Florida Keys prepare for sea level rise

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane storm surge can inundate the narrow, low-lying Florida Keys, but that is far from the only water worry for officials.

A tidal gauge operating since before the Civil War has documented a sea level rise of 9 inches in the last century, and officials expect that to double over the next 50 years. So when building a new Stock Island fire station, county authorities went ahead added a foot and a half over federal flood planning directives that the ground floor be built up 9 feet.

Seasonal tidal flooding that was once a rare inconvenience is now so predictable that some businesses at the end of Key West's famed Duval Street stock sandbags just inside their front doors, ready anytime.

"It's really easy to see during our spring high tides that the sea level is coming up — for whatever reason — and we have to accommodate for that," said Johnnie Yongue, the on-site technician at the fire station for Monroe County's project management department.

While New York City's mayor was announcing a dramatic multibillion-dollar plan for flood walls and levees to hold back rising water levels there, sea walls like those that encase the Netherlands wouldn't help much in the Keys, as a lack of coastal barriers isn't the island chain's only problem.

"Our base is old coral reef, so it's full of holes," says Alison Higgins, the sustainability coordinator for the city of Key West. "You've got both the erosion and the fact that (water) just comes up naturally through the holes."

The Keys' plans for adapting to rising sea levels sound a lot like the way they prepare for hurricanes: track the incoming disturbance, adjust infrastructure accordingly and communicate potential risks to residents — all, hopefully, without scaring off the tourists who treasure the islands for their fishing, Technicolor sunsets, eccentric characters and a come-as-you-are social scene that has attracted the likes of Ernest Hemingway, U.S. presidents and flamboyant female impersonators.

In many sea level projections for the coming century, the Keys, Miami and much of southern Florida partially sink beneath potential waves. However, officials are quick to note that the Keys' beloved resorts and marinas and airport — with a runway averaging just over 2 feet above sea level — aren't disappearing underwater overnight.

The Keys and three South Florida counties agreed in 2010 to collaborate on a regional plan to adapt to climate change. The first action plan developed under that agreement was published in October and calls for revamped planning policies, more public transportation options, stopping seawater from flowing into freshwater supplies and managing the region's unique ecosystems so that they can adapt, too.

Before writing the plan, the counties reviewed regional sea level data and projected a rise of 9 to 24 inches in the next 50 years.

"The rate's doubled. It would be disingenuous and sloppy and irresponsible not to respond to it," Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi, who oversees the Keys.

In addition to the regional plan, Monroe County aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and to incorporate future sea level rise projections into infrastructure planning.

"We clearly have the most to lose. If sea-level rise is not curtailed by immediate reductions in greenhouse gases, the Florida Keys may eventually become unlivable," according to a March draft of the county's plans. "Planning decisions should take into consideration medium to extreme sea level rise predictions."

Sea level rise will be considered as projects come up, Gastesi said. Once the Stock Island fire station is completed, next in line for possible elevation or additional drainage are a nearby park, then roads and bridges.

In Key West, city officials are exploring the use of cisterns to catch rainwater for non-potable uses, to avoid taxing mainland freshwater resources.

Key West also wants to switch its municipal vehicle fleet to hybrid or electric vehicles but is concerned that their low-hanging batteries will render them useless in storm-flooded streets. The conundrum illustrates the shift in the worldwide conversation on global warming, from focusing on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to adapting to climate change.

"How do we both want to go greener and mitigate our carbon footprint but at the same time adapt to the fact that the sea water is still coming up on us anyway?" Higgins says.

The Keys are among the cities and coastal areas worldwide building or planning defenses to protect people and infrastructure from more powerful storm surges and other effects of global warming.

New York City has proposed installing removable flood walls, restoring marshes, and flood-proofing homes.

In Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean and one dependent on European and Canadian tourists, inspectors and demolition crews are planning to raze thousands of houses, restaurants, hotels and improvised docks to restore much of the coast to something approaching its natural state. A luxury tourist destination, the Maldives, has built a seawall around its capital, plans to relocate residents from vulnerable islands to better protected ones and is creating new land through land reclamation, expanding existing islands or building new ones.

As the Keys have realized, adaptations to climate change have to be made on a case-by-case basis, says Joe Vietri, director of the Army Corps of Engineering's National Planning Center of Expertise for Coastal Storm Damage Reduction, which has begun a $20 million study exploring ways to protect the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region from sea level rise and extreme flooding caused by hurricanes.

