Florida
Alaskan bears found more than 3,600 miles away from home in Florida
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said two Kodiak bear cubs were found wandering a rural roadway in the western Panhandle in December.
OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. – Two Kodiak bear cubs native to southern Alaska were found wandering on a rural Florida roadway, and the incident was captured on an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy’s body camera.
A local resident alerted authorities to the sighting on Dec. 5 and said it was a sight he had never seen before.
Their size and color were two indications that they weren’t dealing with a species native to Florida, but there remained many questions as to where the duo came from.
The pair appeared healthy and even tried to climb into a responding patrol car.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigation confirmed the resident’s initial theory – the bears weren’t from Florida; they were actually Kodiak cubs from southern Alaska.
BEAR BRAWL IN FLORIDA YARD STUNS HOMEOWNER
The bears were taken to a secure facility, and information regarding the occasion was kept tight-lipped to protect the sanctity of the investigation.
It wasn’t until the last day of January that the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office revealed the circumstances that led to the bears traveling more than 3,600 miles.
A man spotted two bears in a rural region of the Florida Panhandle in December.
(Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office / FOX Weather)
According to investigators, it was determined that the bears escaped a nearby enclosure and that they were being housed by a local resident.
The FWC said that the resident now faces a list of violations but did not release the suspect’s identity.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game told the sheriff’s office that there are only about 3,500 Kodiak bears in existence and are subspecies of the more well-known brown and grizzly bears.
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It remains unclear how someone was able to get the bears to Florida or when they’ll be transported back to The Last Frontier.
According to the state’s fish and game department, there are only about 3,500 Kodiak bears in existence, and they can stand over ten feet tall when on their hind legs.
There have been no additional reports of Kodiak bears wandering through Florida’s wilderness.
A Kodiak brown bear crosses the Ayakulik River, Alaska.
(Photo By DENNIS ANDERSON/Star Tribune via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Florida
Florida warns of Amber Alert scam. Here’s what’s happening
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Florida
Florida girls kidnapped by man they met on Roblox: MCSO
Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff’s Office
INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Two missing Florida girls are back home and a 19-year-old man from Nebraska is behind bars after deputies say he kidnapped them after they met on the gaming app Roblox.
What we know:
According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a service call around 8 p.m. regarding a pair of missing sisters who were 12 and 15 years old.
Family members told deputies that the girls went to a park in Indiantown around 9 a.m. that morning. They were brought back home and their cell phones were taken away as punishment.
The sisters’ family told deputies that the girls may be with someone they had been communicating with on Snapchat.
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The deputies saw that the SnapChat app was deleted from the girls’ phone so they reloaded the app on the phone and saw conversations between the girls and the suspect.
Those conversations revealed that the suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Hser Mu Lah Say, was on his way to Indiantown to pick up the girls and leave.
“We were dealing with a type of abduction,” Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek stated. “We know these girls went willingly, but their age suggested that they had been taken and were probably being removed from our area. That didn’t stop us, however, from searching local motels, local areas, local parks trying to find these young girls. It was literally freezing in Indiantown that night. We were in full crisis mode.”
Dig deeper:
Budensiek said the communication between the girls and the man began in the summer of 2025 on the gaming app Roblox and then eventually moved to Snapchat.
Family said they noticed strange things like gifts, specifically food, showing up to the house.
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Detectives pieced together a timeline and said the suspect left Omaha, Nebraska on Friday morning and drove straight through to Indiantown, arriving on Saturday around 10 a.m.
Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff’s Office
Initially, investigators said the girls planned to meet him at the park, but they were taken back home, and their phones were taken away.
They learned that the suspect was taking I-75 to head back to Nebraska, so the detectives contacted the Florida Highway Patrol and the Georgia State Police.
“There’s nothing good with a grown man coming into the state of Florida, removing two teenage girls, troubled teenage girls, taking them to Omaha, Nebraska,” Budensiek stated.
Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff’s Office
The Georgia State Police pulled the vehicle over and took Lah Say into custody and rescued the girls.
The sheriff noted that the girls were found about five minutes before an Amber Alert was issued for them. He said if it was sent out earlier, the suspect would know the information law enforcement had on him, including details about his car and where they believed he was headed with the girls.
READ: Body found inside truck submerged in Plant City pond during search for missing man: HCSO
What they’re saying:
“In this case, I think we prevented something disastrous,” Budensiek said. “Do we know what would have happened? No, none of us do, but we went through the devices we had available to us at the time. We’ve not seen anything explicit, necessarily, but the suspect was repeatedly warning these young girls that he could get into a lot of trouble for what he was about to do. He knew he was violating the law. We knew that if we didn’t find those girls in a timely manner and everyone did not do what they did to find these girls, they would be in Omaha, Nebraska, missing.”
Lah Say has been charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interference with child custody.
Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff’s Office
What’s next:
Lah Say is awaiting extradition back to Martin County.
The Source: This article was written with information posted online by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and presented during a press conference.
Florida
South Florida farmers warn that freezing temperatures could lead to higher prices in the market as they brace for crop losses
South Florida farmers are assessing damage after freezing temperatures swept across the region early Monday morning, with growers warning that the cold could soon lead to higher prices for fruits and vegetables.
At Kern Carpenter Nursery, owner Kern Carpenter said nearly 20% of his tomato crop was damaged by the overnight freeze.
“The wind died, and it got cold really fast. We did the best we could and still got burned,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter is not alone. Sam Accursio, a green bean farmer in South Florida, shared a video with CBS News Miami showing frost covering his plants just before sunrise.
“These plants were just like an ice cube. You could go up to them, and the leaves were crunchy,” Accursio said.
Accursio and his workers began watering crops before 1 a.m. in an effort to prevent frost damage, but hundreds of plants were still affected.
With another cold night in the forecast, farmers are preparing for more potential losses.
“They’re saying upper 30s, low 40s. We’re hoping we don’t have to crank up anything again,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter added that excess watering can also harm crops, creating another challenge for farmers trying to protect their fields.
At Robert Is Here, a popular South Florida fruit market established in 1959, shoppers may soon feel the impact.
Asked whether prices could increase, owner Robert Moehling Jr. said consumers should expect changes.
“100% you are going to feel it in the market. With the frost, it can cause damage, and having continuous days of frost makes it worse,” he said.
Accursio says green bean prices are especially vulnerable.
“In this particular case, the lack of product will probably drive the price up,” he said.
Despite the losses, some farmers say South Florida could help offset shortages caused by freeze damage in North and Central Florida.
Carpenter said he has already seen tomato prices rise and believes additional cold could make things worse.
“I would think in the next few weeks the prices would go up,” he said.
Farmers say they will need 48 to 72 hours to fully assess the extent of the damage and are still bracing for the impact of another cold night.
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