Before his visit to Trump International Golf Club, the president made a detour to Arc Stone & Tile, a stone importer near Mar-a-Lago that bills itself as an Italian marble specialist, where he planned to buy marble and onyx, according to a White House official.

The purchase, which the official said would be made at Trump’s personal expense, represents the latest sign of the president’s close involvement in a project that would dramatically alter the White House’s footprint — and put Trump’s permanent stamp on the nation’s most famous address.

The planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which has ballooned in size and cost since Trump first announced it last summer, has also embroiled the administration in a running court battle.

Trump initially estimated that the construction would cost $200 million and promised that it wouldn’t affect the existing White House structure. Yet a few months later, he opted to bulldoze the entire East Wing with little advance notice, making way for an expanded ballroom that he now estimates will cost up to $400 million in personal expenses and private donations.

“We’re donating a $400 million ballroom,” Trump said in December. “I think I’ll do it for less, but it’s 400. I should do it for less, I will do it for less. But just in case, I say 400.”

Since returning to office, Trump has overseen a range of major changes to the White House, including paving over the Rose Garden, redoing the Palm Room and redecorating the Oval Office. He’s often favored pricey white marble and gold accents, imitating the style found throughout his Mar-a-Lago club, where he’s been spending the past two weeks for the holidays.

But the ballroom is, by far, Trump’s biggest and most disruptive project to date.

The sudden demolition of the iconic East Wing in October prompted public outcry and immediate legal challenges over the administration’s effort to bypass planning commissions that have traditionally reviewed proposed additions to the White House and other government buildings. A judge has since ruled that Trump officials must begin “consultation processes” with the two planning commissions.

Yet Trump has brushed off criticism of his unilateral reshaping of the White House, as well as the extensive time and energy he’s personally devoted to it. The administration is now seeking to rapidly win those official approvals, laying out a timeline that could allow for ballroom construction to begin as early as this spring and finish by mid-2028, prior to the end of Trump’s term.

Trump officials are expected to hold a public information meeting in front of the National Capital Planning Commission on January 8, and then meet with the Commission of Fine Arts the week after that. Those sessions could then clear the way for final presentations to the two boards within the next couple of months.

That’s a far more aggressive timeline compared with past White House projects, which have taken several years to break ground. Planning for a new perimeter fence on the White House grounds that began in 2014, for example, was not formally approved until three years later. It then took until 2019 for construction on it to begin.

But Trump, who has held regular White House meetings to discuss minute details of the project and insisted on personally selecting materials, has sought to clear away procedural obstacles. He appointed Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, to run the National Capital Planning Commission, and bypassed initial reviews that typically take place prior to breaking any ground.

The president in the meantime has excitedly shared progress updates and queried allies and foreign leaders about the designs, showing off renderings that envision a massive gold-and-white ballroom that may ultimately dwarf the rest of the White House.

“I’m doing a magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom that the country’s wanted, the White House has wanted for 150 years,” Trump said last month alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a meeting on Middle East issues. “It’s a massive job.”

Some animal advocates said that the sparsely filled out database leaves out some much-needed information.

Heidi Hardman, the president of Polka Dogz Pet Rescue, is working to find a perfect home for Coyote, the latest of 2,000 dogs her Polka Dogz team has rescued and rehomed since 2015.

The new law, Dexter’s Law, promised her a searchable statewide database of convicted animal abusers that she could use to check applications.

“We have no idea where they live in the state, nothing,” Hardman said.

The database that launched Wednesday is a list of 1,700 names, from John Smith to Timothy Brown, but it doesn’t include birthdays, photos or counties. So, in cases of people with the same name, like John Smith, there is no way to tell who is who.

Hardman and other rescue group leaders said it’s going to create a headache for the thousands of other John Smiths and commonly named people in Florida.

“And that’s going to make people more suspicious and make it harder,” Hardman said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, however, appeared to publish exactly what the law demanded: a list of names.

“Is this just too loosely written?” Nick Papantonis, an Orlando-based reporter, asked animal rights activist Debbie Darino.

“They did a list. I’m not sure what they were thinking, but that’s not what it was supposed to be,” Darino said.

Darino pushed for the new state law to be modeled after the one she helped pass in Volusia County, which includes photos and dates of birth.

Darino said she’s already spoken to the law’s legislative sponsor who plans to reach out to FDLE and urge them to add more identifying details.

“I’m all over it, just like, if I was you, and my name was in there, that just can’t happen,” she said.

Only convictions that are made when the law went into effect will be listed in the database. Older animal abuse convictions will remain unpublished.

Hundreds of sea cows were spotted keeping close at Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River on New Year’s Eve.

Temperatures there dipped down into the 30s as visitors snapped photos of the manatees huddled together in the water.

Southwest Florida Water Management officials say a project that improved water quality in the area has made it a good spot for manatees to stay warm during the winter.

Photos provided by the Coast Guard show crews rescuing four boaters after their 28-foot vessel started sinking.

All four boaters are expected to be OK.

Michael Dority Gee is facing multiple charges, including a felony charge for leaving the scene of a crime that had caused injury.

“Yo, yo, yo, are you okay? Are you okay?” a man can be heard yelling to the boat as it spun out of control, as seen in Ring camera footage.

People eating at a restaurant by the Boynton Beach Inlet on Sunday evening were shocked as they saw the boat spin by, some taking video of the scene. One person can be heard saying that they believed the driver was unconscious.

Moments later, according to officials, the customers watched it slam right into Woolbright Bridge, then into a private dock.

Investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said two people on board the boat were thrown into the water. Crews airlifted the driver and passenger to Delray Medical Center. The female passenger sustained head and back injuries.

The crash was so loud it set off someone’s doorbell camera. A neighbor shared what she knows about that night.

“My parents said that they had just heard something like an explosion. It was very loud. It was alarming,” the woman said.

Boynton Beach Fire Rescue said Gee somehow managed to climb back onto the moving boat and drive away.

According to the FWC, two other boaters tried to catch him and eventually did when his boat started to sink near the George Bush Boulevard Bridge.

As investigators took him into custody, a dive team pulled the woman and dog from the water.

Gee remains in a West Palm Beach jail as of Thursday afternoon on the charges of leaving the scene of a crash that caused injury and property damage.

Chris Eriksen returned home from New York to find the unexpected sight behind his house on Northeast 12th Court and Northeast 3rd Terrace, where a home is under construction.

“I did not know when you knocked on my door and told me there was something in the canal. I had no idea what you were talking about,” Eriksen said.

The truck belonged to Yaky Trucking Company and was working close to the seawall. An employee with the company explained the truck had to make multiple turns to navigate the tight space.

When the driver attempted to brake, the compressed air system failed to respond properly, causing the truck to roll into the water.

“A year ago, it was an empty lot. They started building that house probably mid summer, and so you watch it, you know, as it progresses. And you know, it’s a big house, we watch the pool go in and all, and this is a major curve ball,” Eriksen said.

Despite the unusual morning surprise, Eriksen found humor in the situation.

“I saw the truck in the water and just chuckled. I wished I had seen it go in, but I missed that. You don’t see this every day,” Eriksen said.

Three tow trucks eventually removed the construction vehicle from the canal. Eriksen documented the incident with photos and videos to share with family members.

“I got it on camera. I took pictures. I’m going to send them up north. My wife is up north, still with our grandchildren, and she’s laughing. My son is laughing,” Eriksen said.

The worker at the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios park was knocked to the ground by the 400-pound (181-kilogram) prop boulder after it moved off its track on Tuesday and started rolling toward audience members. Another worker stopped the boulder before it reached the spectators.

Disney on Wednesday wouldn’t disclose the worker’s injuries, citing privacy reasons.

One of the attraction’s scheduled shows was canceled Tuesday after the accident, and Wednesday’s shows were modified to exclude the prop boulder. Disney said it was reviewing why the prop rolled off the track.

“We’re focused on supporting our cast member, who is recovering,” Disney said in a statement. “Safety is at the heart of what we do, and that element of the show will be modified as our safety team completes a review of what happened.”

The show is based on the Indiana Jones films and recreates an early scene in the first film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

FHP says that they tried to stop a stolen 1999 Mercedes-Benz SL being driven by Bradley Daniel Roberts, 42. They add that the car, going at speeds of more than 120 mph, didn’t stop.

After troopers performed a PIT maneuver, the car stopped on Corkscrew Road, west of Coconut Point.

Troopers say that Roberts and his 14-year-old son, who was riding in the passenger seat, ran away. They arrested Roberts after a stun gun deployment and found his son hiding behind a nearby Publix.

A search of the car revealed a large amount of marijuana, two stolen shotguns, ammunition, drug paraphernalia with marijuana and cocaine residue and currency.

Roberts, who had an active warrant in New York, was placed under arrest for charges of grand theft for the guns and car, fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, possession of a stolen driver’s license, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony drug possession and more. He was taken to the Lee County Jail.