"The good news is if you start now, you have plenty of time to affect some meaningful change," Vietri said. "I'm very pleased with the work that a lot of municipalities are doing. They got a major wake-up call during (Superstorm) Sandy."

The study will weigh the pros and cons of defenses such as sea walls, maintaining barrier islands and marshes and even reducing the number of people living along the coastline.

"You don't necessarily rip up communities, as a rule, in the U.S. You have to balance these things," Vietri said. "In some cases it might make sense in areas where there hasn't been heavy investment in development to limit development in those areas and allow the water to do what it needs to do."

___

Follow Jennifer Kay on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jnkay .

Via Yahoo News!

Supreme Court rule for Florida property owner in land use case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a victory for advocates of private property rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said a Florida property owner may be owed compensation from a government agency that declined to award him a development permit for his land.

In a 5-4 ruling with the court's five conservative justices in the majority, the court said Coy Koontz could pursue a property rights claim against the St. Johns River Water Management District.

The legal issue was whether the agency's action constituted a "taking" subject to compensation, under the so-called takings clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said a government may not condition a land-use permit on an owner giving up the use of some property absent a "nexus" and "rough proportionality" between the demand and the effect of the proposed land use. He said this applied even if the permit were denied, and the demand was for money.

"So long as the building permit is more valuable than any just compensation the owner could hope to receive for the right-of-way, the owner is likely to accede to the government's demand, no matter how unreasonable," Alito wrote. "Extortionate demands of this sort frustrate the Fifth Amendment right to just compensation, and the unconstitutional conditions doctrine prohibits them."

Joining Alito's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.

The decision was the culmination of a more than 18-year battle by Koontz and his late father over the development of their nearly 15-acre (six-hectare) parcel of land.

After Florida designated much of the parcel as protected wetlands, Koontz proposed to develop about a quarter of it and dedicate the rest for conservation, only to have local officials insist that he pay money to protect wetlands elsewhere.

Koontz said no, and a trial court awarded him $327,500 for being unable to use his property. Florida's Supreme Court then threw this award out, saying that because St. Johns never issued a permit and Koontz never spent money, "nothing was ever taken."

Justice Elena Kagan dissented from Tuesday's decision, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.

Kagan said the majority "threatens to subject a vast array of land-use regulations, applied daily in states and localities throughout the country, to heightened constitutional scrutiny. I would not embark on so unwise an adventure."

The case was sent back to Florida courts for further proceedings.

The case is Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 1447.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham)

Via Yahoo News!

SC man charged in 2 deaths caught in Florida

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say a man charged in the deaths of two South Carolina women and wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a third has been caught in Florida.

Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett says deputies in Bay County, Fla., captured 31-year-old Jeffery Eady in Mexico Beach after a car and foot chase Saturday evening.

He said authorities were transporting Eady back to South Carolina on Sunday morning.

Garrett said he didn't know if Eady has asked for an attorney.

Eady is charged with murder in the deaths of 37-year-old Crystal Johnson and 65-year-old Maybell White, and wanted for questioning in the disappearance of 77-year-old Sadie Brown.

He had been released from state prison last year after serving a decade for armed robbery.

Via Yahoo News!

Florida highway smashes kill 10 people

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Ten people died and at least 18 were injured in a series of accidents before dawn Sunday near Gainesville after smoke and fog reduced visibility on the main interstate highway, police said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the smashes involving 12 cars and six or seven trucks occurred shortly before 4 a.m. on Interstate 75 after smoke from a marsh fire combined with fog to reduce visibility on both the northbound and southbound lanes.

Eighteen people were transported to Shands Hospital emergency room, six of them to a trauma center for people in critical condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Alison Wilson.

Eight of the people treated in the emergency room had been released from the hospital by mid-afternoon.

"It's tragic. It's probably the worst one (accident) I've seen in 27 years," Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Patrick Riordan told Reuters.

Riordan said investigators are still trying to determine how many separate collisions occurred on the interstate, which is a main artery through Florida.

In one crash, two cars and a tractor trailer caught fire and melted asphalt on the road, Riordan said. The interstate remained closed hours later while the investigation continued, and an analysis of the road pavement was under way to determine whether it could be safely re-opened, he said.

Riordan said he had no information yet on the ages or gender of the victims. He said several people died in one car. Crumpled cars littered northbound and southbound lanes and in the grass shoulders of the interstate.

Gainesville is home to Florida's flagship university, the University of Florida. The marsh fire was in or near Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park south of town.

