Florida

Snake hunters will wrangle invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades during Florida's 10-day challenge

Published

2 years ago

August 9, 2024

Snake hunters will wrangle invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades during Florida's 10-day challenge

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Friday marked the start of the annual Florida Python Challenge, where hunters head into the Everglades to track down invasive Burmese pythons in hopes of grabbing a share of $30,000 in prizes.

The annual 10-day hunt, which started more than a decade ago, promotes public awareness of issues with invasive species in Florida while engaging the public in Everglades conversation, said Sarah Funck, the wildlife impact management section leader with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“They are a well-established invasive species across much of South Florida, unfortunately, in our natural areas,” Funck said of Burmese pythons. “A huge part of this challenge is to make sure that people understand about this issue and understand that in general, when you have a non-native species present in the state for whatever purpose, don’t let it loose, that can be really detrimental to our environment.”

Over the past decade, the python challenge has grabbed headlines for it’s incentive-based, only-in-Florida style of hunting as well as celebrity participation. This year, more than 600 people registered for the event, with two coming from Canada and 108 from other states.

During the challenge, hunters will linger around designated areas spanning through western Broward County to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, including other management areas like Southern Glades, Holey Land and Rotenberger.

The goal is to humanely kill as many pythons as possible, and prizes divide between three groups: professional hunters who work for the state, hunters who are active in the military or are veterans and novice hunters, which includes anyone who is not working as a state contracted python hunter.

Each category has its own prizes, with $2,500 going to the person or team that kills the most pythons, $1,500 going to the runner-up for most kills and $1,000 going to whoever kills the longest python. The grand prize for the most kills in all categories gets a $10,000 prize.

Each person can only win one prize, so if someone is tops in two categories, they will end up with the highest-valued prize and the next qualifying hunter gets the remaining prize.

In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District and the state began hiring contractors to handle its invasive python problem year round. According to the wildlife agency’s website, through 2023, more than 11,000 pythons have been removed by these contractors.

Last year’s challenge brought in 209 pythons and the grand prize winner was Paul Hobbs, who bagged 20 pythons. Also during 2023, Florida wildlife agency and district contractors removed about 2,200 pythons.

Amy Siewe, the self-named Python Huntress, won a prize last year for catching a Burmese python measuring 10 feet and 9 inches (327 centimeters). This year, she won’t be participating in the challenge due to a knee surgery but said she’s not a fan of the annual challenge.

Siewe, who used to work as a state contractor catching invasive pythons, said she believed the initial intent of the challenge was to bring awareness to the issue. Now, it’s drawing large crowds of hunters, potentially scaring off pythons and potentially killing native snakes they mistake as pythons, like corn snakes, brown water snakes or cottonmouths.

“Pythons don’t take on their normal behavioral pattern because there’s so much traffic and they’ll come up and then they’ll go back into the swamp,” Siewe said. “I feel for myself, it’s counterproductive.”

Participants are required to undergo an online training, including information on how to identify Burmese pythons versus other snakes, Funck said. She said there’s also an additional optional in-person training participants can attend to properly identify Burmese pythons.

“That’s a huge part of what we do, is try to get the word out on how to identify these pythons, how to safely and humanely capture it,” Funck said.

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Florida

Florida man accused of driving drunk, causing head-on crash and seriously injuring 2

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2026

Press Room

Florida man accused of driving drunk, causing head-on crash and seriously injuring 2

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A driver accused of driving under the influence caused a head-on crash that sent two people to the hospital before crashing into a fence, abandoning his vehicle and fleeing the scene, authorities said.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, at about 11:42 p.m. Tuesday, Kelly Castleman was driving on Turner Road in Tampa when he crashed into a sedan, causing it to strike an SUV and resulting in a head-on collision. The drivers of the sedan and the SUV were taken to the hospital with serious and critical injuries.

See also: Armed Florida man arrested after setting restaurant on fire with propane tank, police say

Deputies say Castleman’s vehicle continued north before crashing through a fence. According to the sheriff’s office, he stopped in the backyard of a nearby residence and then fled the scene on foot.

