FLORIDA KEYS

The Florida Keys can be paradise. Buffett and Hemingway vibe. Sunset celebrations. Bars everywhere.

The boat captain cut loose their parasail, which then dragged them across the ocean and slammed them into a bridge, authorities said.

A woman from Illinois was killed and two young children were injured when a sudden storm prompted a boat captain to cut loose their parasail.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a woman from Illinois was killed and two young children injured when a sudden storm prompted a boat captain to cut loose their parasail in the Florida Keys.

A parasailing cable tethering a young mother and two children to a boat snapped on Memorial Day, sending their harness into the water and dragging them for at least a mile before they hit a Florida Keys bridge, the captain who rescued them said.

From the National Hurricane Center: Near the Yucatan Peninsula and Southeastern Gulf of Mexico: A broad area of low pressure located near the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula continues to produce a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and Yucatan Peninsula. Despite strong upper-level winds, this system is likely to become a tropical depression or tropical storm while it moves slowly northeastward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and southeastern Gulf of Mexico during the next day or two. Interests in western Cuba, the Florida Keys, and the Florida Peninsula should monitor the progress of this system, and tropical storm watches or warnings could be required for some of these areas later today.

A Texas man died in the Florida Keys after the boat he as on hit a concrete power line pole, fish and wildlife police say.

Florida’s unemployment rate dipped to 3% last month, with all 10 industries tracked in the state showing year over year job growth.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Southeast reported a 47 foot male sperm whale stranded off the Florida Keys.

A U.S. Coast Guard crew rescued nine pepole when their pontoon overturned near off the Florida Keys.

In the Florida Keys, law enforcement takes illegal fishing — and illegal wildlife feeding — very seriously.

Great whites in the Florida Keys can be a rare sight. The large migratory predators prefer cooler water and are just passing through when they’re spotted in South Florida.

State fisheries cops in the Florida Keys locked up two men Sunday after they said they caught and kept 11 undersized fish.

Since the start of the year, more than 800 Haitians have landed in the Florida Keys.

For the third time in a week, a visitor to the Florida Keys died while exploring the waters.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday rescued a man 15 miles out to sea off the Florida Keys stranded on a windsurf board, and federal authorities said Thursday he is a migrant who was attempting to flee Cuba.

Haitian migrants are reaching Florida’s shores in repeated suspected human smuggling operations, outpacing last year’s migration waves.

For the second time in two weeks, a large group of Haitian migrants has come to shore in the Florida Keys.

A Pinecrest man died after being hit by a boat propeller during a Florida Keys fishing tournament Saturday afternoon.

Two people died this week in the Florida Keys after two separate incidents on the water — one scuba diving, one snorkeling.

Federal officials say a wooden boat carrying hundreds of Haitian migrants in a suspected human smuggling operation ran aground just off Key Largo, Florida.

The search for the pilot and passenger of a plane that was reported missing this week has been suspended after Monroe County sheriff’s divers found a section of the aircraft in the water off the Florida Keys.

The deadliest tree in the world has poisonous fruit and toxins that can blind a person and burn skin.

After buying an expensive electric fishing reel from a man he met online this month, a Florida Keys man contacted the manufacturer to have the gear’s serial number transferred to his name.

A Miami couple was arrested Friday after an investigation found they stole $2.5 million from a Florida Keys fish house they managed and from several commercial fishermen, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.

A segment of a 110-year-old Florida Keys bridge is reopening to pedestrians and bicyclists on Wednesday following a $44 million restoration project. Rehabilitation construction on the oft-photographed 2.2-mile (3.5-km) span of the Old Seven Mile Bridge began in late 2017. “What made the project challenging was that it is a historic bridge, and we had to restore the bridge to the same aesthetic fabric as the original,” said project manager Tony Sabbag, a Florida Department of Transportation contractor.

For the third time in as many months, a group of Haitian migrants has come ashore in the Florida Keys.

Restoration has been completed on Key West’s Southernmost Point marker, one of the most photographed landmarks in the Florida Keys, following damage from a fire intentionally set early New Year’s Day.

Of the ten biggest annual meteor showers, just two could produce over 100 per hour: the December Geminids and the January Quadrantids, due to peak this Monday (Jan. 3).

This isn’t the first time this has happened in Florida.

