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Florida
Colossal white shark tagged by OCEARCH, frequent Florida visitor, pings in rare location
Sharks could help predict hurricanes
Researchers at the University of Delaware and hoping that sharks equipped with sensor tags can help forecasters better predict hurricanes.
The largest male great white shark ever tagged and released by the nonprofit research group OCEARCH is making waves again, this time with a rare ping location.
The 13-foot, 9-inch, 1,653-pound shark, nicknamed Contender, was tagged in the waters off the Florida-Georgia border in January 2025.
Shortly after, Contender toured the east coast of Florida.
The massive animal first surfaced in Sunshine State waters on Jan. 26, 2025, pinging three times off the Fernandina Beach coast. Contender then zig-zagged between Amelia Island and Jacksonville Beach before swimming south to the waters off St. Augustine on Feb. 6, Volusia County on Feb. 8 and 9, and Brevard County waters on Feb. 10.
Contender then headed north, pinging off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in July — staying “silent” (or no pings) until Sept. 29.
That’s when the shark pinged about 857 miles north, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northeast of Anticosta Island, Canada, a region OCEARCH-tagged sharks rarely ping from, the group’s senior data scientist John Tyminski said in an Instagram video.
“Big shark, big journey,” Tyminski said.
Tyminski said the food supply – harbor and gray seals, along with abundant schooling fish, such as mackerel and herring – is what’s most likely drawing Contender into the 50-degree waters.
Here’s what to know about Contender, OCEARCH and great white sharks:
Contender is the biggest male great white shark tagged by OCEARCH
Contender measured 13 feet, 9 inches and weighed 1,653 pounds at the time of tagging, making it the largest male white shark ever tagged by OCEARCH.
“Contender is the largest male white shark the OCEARCH team has sampled, tagged, released and studied to date in the NW Atlantic white shark population! So he’s pretty special,” Nicole Ralson, OCEARCH chief marketing officer, said in an email.
Massive great white shark caught and tagged off Florida-Georgia coast
Contender is a 1,653-pound great white shark, the largest male tagged and released by OCEARCH scientists. He was tagged off the Florida-Georgia coast.
What do we know about OCEARCH great white shark Contender, who has surfaced several times in Florida?
Contender, an adult male white shark, was tagged by OCEARCH off the Georgia-Florida coast on Jan. 17, 2025.
“Meet Contender, the ultimate ocean warrior! This powerful white shark was tagged on January 17, 2025, off the FL/GA coast, about 45 miles offshore,” the shark’s tracker page reads. “Contender is a mature male now contributing to OCEARCH’s mission of shark research and ocean conservation.”
According to his tracker, Contender has traveled 3,210 miles since being tagged.
Contender was reportedly named for Contender Boats, a longtime OCEARCH partner.
What is OCEARCH? What does research group do for great white sharks?
OCEARCH is a nonprofit research organization studying the ocean’s giants.
The group studies keystone species, including great white sharks, essential for the health of the oceans.
“At OCEARCH, we’re on a mission to solve the Global White Shark Puzzle. There are nine populations of white sharks across the globe and OCEARCH’s goal is to assist regional scientists to better understand the life of the white shark in each of these populations,” the group’s website states.
Jacksonville University has been the academic home for OCEARCH for nearly a decade and the planned new location for the group’s new headquarters facility is in Mayport, Florida.
How many great white sharks are there?
There’s no absolute data on the global population of white sharks and estimates vary widely – from 3,000 to over 10,000.
According to NOAA Fisheries:
- The stock status for white shark populations in U.S. waters is unknown and no stock assessments have been completed. No stock assessments are currently planned in the Atlantic.
- Research by NOAA Fisheries scientists indicates that abundance trends have been increasing in the northwest Atlantic since regulations protecting them were first implemented in the 1990s.
- According to a NOAA Fisheries status review and recent research, the northeastern Pacific white shark population appears to be increasing and is not at risk of becoming endangered in U.S. waters.
What do great white sharks eat?
According to NOAA Fisheries, white sharks have a diverse and opportunistic diet of fish, invertebrates and marine mammals.
Juvenile white sharks mainly eat bottom fish, smaller sharks and rays, and schooling fish and squids.
Larger white sharks often gather around seal and sea lion colonies to feed and also occasionally scavenge dead whales.
Great white sharks in Florida: Why are they here? What to know
North Atlantic great white sharks spend winters off the southeast U.S., from South Carolina to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s why.
Great white shark facts
- Weight: Up to 4,500 pounds
- Length: About 4 feet (at birth) and up to 21 feet (adult)
- Lifespan: 70 years or more
- Threats: Bycatch, Habitat Impacts, Overfishing. According to NOAA Fisheries, the white shark is a prohibited species (no retention allowed) in all U.S. waters and fisheries. There are no commercial fisheries for white sharks, but they are occasionally caught as bycatch.
