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Tropical Storm Milton could hit Florida as a major hurricane midweek

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Tropical Storm Milton could hit Florida as a major hurricane midweek


MIAMI (AP) — People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Milton, for now just a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico, could intensify rapidly into a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

Tropical Storm Milton’s center was about 860 miles (1,385 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, early Sunday, heading east at 5 mph (7 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

“Milton is moving slowly but is expected to strengthen rapidly,” the center said. “There is increasing confidence that a powerful hurricane with life-threatening hazards will be affecting portions of the Florida west coast around the middle of this week.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard — “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.”

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“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “Know your evacuation zone — there will be mandatory and voluntary evacuations.”

DeSantis said as many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Transportation to remove debris, and he declared a state of emergency in 35 counties ahead of Milton. He said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption.

“All available state assets … are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 … it’s all hands on deck.”

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended her agency’s response to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene after Republicans’ false claims, amplified by former President Donald Trump, created a frenzy of misinformation across devastated communities.

“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people and it’s really a shame we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It’s created fear and mistrust among residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground across the southeast, she said.

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Despite this, Criswell said the agency is already preparing for Milton, well before it’s clear exactly where it will move across the Florida peninsula this week. “We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.

The hurricane center said Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas should monitor the system’s progress. Heavy rainfall was expected Sunday ahead of the storm itself, and will likely then combine with Milton’s rainfall to flood waterways and streets in Florida, where forecasters said up to a foot (30 centimeters) of rain could fall in places through Wednesday night.

“There is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday. Residents in these areas should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place, follow any advice given by local officials, and check back for updates to the forecast,” the center said.

The Atlantic hurricane season has become more active as rescuers in the U.S. Southeast continue to search for people unaccounted for in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which left a huge trail of death and catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains.

Hurricane Kirk diminished to a Category 2 hurricane in the open Atlantic early, with top winds of 105 mph (165 kph), sending large swells and “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” to Bermuda and northward along the U.S. and Canadian coasts, the center said. Hurricane Leslie also was moving northwest over the open Atlantic, with top winds of 85 mph (140 kph) but posing no threats to land.

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Skunks, warthogs & monkeys, oh my! Here’s what Florida records reveal about 140+ captive animal escapes since 2022

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Skunks, warthogs & monkeys, oh my! Here’s what Florida records reveal about 140+ captive animal escapes since 2022


Kangaroos, monkeys, giant lizards, snakes and a 2,000-pound white rhinoceros are among more than 140 animals that escaped from captivity in Florida since 2022, according to state wildlife records obtained by News4JAX sister station WKMG in Orlando.

The escaped animals, which include some exotic and non-native species that require a state license to possess, slipped away from enclosures located in homes, businesses, wildlife sanctuaries and accredited zoos.

One notable case includes a white rhinoceros at Wild Florida in Osceola County in 2022. The rhino was supposed to be part of a new exhibit at the park, but it escaped its enclosure and, in the end, was killed.

The USDA determined the park violated the federal Animal Welfare Act in that case.

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Another case involved a kangaroo in Volusia County that escaped its enclosure after a bear damaged it in 2024. The kangaroo was eventually found and the owner was fined.

Several escapes have been reported at the Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens since 2022, but in each case, the critters were recaptured by zoo staff and no injuries were reported.

In one case at the zoo, during an education program on April 1, 2022, a cane toad kept in a small container was left on a wagon in a portable classroom while everyone went outside for the outdoor segment.

Video security footage later showed the cane toad hopping out of its container and then heading out a door that was left ajar. Staff set traps near the portables and searched for days before recapturing the cane toad on April 18, 2022.

Only certain species of captive animals must be reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when they escape. The state agency believes those escapes are under-reported due to the owners’ apprehension and fear of enforcement action.

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INTERACTIVE MAP: Tracking animal escapes around Central Florida

According to FWC records obtained and compiled by WKMG investigative reporter Mike DeForest, escaped animals in the Northeast Florida area since 2022 include:

  • Striped Skunk — High Springs (Alachua County), Feb. 2022; captured by neighbor and returned to owner

  • White-faced capuchins (3) — Gainesville (Alachua County), March 2022; ​two of the monkeys never left the property of Koreymonde Capuchin Rescue and were recaptured quickly. The third monkey was caught by a neighbor luring it into vehicle where it was contained.