Florida Forest Service investigators are trying to determine whether the fire was set intentionally, Ludie Bond, a spokeswoman for the service, told Reuters. A lack of rain in recent months meant the fire spread quickly through the parched prairie.

(Reporting By Barbara Liston; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan adn Tim Gaynor)

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Florida welfare drug-screen law kicks in

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a law requiring drug tests for adult welfare recipients.Gov. Rick Scott says the measure saves tax dollars and provides "incentive to not use drugs"Democrats slammed the law, saying the tests "represent an ... illegal invasion of personal privacy"Controversy arose over Scott's past association with a company that did drug testing

(CNN) -- A controversial law requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening has gone into effect in Florida.

Saying it is "unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," Gov. Rick Scott signed the legislation in June.

"It's the right thing for taxpayers," Scott said after signing the measure. "It's the right thing for citizens of this state that need public assistance. We don't want to waste tax dollars. And also, we want to give people an incentive to not use drugs."

Under the law, which went into effect on Friday, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services will be required to conduct the drug tests on adults applying to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The aid recipients would be responsible for the cost of the screening, which they would recoup in their assistance if they qualify.

Those who fail the required drug testing may designate another individual to receive the benefits on behalf of their children.

Shortly after the bill was signed, five Democrats from the state's congressional delegation issued a joint statement attacking the legislation, one calling it "downright unconstitutional."

And the ACLU has filed suit against the state for requiring all state workers to take a drug test and is considering suing the state for drug-testing welfare applicants.

Controversy over the measure was heightened by Scott's past association with a company he co-founded that operates walk-in urgent care clinics in Florida and counts drug screening among the services it provides.

In April, Scott, who had transferred his ownership interest in Solantic Corp. to a trust in his wife's name, said the company would not contract for state business, according to local media reports. He subsequently sold his majority stake in the company, local media reported.

On May 18, the Florida Ethics Commission ruled that two conflict-of-interest complaints against Scott were legally insufficient to warrant investigation, and adopted an opinion that no "prohibited conflict of interest" existed.

Florida is not the first state to pass such legislation. Michigan passed a similar law that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found unconstitutional in 2003 since it violated the U.S. Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable search.

The court said the law would set a dangerous precedent by allowing the government to conduct drug searches for the safety of the public without prior suspicion.

CNN's John Couwels contributed to this report.

CNN

TSA stands by officers after pat-down of elderly woman in Florida

A 95-year-old woman was held up by TSA officers at a Florida airport, her daughter saysThe agents forced the cancer-stricken woman to take off her adult diaper, she addsThe TSA insists its officers "acted professionally and according to proper procedure"The woman's daughter says those procedures should be changed

(CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security.

Reports of the incident took hold in social media, with scores of comments on the topic and reposts appearing hourly on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

The TSA released a statement Sunday defending its agents' actions at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport.

"While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner," the federal agency said. "We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure."

TSA pat downs 6-year-old child

Jean Weber told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday that the security officers may have been procedurally correct, but she still does not believe they were justified, especially given her mother's frail condition.

"If this is your procedure -- which I do understand -- I also feel that your procedure needs to be changed," she said.

Weber said the two were traveling June 18 from northwest Florida to Michigan, so her mother could move in with relatives before eventually going to an assisted living facility.

"My mother is very ill, she has a form of leukemia," Weber said. "She had a blood transfusion the week before, just to bolster up her strength for this travel."

While going through security, the 95-year-old was taken by a TSA officer into a glassed-in area, where a pat-down was performed, Weber said. An agent told Weber "they felt something suspicious on (her mother's) leg and they couldn't determine what it was" -- leading them to take her into a private, closed room.

Soon after, Weber said, a TSA agent came out and told her that her mother's Depend undergarment was "wet and it was firm, and they couldn't check it thoroughly." The mother and daughter left to find a bathroom, at the TSA officer's request, to take off the adult diaper.

Weber said she burst into tears during the ordeal, forcing her own pat-down and other measures in accordance with TSA protocol. But she said her mother, a nurse for 65 years, "was very calm" despite being bothered by the fact that she had to go through the airport without underwear.

Eventually, Weber said she asked for her mother to be whisked away to the boarding gate without her, because their plane was scheduled to leave in two minutes and Weber was still going through security.

By this weekend, the 95-year-old woman -- who was not identified by name -- was doing "fine" in Michigan, where her niece and her family "was treating her like royalty because they love her so much."

"My mother is a trouper," Weber said.

This is not the first time that the TSA's pat-downs of passengers have come under fire, nor the first time that the agency has rallied behind its officers and policy.