Castleman was found about a mile from his apartment and taken into custody. Investigators say he provided breath samples of 0.287 and 0.283.

Castleman is charged with DUI with serious bodily injury, DUI with a breath-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher and property damage, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury, and leaving the scene of a crash involving unattended property.

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Florida

Florida Airport Officially Renamed After Trump. Here’s What to Know

Published

12 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

Florida Airport Officially Renamed After Trump. Here’s What to Know

The Palm Beach International Airport was officially renamed to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport on Thursday, becoming the latest place to take on the President’s name since he took office for a second term.

The Florida airport announced the change on social media early Thursday morning, changing its handle on X to bear the new name and saying that staffers were “working behind the scenes to update our physical signage, terminal spaces, and digital channels to our new name.”

The President’s son, Eric Trump, said that his father’s plane, which he was on, was the first flight to land at the newly-branded airport.

“There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor,” Eric Trump said in a post on X. “As a son, and someone who flies out of this airport nearly every day, I will forever be proud to see the initials ‘DJT’ on my boarding pass.”

Here’s what to know about the change.

Why was the airport renamed?

In March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill to rename the Palm Beach airport after Trump, after state lawmakers passed the legislation. The Trump Organization had previously submitted trademark applications for possible airport names.

The President frequently travels through the Palm Beach hub, as it’s close to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

There are a number of airports across the country named after U.S. Presidents, such as New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. But the Palm Beach rebranding makes Trump the first President to have an airport named after him while in the White House.

When does the name change go into effect?

The airport was officially renamed on Thursday, but it said on its website that “transition activities, including updates to signage, branding and public-facing materials, will occur in phases.”

Will the name change affect airport operations?

The airport said on its website that “airport operations and services will continue without interruption” and that flight routes and schedules will not be impacted by the change. It added that “this is a branding change only,” and that the airport’s ownership and governance will not undergo any changes.

The three-letter identifier that airlines and travelers reference for services related to their flights, such as ticketing and baggage handling, will change from “PBI” to “DJT,” but the airport said on its website that that change will go into effect on Aug. 18. Until that date, travelers should stick to using the original code, “PBI.”

As of Thursday afternoon, some airline booking sites, such as Delta’s portal, recognized both codes, while others, such as American Airlines, only recognized the original PBI identifier.

How much is the rebranding going to cost?

According to the airport’s website, the Palm Beach County Department of Airports predicted that the total cost of rolling out the new name for the travel hub would be roughly $5.5 million. That amount will cover the price of changing airport signage, branding, and printed materials, among other items.

The state has allocated $2.75 million in funding for the rebranding, according to the airport’s website. The rest of the funding for the project will come from the Department of Airports’ operating budget and capital improvement program. The airport said that the rebranding “does not result in a separate fee charged to passengers.”

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Summer Scheming ‘26: Florida State Seminoles

Published

22 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

Summer Scheming ‘26: Florida State Seminoles

After a stellar run at Memphis Mike Norvell has had a rollercoaster run in Tallahassee as the Florida State Seminoles head football coach. Norvell finished his four year stint at Memphis with a 38-15 record.

At FSU Norvell started off slow winning only eight games in two years. Then the ‘Noles had an awakening and won 23 games from 2022-2023. And now that reality has come crashing back down with seven wins the past two seasons.

FSU will have 17 transfers in the 2-deep once again in 2026. It’s become a double-edged sword where he only way Norvell can keep his job (buyout be damned) after this year is to inject talent into the roster but he’s got a bad culture in the field house up at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Now let’s put the ‘Noles through The Goal, our 2026 Summer Scheming analysis system.

Acquisition: The ’Noles high school recruiting hasn’t been as ‘bad’ s advertised. FSU is 16th over the past three years in prep signings and 14th when it comes to the transfer portal for an average of 15th overall.

