Environment

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Manatee officials say that SB 180 has hamstrung them when it comes to protecting the county's natural resources.

The highest concentration is in Central and North Florida, including most of the 30 “first magnitude” springs —those that discharge at least 65 million gallons of water daily. Most are considered polluted.

A federal judge in Miami refused to pause her order to wind down the Everglades facility. Attorneys for Homeland Security requested a stay, arguing the ruling would disrupt immigration enforcement.

The Center for Biological Diversity is legally challenging the EPA's decision to allow phosphogypsum in the construction project, citing a 1992 federal rule against doing so and cancer risks.

Nearly two years after an unprecedented die-off of endangered smalltooth sawfish, scientists are still investigating conditions that caused the deaths and how to better predict and prevent future outbreaks.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking to close "Alligator Alcatraz," but the Trump administration has sought to distance the federal government from the project.

The birds were seen last week by avian ecologist Mark Cook. Flamingos were uncommon in South Florida until recently because the population was largely wiped out by hunters in the 1700s.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit last week, accompanied by the request for a temporary restraining order, to halt the immigrant detention center.

The 28 updated nutrient Basin Management Action Plans target the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers, among other waterways.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hosting the annual event beginning Saturday through Sept. 14 to encourage the public to hunt and remove the invasive, venomous species.

As blooms of blue-green algae begin to form in Southwest and Central Florida, educators are preparing to inform tourists and locals about the harmful blooms.