Last year, the administration announced it was ramping up the use of full-body scanning and pat-downs to stop nonmetallic threats, including explosives, from getting on planes. The goal is to head off attacks such as the one allegedly attempted in Christmas 2009 by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who allegedly had a bomb sewn into his underwear on a flight from the Netherlands to Michigan.

The TSA estimates that only 3% of passengers are subjected to pat-downs -- and then only after they have set off a metal detector or declined to step into a full-body scanner. Yet the new policy has triggered an uproar online and in airports, from a relatively small but vocal number of travelers who feel their rights and privacy were being violated.

But the federal safety agency hasn't backed down, making some adjustments but no major changes to its policy.

"Every traveler is a critical partner in TSA's efforts to keep our skies safe," Administrator John Pistole, who ordered the new approach, said last fall. "And I know and appreciate that the vast majority of Americans recognize and respect the important work we do."

More recently, outrage erupted over a video-recorded pat-down of a 6-year-old passenger last April at New Orleans' airport. The video, which was posted on YouTube, shows the girl protesting the search by a female security officer at first, though she complies quietly while it is underway.

Pistole addressed this controversy at a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee meeting last week, explaining the pat-down was ordered because the child had moved while passing through a body imaging machine. He told committee members that "we have changed the policy (so) that there'll be repeated efforts made to resolve that without a pat-down."

The next day, TSA spokesman Greg Soule said that the new policy -- which will apply to children age 12 and younger -- is in the process of being rolled out. It will give security officers "more options," but does not eliminate pat-downs as one of them.

"This decision will ultimately reduce -- though not eliminate -- pat-downs," Soule said.

CNN

Fires nearing Florida wildlife refuge

The Honey Prairie fire united with the Paxton Road fire Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service said.NEW: Florida Gov. Rick Scott declares a state of emergency526 firefighters are working to protect the Okefenokee swamp90% of a public boardwalk is burned

(CNN) -- Two fires have merged, coming dangerously close to protected areas in Florida's Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The so-called Honey Prairie fire, which has been burning since late April, united with another blaze called the Paxton Road fire Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Working around the clock, 526 firefighters have been deployed to combat the flames.

"We've got lots of crews out there trying to hold that line, trying to protect that wildlife refuge," Forest Service public information officer Haven Cook said.

Cook said while the fire is 75% contained, dealing with a fire in swamp can be tricky.

"When we're dealing with a situation like this, the fire can lay down, creep under all that peat, and so when we have significant weather like a wind event, it can spark and develop an active flame front very quickly from there."

The fire reached the eastern edge of Okefenokee Swamp to Chesser Island, a tourist attraction that housed an observation tower and a 4,000-foot boardwalk that stretched out into the middle of the swamp.

"The tower is fine; so is the historic Chesser Island homestead," Cook said. "But the boardwalk did burn; about 90% of it burned."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Monday, citing the ongoing danger of wildfires and drought conditions.

Meteorologists say there are moderately good chances for rain toward the end of the week, but thunderstorms may also be in the forecast.

"This fire can go on for weeks until we get a good drenching rain," Cook said. "The firefighters are going to be monitoring this and watching this for two, maybe three weeks because it's been such a dry year."

CNN

Police deny destroying cell phone of witness to Florida shooting

(CNN) -- Miami Beach authorities are disputing an allegation by a witness to a fatal police shooting in Florida that his cell phone was "smashed" by officers because he filmed their actions.

The police department denied Narces Benoit's claim that his phone was crushed by an officer last week after he recorded a video of the fatal shooting.

Authorities supplied photos of the phone in question, saying they demonstrate the phone is only slightly damaged, "and it is unknown when this damage occurred."

In Benoit's video, gunfire breaks out, and officers are seen firing on a car. The fatal shooting of an erratic driver on Memorial Day has made headlines nationwide after Benoit's video and others became public.

In the video, officers are seen instructing Benoit to stop filming. One officer, whose words are unclear, points his gun directly into the camera before backing away.

Benoit and his girlfriend, Ericka Davis, asserted that officers smashed the phones of other witnesses as well, but a police department spokesman said Monday they received no other complaints of damaged property.

The statement said police took several phones from witnesses, but says that was done to obtain evidence.

"Any and all video of the incident is crucial to the investigation, and it is not unusual for police to secure any video that may have evidentiary value," the statement said.

CNN affiliate WPLG reported that police confiscated a camera form one of their photographers and later returned it.