The Florida Keys are America’s original tropical getaway, a 125-mile-long archipelago brimming with charm and adventure. There are remote white-sand

A man from San Diego, California, died in the Florida Keys Saturday afternoon after diving from a boat into shallow water to catch a football, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Police say a 7-foot-python looking for a joyride snuck onto a sailboat in the Florida Keys and ended up staying onboard until the boat reached the state's southwest Gulf Coast.

A python looking for a joyride snuck aboard a sailboat in the Florida Keys and ended up staying until the boat finished its nearly 100-mile voyage, police said. The crew found the 7-foot (2.1-meter) snake in the boat's shower after docking Friday in Marco Island on southwest Florida's Gulf Coast after the trip from Indian Key, a distance of about 95 miles (155 kilometers) around the southern tip of the peninsula. In May, an “8-foot-long-plus” python was captured on a boat in Coral Gables, the Miami Herald reported.

The national gap between the rich and the poor is already growing. But that the disparity may be worse in the Keys because of climate change.

Three commercial fishermen working in the Florida Keys are facing felony conservation charges after state wildlife officers say they caught them with almost 130 undersized wrung spiny lobster tails on their boat Saturday night.

FEMA says its new rates better reflect the risk from more intense and frequent rain and floods. The increase could make housing unaffordable for some in the most flood-prone areas.

A large loggerhead sea turtle rehabilitated at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital has a new home in Texas.

A 148-year-old Florida Keys lighthouse could get a new life now that a community organization is poised to take ownership and begin a massive preservation project.

Megan Carr, 13, first heard about 9/11 in the fourth grade and later discovered her grandmother responded to the attacks as an officer with the NYPD.

In the weeks after officials in the Florida Keys shut the island down chain because of the then-new COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Forster began mobilizing to feed those he knew would be among the most in need. Restaurant workers.

A man died Tuesday after scuba diving near a wreck off the Florida Keys, police said.

As Tropical Depression Fred heads toward the Florida Keys, forecasters are watching another storm brewing in the Caribbean.

All of South Florida is set to be under a flood watch Friday night through late Sunday, with a tropical storm warning in effect for the Florida Keys ahead of Fred’s expected weekend deluge.

Forecasters say tropical depression Fred is slowly strengthening and could regain tropical storm status on Saturday.

Fred is battered and bruised from its fight through Hispaniola’s jagged mountainous terrain. But, like a shark’s resolve for survival, we can’t count the tropical depression down and out.

Tropical depression Fred is heading for a drenching of Cuba and the Bahamas on a forecast track that would carry it toward South Florida as a tropical storm by Saturday.

The National Hurricane Center named the disturbance tracking toward Florida as Fred.

A few minutes after midnight Wednesday, dozens of boats with bright lights shining in the water dotted Cowpens Cut in Islamorada.

A jury has ordered a Florida Keys company to pay $11.8 million to the families of four Spanish tourists who were killed in a crash on the Overseas Highway in 2018.

Most of the Florida Keys was in the dark Saturday morning — including Key West International Airport — after a transmission line went out.

In the Florida Keys, police work can sometimes involve coming to the rescue of a hard-shelled pal out crawling around in the rain.

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for nine people missing in the ocean off the Florida Keys. They were among 22 people who left Cuba Monday night on a boat on the way to South Florida as Tropical Storm Elsa was preparing to hit the area with rough seas, heavy winds and rain.

Tropical Storm Elsa picked up steam on Tuesday morning while it battered the Florida Keys and parts of Cuba as Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in multiple counties.

Tropical Storm Elsa whipped the Florida Keys with high winds and drenching rain Tuesday morning as it began its slow crawl along Florida’s west coast.

The storm is complicating the search for survivors in the condo collapse and prompting a hurricane watch for the peninsula's upper Gulf Coast.

Elsa was approaching the Keys but was forecast to then head for Florida's west coast and spare the collapse site from the brunt of its power.

Tropical Storm Elsa neared the Florida Keys early Tuesday, hitting the island chain with heavy rain and gusty wind.

Elsa was approaching the Keys but was forecast to then head for Florida's west coast and spare the collapse site from the brunt of its power.

