Florida Keys

Played by Keys' dive shop operator Spencer Slate, Santa brought along his trusted underwater elves and a festively dressed mermaid to mingle with some very curious marine life at Pleasure Reef off Key Largo.

Holiday motorists going a bit too fast through a school zone on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway might receive an onion from the Grinch instead of a traffic ticket.

Twenty-five Kemp's ridley sea turtles, considered the rarest among sea turtles, arrived in the Keys Tuesday after being rescued from frigid water off New England.

All five commissioners, in a joint statement, said they could not support the changes, "especially after hearing from the public and receiving public comment throughout the week."

Nearly half of the sanctuary staff works out of the office, which was targeted for closure earlier this year. The only other sanctuary office is nearly 100 miles away in Key West.

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.

One sawfish died and three were reported in distress in waters around the Florida Keys in April.

With the governor's rejection of a new management plan, some rules, including a ban on cruise ships flushing greywater near troubled reefs, won't take effect.

Both proposals are named after Lucy Fernandez, a 17-year-old killed in 2022 when a 29-foot boat she and 13 others were on hit a channel marker near Boca Chita Key.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the plan, which took more than a decade to hammer out, failed to pave the way for artificial reefs in state waters and stripped Florida of managing its own wildlife.

This winter's deaths come nearly six months after a mysteriously ailment linked to toxic algae killed more than 50 endangered sawfish around the Florida Keys.

The Florida Department of Health in Monroe County is advising Florida Keys residents and visitors to exercise caution. The toxin is capable of producing respiratory issues.