The police statement also defended the handling of Benoit, saying he was detained because he "matched the description of one of the subjects just reported fleeing the scene and, further, because he ignored repeated commands as he quickly walked towards and entered his vehicle."

Benoit says he was following an officer's instructions to get back into his truck, only to be hauled out of it, thrown on the ground, and handcuffed shortly thereafter.

Miami Beach police say they are still investigating the fatal shooting of the driver Benoit captured on tape.

Officers stopped Raymond Herisse in his car at 4 a.m. on memorial day, but after an altercation, he sped off, police said.

A video posted on YouTube, which CNN cannot independently confirm, shows a commotion as a car moving erratically comes to a stop at an intersection.

Bystanders scatter as officers surround the car with guns drawn, and gunfire breaks out.

Herisse was killed, and four bystanders were injured by gunfire, according to police.

"We could have been killed," Davis said. "They were shooting so long, you could hear their guns clicking on empty, but they kept pulling the trigger," she said. "I think that's excessive."

CNN

16 pilot whales are stranded in shallow Florida waters

Early Friday morning, rescuers are able to move six of the whales to a safer placeThe whales are in danger of dying, rescuer saysAdult pilot whales can measure up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 3 tons

(CNN) -- Rescuers worked early Friday to save a group of pilot whales who stranded themselves in shallow waters near the Florida Keys.

There were more than 16 pilot whales stranded in an area about 20 miles north of Key West, said Art Cooper, the chairman of the Marine Mammal Conservancy.

By about 4 a.m. ET a team of about 50 people were able to get six of the whales into a safer area and were protecting them with a sea pen they had created, Cooper said.

The group of whales were spread out in about a four-mile area in waters that were as shallow as three inches in some areas.

The situation for the animals was dire because mass strandings can be a sign of some kind of sickness in some of the whales, Cooper said. Also being stuck in shallow waters make them vulnerable to predators.

"It is a bad situation for them when they get in the shallows and thrash around and bloody themselves," said Cooper. "If there is nobody to intervene for them they will die."

Karrie Carnes, of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also said the whales are in a perilous situation.

"It is highly likely that these animals are emaciated, that they are compromised," said Carnes.

Adult pilot whales can measure up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 3 tons. Due to their social nature, they are often involved in mass strandings, according to the American Cetacean Society. The ACS is a non-profit group based in California that works to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises, according to its website.

Last year, dozens of pilot whales died in northern New Zealand after 58 of them were stranded on a remote beach.

CNN's Lateef Mungin contributed to this report.

CNN

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6 arrested after Florida teen shot and burned in fire pit

6 arrested after Florida teen shot, burned in fire pit From John Couwels, CNN STORY HIGHLIGHTSAuthorities learn of the plot from one of the suspects who confessed to witnessing the killingThe 15-year-old is lured to a home by two females and then attackedThe reason for the attack are unclear The suspects include two minors RELATED TOPICSCrimeFloridaSee more about this story from CNN affiliates WESH, WFTV.

(CNN) -- Six people were arrested this week and accused of luring a 15-year-old boy to a Florida home, shooting him several times, burning his body in a fire pit and putting the remains into paint cans, authorities said.

The killing occurred Sunday in the central Florida city of Ocala, according to a statement from the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Two females in the group allegedly lured the victim, Seath Jackson, to the home and the group beat him with a wooden object. He was then shot several times with a .22 caliber gun, authorities said.

As the wounded teen attempted to flee, he was tackled and shot again, according to the sheriff's statement. His body was allegedly placed in a sleeping bag and burned in a fire pit outside the home.

His ashes were placed into several paint containers and thrown into a large garbage can, authorities said.

Authorities said they learned of the alleged plot from a member of the group who confessed to witnessing the killing.

Four adults and two minors were charged in connection with the killing.

Michael Bargo, 18; Charlie Kay Ely, 18; Justin Soto, 20, and two minors face first-degree murder charges, Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

James Haven, 37, faces charges of accessory to the crime for allegedly helping to dispose Jackson's remains and driving one of the suspects out of the area to avoid arrest, authorities said.

Documents from the sheriff's department gave little information on what caused the killing other than brief statements by suspects about a dispute and a growing hatred.

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Florida tourism gets a $30 million boost from BP

A surfer walks Pensacola Beach, Florida, in March, 2011. STORY HIGHLIGHTSTourism in Northwest Florida receives a $30 million grant from BPThe grant is part of BP's commitment to Florida since the April 20 oil spillSeven counties will benefit from the three-year grant (CNN) -- Tourism in Florida is getting a $30 mililon boost from BP, state officials said Monday.