His son was arrested for resisting without violence and obstruction. The Department of Children and Family Services was notified.

FHP says that the incident remains under investigation.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said they’re actively trying to find the person or people seen getting out of a vehicle and setting the chicken on fire. PBSO said the chicken was found dead a short distance from where it was set on fire.

According to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, the incident happened on Friday near the intersection of Avocado Boulevard and 60th Street near the acreage in Palm Beach County.

WPBF 25 News sat down with Capt. David Walesky, with Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, who explained the need to find the suspect(s).

“A lot of times, this is outside of my expertise, but you always notice this with serial killers, that they start off torturing and doing harmful things to animals and children before they advance to where they do something, you know, on that higher level, I guess you would say,” Walesky said.

He said it’s clear the person who did this is unwell.

“This is not a normal thing to do to a live animal, so we need to find that person, and we need to get justice for that animal. But we also need to figure out what’s going on there to begin with, to prevent something more horrific from happening,” he said.

Walesky said they are conducting a necropsy on the chicken to verify the cause of death.

“A necropsy is basically the same thing as an autopsy with humans. So it’s performed by a licensed veterinarian. They go through, they collect tissue samples, skin samples, anything like that that would be helpful for forensics, for testing. They determine the cause of death,” Walesky said.

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

From there, he said that it can be used in court to help support anything observed by a witness. “So it kind of corroborates what we already know and brings science into that to better improve the chances of a conviction,” he told WPBF.

As of Jan. 1, 2026, a new law is set to go into effect aimed at people committing these types of crimes. It’s called Dexter’s Law and, among other things, is designed to implement harsher penalties in aggravated animal cruelty cases.

“You have to be afraid of the penalty in order to take that risk a lot of times. Hopefully, it’ll bring more awareness to animal cruelty crimes and the consequences of that when we see people getting a more meaningful sentence when they abuse an animal,” Walesky said.

When it comes to the chicken in this most recent animal cruelty investigation, Walesky shut down any speculation of this being a “ritualistic act.”

“This one right here doesn’t make any sense from a religious standpoint. It is not normal to light a live animal on fire as a part of any religious ritual out there, and that appears to be what has happened, and that is an act of animal cruelty at its just unexplainable form. Whoever did this needs to be prosecuted. There’s not a religion in the world that thinks it’s okay to light live animals on fire,” he said.

Walesky said, unfortunately, they’ve seen an uptick in animal cruelty cases involving livestock. However, he said he can’t imagine what the motive would be to do something like this.

“There are quite a few aspects of this that don’t make any sense. A lot of times, when people are doing things kind of evil like this, they’re doing it more in private. But this is just an intersection and just getting out on a vehicle at a random location and then, you know, lighting a chicken on fire. We don’t understand why, but it’s definitely not something that should be happening in our society,” he told WPBF.

Officials are now pleading with the public for help identifying the suspect(s).

“Anybody who may know who this individual is, recognizes this vehicle, or somebody who was unusually in possession of a chicken on that day. Anything may help. This is definitely a situation that we just don’t understand, but it’s definitely animal cruelty, and we would definitely like to see somebody prosecuted for this,” Walesky said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. C. Kovacs, from the Animal Crimes Unit, at KovacsC@pbso.org or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-TIPS (8477). Tips can remain anonymous.

“It really hurts to look at it now. Empty. And I didn’t know if I’d want it in my bedroom,” Nancy O’Sullivan said, reflecting on the armoire that her late husband had given to her as a Christmas present, and once held her precious jewelry.

Among the stolen items was a bracelet with a heart, a gift from her husband before he died.

“My husband had given me a beautiful bracelet with a heart in it during the time, before he passed, when he was sick,” she said.

O’Sullivan and her daughter had just relocated to Inwood Street in Port Charlotte and hired Patriot Relocation Corp for the move. According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Anthony Constantino, an employee of the moving company, stole the armoire containing the jewelry while unloading items from the truck.

“I had noticed that a couple of the guys had disappeared, and I thought maybe they went on break or something like that. And then I was in the house and my daughter came running in and wanted her phone, and I did look out. At that point, I said, what’s going on? And she said, ‘We’ve been robbed, mom.’ And one sheriff’s car pulled up in like 15 seconds,” O’Sullivan said.

Although deputies recovered the armoire, the jewelry was missing.

Investigators reported that a stranger called 911 after witnessing a suspicious person dumping the armoire in a parking lot on Toledo Blade Boulevard. Security cameras captured Constantino removing the jewelry before abandoning the armoire.

“I do thank God for it,” O’Sullivan said, expressing gratitude for the recovery of the armoire. Constantino later turned himself in to the Charlotte County Jail on a warrant for grand theft.

“At this point in life, I’m just now really learning how to be careful and take care of things, and yourself — be careful,” O’Sullivan said.

Despite not recovering her jewelry, she hopes to warn others to prevent similar incidents.

“We had talked about it months before my daughter, and that we will take that with us in the car. And I had gotten a small case that you can put your jewelry in and then take it with you,” she said, advising others to keep valuables like jewelry, passports, and Social Security cards with them during a move rather than in a moving truck.

Deputies said the woman, Deborah Collier, 69, was charged with attempted first-degree murder.

It all started when Collier’s family found a suicide note.

Deputies began looking for her after she left her home in the Daytona Park Estates area of DeLand and left behind a suicide note.

A VSO deputy spotted her vehicle and conducted a traffic stop for a well-being check.

Collier was located behind the wheel, while her 13-year-old great-granddaughter was unconscious in the passenger seat, according to the VSO.

Deputies said the child had white pill residue on her and found her totally unresponsive.

Inside Collier’s purse, authorities found prescription pills and a typed note explaining she was ending her and her great-granddaughter’s lives to spare the family further stress.

Detectives learned that the victim requires 24-hour care due to her disabilities. Collier and her husband were her sole guardians since birth.

VSO said the demands of caretaking have contributed to significant stress in the family.

Because Collier opposed placing the victim in an assisted living facility, she acted out of desperation and decided to end both her great-granddaughter’s life and her own, according to deputies.

Collier believed that no one would care for her like family.

Deputies said she was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail and is currently being held without bond.

The president argued that blocking both measures was necessary to save taxpayer dollars.

“Enough is enough. My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation,” Trump said in a message to Congress, explaining his veto of one of the bills, H.R. 131, which aims to lower the payments certain communities in Colorado make for the construction of a water pipeline.

The other bill vetoed, H.R. 504, would expand the land reserved for the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida and instruct the Department of Interior to work with the tribe to mitigate flooding in the added area.

Congress can override the president’s veto by passing the bill again with a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

Trump’s veto of H.R. 131 in particular drew criticism with one lawmaker accusing the president of retaliation.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado said in a post on X, “This isn’t governing. It’s a revenge tour. It’s unacceptable.”

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

The senator’s claim comes as Trump has sparred with Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis over the governor’s refusal to release Tina Peters, a former election official and prominent 2020 election denier, from state prison. Earlier this month, Trump granted Peters a full federal pardon, which does not erase her state charges. Polis has said it’s a matter for the courts to decide.

In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, Trump reiterated his calls for Peters to be freed, while again lashing out at Colorado’s governor and “the disgusting ‘Republican’ (RINO!) DA, who did this to her.”

The administration previously announced that it will close a critical research center in the state, with the White House implying that it was taking aim at the institution because of Polis.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, an ally of Trump who sponsored H.R. 131, said in a post on X, “This isn’t over.”

CNN has reached out to Boebert’s office for additional comment.

This isn’t the first time Boebert has been at odds with the president. She recently disagreed with Trump’s strong resistance to releasing files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump eventually signed the bipartisan bill to release the files, hundreds of thousands of which the Justice Department made public earlier this month with heavy redactions.

In interviews, the four fire rescue members facing charges said that it all started out as a playful joke, but department leaders said what actually happened was anything but.

In total, 10 fire rescue members were fired for failing to report the alleged hazing at a firehouse in Ocala last month.

“It’s a devastating loss with the 10 personnel and the experience that they have, and we don’t take that lightly,” Marion County Fire Rescue spokesperson James Lucas said.

Marion County considers the November incident as an act of violence.

“Couldn’t breathe for a little bit, and I was, like, trying to actually, like, fight and get out,” the alleged victim said in an audio recording.

Marion County Fire Rescue released 15 hours of video from 14 different interviewees, as well as hundreds of pages of investigative documents.

Every single employee questioned told a similar story, saying they roughhoused often.

“Not an excuse, but this is, like, what’s been happening to me all the time,” one of the accused fire rescue members said in an interview.

They also told deputies that they didn’t think things started out all that serious.

“Because I just thought we were all just joking around with it,” a different fire rescue member accused of assisting in the hazing said.

They admitted, however, that things got out of hand last month.

