Change would also allow breweries and “fruit stand” like businesses

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Gov. Ron Desantis hasn’t yet called for a special election to replace State Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin, who he named Miami-Dade Clerk to replace the late, great Harvey Ruvin. But that doesn’t stop the wannabes from chomping at the bit.

Already two Cuban-American Republicans have said they will run for the seat, which stretches from Tamiami through Kendale Lakes, The Crossings and goes al the way to South Miami Heights: Miami Beach firefighter Christian Chavez and personal injury attorney Mike Redondo, who has come out swinging at the “radical left,” positioning himself as an ultra conservative and sounding like an echo of DeSantis.

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DEVELOPING STORY: The head of the Miami Regional Operations Center of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement “retired” abruptly Thursday.

A group of agents were called to a mandatory meeting Thursday morning and told that Special Agent in Charge Troy Walker had retired “effective immediately.” Walker, the first African-American to be named chief SAC at the Miami FDLE, was in his third year in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan and was, reportedly, seeking a higher post at the state level.

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Scolded for having passed a racially gerrymandered redistricting map and forced to start over after a federal judge threw it out, Miami city commissioners passed a new map Wednesday that, basically, doubled down on the gerrymandering and looks a lot like the old map.

This time, it’s blatantly political.

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DEVELOPING STORY: If you can’t beat them at the polls, draw them out of your district.

That’s what’s happening in the city of Miami at today’s special meeting to redraw the new district maps that were tossed out by a court after several organizations and residents sued over gerrymandering (more on that later). The new map proposed by consultant Miguel DeGrandy cuts a corner of 17th Avenue off District 1 — about three homes, including the one where Miguel Angel Gabela, who is running against incumbent commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, has lived in for more than 20 years.

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When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed State Rep. Juan Alfonso Fernandez Barquin (R-District 118) as the new Miami-Dade County Clerk — to replace longtime clerk Harvey Ruvin, who died five months ago — he also called him comptroller, a financial role the clerk officially serves but which Ruvin had always de facto conceded to whoever was the county mayor.

Fernandez-Barquin, an attorney with a degree in economics and ambition, is likely not gonna do that. In fact, las malas lenguas say he is excited about making the role a more public elected post — he has to run for office again in 2024 — with the same powers as other clerks in other counties in the state.

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