside a Walgreens drug store in Pompano Beach in 2007, and despite an ongoing investigation there have been no arrests.