Marion County Fire Rescue policy states there is no tolerance for hazing, and firefighters have a duty to report any harassment they see.

Officials said this case was only reported after a firefighter at a different station heard what happened.

“We are here to answer their call on their worst day. We hope to restore the trust and confidence that the citizens once had in us,” Lucas said.

An attorney representing one of the accused firefighters said in a statement that he hopes to get the matter resolved in an appropriate manner.

All across the region, celebrations are planned Wednesday, from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and even all the way down to the Florida Keys.

The Big Orange will rise in downtown Miami, it will be anchors away in Fort Lauderdale, and the shoe will drop in the Keys, as tens of thousands of revelers ring in 2026.

At Bayfront Park, the Big Orange — a 35-foot, 2,000-pound LED sculpture — will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a 400-foot rise to the top of the InterContinental Miami at midnight. The iconic “Mr. Neon” will begin its ascent at 6 p.m.

An estimated 100,000 people attended last year’s event at Bayfront Park in what organizers called the “biggest Hispanic New Year’s Eve gathering in the country.”

In true Miami fashion, South Florida didn’t wait for midnight to start the party.

There’s no better place than Miami to celebrate New Year’s, no better place. We had to be here,” said a woman.

Some came from across the world to celebrate in the 305.

“I’m from Zimbabwe. 20 hours in the plane,” said one woman.

The Miami skyline will be lit up by thousands of fireworks synchronized with music the second midnight strikes.

Great views aren’t the only thing partygoers will get to see at night.

Willy Chirino, Flo Rida, and Marshmello are all scheduled to perform Wednesday night.

“We’ve got a fusion of Latin hip hop, all the talent of South Florida is gonna be out here tonight,” said a man.

“I’m very excited to see Marshmello,” said a woman.

The crowds will have several bites available to eat as they enjoy the beats throughout the night.

All of the excitement will lead up to the moment everyone is waiting for.

“Two minutes ’til, we’ll raise it to the top,” said Steve Carpenter, the designer of the Big Orange.

The iconic orange will make its climb up the side of the InterContinental at 11:58 p.m. for everyone to begin counting down.

“It’s free to the public, so anybody and everybody can come down and see it and they have food trucks and they have bands, it’s amazing,” said Carpenter.

The party in downtown Miami is expected to carry on past midnight.

In downtown Fort Lauderdale, a 900-pound anchor made of steel and covered in 5,000 LED lights will slowly drop as the clock strikes midnight. The anchor was chosen to reflect the city as the marine capital of the world.

“We’re here to celebrate the New Year and say goodbye to the old year,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis.

As with years past, kids got to start ringing in the New Year early in the afternoon.

“There’ll be activities for kids, there’ll be kiosks for food, it’s gonna be a great festival for everyone to enjoy,” said Trantalis.

“We’re gonna have a DJ on stage, we’ll have a bunch of inflatables over here in the park. We’re gonna have pony rides, petting zoos, face painting, arts and crafts,” said Todd Stilphen, the Fort Lauderdale community program manager.

The anchor lit up at 7 p.m. for those that need to be in bed before midnight.

As the night rolled in, the crowds grew and the excitement escalated.

For many visiting from out of state, the mild temperatures made for the perfect time to be outdoors for the countdown.

“This is the best place on earth, I guess, I don’t know,” said a tourist.

As for some of the youngest partygoers, they shared their New Year’s resolutions with 7News as they wait for the anchor to drop.

“I wanna learn to do times,” said one girl.

“Play outside more,” said another girl.

“Eat more veggies,” said a boy.

“I’m gonna practice skateboarding more often,” said another boy.

For anyone looking to head to downtown Fort Lauderdale, officials have Southwest Second Street closed between Southwest Fifth Avenue and Southwest First Avenue, with the surrounding streets restricted to local traffic.

“We’re gonna ring in the New Year, we’ll be safe, we’ll be happy and I hope we’ll be successful for everyone,” said Trantalis.

Officials also said there will be an enhanced police presence during the festivities to ensure everyone’s safety.

In the Keys, a giant red shoe will drop outside the Bourbon Street Pub on Duval Street. Year after year, a drag queen sits inside the supersized heel as a rowdy crowd of revelers gather on the street below.

No matter where you eventually decide to celebrate, officials say they just want you to do it safely.

“The best way to stay safe while celebrating New Year’s is by leaving the fireworks to the experts,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesperson Erika Benitez said. “If you decide to celebrate at home, only buy fireworks from approved vendors and always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.”

First responders work to prevent many of the thousands of fireworks-related injuries and fires reported nationwide every year. One way they do this is by reminding revelers to wear protective eyewear, light fireworks on pavement, and keep water or a fire extinguisher nearby.

Better yet, they say, sit back and leave it to the professionals.

“Make sure that you have a sober adult, a sober, responsible adult who is in charge of discharging the fireworks. Make sure you’re shooting the fireworks off of a hard flat surface,” Dan Peart, the Director of Government Affairs for Phantom Fireworks, said. “I know a lot of people are shooting fireworks from their lawn. If it’s possible, you can lay down a piece of plywood to give yourself a hard flat surface, and again, you can brace the items in there if you’re shooting aerial fireworks.”

So, no matter how you decide to celebrate the New Year this year, be sure to do it safely and responsibly.

If you’re going to be outdoors, remember to bring a jacket as temperatures are forecasted to be in the 40s by the time the clock strikes midnight in some parts of South Florida.

The first two swans were found dead Dec. 23, and over the past five days, that number has risen to 12.

Sheehan explained that the deaths happened during the holidays, and specialized veterinary experts were not available at the time.

However, she said the deaths are suspected to have been caused by an avian flu outbreak.

“We can’t be certain until tests are completed,” Sheehan said.

The swans are currently stored in a secure location, awaiting necropsies to determine the cause of death.

In 2024, city staff discovered several dead birds at Lake Eola Park. Orlando officials later confirmed the cases were linked to avian influenza.

lake eola swansOfficials confirm positive cases of bird flu amid multiple swan deaths at Lake Eola The community can do certain things to protect itself, including:

Avoid direct contact with the birds at Lake Eola Park and only observe them from a distance. This goes for both people and pets at the park.

Avoid contact with any excrement from birds.

Removing shoes when entering homes and cleaning them off if contamination is suspected.

Authorities said Paisley Fabila, 13, and Alenna Fabila, 15, had been last seen on Christmas Day in the area of the 1400 block of Casen Court in Wauchula.

Investigators said Paisley stands 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs 126 pounds, and has brown hair and hazel eyes. Alenna stands 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighs 136 pounds, and has brown eyes and hair.

Paisley has been last seen wearing a black shirt and pink candy cane pajama pants. Alenna had been last seen wearing a gray T-shirt and blue jeans.

Due to an ongoing investigation, officials said, this case was upgraded to a Missing Child Alert.

Tuesday afternoon, FDLE officials confirmed the teens were found safe.

Cherfilus-McCormick was scheduled to be arraigned, but her attorney requested the proceeding be rescheduled to Jan. 20 so that she could finalize her legal team. Prosecutors didn’t object, and Judge Lisette Reid agreed to the new date. The hearing lasted less than five minutes.

“I just want to make it very clear that I am innocent,” Cherfilus-McCormick said immediately after leaving court. “In no way did I steal any kind of funds. I’m committed to the people of Florida and my district.”

Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty. She is facing 15 federal counts that accuse her of stealing funds that had been overpaid to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, in 2021. The company had a contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Cherfilus-McCormick’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said the case involves mistakes that generally aren’t even misdemeanors, let alone felonies. He said he believes the case is politically motivated.

Cherfilus-McCormick was arrested in November and then freed on a $60,000 bond. In addition to bail, the judge said Cherfilus-McCormick must surrender her personal passport, and is allowed to travel only between Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.

She has been allowed to retain her congressional passport so she can perform certain duties for her job.

According to the federal indictment, prosecutors said that within two months of receiving the funds in 2021, more than $100,000 had been spent on a 3-carat yellow diamond ring for the congresswoman.

The health care company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family had received payments through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, the indictment said. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, requested $50,000, but they mistakenly received $5 million and didn’t return the difference.

Prosecutors said the funds received by Trinity Healthcare were distributed to various accounts, including to friends and relatives who then donated to Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign for Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

The charges she faces include theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.

According to a previous statement provided by Cherfilus-McCormick’s chief of staff, she doesn’t plan to resign from office. She said she has cooperated with “every lawful request” and will continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

A tech startup named Homa allows buyers to self-represent, which cuts out agents and allows them to pocket the savings or apply them toward costs.

The AI-driven home purchase has quickly taken shape in Florida, and now buyers in other states may soon have access to the technology.

Homa was cofounded by a former senior product director at Zillow.