- Region: Alaska, New England/Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Islands, Southeast, West Coast
- Teeth: Great white sharks have 300 teeth but don’t chew their food. Instead, they rip it into pieces and swallow it whole. The sharks have an endless supply of teeth, with lost teeth regenerating infinitely.
- Smell: According to OCEARCH, great white sharks can sniff out a single drop of blood in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
- Sight: Great white sharks can see well in low light, enabling them to hunt at dawn, dusk, or in deep waters, OCEARCH reported.
- Additionally, white sharks can detect weak electrical signals emitted by living creatures, even under sand. They also identify vibration changes in the water, allowing them to find prey by sensing movement.
OCEARCH shark tracker: Follow great white sharks in Florida, beyond
North Atlantic great white sharks migrate as far south as Florida and the Gulf in winter, searching for warmer waters and more food sources.
According to the group’s website, OCEARCH is “a global nonprofit organization conducting unprecedented research on our oceans’ giants in order to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean.”
OCEARCH has tagged 140 white sharks, many of them along the Eastern Seaboard and Nova Scotia.
You can follow their journeys on the OCEARCH shark tracker website or by downloading the OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker app.
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Florida
Traffic stop goes viral after Florida deputy accuses driver missing right hand of holding phone
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Video of a traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral over an awkward exchange between the driver and a deputy who accused her of holding a phone while driving.
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“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone,” the deputy tells 36-year-old Kathleen “Katie” Thomas.
“Obviously not,” Thomas says while laughing and holding up her right arm, showing that she’s missing her right hand.
“So you wanna call this a day?” she asks.
“I don’t want to call this a day. You had a hand up, manipulating,” the deputy responds.
“You just said my right hand,” Thomas counters.
“Well, I thought I saw your right hand,” the deputy says.
“So you didn’t,” Thomas responds.
Thomas posted the bodycam footage on Instagram and TikTok where it gained millions of likes.
In the video, although she shows the deputy she doesn’t have a right hand, the deputy doubled down.
“I’m asking you now; did you or not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“You did not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks again.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“Hand to God,” Thomas says.
Court records show Thomas was given a $116 citation despite the presented evidence, but it was later dismissed at the request of the deputy involved.
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Florida
Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes on launch pad in Florida
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that “all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities.”
Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket’s engines.
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket last month.
This rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission as soon as June 4 to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s Leo internet service, which competes with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The 48 satellites were not aboard the rocket during the test. It was not immediately clear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained, or how long it might take to repair it.
Space Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is the only launch pad equipped to launch New Glenn rockets.
The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin’s and NASA’s moon base plans, and the explosion will likely be a setback. Next year, the New Glenn is supposed to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit.
In a social media post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote, “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
The New Glenn rocket had just been cleared on May 22 to return to flight after being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after an anomaly with the second stage during an April 19 launch.
In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it was aware that the rocket had “experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” adding that the “test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities.”
The FAA also noted that “there was no impact to air traffic” from the explosion.
Bezos wrote on X Thursday night, “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
Musk wrote: “Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.”
Florida
Florida to pay Sumrall’s assistants a combined $11.2M in 2026
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Jon Sumrall’s assistants will make a combined $11.2 million in 2026, a significant investment for a program desperate to win more often.
Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner tops the list after signing a three-year, $6.6 million contract to leave Georgia Tech and join Sumrall in Gainesville. Faulker will get $2.1 million in 2026 – the first $2 million coordinator in school history – and has a $100,000 raise set for each of the next two years.
Only six college offensive coordinators were paid $2 million or more in 2025, according to CBS Sports. Fifteen defensive coordinators topped $2 million.
Florida defensive coordinator Brad White signed a three-year, $5.85 million deal that starts at $1.85 million and also includes a $100,000 raise in 2027 and 2028.
The Gators released the contracts Thursday in response to a public records request.
Sumrall signed a six-year, $44.7 million contract last year that averages $7.45 million annually. The Gators will dole out more than $20 million to Sumrall, his staff of 15 assistants and a front office led by new general manager Dave Caldwell.
Four of the assistants are scheduled to earn at least $1 million during their deals.
Defensive line coach Gerald Chapman and offensive line coach Phil Trautwine will join Faulker and White in the seven-figure club. Chapman, the lone holdover from former Florida coach Billy Napier’s staff, will make $950,000 this year and $1 million in 2027. Trautwine, meanwhile, starts at $750,000 and jumps to $1 million. Both signed two-year deals.
Their salaries show Sumrall’s commitment to rebuilding the team along both lines of scrimmage in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.
Napier’s 12-man coaching staff was paid a combined $7.5 million in 2025. The Gators posted three losing seasons in Napier’s four years.
The rest of Sumrall’s staff range between making $350,000 and $600,000 annually, all of them on two-year contracts.
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