The weather was getting worse in southern Florida early Tuesday as Tropical Storm Elsa began lashing the Florida Keys, complicating the search for survivors in the condo collapse and prompting a hurricane watch for the peninsula's upper Gulf Coast. In addition to damaging winds and heavy rains, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned of life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes. A hurricane watch was issued for a long stretch of coastline, from Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Steinhatchee River in Florida's Big Bend area.

Tropical Storm Elsa has swept across a mostly rural section of western Cuba with strong rain and winds, and it is now over the Florida Straits for a possible close brush with the lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas on Tuesday.

With the Middle to Lower Keys under a tropical storm warning Sunday, Florida Keys officials had no plans to issue mandatory evacuation orders.

Tropical Storm Elsa is slower, weaker and smaller after it passed the southeastern coast of Haiti Saturday night.

At 8 a.m. Sunday, Tropical Storm Elsa was located about 145 miles southeast of Cabo Cruz, Cuba, and moving west-northwest at 13 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.

The tropical storm is predicted to hit the Florida Keys early next week.

Officials prepare to elevate streets despite financial shortfalls, amid recognition that not every home can be saved The neighborhood of Stillwright Point in Key Largo, Florida. Photograph: Saul Martinez/The Guardian Long famed for its spectacular fishing, sprawling coral reefs and literary residents such as Ernest Hemingway, the Florida Keys is now acknowledging a previously unthinkable reality: it faces being overwhelmed by the rising seas and not every home can be saved. Following a grueling

People keep spotting illegal drugs washed ashore in the Florida Keys or floating in the waters surrounding the island chain.

The recent spike in maritime migration from Cuba to South Florida shows no sign of slowing. Another group landed in the Florida Keys Monday morning.

Two groups of Boy Scouts from Georgia, 24 of them to be exact, had a sour start to a trip to the Florida Keys when they found out the Airbnb house they had rented didn’t exist, WSVN reports.

Officials say two people are dead and 10 others are missing after their boat overturned near the Florida Keys.

After skipping a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest is set to return to the Florida Keys this summer.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – First-time unemployment claims in Florida came in under 20,000 for a fourth straight week, as the state’s jobs picture has improved amid the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated Florida posted 16,709 new claims during the week that ended March 13, down from a revised count of 19,281 for the week ending March 6. The Department of Labor estimated 770,000 jobless claims were filed nationally last week, an increase of 45,000 from the week ending March 6. Over the past year, the state Department of Economic Opportunity has paid out $24.25 billion in state and federal relief to 2.3 million claimants. A February unemployment rate will be released March 26.

File photo of past winners of the "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike contest in Key West. KEY WEST, Fla. – Ernest Hemingway look-alikes are being used by the Florida Keys tourism council to encourage visitors and residents to wear masks to protect against COVID-19. “We look at Key West as being our adopted town,” said longtime contest entrant Dusty Rhodes in the video. The look-alikes wear masks over their signature white beards. COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 40th annual “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s last July.

A fisherman found the cocaine bricks about 15 miles south of Sugarloaf Key on Wednesday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. KEY WEST, Fla. – Almost 75 pounds of cocaine were found this week floating off the Florida Keys. A fisherman found the cocaine bricks about 15 miles south of Sugarloaf Key on Wednesday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Drugs floating off the Florida Keys are nothing new, according to the Miami Herald. In July, more than 50 pounds of cocaine washed up near Grassy Key.

Dozens of cold-stunned turtles were flown from the cold waters of Cape Cod down to the Florida Keys and brought to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon over Thanksgiving weekend. The 40 rescued turtles were Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, one of the most endangered sea turtle species. LIVE at the Turtle Hospital 40 cold stunned Kemps Ridley sea turtles checked in last night and are warming up in the Florida Keys sunshine! Being “cold stunned” can leave lasting impacts on the turtles and recovery can take anywhere from 30 days to a year. So far, all 40 turtles have passed their swim tests, meaning they have no immediate threats to their health.

KEY WEST, Fla. – A $5 million grant will help restore one of the major coral reefs located in federally protected waters around the Florida Keys. The reef is about seven miles (11 kilometers) southeast of Key West and is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the $5 million through the National Coastal Resilience Fund. In 2019, NOAA announced Mission: Iconic Reefs, a plan to restore nearly much of the Florida Reef Tract. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects 3,800 square miles (6,100 kilometers) of waters surrounding the Florida Keys.