Trump had previously insisted that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June. But with Netanyahu by his side, Trump raised the possibility that suspected activity could be taking place outside those sites. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have been quoted in local media expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”

Trump’s warning to Iran comes as his administration has committed significant resources to targeting drug trafficking in South America and the president looks to create fresh momentum for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The Gaza deal is in danger of stalling before reaching its complicated second phase that would involve naming an international governing body and rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory.

At a news conference with Netanyahu after their meeting, Trump suggested that he could order another U.S. strike.

“If it’s confirmed, they know the consequences, and the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time,” Trump said.

Iran has insisted that it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program. The two leaders discussed the possibility of taking new military action against Tehran just months after June’s 12-day war.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s warning.

Gaza ceasefire progress has slowed

Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he wants to get to the second phase of the Gaza deal “as quickly as we can.”

“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump added.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.

The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.

The Israeli leader, who also met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza.

Gvili’s parents met with Netanyahu as well as Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Florida on Monday.

“They’re waiting for their son to come home,” Trump said of the family of the young police officer known affectionately as “Rani.”

Next phase is complex

The path to implementing Trump’s peace plan is certainly complicated.

If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.

It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.

Much remains unsettled

Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.

Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.

A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.

All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.

The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.

Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.

Trump makes case once again for Netanyahu pardon

The two leaders, who have a long and close relationship, heaped praise on each other. Trump also tweaked the Israeli leader, who at moments during the war has raised Trump’s ire, for being “very difficult on occasion.”

Netanyahu said Trump during the lunch was formally told that his country’s education ministry will award him the Israel Prize, breaking the long-held convention of bestowing the honor on an Israeli citizen or resident.

“President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people,” Netanyahu said. He added, “So we decided to break a convention too, or create a new one.”

Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.

Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.

Trump has previously written to Herzog to urge a pardon and advocated for one during his October speech before the Knesset. He said Monday that Herzog has told him “it’s on its way” without offering further details.

“He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?” Trump said.

Herzog’s office said in a statement that the Israeli president and Trump have not spoken since the pardon request was submitted, but that Herzog has spoken with a Trump representative about the U.S. president’s letter advocating for Netanyahu’s pardon.

“During that conversation, an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which the request currently stands, and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures,” the Israeli president’s office said.

The president’s statements came after the leaders met for talks following what Trump said was an “excellent,” two-and-a-half-hour phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine launched the war nearly four years ago. Trump insisted he believed Putin still wants peace, even as Russia launched another round of attacks on Ukraine while Zelenskyy flew to the United States for the latest round of negotiations.

“Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” Trump said during a late afternoon news conference as he stood with Zelenskyy after their meeting. He repeatedly praised his counterpart as “brave.”

Trump and Zelenskyy both acknowledged thorny issues remain, including whether Russia can keep Ukrainian territory it controls, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure it’s not invaded again in the future. After their discussion, they called a wide group of European leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and the leaders of Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland.

Zelenskyy said Trump had agreed to host European leaders again, possibly at the White House, sometime in January. Trump said the meeting could be in Washington or “someplace.”

Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his work. “Ukraine is ready for peace,” he said.

Trump and Putin will speak again

Trump said he’d follow the meeting with another call to Putin. Earlier Sunday, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the Trump-Putin call was initiated by the U.S. side and was “friendly, benevolent and businesslike.” Ushakov said Trump and Putin agreed to speak again “promptly” after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

But Ushakov added that a “bold, responsible, political decision is needed from Kyiv” on the fiercely contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and other matters in dispute for there to be a “complete cessation” of hostilities.

Both leaders identified deciding the future of the Donbas region as a major sticking point.

Trump said the parties were inching closer to agreement. “That’s a very tough issue but one that I think will get resolved,” he said.

Zelenskyy said: “Our attitude is very clear. That’s why President Trump said this is a very tough question and, of course, we have with Russia different positions on it.”

Trump said, however, that he still believes Putin is “very serious” about ending the war, even as Russia continued striking targets in Ukraine as Zelenskyy traveled to the U.S. Trump said, “I believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also.”

He held out the possibility that negotiations could still fall apart.

“In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think,” Trump said. “We could have something where one item that you’re not thinking about is a big item, breaks it up. Look, it’s been a very difficult negotiation. Very detailed.”

Trump and Zelenskyy’s sit-down underscored the apparent progress made by Trump’s top negotiators in recent weeks as the sides traded draft peace plans to end the fighting. Zelenskyy told reporters Friday that the 20-point draft proposal negotiators have discussed is “about 90% ready” — echoing a figure, and the optimism, that U.S. officials conveyed when Trump’s chief negotiators met with Zelenskyy in Berlin this month.

During the recent talks, the U.S. agreed to offer certain security guarantees to Ukraine similar to those offered to other members of NATO. The proposal came as Zelenskyy said he was prepared to drop his country’s bid to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would be designed to safeguard it against future Russian attacks.

‘Intensive’ weeks ahead

Zelenskyy also spoke on Christmas Day with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The Ukrainian leader said they discussed “certain substantive details” and cautioned “there is still work to be done on sensitive issues” and “the weeks ahead may also be intensive.”

The U.S. president has been working to end the war in Ukraine for much of his first year back in office, showing irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Gone are the days when, as a candidate in 2024, he boasted that he could resolve the fighting in a day. Indeed, on Sunday, Trump referred multiple times to the complexity of the negotiations.

After hosting Zelenskyy at the White House in October, Trump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine halt fighting and “stop at the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep the territory it has seized from Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said last week that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Putin wants Russian gains kept, and more

Putin has publicly said he wants all the areas in four key regions that have been captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured. Kyiv has publicly rejected all those demands.

The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO. It warned that it wouldn’t accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance and would view them as a “legitimate target.”

Putin also has said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of Donetsk -– one of the two major areas, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbas region — even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan.

Ushakov cautioned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Trump has been somewhat receptive to Putin’s demands, arguing that the Russian president can be persuaded to end the war if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land in the Donbas region and if Western powers offer economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.

New body camera video released by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office shows the moments deputies dove into frigid waters to rescue a young boy.

Authorities say the 6-year-old boy, Coco, who is nonverbal and has autism, was found in a pond near a Deltona neighborhood.

“Coco! Coco, come here!” a deputy is heard shouting as they searched for Coco.

They say Coco is known to be attracted to water and deputies knew to be extra cautious as they walked through the pond.

“OK, we see him. His chest is above the water,” a deputy said in the footage. “Don’t yell, that makes him laugh.”

After spotting Coco, deputies slowly approached him, finding him chest-deep water.

“Hey, bud. You’re Coco? Come here, my name is Brady,” the deputy tells Coco. “Come here, OK, we’re gonna get you a blanket, OK? Come here.”

Deputies breathed a sigh of relief after finding him safe and sound. Coco was cold but otherwise unharmed.

“I know, we’re gonna get you a blanket, buddy,” a deputy told Coco.

After carrying Coco back to solid land, deputies reunited him with his family.

Coco’s family was overwhelmed with emotions as he was brought back to them for the holiday.

“He’s cold, we have the fire department coming just to check on him,” the deputy tells his father.

This wasn’t Coco’s first time taking an unexpected dive.

In August 2024, Coco fell into a different pond nearby. He was safely rescued and unharmed after that fall.

Since then, Coco has started taking swimming lessons.

Deputies also spoke with Coco’s family about improving precautionary measures and using a tracker to know where he is at all times.

Students from Riverview High School were seen in the parking lot of the large retailer earlier this week as they carried out their small but meaningful gesture to help brighten shoppers’ holiday season.

“I happened to pick a old lady who was using a wheelchair scooter and, for me, it just kind of reminded me of my grandma, who passed a few years ago,” one student said.

The white-haired woman who was one of the recipients was bowled over by the kind gesture.

“Unbelievable. I just got out of the hospital yesterday, and my baby daughter told [me], ‘Come take me to the store because I don’t have nothing.’ And then, and all of a sudden I got everything, and God paid for it with these nice fellas,” she said.

The young men behind this special gift are a part of a mentorship program called Gentlemen’s Quest. The group teaches young men to lead with compassion, empathy and service while building character and purpose for their futures.

On the pediatric floor of HCA Florida Palms West Hospital, therapy dogs Peach, Penny, Sadie, Oliver, Loki and many others made rounds visiting kids this week.

One grateful patient was 3-year-old Mia, who has been battling an infection since Monday.

“It’s been really good. It’s been a hard time,” Mia’s mom said.

Mia’s mother also said seeing the pups helped make the holidays special, even from a hospital room.

“It’s been a little bit of light in the dark,” she said

The dogs not only bring cheer to the patients of all ages, but also their owners.

Eleven-year-old Tristan came with his dad and shared his dog Finn with others.

He said he’s glad to share time with his dog if it means other children can feel even a bit more at home.

“To give basically what I have from my house, basically giving them the feeling of home,” said Tristan. “I’m glad that there’s, like, not that much, like, rooms that are like filled with people, because like we don’t want anyone in the hospital when it’s Christmas. Who does?”

