SEACREST, Florida — Authorities are using boats to patrol the ocean and warning swimmers about sharks this weekend along Florida’s Gulf Coast, where three people were hurt in two separate shark attacks on Friday.

The attacks off beaches in the Florida Panhandle led authorities to temporarily close several beaches to swimmers on Friday. Beaches were reopened Saturday, with flags warning of high hazards.

In Walton County, the sheriff’s office, fire department and the state’s wildlife agency were working together to patrol the water with boats and the shore with vehicles, the South Walton Fire District said in an update Saturday. Both of Friday’s attacks happened in Walton County.

“Please swim carefully today, respect the Gulf, stay hydrated, and look out for your loved ones,” the fire department said on social media.

Red and purple flags were being used Saturday to warn swimmers of the dangers.

“Purple Flags indicate the presence of dangerous marine life and single red flags indicate high hazard conditions,” the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post on Saturday.

Small fish are traveling in schools near the shore this time of year, which might have been a contributing factor in the attacks, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.

The first attack happened Friday afternoon when a woman was bitten by a shark near WaterSound Beach, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said. She had critical injuries on her midsection and arm, and part of her arm had to be amputated, South Walton Fire Chief Ryan Crawford said at a news briefing. She was flown to a trauma center.

Less than two hours later, firefighters responded to another beach about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) east of the first attack “following multiple reports of a teenager injured by a shark,” the sheriff’s office said.

Two teenage girls were in waist-deep water with a group of friends when they were attacked, the South Walton Fire District said.

“When lifeguards and deputies arrived on scene, they found one of the females had significant injuries to the upper leg and one hand,” fire officials said in an update. She was flown to a trauma center. The other teen had what officials described as minor injuries on one of her feet.

“For two of these incidents to happen on the same day is highly unusual,” Crawford said.

The time of the attacks — in the middle of the afternoon — was also an anomaly, Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said. He noted that sheriff’s officials often warn people to be aware of sharks early in the morning and at dusk, their typical feeding times.

Also Friday, in Hawaii, a woman was seriously injured in an apparent shark attack in the waters off the island of Oahu, officials said.

Shark attacks are rare, according to experts.

There were 69 unprovoked bites last year worldwide, and 10 of those were fatal, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File. That was higher than the recent average of six deaths per year.

After a week-long wait, the 2024 Stanley Cup Final has finally arrived. It all begins on Saturday night (8 p.m ET, ABC) as the Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the series.

For the Panthers, this is relatively familiar territory. They were just here a year ago, eventually losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.

For this Oilers core, this is uncharted territory. They try to not only end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought (going back to Montreal in 1993) but help land Connor McDavid the only thing his resume is missing: a Stanley Cup.

That is going to be the dominant storyline for most of the series, especially at the start. And if the Oilers are actually able to pull this off, it seems like it’s going to have to be on the backs of their top three players (McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard). They have been the driving force behind almost all of this run, as at least one of them has been on the ice for 55 of the Oilers’ 63 goals this postseason. At least two of them have been on the ice for 45 of the goals.

McDavid alone has been on the ice for 42 of them and had a direct hand in 31 of them (five goals, 26 assists).

It’s rare that such a top-heavy team reaches this point, but it is a testament to how dominant the Oilers’ top players are and have been in this year’s playoffs. If McDavid gets his Cup carrying this much of the weight offensively, it will only add to his legend.

Odds are from BetMGM and update live. Buy tickets to see your favorite team on StubHub.

Edmonton Oilers at Florida Panthers  — Game 1

How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on ABC, SN

Series odds: Panthers -130, Oilers +110

• The Oilers might legitimately be having the best special teams postseason performance in NHL history. Their 37.3 percent power play success rate is the second-best all-time for teams with at least 15 games in a single postseason, while their 93.9 percent penalty killing success rate is the best all-time for teams with at least 15 games in a single postseason.
• Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard is just 10 points behind Paul Coffey for the most points in a single postseason for a defender. Coffey had 37 points in 1984-85, while Bouchard enters this series with 27 points.
• Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe has become one of the best big-game players in the playoffs in the past few years. Since the start of the 2021-22 playoffs, his nine postseason game-winning goals are the most in the NHL during that time. No other player in the league during that stretch has more than six game-winning goals.
• McDavid is going to get a big challenge in this series going against Aleksander Barkov. In the first three rounds, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak and Artemi Panarin played 85 minutes of even-strength hockey against Barkov’s line and combined to score exactly one goal between the three of them in those minutes.
• Neither starting goalie — Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky or Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner — has been especially dominant at any point in this postseason. Bobrovsky’s .908 save percentage is fourth out of nine goalies with at least six appearances this postseason, while Skinner’s .897 is seventh out of that group. Given the strength of both offenses, this has the potential to be a high-scoring series.

Expert picks for Oilers at Panthers

Picks standings

(Photo of Connor McDavid and Stuart Skinner: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida says he’ll be voting in November against a ballot amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in his state, a deeply personal decision based on his brother’s long history of addiction.

The senator and former Florida governor said he watched his brother Roger Scott begin smoking marijuana as a teenager and then struggle with substance use for the rest of life.

“People end up with addictive personalities, and so he did,” Scott said in an interview. “It messes up your life, and so that’s why I’ve never supported legalization of drugs.”

When Roger Scott died in April at 67, the cause wasn’t substance abuse, but rather “a life of drugs and alcohol” catching up with him, the senator said. He had lived in an apartment in Dallas, Texas, where he served jail time in 1990 on a misdemeanor conviction of possessing dangerous drugs, court records show.

Rick Scott became wealthy as a lawyer and health care industry executive before entering politics. Now running for reelection, he lamented that his brother had a “tough life” and says it all began with marijuana.

Scott’s no-vote on marijuana falls in line with other state and national Republicans who question whether marijuana leads to using other riskier substances.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse included in a 2019 webpage that most cannabis users don’t go on to use “harder substances,” but a statement from the agency also said using THC, marijuana’s psychoactive compound, may cause brain changes that could make a person more likely to develop an addiction to other drugs.

Amie Goodin, who researches marijuana safety at the University of Florida, said studies have found those who use riskier drugs often previously used marijuana, but that research hasn’t established whether marijuana “is actually the cause” for someone to seek more powerful substances.

Florida’s voter initiative would legalize recreational marijuana use if the amendment receives 60% or more yes votes this November. That would also obligate the Florida Legislature to establish regulations and a framework for production and sales. Florida is among 38 states that have legalized medical marijuana, and would join 24 others that have legalized recreational use.

Scott opposes this change alongside Florida’s Republican Party, which formally announced its opposition in early May. They contend the amendment would “benefit powerful marijuana special interests, while putting children at risk and endangering Florida’s family-friendly business and tourism climates.”

The amendment’s sponsor, Smart & Safe Florida, said on its website that approval would enable Floridians to have “accountability, transparency, and regulations” in place. Among other benefits, this could ensure legal cannabis won’t be laced with unknown and potentially dangerous chemicals, it said.

Voters approved medical marijuana when Scott was governor, but Scott and the Legislature placed tight restrictions on its use, including banning smokable marijuana. Cannabis advocates then sued and a court agreed to allow smokable medical marijuana just before Scott left office. His successor, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, chose not to appeal.

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Brendan Farrington contributed to this report from Tallahassee, Florida.

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