2022 In Review: CBS4’s Hank Tester takes a look at some of the big stories of the year

MIAMI – As we bring the year to a close, let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories of 2022.

Late in the year and late in the launch, NASA’s Artemus 1 moon mission rocket finally blasted off and completed its mission, putting the state’s Kennedy Space Center back in the headlines.

Meanwhile, meanwhile “back on earth” in the Sunshine State, the year 2022 was a financial struggle for many South Floridians.

“Huge prices on everything especially with meats and dairy products, I mean everything,” said shopper Melesia Deno.

Inflation hovered around 8 percent all year and then there was the South Florida real estate and rental market.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava summed it up for CBS4 News, “It is nearly impossible for everyday working people to afford to even pay rent, mortgages, and insurance.”

About 900 people move to Florida every day, driving up home prices and rental costs. There are also cash buyers from foreign countries and high interest rates that leave locals scrambling for affordable housing.

“I make a decent living as a nurse but I still have to live with my mom,” said Stephenie Balanos, repeating a story often heard in South Florida.

In commuter-intensive Miami-Dade and Broward, rising gas prices became a big issue.

While the price at the pump is trending down to about $3.15 a gallon towards the end of the year, it hit an all time high of almost five dollars a gallon last summer.

In Broward court, confessed Parkland shooter Nickolas Cruz, after pleading guilty to multiple murder and attempted murder charges, escaped the death penalty. Parents and loved ones of those who died or were injured were outraged.

The sentencing phase of the trial was heart-wrenching as noted by Tony Montalto who lost a daughter to the gunfire.

“We all showed amazing grace and decorum as we learned these terrible things this murdering bastard did to our children,” he said after Cruz received a life sentence.

The year’s hurricane season all but bypassed Southeast Florida but not so for Southwest Florida.

In September, Hurricane Ian delivered a forty billion dollar blow from Naples and Fort Myers Beach to up and across the center part of the state. In November, Hurricane Nicole did almost half a billion dollars in oceanfront damage from northern Miami-Dade to Jacksonville.

In June, Tropical Storm Alex highlighted South Florida’s ongoing flooding issues. Miami’s Brickell area flooded and the year’s King Tides impacted low-lying areas as climate change became a visible ongoing problem that is no longer a future issue.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security were kept busy during the year. Almost daily it seemed, groups of Cuban freedom seekers arrived on the shores of South Florida and the Florida Keys. The Coast Guard said it interdicting almost 6,200 Cuban migrants in its fiscal year 2022.

Along the Mexican Border, Cubans along with immigrants from numerous counties crossed into the United States seeking asylum. Immigration lawyer Willy Allan told CBS4 “We are at 170-thousand Cubans plugging up the system. It is impossible for all those people to go in front of an immigration judge in the near future.”

Travel at Miami International Airport was up 17 percent, a true barometer of the state of the South Florida tourism market. During the year, post-COVID tourism bounced back, hotels began charging hefty rates, and restaurants saw more customers. With the COVID vaccination rate hovering around 68 percent, masks came off, but hotel and restaurant employers found it difficult to hire workers because for many it became too expensive to live and work in South Florida.

Supply chain issues continue to plague retail and grocery outlets.

During a report earlier this year, CBS4 anchor Karli Barnett said that “The doctor we talked to said it is easier to get dog food than baby formula.”

Baby formula was just one of the many supply chain challenges South Floridians faced. Many products went missing from the grocery shelves. That eased somewhat towards the end of the year. Supply chain issues also impacted new car and used car sales. Car prices skyrocketed, and some models were difficult to obtain.

Miami-Dade’s charismatic and larger-than-life School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho departed for California to head the Los Angeles Unified School District. Meanwhile, in Broward County, a School Board stacked with appointees by Governor Ron DeSantis fired School Superintendent Dr. Vicki Cartwright. A major issue for both school districts, a huge teacher shortage.

A presidential appointment put the spotlight on Palmetto Senior High School when graduate Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She made history as the first Black woman appointed to the high court.