All of the dog owners are volunteers with a nonprofit dedicated to training therapy dogs to visit those in need of emotional support.

Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”

An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial issues”, he said. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved,” but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.

The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy’s comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.

Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia’s all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

One person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

Charred wood and melted wiring is all that remains of the mobile home where Joi Roberts lived with her daughter, Heather Belliveau.

The blaze nearly claimed the lives of the two women, but their dog, who is a rescue, returned the favor, rescuing them just moments before the flames ripped through their home.

Roberts said she and her daughter were sound asleep when their dog Wiley woke them up.

“There was smoke, and [Heather] said, ‘Mom, the RV’s on fire,’ and we were in shock,” she said. “We didn’t really know what to do. We were just looking at it, trying to assess what needed to happen.”

If it hadn’t been for Wiley, the women said, they probably wouldn’t have made it out to safety.

“He absolutely [rescued us]. If it would have been 30 seconds later, I don’t know that we would have been able to get my mom out, because the place was engulfed with smoke at that point,” said Belliveau.

In the hours following the fire, a local nonprofit donated treats, toys and beds to celebrate the four-legged hero.

While most of their belongings were torched, among the precious few items untouched by the flames were the Christmas presents for Roberts’ grandchildren.

“I can’t explain it, other than it’s just another miracle. I think we had an evening of miracles, a night of miracles,” said Roberts.

Roberts and her loved ones said that despite everything going up in flames, they are grateful for their community, for their lives and for the little life that rescued them.

“That’s all just stuff; that can all be replaced. My daughter can’t be replaced. Her dogs can’t be replaced,” said Roberts. “I can’t be replaced, but I’m grateful because we still have a foundation.”

The women said they’re staying in a hotel until they can figure out a permanent living situation. A GoFundMe campaign to help them has raised $1,600 as of Thursday morning.

Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president and first lady Melania Trump participated in the tradition of talking to youngsters dialing into the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which playfully tracks Santa’s progress around the globe.

“We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa’s a very good person,” Trump said while speaking to kids ages 4 and 10 in Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”

He didn’t elaborate.

Trump has often marked Christmases past with criticisms of his political enemies, including in 2024, when he posted, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics.” During his first term, Trump wrote online early on Dec. 24, 2017, targeting a top FBI official he believed was biased against him, as well as the news media.

Shortly after wrapping up Wednesday’s Christmas Eve calls, in fact, he returned to that theme, posting: “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.”

But Trump was in a jovial mood while talking with the kids. He even said at one point that he “could do this all day long” but likely would have to get back to more pressing matters like efforts to quell the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine.

When an 8-year-old from North Carolina, asked if Santa would be mad if no one leaves cookies out for him, Trump said he didn’t think so, “But I think he’ll be very disappointed.”

“You know, Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side,” Trump joked. “I think Santa would like some cookies.”

The president and first lady Melania Trump sat side-by-side and took about a dozen calls between them. At one point, while his wife was on the phone and Trump was waiting to be connected to another call, he noted how little attention she was paying to him: “She’s able to focus totally, without listening.”

Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she’d like Santa to bring, the answer came back, “Uh, not coal.”

“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump replied, evoking a favored campaign slogan he’s long used when promising to revive domestic coal production.

“I had to do that, I’m sorry,” the president added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate call, to turn toward him and grin.

“Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs,” Trump said. “But you don’t want clean, beautiful coal, right?”

Williams and Preti became wife and husband over the weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of a five-day celebration.

After becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in July, the 45-year-old Williams gave thanks to her fiance, who was in the stands at the DC Open. Preti is a Danish-born Italian model and actor, according to the website IMDB.

Williams hadn’t played in a tournament in 16 months until entering the event in Washington.

The seven-time Grand Slams singles champion plans to play in a 33rd straight season on the WTA Tour, starting in Auckland in January.

The surveillance footage captured the moment when the dog charged at the victims as they walked in the neighborhood, Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, the owner left his garage door open, allowing that pet to get out. What happened next left the neighborhood without a sense of safety.

All three victims were transported to the hospital with bite wounds and abrasions suffered while they fought off the canine during the attack, which lasted about a minute.

“I grabbed him so tight, and then I hold on, everybody was there, and then I said, ‘Call 911, call help,'” one victim said.

That is exactly what a neighbor did.

“911, where is your emergency?” a dispatcher said.

“We’re inside the house because we’re worried that [the dog is] going to come and attack us,” the neighbor said.

When officers arrived, the dog was back inside his home. Police said that he had gotten out when his owner forgot to close the garage door.

“That dog was not confined, so it ran out, ran up the street and went after these three people,” police spokesperson Mike Jachles said.

Ion is the neighbor whose security cameras recorded the attack. He said the dog once threatened him as he left to pick up his children.

“Three minutes later, my dad calls me like, ‘Oh, Ion, people are screaming here. The dog attacked the people,'” Ion said.

Animal Care and Control arrived at the scene and took custody of the dog from the owner.

The owner did not want to go on camera, but said the dog is a 1-year-old named Enzo. He said Enzo is sweet and playful and doesn’t understand what happened.

Police said they’re lucky the outcome of the attack wasn’t worse.

“They fear that, had it been a child or just one person, it could have been a much more brutal attack, because this dog had a lot of power and was very aggressive,” Jachles said.

“I had two boys, 5 and 6. God forbid. I don’t even know what I would have done,” Ion said. “It’s sad to see this kind of stuff, but it’s scary at the same time.”

Enzo’s owner hopes to have Enzo returned home, but according to police, animal control officials will decide what happens to the dog.

Surveillance video captured the moment when, authorities said, 36-year-old Tiffany Griffith dunked the 6-year-old in a swimming pool at Gaylord Palms Resort, Friday afternoon.

The defendant appeared before Osceola County District Court Judge John Beamer on Tuesday. She is facing a third-degree child abuse charge.

Griffith claimed she tried to protect her young son from other children in the pool. The mother said her son is on the autism spectrum and was being bullied.

But a responding an Osceola County Sheriff’s Office deputy who took the stand saw the situation differently.

“[The defendant] placed both of her hands on his shoulders and submerged them in the water for a couple of seconds. [The boy] wasn’t – he wasn’t sure; he advised it was approximately two to four seconds, and then [she] let go of him, proceeded to splash water before exiting the pool.”

Beamer said the victim’s parents reported the incident and told authorities he was bleeding from his nose when he got out of the pool. Griffith was arrested shortly after.

The judge agreed with the state, saying Griffith’s actions were an overreaction.

“The bond for the defendant will be set in the amount of $20,000,” he said.

However, Beamer ultimately decided he does not believe Griffith is a threat to the community.

“A parent should certainly know not to put their hands on someone else’s child, and certainly, any former law enforcement should know not to put their hands on someone else’s child,” he said. “However, this is an isolated incident. It seems to be reactionary, an overreaction.”

Griffith bonded out of jail just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday. Under the terms of the bond, she is not allowed to speak to the victim or the victim’s family

Earlier this month, a video showing the woman being detained by ICE agents made national headlines.

The newly released footage shows the scene from the perspective of a deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office who was there for the traffic stop and asked the woman to cooperate.

“All I’m saying is, if you don’t cooperate with these gentlemen, OK, it’s going to get to something that you don’t want to get there,” the deputy said to the woman while she sat in the car with the window slightly down.

In the video, obtained by The Miami Herald, the woman can be heard saying it’s not the first time she’s been pulled over in the car that belongs to her boyfriend, who was in the U.S. illegally and had already been detained by ICE. She said she had been using his car to get to and from her job as a behavioral therapist.

“I’m scared. I don’t want to have to go through this anymore,” the woman is heard saying in the bodycam footage.

She also said, “You guys stop me every time. It’s not the first time.”

“So, if you can get her to ID, if not, we’re going to drag her out of the car,” a masked officer told the deputy.

It all happened on U.S. 1 in Key Largo back on Dec. 3.

In the video, the woman maintains she is a U.S. citizen on her way to work, though she refuses to show her ID. At one point, an agent is heard threatening to break her windows. What happened next would gain international attention.

In cellphone video captured by The Miami Herald, the woman can be seen in her scrubs being pulled from her vehicle as she screams for help

“I’m a U.S. citizen, please help me. This is unfair, why are you doing this to me?” she cried while being cuffed and then placed in the back of an SUV, only to be released when the agents confirmed she was, in fact, a U.S. citizen.

Following that detainment, the woman released a statement that reads in part:

“From the very beginning of the encounter, there was clear intimidation. To clarify, I did roll down my window the moment they pulled me over, and any claim saying that I refused to do so is completely false.”

Her detainment later sparked a small protest in front of the Islamorada Public Library Branch against what protestors described as aggressive immigration enforcement that’s sweeping the country.

The Department of Homeland Security later told 7News that the woman was detained because she was driving her illegal alien boyfriend’s car at the time of that video. They told 7News that once they were able to confirm her identity, she was immediately released.

