Kerry Sheridan

More than a hundred, mostly retired, part-time musicians from around the country gathered last week in Sarasota to revive what some fear is a dying art – live circus music. These elder musicians hope to pass the mantle to a younger generation of performers.

A decades-old sex abuse investigation into a retired Sarasota pastor is raising questions about Florida's statute of limitations law and how it affects a victim's search for justice.

When police arrested Henry Porter earlier this month, they said they knew about his alleged victims for years. But the statute of limitations prevented them from making an arrest.

Poverty has long been an obstacle to reading. A new program called the Big Plan aims to boost reading scores by giving extra, individual attention to a select group of young readers who are close to reading at their grade level, but not quite there.

Women are making gains in the boardroom. More than 20 percent of boardroom seats across the country are now held by women, up from an average of 17.7 percent in 2018.

Whenever asked about her secret to longevity, the answer is not one that’s generally expected.

Holiday traditions take shape in many forms, and this week on Florida Matters, we take a look at some of our WUSF staff's favorite family holiday traditions.  

Hundreds of people gathered at a candlelight vigil Monday night, running 800 meters in honor of Mohammed Haitham, a 19-year-old former track star and aspiring pilot from St. Petersburg who was killed in a mass shooting at Pensacola Naval Base earlier this month. 

Fifty years ago, a college football game in Tampa helped change the course of race relations in America. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 29, 1969, a predominantly white school played an all black university in the Deep South for the first time.

 Editors Note: This story originally aired on July 31, 2019

Sailing on a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico last month to study deep sea creatures that make their own light – like jellyfish, anglerfish and shrimp – a team of scientists worked long hours and grabbed naps when they could.

One day, around noon, University of South Florida St. Petersburg marine biologist Heather Judkins was about to doze off for a couple of hours when she heard a knock on the door.

“I love pods of dolphins. But I was like, I hope they are not waking me up for a pod of dolphins,” Judkins recalled.

In the gym at Bayshore High School in Bradenton, 16-year-old Yazmin Ramirez is handed a sheet of paper describing her life's work.

"I'm a maid-slash-housekeeper. My yearly income is $19,510. I'm a dropout. I'm single. I have no children. And my balance right now is $1,202,” said Ramirez. “This is depressing, but we'll see what I can do with it.”

The Berlin Wall fell 30 years ago, ending an era of Cold War division between East and West, democracy and communism. At a time when U.S. culture is increasingly divided along partisan lines, students and professors at New College of Florida decided to build a Berlin Wall again, as a way of studying the history of divisions and how they persist today.

Computer simulations have long helped train doctors in complex medical procedures. Now, tens of thousands of Florida teachers and school staff are using online simulators to learn how to talk to troubled students.

With a curved carapace, angry-looking eyes and a spiky tail, horseshoe crabs look like nature’s armored tanks, crawling in the sand at the shore.

Drinking is one of the top reasons for divorce in married couples.

And while alcohol can be a problem for couples of all ages, a psychology researcher at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg says there are ways to work through it.

Author Gilbert King won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2013 book, "Devil In The Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America." His latest book, "Beneath A Ruthless Sun," also focuses on a true story of racial injustice in Florida in the 1950s.

The New York-based author is in St. Petersburg to talk about how writers can help awaken social justice. WUSF's Kerry Sheridan spoke with him about why these stories are important to tell.

Schools across the state are back in session, many with increased security measures and monthly active shooter drills, in an effort to ramp up security in the wake of last year’s deadly massacre at Marjory Stoneman Dougas High School in Parkland. 

In mid-July, eight third-graders sit cross-legged on the floor as they work intently on a math problem, using small eraser boards in their laps. Many are wearing their school uniforms, even though it's summer break. 

Children's recreational sports are growing more competitive than ever, and with that can come big injuries. 

A first-of-its-kind study on children ages 5 to 11 who play recreational sports has found that concussions are the most common injury in this age group.