MIAMI – Over a dozen Miami nurses and front line health care workers are finally getting a well-deserved break. The group was scheduled for an upcoming mandatory, aka boring, 48-hour training, but were instead surprised with an island vacation to the Florida Keys. Jackson Health System supervisors were asked to choose staff that went above and beyond during the pandemic. The 50 workers were told they had to attend a mandatory two-day, training, but when they gathered at the hospital Tuesday they were handed gift boxes with gift certificates. Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys donated two-night stays to their island on Duck Key, surrounded by sparkling waters and swaying palm trees as part of its Heroes Salute program.

Shower activity will continue to move northwest tonight as tropical moisture moves through. This pattern continues with deep tropical moisture will remaining across the area. Tonight: A few clouds with off and on showers, lows in the mid to low 70s, and breezy winds out of the east 15-20 mph. Wake up temperatures in the 70s across southeast Georgia and northeast Florida. Looking ahead: Tropical moisture continues this week.

A couple walks along the beach during a downpour, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, on Miami Beach, Florida's famed South Beach. A strengthening Tropical Storm Eta cut across Cuba on Sunday, and forecasters say it's likely to be a hurricane before hitting the Florida Keys Sunday night or Monday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Elsewhere, forecasters announced that Subtropical Storm Theta, a record-breaking 29th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season, had formed far out in the northeast Atlantic by late Monday night. Eta made landfall in the Florida Keys and posed a serious threat across South Florida, which was already drenched from more than 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain last month. “Never seen this, never, not this deep,” said Anthony Lyas, who has lived in his now-waterlogged Fort Lauderdale neighborhood since 1996. It was the 28th named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season, tying the 2005 record for named storms. ___Associated Press writers Cody Jackson in Fort Lauderdale, Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, and Haleluya Hadero in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Tropical Storm Eta caused severe flooding in South Florida in areas already saturated from previous downpours. The system made landfall in the Florida Keys and posed a serious threat across South Florida, which was already drenched from more than 14 inches of rain last month. The Hurricane Warning for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay have been replaced with a Tropical Storm Warning. The Tropical Storm Watch has been upgraded to a Tropical Storm Warning for the Florida west coast from Englewood to Anna Maria Island. On the forecast track, the center of Eta will gradually pull away from the Florida Keys and south Florida today and be over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico tonight through Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Eta moves across the Florida Keys late tonight and into the eastern Gulf tomorrow. It will be wetter Monday with increasing showers as tropical moisture moves in with the potential for some locally heavy rainfall around the coastal areas. We keep rain around Tuesday and possibly into Veterans Day as rounds of showers pass quickly in the moist flow. Winds will decrease Tuesday and Wednesday as high pressure moves to the east and guides Tropical storm Eta through the Keys and into the Gulf where it wanders next week off the west Florida coast. Rain totalsIf this track plays out, the wettest day would be Thursday evening and Friday morning with 1-2 inches of rain.

A strengthening Tropical Storm Eta cut across Cuba on Sunday, and forecasters say it's likely to be a hurricane before hitting the Florida Keys Sunday night or Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami declared hurricane and storm surge warnings for the Keys from Ocean Reef to the Dry Tortugas, including Florida Bay. Several shelters also opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low lying areas. On Sunday night, authorities in Lauderhill, Florida, responded to a report of a car that had driven into a canal. South Florida started emptying ports and a small number of shelters opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low-lying areas.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tropical Storm Eta became a tropical storm again Saturday morning south of Cuba. Maximum sustained winds are now near 40 mph Eta is near the Cayman Islands with 35 mph winds. A tropical Storm Watch covers south Florida and up the east coast stopping at Volusia county. A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect along the Florida east coast north of Sebastien Inlet to the Brevard/Volusia county line. A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect for the Florida west coast north of Bonita Beach to Englewood.

Members of search and recovery teams search for survivors in the debris of a massive, rain-fueled landslide in the village of Queja, in Guatemala, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta. The storm was expected to hit Cuba by early Sunday, and approach the Florida Keys and south Florida late Sunday or Monday. Tropical storm warnings were issued for central Cuba, southern Florida and the Florida Keys. South Florida started emptying ports and a small number of shelters opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low lying areas. The storms’ threat comes as many streets across South Florida have been inundated by heavy rains and unusual King Tides.