Brandon Billmaier and his uncle, Randy Spivey, who were 33 years old and 57 years old, respectively, went on a fishing trip on Friday and never returned, leaving their loved ones distraught.

Deborah Billmaier, Brandon’s wife, shared the sorrow she feels for losing her husband.

“He loved fishing, that’s all he talked about. He lived for it, he lived for his family, for me,” she said.

Deborah shared the last text message she received from Brandon before he headed out to sea.

“He texted me that morning, and he said, ‘I love you. I will see you tonight, be back home tonight,” said Deborah.

The Billmaiers were newlyweds and had recently celebrated their first anniversary in Paris.

The U.S. Coast Guard searched for the two missing men off the coast of Fort Myers, which was their last known location, since Friday night. But on Monday evening, officials called off the search.

Deborah said that the two men may have looked over one more fishing spot on the way back when one of them fell overboard.

“It must have been an emergency because the other person jumped in after them. I guess in the moments whoever jumped in after, whoever was in the water, they didn’t realize the engines were on,” said Deborah.

Deborah was thankful that the two men were together and said that her husband always admired his uncle.

“He became an attorney to follow in Uncle Randy’s footsteps. Our first date, he told me he moved to Florida because he wanted to be like Uncle Randy, and that his whole life he was working to be just like him, law school, passed the bar exam,” said Deborah.

While the holiday season will be difficult for her and their family, she is grateful for the support she has received.

“I think we are really grateful that people everyone from everywhere are praying for us and keeping them in their minds,” said Deborah.

The FBI has taken the lead on the investigation.

According to new court documents, the first message came a day after the incident when Shauntel Kepner, Anna Kepner’s stepmother, texted her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson: “I need you to call me [as soon as possible], it’s an emergency.”

Hudson responded that he would pick up their youngest child to get her away from the crisis. In a response he wrote:

“I know it’s probably a no but I can come get (REDACTED) tonight, just to get her away from the situation. I promise I’m not going to keep her from you or anything, as soon as you guys are able to head home I can bring her to you. Or is there anything else I can do,” responded Hudson.

But Shauntel rejected the idea, claiming it would traumatize their daughter. She wrote:

“I really appreciate it and I’m not trying to be any which way, I just think it’ll be more traumatizing for her to be removed as of right now, she doesn’t know anything about (REDACTED). The only thing I told her is that he was having a hard time coping with losing Anna so he’s getting checked out by the hospital,” responded Shauntel.

Kepner was found underneath a bed on the Carnival Horizon by a ship employee. The cruise ship was returning to Port Miami when Kepner’s body was found.

Two days after the initial conversation, the ex-couple texted again, with Shauntel telling Hudson about the short interaction she had with Anna’s 16-year old step brother, who is the subject of the investigation. She wrote:

“I was able to talk to him last night for under two minutes briefly. He just keeps repeating over and over he can’t remember anything. I don’t even know if they were allowed to let me talk to him or not, but the nurse was very nice and let me talk to him just to tell him that you and I love him.”

Hudson then replied:

“I just want him to know that he isn’t just dead to everyone. Regardless of everything at the moment he needs his parents. I know you know that. I just would like to have a chance to talk to him as soon as possible.”

Shauntel replied once more:

“We (Chris, me and his parents) told him that yesterday before they took him, we told him no matter what you and us are with him [and] he isn’t alone,” responded Shauntel.

The court documents came to light amid a custody battle between Shauntel and Hudson involving two of their children.

Jamie Copenhaver, a retired detective, shared his thoughts on how he was concerned on the family’s reaction the day after Anna Kepner’s death.

“My Spidey sense went off after, for a number of reasons. You have a dead 18-year old family member, and they’re more worried about [public relations] and optics and protecting family members,” said Copenhaver.

Court documents have also revealed Anna died from asphyxiation. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

A mass adoption took place at the Duval County Courthouse on Friday.

The event, organized by the Family Support Services of Duval & Nassau Counties, finalized 13 families.

The children’s ages ranged from infants to teenagers, with several older youth adopted.

Wyatt Mann is one of the four teenagers who were adopted on this momentous day.

“I’m super excited. Really excited,” he said.

Emily Clement adopted Mann.

“People tend to forget that with older kids you still have a lot of firsts. This year, it was the first time he got to pick out his own Christmas tree, and decorating the home and have that full family dynamic,” Clement said.

Organizers said the event helped families come together right before Christmas.

Family members say the prominent Fort Myers lawyer, 57-year-old Randolph Spivey and his uncle, 33-year-old Brandon Billmaier left for a trip to go fishing Friday, but never returned.

In a statement posted on social media, the Coast Guard said they would suspend the search on Monday at sunset.

The concerned family of the two fishermen said they called the Coast Guard on Friday, who launched a search and rescue mission that lasted until Monday.

“It’s been a nightmare, it feels like I’m in a horror movie,” said Deborah Billmaier, the wife of one of the missing men.

The Coast Guard reported that they had found the boat that the men used, but not the two men.

“He’s an amazing husband, and an amazing father, he’s got to come home,” said Tricia Spivey, the wife of the other missing boater.

Family and friends gathered to find the two men, and help support the family during their difficult experience.

Loved ones say Spivery has been an experienced fisherman for over 30 years, alongside Billmaier, who is from Weston.

U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies are actively searching for Randy Spivey, 57, and his nephew, Brandon Billmaier, 33, who went missing during the trip that began Friday morning.

Family members reported Spivey and Billmaier were missing after they left from their private dock in Iona early Friday morning and didn’t return before sundown.

The boat, a green 42-foot Freeman catamaran named “Unstoppable,” was found by the Coast Guard on Saturday morning running and drifting about 70 miles offshore from Fort Myers, with no one on board.

Officials emphasize that the operation remains a search-and-rescue effort, not a recovery mission.

The U.S. Coast Guard, leading the search from Miami, is joined by Collier and Lee County fire and law enforcement crews, with firefighters volunteering their time on the water. Volunteer pilots have also joined the search, taking private planes from Naples Airport to assist in locating the missing fishermen.

Randy Spivey’s boat was found by the U.S. Coast Guard 70 miles offshore, running with nobody on board. Search coordinators have renewed hope after learning that they may have been wearing blue and yellow auto-inflate life jackets, which could increase their chances of survival.

Scott Smith, a civilian rescue coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard, said, “Randy was more likely wearing a life jacket and an auto-inflate life jacket, which gives everybody a little bit more hope that if they’re wearing life jackets.”

Despite more than 48 hours passing, crews continue to search aggressively, holding on to hope that Spivey and Billmaier can still be found and brought home. The search efforts are ongoing, with live updates expected from Fort Myers Beach.

Family members are also part of the Southwest Florida community for a large, coordinated volunteer search, which began early Sunday morning and continues on Monday.

In a message shared online, the family is calling on anyone with a boat capable of a 225-mile range to help.

The Coast Guard issued a new official search grid at 8 a.m., which is distributed to volunteers by text. Boats are departing from ports between Punta Gorda and Marco Island. Volunteers are asked to text message Paul at (239)634-3400 with the following information:

Departure port

Vessel name

Captain and first mate names and cell numbers

Vessel range

“Thank you for your help and prayers. Please pass this on,” the family said, expressing gratitude for the community’s support.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the active search area remains about 70 miles offshore, centered near 25-36N, 083-16W, spanning roughly 35 statute miles and reaching up to 5,000 feet in altitude.

A smaller cutter, multiple aircraft, and surface crews are involved. Air Force assets also assisted.

The Coast Guard advised all aircraft to maintain situational awareness and not to interfere with search-and-rescue crews.

They also urged monitoring of Channel 16 and reporting any important information to the U.S. Coast Guard.

If you have information, you can also contact the U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Pete watchstanders at 866-881-1392.

Watcherstanders maintain a continuous watch and direct coordination with partner agencies to deploy Coast Guard assets at a moment’s notice for emergent search and rescue cases.

The letter from the religious leaders is the latest in a continued campaign by the church to try to convince the government to be more humane when it comes to their treatment of immigrants who come to the Unites States illegally.

Many of the bishops in the U.S. who have been appointed by the Pope have been critics of the president.

“Don’t be the Grinch that stole Christmas,” Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said in a news conference held Monday.

Wenski, along with the rest of Florida’s Catholic bishops, called for a pause on immigration enforcement during the holy week of Christmas.

“That could help a lot to lower the temperature in our nation, but also it will help the families of our community to be able to gather together and celebrate Christmas with their families,” Wenski said.

The letter was penned by the church’s leadership in Florida. It pleads with Trump and DeSantis for a pause, citing the border being secure and the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have already been deported or have left voluntarily.

Pope Leo XIV has publicly taken a pro-immigrant stance.

“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely,” he said previously in a statement to the press.