Development: Now this is the crazy part. Over the past couple of years the ‘Noles have only produced eight NFL players. Only eight have stuck it out from the 2025 and 2026 NFL Draft classes. Remember all of those drafts loaded with FSU talent like Jameis Winston and Jared Verse? Right now it’s Deuce Robinson and who else?

Deployment: This preseason Bill Connelly’s SP+ has FSU 35th in overall SP+. The Seminole offense is 45th, the defense 30th and the kicking game is 94th. So where as Mike Norvell has the 15th best players he’s producing the 35th best team. He’s revamped his coordinators once again sending Gus Malzahn off to the glue factory and promoting Tim Harris Jr to OC.

The bottleneck to success at FSU is the culture within the program. The Seminoles went hellbent on the transfer portal to improve from 5-7 to 10-3 and dipped their toe in again to move to 13-1. They were Jordan Travis’ leg away from competing for a national championship. But injuries do happen and losing your starting QB is a devastating one.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 05: A fan cosplays as Scorpion from Mortal Kombat during the 2018 New York Comic Con at Javits Center on October 5, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

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Mike Norvell has taken the Manny Diaz approach to the transfer portal and it’s killed any semblance of a culture that could possibly have been built in the FSU locker room AND he’s losing games.

The FSU strength of schedule is 45th of 138 in FBS per CFB News. Florida State faces SMU before an off week. Then they head to Tuscaloosa to play the Alabama Crimson Tide. After a cupcake, FSU hosts UVA before consecutive road trips to Louisville and Miami. The ‘Noles also face Clemson, Pitt and Florida over the back half of the schedule.

The inventory space includes returning production per Bill Connelly, the On3 top-100 list and the Athlon preseason All-Conference Team honorees. The ’Noles returning production is 48th in FBS at 57% production. FSU has two players on the On3 top-100 list in WR Deuce Robinson (74th) and DL Mandrell Desir (97th). The ‘Noles have one player on the Athlon All-ACC Team and that’s Robinson.

CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA – NOVEMBER 08: Mandrell Desir #93 of the Florida State Seminoles sacks Cade Klubnik #2 of the Clemson Tigers during the first half of a football game at Memorial Stadium on November 08, 2025 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)

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FSU hit the transfer portal for four of their five potential starting OL in ‘26. They also brought in QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn) and RB Quintrevion Wisner (Texas). Daniels is another FSU QB with a penchant for throwing interceptions.

Robinson averaged 19.3 yards per catch with six scores in 2025. Wisner adds over four yards per carry and three TD’s from his run at Texas. On defense M. Desir returns with 7.5 TFL’s and 6.5 sacks from a year ago.

Southern Miss transfer LB Chris Jones logged 9.5 TFL’s and 3.5 sacks a year ago. Another transfer, this one DB Nehemiah Chandler, picked up 13 PBU’s last season with two INT’s.

Mike Norvell is committing highway robbery with the past two seasons performances. After the 13-1 season and the Alabama opening with Nick Saban’s retirement, Norvell landed himself a nice raise up to $10.3M a season. The issue is they’ve only won six games per season under Norvell which adds up to $1.7M per win. That’s second to only Bill Belichick in the grand theft coaching category.

There is no chance the goal at FSU is anything short of eight wins. What a sad cry from only three seasons ago when the ‘Noles were potentially a national championship program. That’s the crux of the transfer portal, live by the transfer / die by the transfer.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – MARCH 13: Head Coach Mike Norvell of the Florida State Seminoles during Spring Football Practice at the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility on the campus of Florida State University on March 13, 2026 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

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Highly successful clubs have started to be extremely careful with who comes in and out of their program, think: Ohio State, Notre Dame, Indiana and even lately- Miami. The vetting process is pivotal for not bottlenecking your success by bringing in locker room cancers.

Season Prediction: I can see this winding up anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5. They’ve got the 2nd most players on the On3 top-11 than anyone else on Miami’s schedule (ND has five). They also have the 15th best grouping of talent in the country. And yet I just can’t see Daniels, four new OL, a new RB, and another dozen guys on defense gelling together under Mike Norvell and into some phoenix that rises from the ashes of the ACC cellar.

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