  • Cane Toad — Jacksonville (Duval County), April 2022; a cane toad used in education programs at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens escaped from a small container that was placed in a wagon in the classroom when everyone went outside for the outdoor segment of the program; video security footage shows the cane toad hopping out of its container and then heading out a door that was left ajar; later recaptured by zoo staff

  • Wild Turkey — Jacksonville (Duval County), October 2022; two turkeys in the Wild Florida exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens escaped; one went back in immediately and the other jumped out and ran down the tracks toward the bald eagle exhibit. Staff netted the turkey behind the scenes between the bald eagle and whooping crane exhibit

  • Fox — Lake City (Columbia County), January 2023; remains loose; owner issued written warning

  • Raccoons (2) — Hilliard (Nassau County), March 2023; 2 disabled raccoons escaped and are presumed dead

  • Axis Deer — Robert’s Ranch BHP (Putnam County), April 2023; recaptured by owner, who received written warning

  • Capybara — (Duval County), March 2024; recaptured by owner

  • Chinese Alligator — St. Augustine (St. Johns County), April 2024; escaped at St. Augustine Alligator Farm; recaptured by staff

  • Fennec Fox — Yulee (Nassau County), Aug. 2024; recaptured by owner, who received written warning

  • Capuchins (2) — Gainesville (Alachua County), Oct. 2024; escaped from Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary; recaptured by staff

  • Warthog — Jacksonville (Duval County), Dec. 2024; escaped at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens; recaptured by staff

  • Red Fox — Jacksonville (Duval County), March 2025; fox escaped from owner, killed by car

  • Ring-tailed Lemur — Jacksonville (Duval County), April 2025; escaped from same owner as red fox above; recaptured by owner, who received a written warning

  • Blackbuck — Gainesville (Alachua County), April 2025; escaped and was killed on a road

  • Boa constrictor — Yulee (Nassau County), June 2025; escaped and was recaptured by unpermitted owner, who received written warning

  • Beaded lizard — Gainesville (Alachua County), June 2025; escaped and was recaptured by owner, who received written warning

  • Black throat monitor — Jacksonville (Duval County), July 2025; escaped unpermitted owner and remains on the loose; written warning issued/misdemeanor pending

  • Rhino Iguana — Gainesville (Alachua County), Aug. 2025; escaped and was recaptured by owner

  • Wattled Crane — Jacksonville (Duval County), Aug. 2025; escaped at Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens before being recaptured

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.



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South Florida scientists studying newborn sea turtles

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South Florida scientists studying newborn sea turtles


BOCA RATON, Fla. — There are only two facilities in the entire world that study leatherback turtle hatchlings, and South Florida is home to one of them.

Inside, there are pools upon pools upon pools, all filled with newborn sea turtles.

The team at the Florida Atlantic University Marine Science Lab in Boca Raton provides groundbreaking research in understanding how turtles live and survive in the ocean.

“We bring in different species of sea turtles, the loggerheads, the greens and the leatherbacks and we raise them usually anywhere from two to six months,” said lab coordinator Emila Turla.

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Director Jeanette Wyneken has been studying these reptiles for 24 years.

“We need to know what characteristics the population of turtles have that may be advantageous for species recovery, they are all either threatened or endangered,” she said. “One of the things we never knew was that this species of turtle dives down pretty far, at least at this age, we know the big ones do but we didn’t know the little guys are going down.”

Experts say the mysterious leatherbacks spend 70% of their lives in deep water.

The research facility is using satellite tagging to answer questions about the turtles that have never been known, until now.

“One of our turtles went down to 330 feet on one breath, one little baby leatherback turtle,” said Turia. “And the turtles are typically going to about 230 feet deep.”

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But it’s what is happening in the nests on the beach that has these scientists focusing on the vulnerable leatherbacks that have declined by 90%,

David Anderson works in tandem with the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex on one very important study.

“My team and I survey all five miles of Boca Raton beaches for all the sea turtle nesting activity,” he said. “The sex ratio study, to determine how many hatchlings are male and how many hatchlings are female from that particular nest, because they are temperature dependent to be male or female.”

Meaning if its cool in the sandy nests, the leatherbacks will be male, and if those nests are hot then the turtles will be female.