The pontiff supported his bishops who have criticized Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

“When people are living good lives — and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years — to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence, unfortunately, I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they’ve said,” the pope said.

“Give people these two weeks to be with their families without fear of being arrested or taken into custody and ending up at ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ at Krome or other places to await deportation,” Wenski said. “It’s a very simple request: a pause during the Christmas holidays.”

Two recently appointed religious leaders have also shown a shift in views on immigration, with New York bishop-elect Ronald Hicks, and Palm Beach bishop-elect Manuel De Jesus Rodriguez

“The church supports the authorities efforts to enforce migration laws, but the church is also all for the respect due to the human dignity of migrants,” said Rodriguez.

Wenski was also asked whether he thinks he will receive a response from either the president or the governor or whether their plea will be convincing. He said he is hopeful that the Christmas spirit is a powerful one.

“The majority of people that are being removed are people with no criminal records. Give us a pause, let people celebrate the holiday in peace with their families, and without fear.” said Wenski.

Just after midnight on Oct. 12, the victim found himself struggling to breathe after he suffered a severe allergic reaction during a visit to Central Florida.

“Yes, my son is passing out. I need an ambulance,” his fearful mother told the dispatcher.

Osceola County Sheriff’s dispatcher Richard Calderale answered quickly, recognizing the child was in anaphylactic shock.

“We’re coming as quick and as safe as we can,” he said.

“He was having an asthma attack,” said the boy’s mother.

Calderale successfully walked the victim’s parents through lifesaving steps to keep his airway open until help could arrive.

Minutes later, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Michael Romero-Perez reached the vacation home in Davenport to find the child unresponsive inside of a car and in cardiac arrest.

“Hey, buddy. Keep breathing. Come on,” Romero-Perez said in bodycam footage.

Without hesitation, the deputy began CPR, applying his automated external defibrillator, and continued lifesaving measures. He worked to restore a heartbeat and help the child breathe.

“Continue with compression. Press, press, press. There you go, press. Breathe, son,” could be heard in video footage.

Paramedics rushed the boy to a hospital and then transferred him to a different hospital that was better suited for his condition.

Deputies said the child made a full recovery, something doctors call remarkable, as well as a reminder of how seconds matter. Training and teamwork can make all the difference.

“They come probably to Disney, to the happiest place on earth, right? And here they are in Kissimmee, in our area, and they go into a medical emergency,” said Osceola County Sheriff Christopher A. Blackmon. “And I don’t think anybody, when they planned their trip, thought a medical emergency was going to happen. So, thank God our deputy and dispatch were able to coordinate through that and save this child’s life.”

Doctors say only about 13% of children who suffer cardiac arrest survive without facing life-changing complications.

Calderale and Romero-Perez were recently recognized by the Arnold Palmer Hospital for their lifesaving work. Romero-Perez was also honored with the Life-Saving Award at a ceremony held at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

No ticket matched all six winning numbers on Saturday — white balls 4, 5, 28, 52, 69 and red Powerball 20. That sets up the fifth-largest U.S. jackpot ever for Monday’s drawing, according to a news release from Powerball.

The biggest U.S. jackpot was $2.04 billion in 2022. The winner bought the ticket in California and opted for a lump-sum payment of $997.6 million.

The odds of winning Monday’s jackpot, which is the fourth-largest in Powerball history, are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.

The winner can opt for a lump-sum payment estimated at $735.3 million or an annuitized prize estimated at $1.6 billion. Both prize options are before taxes.

The annuity option offers one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year, Powerball said.

Powerball is available in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is overseen by the Multi-State Lottery Association, a nonprofit group made up of state lotteries. Profits from ticket sales are used by states to support public education and other services.

Authorities say Isaiah Edwards has been found safe and reunited with his family.

The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam caught the hatching of the little one, Thursday night.

The nest is on ground that has been watched carefully by the Florida State Monitoring Program for the past 16 years.

The birth has been highly anticipated, as both the mom and dad have overcome avian flu. They lost two eaglets to the disease in the spring.

However, things are looking up, as a second egg is expected to hatch in about two or three days.

U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek said the detainee, known as M.A. in court papers, hadn’t met the high burden required for a preliminary injunction while his challenge to the facility is litigated in federal court in Fort Myers, Florida.

“While there may indeed be deficiencies at Alligator Alcatraz that ultimately justify its dissolution, plaintiff has not made the extraordinary showing needed to justify immediate relief of such magnitude,” said Dudek, who was nominated by President Donald Trump.

M.A.’s lawsuit is one of three federal lawsuits challenging practices at the immigration detention center that was built this summer at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades by the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

His lawsuit claims immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility under federal law. Detainees who enter the facility disappear from the normal detainee tracking system and have difficulty accessing legal help, the lawsuit said.

“The statute requires federal control over all delegated enforcement activities. Yet Florida asserts that it has total control over detention decisions,” M.A. said in his request for a preliminary injunction.

The judge said he was proceeding with caution in denying the request since “plaintiff is essentially asking this court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality.”

In a separate case, a federal judge in Miami last summer ordered the facility to wind down operations over two months because officials had failed to do a review of the detention center’s environmental impact. But an appellate court panel put that decision on hold for the time being, allowing the facility to stay open.

In the third lawsuit, detainees were seeking a ruling that would ensure that they have access to confidential communications with their attorneys. They claimed that detainees’ attorneys had to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other detention facilities where the lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often were transferred to other facilities after their attorneys had made an appointment to see them; and that scheduling delays had been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.

A federal judge in that case ordered the detainees’ lawyers and attorneys for the state and federal government defendants to meet Tuesday in an effort to resolve the case. But they notified the court on Wednesday they were unable to reach a resolution despite nine hours of talks.

A local activist brought the lawsuit against Miami Dade College, arguing the school’s board didn’t give sufficient public notice and violated the state’s open government law when board members voted in September to give away the nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property in downtown Miami.

The site is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert wagered that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on a palm tree-lined stretch of Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.

Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz had initially sided with Marvin Dunn, the retired professor and chronicler of local Black history who filed the case. In October, Ruiz temporarily blocked the college from formally transferring the land while the challenge played out, setting a trial for next August.

But on Thursday, Ruiz ruled in favor of the college, dismissing Dunn’s complaint without prejudice after the board redid the vote on the land giveaway earlier this month at a more than four-hour-long public meeting that included fiery testimony on the issue.

Attorneys for the college maintain that the board did not violate state law, but argued that any alleged violation had been “fully cured” following the redo vote.

After the college voted in September to transfer the property to a fund controlled by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, the GOP officials voted to transfer the land again, effectively putting the property under the control of the Trump family when they deeded it to the foundation for Trump’s library. That foundation is led by three trustees: Eric Trump; Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos; and the president’s attorney, James Kiley.

Eric Trump has pledged the future library will be “one of the most beautiful buildings ever built” and “an Icon on the Miami skyline.” Under local zoning rules, the best use of the property would be a towering condo building, according to one Miami real estate expert, who described the site as a potential “cash cow.”

Frank Athen Walls, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Walls was convicted of two counts of murder and other charges and sentenced to death in 1988. The Florida Supreme Court later reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial, and Walls was again convicted and sentenced to death in 1992 for the murders of Edward Alger and his girlfriend, Ann Peterson.

The curtain to the death chamber went up precisely at the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time. Walls was already strapped to the gurney and covered mostly by a blanket with his left arm extended and an IV in place. A Catholic priest was seated at the foot of the gurney with his right hand extended toward Walls’ lower leg or foot.

Walls then apologized in a brief statement, said Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, relaying the last words from the scene.

“Good evening, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to say what’s on my heart. If any of the members of the family are here, I am sorry for all of the things I did, the pain I caused, and all of that you have suffered all these years,” Walls was quoted as saying.

After the statement, the execution began while the priest remained, apparently praying beside Walls.

Walls began to breathe heavily for several minutes and appeared to lose consciousness. A warden then shook Walls several times and shouted his name, getting no response. Walls’ breathing eventually stopped. A medic was called in several minutes later, and the inmate was then pronounced dead. At that point, the priest knelt on the floor and made the sign of the cross.

Court records indicate Walls broke into the Florida Panhandle mobile home of Alger, an Eglin Air Force Base airman, and his girlfriend in July 1987. Walls tied the couple up, but Alger managed to break free and attack Walls. Walls cut Alger’s throat and then shot him in the head when the airman continued to fight. Walls then attacked Peterson and shot her as she struggled.

Walls was arrested the day after the bodies were found when his roommate tipped off police about Walls’ odd behavior. During a search of the home, investigators reported finding items from the crime scene, and Walls later admitted to the killings.

After Walls’ conviction, DNA evidence linked him to the May 1987 rape and killing of a woman, Audrey Gygi. Walls pleaded no contest, avoiding another trial and possible death sentence. Walls also admitted responsibility for the killings of Tommie Lou Whiddon in March 1985 and Cynthia Sue Condra in September 1986 as part of a deal with prosecutors.