Gov. Rick Scott announced the Northwest Florida Tourism Council will recieve a grant to help mitigate the impact to the area's tourism industry as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a statement from the governor's office said.

"I am pleased that BP is doing the right thing," Scott said. "I'm optimistic that with the assistance of this grant the world will know that Florida's beaches are as beautiful as ever and open for business."

According to the statement, the three-year grant must be used for the purposes of tourism promotion and awareness building.

"The agreement we have signed is a further example of BP's commitment to doing what is in the best interest of the state and the people of Florida," said Luke Keller, an executive with BP America's Gulf Coast Restoration Organization.

During the three-year period, BP will evaluate expenditures and tourism council partners will provide quarterly updates on tourism program activities and other information.

Seven counties -- including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, and Franklin -- will benefit from the grant.

According to Keller, Florida has received $82 million for tourism and seafood testing and marketing since the April 20, 2010, spill caused by an explosion and fire on an offshore rig owned by BP.

Oil from the spill washed up on beaches that line of the Gulf of Mexico, including ones in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

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Hatchlings foil bid to remove divebombing hawk from Florida tree

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Dud Gordon of Melbourne, Florida, shot this picture of a hawk that has attacked him three times. STORY HIGHLIGHTSAppearance of chicks in Florida nest means "new ballgame"Aggressive male bird has attacked retired general three timesHatchlings to be taken to rehabilitation center SundayRELATED TOPICSFloridaBirds of PreyWildlifeU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (CNN) -- Dud Gordon just can't seem to beat those birds.

The Melbourne, Florida, resident thought he was going to be relieved Friday of a red-shouldered hawk that had been divebombing him and his neighbors while protecting a brood of eggs in a tree in Gordon's yard.

"It's not gonna happen today. With any luck, tomorrow," a rueful Gordon said Saturday.

James Dean, the AAA Wildlife Removal trapper Gordon hired to remove the eggs, couldn't make it Friday, and the equation changed overnight.

"Last night those eggs hatched, so new ball game now," Gordon said.

"I had figured they would be hatching soon due to the behavior of the mother," Dean said, based on Gordon's descriptions.

The original plan was to scare off the adult birds with pyrotechnics, grab the eggs and take them to the Brevard County Zoo to be incubated. Now Dean says he hopes to catch the parents in nets and have them relocated, while handing the chicks over to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida.

Audubon Society representatives could not be reached for comment.

James said he would remove the nest from the tree and donate it to the zoo for an educational exhibit.

The overly protective male hawk has sunk its talons into Gordon's scalp three times and has attacked his neighbors, as well. On Saturday morning while Gordon, Dean and a neighbor were standing on the lawn contemplating their next move, the bird landed just 15 feet from them, Gordon said.

"That guy is brazen, just absolutely brazen," Gordon, a retired Army brigadier general, said.

There's something about birds and military officers in Florida. Dean said two years ago he had to get rid of vultures that were harassing military brass trying to enter a Northrop Grumman Aerospace facility in Melbourne, 25 miles south of Cape Canaveral.

He didn't say whether any of the officers were full-bird colonels.

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Severe weather hits central Florida

Tornado touches down in FloridaSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: 25 homes in Hillsborough County were damaged by the stormThunderstorm and tornado warnings are in effect until 8 p.m. ETReports that an airport building collapsed, trapping 70 people, are false, police sayFlorida's emergency management office says it has deployed personnel to the airportCheck out CNN affiliates Bay News 9 and WFLA-TV in the Tampa area for the latest developments.

(CNN) -- Severe weather tore across central Florida on Thursday, causing damage and spawning an apparent tornado in Tampa, the National Weather Service said.

A heavy storm with strong winds hit the Sun 'n Fun aviation fair at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, causing "extensive minor damage and reports of minor injuries," but "all persons so far have been accounted for," said Sgt. Terri Smith of the Lakeland Police Department.

The National Weather Service had reported a building collapse that trapped 70 people at the airport, but that report was false, Smith said.

The Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In & Expo is a six-day aviation-themed festival that provides the primary source of funding for Sun 'n Fun, a nonprofit organization, and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Florida Air Museum.

Greg Lane, a Sun 'n Fun volunteer who is working with a low-power AM radio station at the airport, said the "sky went from gray to black to bluish green" as the storm rolled in.

"You couldn't see the tents that were 50 feet across the drive from us," he said.

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