Location 85 miles SE of Wilmington North Carolina Wind 45 mph Heading ENE at 21 mph Pressure 29.65 Coordinates 76.8W, 33.3NDiscussionAt 400 AM EST (0900 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Eta was located near latitude 33.3 North, longitude 76.8 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the east-northeast near 21 mph (33 km/h) and this motion is expected to continue with an increase in forward speed through Saturday. On the forecast track, Eta is expected to gradually pull away from the southeast U.S. Coast today. Eta could intensify a little as an non-tropical cyclone during the next day or so before it becomes absorbed by a larger non-tropical cyclone on Saturday or Saturday night. Tropics Models at 3:34 Friday Night, November 13thLand HazardsSURF: Swells generated by Eta will affect portions of the southeastern United States coast today.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Sometime next year, genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys in an effort to combat persistent insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and the Zika virus. The plan approved this week by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District calls for a pilot project in 2021 involving the striped-legged Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is not native to Florida. At a meeting Tuesday of the Florida Keys mosquito control board, several people questioned the wisdom of the project. You have no idea what that will do, Barry Wray, director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, told the board. Whether or not the modified mosquitoes can efficiently crash the population of these mosquitoes in Florida remains an open question, some experts say.

(Bob Care/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)ISLAMORADA, Fla. Two rehabilitated sea turtles, rescued at different times and locations by the U.S. Coast Guard, have been released off the Florida Keys. Emma, a 150-pound (68-kilogram) female loggerhead sea turtle, was recovered in June after she was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean off Islamorada. Bubbles, a 225-pound (100-kilogram) adult female green sea turtle, was found entangled in an abandoned fishing trap line by recreational boaters in mid-June off Long Key. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Lees described the rescue and Thursday's release of the sea turtles as a rare treat. Its fulfilling to see the final result of a turtle rescue, Lees said.

MIAMI Two residents of the Florida Keys have been jailed for failing to quarantine after testing positive for the new coronavirus. Jose Interian, 24, and Yohana Gonzalez, 26, are facing charges of violating isolation rules for a quarantine and violating emergency management disaster preparedness rules, according to jail records. They were arrested Wednesday in Key West, officials said. The Miami Herald reports Interian and Gonzalez had been ordered by the health department to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, but neighbors said they were ignoring the order. Someone videotaped the couple and gave it to Key West police, according to Greg Veliz, Key West's city manager.

KEY LARGO, Fla. An 11th case of the mosquito-borned dengue fever has been confirmed in the Florida Keys, health officials said. So far, all 11 cases have been in Key Largo, including 8 cases the last week of June, the Florida Department of Health officials said Tuesday. Officials are currently conducting epidemiological studies to determine the origin and extent of these infections, Florida Keys spokeswoman Alison Kerr told the Miami Herald. One case of dengue fever has been confirmed Miami-Dade County, according to health department spokeswoman Olga Connor. The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District said helicopters and trucks are targeting the adult mosquitoes and larvae, said Chad Huff.

MARATHON, Fla. A rare hybrid hawksbill-green sea turtle, rehabilitated at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital, will participate in a long-distance online race that follows the migration of sea turtles over three months. The Tour de Turtles, an annual educational project organized by the Sea Turtle Conservancy, is intended to raise awareness about sea turtles and threats to their survival. Maisy was rescued almost a year ago off the Lower Keys suffering from fibropapillomatosis, a herpes-like virus affecting sea turtles around the world. The others will be released off Florida by the end of July, according to Dan Evans, a senior research biologist with the Sea Turtle Conservancy. Maisys the first hybrid sea turtle weve ever tracked."

KEY WEST, Fla. Officials have solved the killing of a teenager in the Florida Keys who was raped and strangled with her bikini top on Valentines Day 1991. Officials used DNA technology to identify both the victim and the suspect. DNA obtained from the 1991 crime scene in the Florida Keys matched DNA from Bradley's own homicide scene in April 1992. The case became known as the Valentine Jane Doe Homicide. Kirkum was seen hitchhiking out of Key West that evening. Sheriffs officials said Kirkum was never reported missing, and both her parents are now dead.