DeSantis, the Republican who signed the death warrant, has ordered more executions in a single year than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976. The previous state record was eight executions in 2014. DeSantis said earlier this year that his goal is to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for the death sentences to be carried out.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Walls’ request for a stay of execution on Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Walls met with one visitor as well as a spiritual adviser and had a meal of steak, chicken and cheesecake, authorities said.

Including Walls, a total of 47 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and more than a dozen other people are scheduled to be put to death in 2026. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas with five each.

All Florida executions are carried out by an injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.

The crew of an USCG MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter responded to a distress signal where the 30-foot sailing vessel became disabled off Tarpon Springs, early Wednesday morning.

The boaters were located just before 4:50 a.m. and listed as stable. They were safely transferred to Air Station Clearwater. 

Known as “Sandi,” the sand tree sculpture showcases a unique theme each year.

This year, the tree features musical notes, instruments and marine life sculptures.

The festive and very Florida sand tree stands 35 feet tall and weighs about 700 tons.

“Sandi” has earned several international and regional awards since its debut in 2012.

Opening statements were made on Wednesday in the custody dispute that pits Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson-Kepner, against her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson.

Thomas’s attorney previously said the mother took the children on a cruise that left from Miami against his client’s wishes. He said there are indications that, because the group was in international waters, they could engage in activities they typically wouldn’t in the United States, without specifying what those activities are.

During the hearing, attorneys discussed a parenting plan that involves annual visitation for the children.

“The agreement is very clear. It’s in writing. There’s nothing ambiguous about it. Both parties signed it, as a matter of fact, both parties drafted it themselves, read it, and signed it,” said Millicent Athanason, the stepmother’s attorney.

But both parties argued over the plan and what had been agreed.

“Andrew had told her several days before that he no longer wanted to go with her to Brevard County. His high school was here. All his friends were here. This is where he wanted to stay. At that point, they responded, did not like that particular answer, so she took it upon herself again, never communicating with the petitioner in this case, drove to the high school, and forcibly removed A.H. from the high school,” said attorney Peter J. Molinelli.

“He arrived at the respondent’s residence and started screaming and yelling to the other two minor children to get their ass out there, to come and see him. He was very vulgar and rude with them,” said Athanason.

The hearing ended after attorneys for Anna’s stepmother filed new subpoenas earlier this month.

Attorneys say witnesses from both the Florida Department of Children and Families and Temple Christian School, where Anna was a student, must produce records involving several of their children.

“Told the therapist that the children were afraid of being kidnapped by their father. Mind you, there has never been any issue with either child saying they didn’t want to go with the father before Apr. 22, never any issue with visitation, never any allegations. There’s none of that,” said Molinelli.

This latest court hearing, unrelated to Anna’s death, comes as federal authorities continue to investigate Anna’s death aboard the Carnival Horizon on Nov. 7, after she was found under the bed in her stateroom she shared with her 14-year-old brother and 16-year-old stepbrother.

That 16-year-old stepbrother is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation.

None of the testimony during Wednesday’s court touched on Anna’s death, the stateroom where she was found, or the investigation.

Yessica Ramirez was traveling down a road in DeLand when she saw what she thought was just another car near her.

“I suddenly saw an object, I thought it was a car, you know, a vehicle, then I just hit the brakes, and then I stopped,” said Ramirez. “I didn’t even see it coming from the sky. If I didn’t hit my breaks, the aircraft would’ve hit me, obviously.”

After making the abrupt stop, she didn’t think twice about checking on the pilot and passenger aboard the small aircraft.

“The first thing that went through my mind like, ‘I got to help the people get out, let me go see if they’re okay,'” she said.

Ramirez and another witness worked together to force open the plane’s door, rescuing the pilot and passenger onboard.

“I told him like, ‘Come on, let’s get them out of the airplane. Help me, help me.’ The pilot, he was bleeding really bad. I think he hurt his forehead really bad,” she said.

According to deputies, the plane suffered significant damage and the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Fortunately, the people on the plane did not suffer any life-threatening injuries.

“While I was talking to the copilot, I’m like, ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ and the copilot. he was not that hurt, like, not as much as the pilot,” said Ramirez.

Both drivers, complete strangers with no specialized training, met a terrifying moment with a life-saving response.

“Never in my life would I imagine an aircraft would land in front of me, literally,” said Ramirez.

On the same day this crash happened, another small plane crashed along I-95 in Brevard County.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, Amanda Cook was convicted of second-degree murder for bludgeoning her roommate with a 9-pound cast-iron microphone stand.

The incident happened inside a residence the two shared, and authorities said Cook ran to her mother’s nearby home after the attack. Her mother later called 911 after the two returned to the scene.

Investigators with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said the victim’s DNA was found on the base of the microphone stand, while Cook’s fingerprint and DNA were located near the top and above the base. A medical examiner testified the victim’s injuries were consistent with those seen in high-impact car crashes.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, has more than 20 chapters across the United States and its work involves legal actions, advocacy and education outreach.

The lawsuit was filed late Monday by the CAIR-Foundation and CAIR-Florida, its affiliate in the state. The suit asked a federal judge in Tallahassee to declare DeSantis’ order unlawful and unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced.

“He has usurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to identify and designate terrorist organizations by baselessly declaring CAIR a terrorist organization,” the lawsuit says.

DeSantis’ order was among a series of recent actions or statements made by Republican elected officials which target U.S. Muslims or their groups.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Sunday posted on social media that “Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult.”

A day later, CAIR designated Tuberville, who is running for Alabama governor, as an anti-Muslim extremist for his “increasingly hateful and dangerous attacks on Alabama Muslims.” The group said it was the first time it had given a U.S. senator that designation. Tuberville responded on social media that it was a “badge of honor.” When asked Tuesday about his statements, Tuberville spokesman Mallory Jaspers repeated what Tuberville had said.

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., also posted Monday on social media about his support for “a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible.”

“Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America,” Fine wrote.

Anti-Muslim bias has persisted in different forms since Sept. 11, 2001, and there’s been a rise in Islamophobia during more than two years of war in Gaza.

During a news conference about the Florida lawsuit, Charles Swift, a lawyer for the Muslim Legal Fund of America, called the elected officials’ statements dangerous and bigoted.

“The Constitution protects people’s rights to be bigoted, not the government’s rights,” said Swift, whose group is one of the legal organizations representing CAIR. “When a governor issues an executive order to silence Muslims, that’s a different question altogether because if you can do that, you can silence anyone.”

CAIR said in the Florida lawsuit that it has always condemned terrorism and violence. The lawsuit alleges DeSantis targeted the group for defending the free speech rights of people in cases where state officials and officials elsewhere tried to punish or silence those who expressed support for Palestinian human rights.

The order by DeSantis last week also gives the same “foreign terrorist” label to the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Arab Islamist political movement. President Donald Trump last month issued an executive order that sets in motion a process to designate certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.

The governor’s order instructs Florida agencies to prevent the two groups and those who have provided them material support from receiving contracts, employment and funds from a state executive or cabinet agency.

Florida has an estimated 500,000 Muslim residents, according to CAIR.

When reached by email for comment on Tuesday, the governor’s press secretary, Molly Best, referred to DeSantis’ recent social media posts on the topic in which he said he looked forward to a trial. In one post, DeSantis said, “I look forward to discovery — especially the CAIR finances. Should be illuminating!”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a similar proclamation in Texas. CAIR last month asked a federal judge to strike down Abbott’s proclamation, saying in a lawsuit that it was “not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law.”

President Donald Trump announced the engagement on Monday night at a White House holiday party.

The announcement brought fresh attention to a relationship that fueled tabloid speculation throughout the president’s election campaign.

Trump Jr. has been married before. The president’s firstborn proposed to his first wife, Vanessa, in 2004, and the two were married at Mar-a-Lago in 2005, according to news reports at the time. Vanessa Trump filed for divorce in 2018.

Trump Jr. was also previously engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality who later served as finance chair of the Trump campaign during the 2020 presidential race.

She remains close to the Trump family. As speculation swirled about Trump Jr.’s relationship with Anderson, then president-elect Donald Trump named Guilfoyle as his pick to serve as US ambassador to Greece, a position she currently holds.

Anderson and Trump Jr. appeared together publicly earlier this year during a Trump family trip to Scotland, where they joined the president for a ribbon-cutting ceremony of a new golf course and a trade deal announcement.

In her Instagram biography, Anderson describes herself as “just your typical stay at home mom … only I don’t do household chores … or have a husband … or have kids.”

In a video of the White House announcement posted on social media by Trump ally Laura Loomer, Trump Jr. said, “I’m not usually at a loss for words, because I’m usually doing the ranting and raving really well, I want to thank Bettina for that one word: ‘Yes.’”

A spokesperson for Trump Jr. confirmed that he proposed over the weekend.