Tje team’s research over decades shows the heat is producing way too many females and not nearly enough males.

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“We know in general its hot chicks cool dudes, but the hot part up here, that’s easy, it’s too hot to make anything but girls,” said Wyneken. “If it gets too much hotter they’re just dead so that’s too hot to hatch.”

Climate change, a hotter planet, warming oceans, all of these symptoms are capable of wiping out the sensitive sea turtle population, but this turtle nesting season has seen a whopping 41 leatherback nests on Boca Raton beaches so far, which is double the annual average.

“Just because there’s a lot of nest numbers doesn’t mean everything’s great, because the hatchlings still have a tremendous struggle to survive to adulthood, which would take them 20-25 years to do so,” said Anderson.

Only one in one thousand hatchlings will even survive, and this summer season has seen record breaking heat.

Hatchlings also get confused by light pollution and piles of seaweed that trump the feverish work of tiny flippers.

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After the turtles grow to the size of a human hand, they take a boat ride offshore to be released into the gulf stream.

Some will be equipped with satellite tags to continue the search for answers to help understand how to help in the sea turtle species survival.

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.





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Looking for Florida brewery, winery, distillery, cidery? Here are 17

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Looking for Florida brewery, winery, distillery, cidery? Here are 17



The Treasure Coast has 13 breweries, 4 distilleries, 1 winery and 1 cider house.

Looking for somewhere to kick back and chug a frosty brew or smooth glass of wine?

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The Treasure Coast has plenty of breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries.

Here is every one in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. If we missed any, email valeria.bartra@tcpalm.com.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY

Four friends — David BuShea Jr., Nick Bischoff, Mike Sturgis and Danny Horton — opened the Treasure Coast’s first brewery in Fort Pierce’s historic Edgartown neighborhood north of downtown in 2013. That’s is now Pierced Ciderworks. They moved downtown to a larger, 25,000-square-foot space on Second Street in 2017. The brewery went from a three-barrel system to a 20-barrel system. It hosts bingo nights, trivia nights, holiday celebrations and live music performances. Its signature and most popular beer is the Sunrise City pale ale.

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Gary Roberts opened Summer Crush, the Treasure Coast’s first and only winery, on the same property as his nursery and landscaping business in 2012. He planted 6 miles of vines on 10 acres, using two native muscadine grape varieties: Carlos for white wines and Noble for red wines. His estate wines are made with only his grapes. For others, he supplements his homegrown grapes with the same two varieties from other Florida vineyards. Summer Crush has all the components of a boutique winery: a vineyard; cellar and crush pad; tasting room and gift shop; and festival and event area with a covered pavilion for concerts. Summer Crush specializes in muscadine and tropical fruit wines. Almost all the specialty wines can be made as the “estate” version, which contains 100% of Summer Crush’s grapes. It also hosts live music and tribute band performances. Its signature wine is the Old Florida White table wine.

St. Lucie County firefighters Jim Kelly and Robert Tearle, along with Tearle’s cousin, Jeffrey Blitman, opened the brewery in a St. Lucie West industrial park in 2017. They started homebrewing in 2011 and sold apparel to raise enough money to open a brewery. The 2,000-square-foot Port St. Lucie brew house, containing a 15-barrel system, is separated from the taproom by large glass windows. It often has food trucks. It hosts music bingo nights, ladies nights, beer and corn pong nights as well as live music performances. Its signature drink is its award-winning Puckr’d “Mother Pucker” beer; it also serves ciders, sangria and specialty drinks.

Fox & Crown is an authentic British pub with legit British food and beer, said owner Matthew Teun. His roots are English, and some of his family still lives there. The pub opened in 2025 and serves food imported from England that includes Scotch eggs, sausage rolls, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and steak and kidney pies. Even bags of potato chips — called “crisps” in England — are imported with flavors that include tomato ketchup, pickled onion and prawn cocktail. Teun also plans to brew beers with British and European influences, including a traditional pale ale, a traditional English IPA he named “London IPA” and a British red ale, which is sweeter than an Irish red ale. Guest taps include Wrexham Lager. It hosts weekly trivia nights, karaoke sessions and shows European football matches. Its signature drink is a pub ale called the Crown Standard Bitter.