KEY LARGO, Fla. The Florida Keys reopened for visitors Monday after the tourist-dependent island chain was closed for more than two months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As the Keys took down barriers, Miami-Dade County decided to keep its beaches closed because of protests in South Florida and across the country over the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Since March 22, the Keys have been closed to nonresidents who dont work or own property in the county. Visitors at the Winter Haven, Florida, theme park were being screened for illness, and were encouraged to wear masks and bring credit cards since the theme park had gone cashless. Still, hotels were reopening in the Miami area with restrictions, including a requirement that guests wear masks except inside their rooms.

KEY WEST, Fla. Checkpoints leading into the Florida Keys are coming down two months after being set up to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. With four deaths attributed to COVID-19, the Florida Keys has had about 110 coronavirus cases, and more than 20 of those are from a nursing home on Plantation Key, according to the Miami Herald. By contrast, neighboring Miami-Dade County to the north has had almost 18,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 700 deaths. But officials are warning residents to keep up their vigilance as the Florida Keys reopens to visitors. the Key West Police Department tweeted.

MIAMI The Sunshine State faces an uncertain start to summer with some areas hoping for brisk business over Memorial Day weekend while high-profile South Florida beaches remained closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Beaches in Miami-Dade County remain closed, with access points blocked, and officials there aren't expecting crowds. Just north in Broward County, officials are also expecting closed beaches to keep crowds away for the holiday weekend. Most events that draw crowds have also been canceled in the Florida Keys, which has been closed to visitors since March. Outside of South Florida, other parts of the state are somewhat more optimistic about Memorial Day weekend.

Published: May 20, 2020, 6:40 am Updated: May 20, 2020, 10:29 amISLAMORADA, Fla. Banners featuring scores of yearbook photos are hanging next to the Florida Keys Overseas Highway to honor graduating seniors who will miss out on traditional ceremonies because of the coronavirus pandemic. Several residents in Islamorada knew that COVID-19 would affect celebrations for the 177 graduating seniors at Coral Shores High School in the Upper Keys. Local businessman Mike Forster helped finance the project to transform yearbook portraits into banners, and Florida Keys Electric Cooperative crews hung them from powerline poles in Islamorada. Bridget Dougherty, 18, who is planning to attend the University of South Florida, said she and her fellow graduates were surprised by the banners. Its connected those who have graduated with those who are graduating now.Dougherty said she was very disappointed with missing out on traditional celebrations.

KEY WEST, Fla. The Florida Keys will reopen to tourists on June 1, more than two months after the island chain closed to visitors to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. The decision to reopen comes amid the low coronavirus infection rate in the Florida Keys, the Miami Herald reported. The move to reopen was the toughest decision Monroe County officials had to make, Monroe County Spokeswoman Kristen Livengood told the Miami Herald. The Florida Keys had been closed off to non-residents since March 22. Checkpoints at U.S. 1 and State Road 905 were set up five days later to bar visitors from coming into Monroe County.

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Don’t plan on making a visit to the Florida Keys until at least June. While stay-at-home orders may be loosened soon, Monroe County does not anticipate reopening to visitors in May, county officials said Friday. “The last thing we want to do is open up the doors and then have a resurgence,” County Mayor Heather Carruthers told Local 10 News. The Keys have been discussing relaxing some restrictions for their residents in a “new normal.” They say they will first review the plans for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. “It’s not going to be a snap your fingers and everything is back to normal by any means,” Carruthers said.

A South Florida teenager died after a boat crash Sunday off the Florida Keys, News4Jax’s sister station, WPLG-TV, reports. The teen was identified by Westminister Christian School as Lucas Alvarez, who was a senior at the private school in Miami-Dade County and was the captain of the lacrosse team. “Lucas was loved by many and was known for being kind to everyone,” reads, in part, a statement on the school’s website. The report shows Alvarez was taken to a hospital, where he died. The school also said there will be a special assembly Wednesday, and therapists will be available for students and staff.

(CNN) - A man in Florida could face up to a year in federal prison and a $50,000 fine after witnesses said they saw him kill an endangered smalltooth sawfish by removing the long, flat saw that gives the fish its name. Chad Ponce pleaded guilty Friday to killing an endangered species, according to a news release from the US Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Smalltooth sawfish use that saw to sense and attack prey. The smalltooth sawfish has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 2003, making it illegal to catch, harm, harass or kill the fish. NOAA and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated Ponce's case, the US attorney's office said.