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Jon Nolli opened the Treasure Coast’s first cidery in Fort Pierce’s historic Edgartown neighborhood north of downtown in 2018. The 1901 home previously was owned by famed photographer Harry Hill and occupied by Sailfish Brewing Co. The current cidermaker is Rich Milton. Unique flavors include caramel apple, lime habanero, chocolate hazelnut and peanut butter jelly. It typically has a food truck near the outdoor back deck and an old, brown rat rod parked in front. Its signature year-round ciders are the ‘Merica Dry and the Coco Loconut. It hosts yoga events, bluegrass jam nights, bingo nights, yappy hour and other live music events.

Florida Atlantic University friends Jose Herrera, Tyrone Bradley, Chris Trentine and Nik Schroth started Islamorada Brewing Co. in the Florida Keys in 2014, then opened a second location near the St. Lucie County airport in 2016. That 25,000-square-foot production facility and taproom allowed for 10 times more brewing. They later expanded to add a distillery and changed its name to Islamorada Brewing & Distillery. Its signature beers are the Sandbar Sunday, Islamorada Ale and Channel Marker IPA. It hosts regular and music bingo nights, flip nights, fishing club meetups, line dancing and themed trivia nights.

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Thomas Neidhart and his sons, T.J. and Michael, opened a second location of their brewery in Port St. Lucie in 2025. They opened their first location in Yaphank, Long Island, New York, in 2023. The food is overseen by their partner and close friend, Matt Rappa of Wading River, New York, who has owned multiple pizzerias and restaurants in his hometown. Neidhart’s daughter, Alyssa, is the face of the company. Southpaw Brewing is known for its craft beer, inventive craft cocktails and pub food, featuring crispy, flat-crust, brick-oven pizza. Southpaw also serves cider. It hosts national holiday events such as national French fry day, national mojito day and national chicken wing day. Its signature beer is the Lefty Lucie Lite Lager.

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

Hogan Yards opened near the Vero Beach airport in June 2026. The unique entertainment complex has BBQ, games, pickleball, craft beer and live music in the former Hogan & Sons citrus packing house. Orchid Island Brewery provides the craft beer, and Pepper & Salt BBQ provides the Texas-style barbecue. The brewery uses ingredients grown on-site and from area groves. The owners — Tom and Tiffany Corr, Alden and Valerie Bing, and John and Heather Chianis —grow mangoes, finger limes and vanilla beans on-site to use in their beer. It hosts live music nights and its signature brew is Orchid Island Brewery’s Star Ruby Grapefruit IPA.

Pete and Lynn Anderson initially opened Sebastian’s first brewery in a U.S. 1 plaza in 2014 before moving two blocks north to the original Sebastian post office in 2017. The new location gave them better exposure and a bigger space to triple their beer production. The couple, who moved to Florida in 2004, previously lived on the West Coast and were exposed to the craft beer scenes of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California that had been around since the mid-1980s. They named the brewery after the human tendency to see familiar objects or patterns in otherwise random or unrelated objects or patterns, such as faces, and such photos decorate the walls. Its small kitchen offers hot dogs, flatbreads, paninis and other snacks. Its signature drinks are the 32958 Hazy IPA, also known as the Zipcode, and Mel’s Gold Ale. It hosts open mic nights, trivia nights and live music nights.

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Mike Malone and Alan Dritenbas opened the brewery in a former World War II aviation supply warehouse just south of the Vero Beach airport. Malone now runs the business with his wife, Brooke. The name comes from the nickname for red mangrove trees whose roots continually “walk” outward toward the water. Its beer has won multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival. The building uses large industrial fans instead of air conditioning. It had food trucks for years, but Linda Moore and Courtney Cotherman opened the Salvador Deli restaurant inside the brewery in 2024. Moore, who co-owns the Kilted Mermaid in Vero Beach, and Cotherman, who worked there for 10 years, started Salvador Deli together in 2022 for catering events. Its award-winning beers are the Barnacled Manatee Barleywine, Babycakes Oatmeal Stout, Walking Tree IPA, Treasure Kolsch, Straw Hat Blonde Ale and the Prop Root English Pale Ale. It hosts board game nights, yoga events, live music and trivia nights.

Developer Michael Rechter opened the brewery in 2017 in Vero Beach’s former diesel power plant, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. He paid the city $500,000 for the building in 2016 and spent over $4 million in renovations. The original giant diesel engine is the backdrop. The brewery has a full-service kitchen, garden area, outdoor patio and mezzanine that allows customers to look down on the operations. Rechter opened a second location in Fort Lauderdale in 2019, which closed in 2022. It hosts paint parties, trivia Tuesdays and holiday events. Its signature beer is the Icon Gold lager.

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Derek Gerry and Patrick Kirchner opened Sebastian’s second brewery within walking distance of what later became Pareidolia Brewing Co. in 2018. They started brewing beer together as members of the Boil Over Boys homebrewing club from their homes in Sebastian. The brewery’s name references their blue-collar lives. They make traditional brews, such as a German-style Kolsch, as well as their own creations, including a bloody mary beer. The brewery offers small bites at the bar and often has food trucks. It hosts food truck events, live music performances and Monday trivia nights.

Vero Beach natives Ray and Mandy Hooker opened Indian River Distillery in 2023 in a 4,000-square-foot city-owned building near the Vero Beach airport. It doesn’t carry beer or wine. Ray, third-generation, grew up in Sebastian and graduated from Sebastian River High School. He met Mandy at the former Long Branch Saloon in Vero Beach. The couple noticed distilleries were becoming more popular nationally, but none were opening locally. They learned how to run a distillery at a weekend workshop in Kentucky and took online classes through the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London. It hosts live music nights on the weekends.

21st Amendment Distillery opened in downtown Vero Beach in 2023, in the building that formerly housed the Ironside Press. The name is a nod to the 21st Amendment that repealed Prohibition. It has a cigar bar and full-service restaurant with a menu featuring shareable bites people can eat while having a conversation. Owner Jeff Palleschi, who moved to Vero Beach about 14 years ago, wanted his distillery to spark more activity downtown, the way Sailfish Brewing Co. did in downtown Fort Pierce. It hosts ladies nights, pack walks, cigar nights and live music performances. Any of its signature spirits are marked by the “21” or “21 AD” on the menu.

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MARTIN COUNTY

Palm City couple Chris and Amanda Cischke are behind this brewery that opened in 2019. Ocean Republic has up to 16 beers on tap at a time, as well as cocktails and an American pub-style food menu. They have about six flagship beers based on customer response, and they rotate the rest. The brewery’s menu was inspired by food the Cischkes ate while visiting breweries in California and Colorado. Ocean Republic has a non-traditional style of food service, with customers ordering at the bar, getting numbers and having the food brought to them. It hosts yappy hour, give-back nights and live music. Its signature beers are the Flo Cal lager and Grapefruit Thrasher IPA.

The “brewstillery” concept is rare in Florida, said co-founder Etienne Bourgeois. Frazier Creek serves beer, wine, spirits, seltzer, soda and cocktails. It has 35 taps, mostly for its own beer, non-alcoholic craft sodas and ready-to-drink cocktails — basically vodka-based seltzers. It also has guest taps for cider. There’s a variety of brewed beers: IPAs, sours, lagers, shandys, pale ales and imperial stouts. The 9,000-square-foot brewstillery includes a 3,500-square-foot taproom and 800-square-foot cocktail lounge. It opened in The Creek District of Arts & Entertainment in downtown Stuart in 2023. It hosts throwback parties, disco nights, pint wars, Latin nights, line dancing nights and more. Its signature and award winning drink is the Sippin’ Sunset.

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Founder Reinhard “Reiny” Knieriemen was the head brewer at Twisted Trunk Brewing Co. in Palm Beach Gardens for nine years before he decided to open his own place in 2025. Sound Brewing is a microbrewery in a 3,000-square-foot building that’s split 50-50 between the brewhouse and taproom. It offers a small bar menu available to be delivered from next door at Taylor Beach House Cafe. Its signature beer is the Dawn Patrol Amber Ale and it hosts music bingo, trivia nights, moonlight markets and occasionally a special event such as vinyl nights.

TCPalm breaking news reporter Laurie K. Blandford contributed to this report.

Valeria Bartra is TCPalm’s food reporter. Contact her at valeria.bartra@tcpalm.com, 772-978-2246 or follow her on Instagram @vbartrajourno.





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