FOX NEWS — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Tuesday that it had amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, allowing the use of a single booster dose in children ages 5 to 11. The shot would be given at least five months after completion of a primary series...
May 27, 2022
Category: County
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Commercial fishing captain pays $22,300 to settle federal fisheries case with NOAA
Freshwater fisheries researchers and managers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) successfully released 3,300 hatchery-raised shoal bass fingerlings (young fish) into the Chipola River in May. In 2018, Hurricane Michael depleted more than 90% of the shoal bass population in the Chipola River. As a direct management action following the hurricane, the...
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SWFWMD criteria for minimum wetland, lake levels
The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will hold an independent, scientific peer review of wetland-based criteria for use in establishing minimum wetland and lake levels beginning this month. A minimum level is the level of groundwater in an aquifer or the level of surface water at which further withdrawals would be significantly harmful to the water...
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FWC reaches major milestone with release of genetically pure hatchery-raised shoal bass
Freshwater fisheries researchers and managers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) successfully released 3,300 hatchery-raised shoal bass fingerlings (young fish) into the Chipola River in May. In 2018, Hurricane Michael depleted more than 90% of the shoal bass population in the Chipola River. As a direct management action following the hurricane, the...
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Broward wildlife dealer, company sentenced in scheme to harvest, sell Florida turtles
MIAMI – A federal district judge in Miami has sentenced Michael Van Nostrand, 55, of Davie, Florida and Strictly Reptiles, Inc., a company also located in Davie, for their roles in a scheme to unlawfully enrich themselves and others by smuggling illegally-harvested Florida turtles out of the United States and into China, Japan, and other...
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DeSantis to call special session in May to address property insurance reform
(The Center Square) – Gov. Ron DeSantis will call a special session next month to address property insurance reform, he said Monday at a press conference in Jacksonville, where he also announced funding for a trauma center at the University of Florida. It’s the second special session DeSantis has called this year. Next month, the...
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Convicted county felon faces 2 years for falsifying federal firearm paperwork
Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Florida OCALA — Senior United States District Judge Gregory A. Presnell has sentenced Darrell Pierre Hopkins (54, Dunnellon) to 24 months in federal prison for making a materially false statement in connection with the purchase of firearms and knowingly causing a licensed gun dealer to maintain...
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‘Operation Rotten Eggs’ nets 35 arrests
During the past two days, just in time for Easter, members of the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) Tactical Impact Unit (TIU) conducted a covert operation to search for the ‘rotten eggs’ that have been involved in the sale and distribution of illicit narcotics in Citrus County. Partnering with agents from the U.S. Customs and...
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4 charged with stone crab fishing violations
On Tuesday, April 5, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers aboard the FWC’s offshore patrol vessel Fin Cat along with FWC aviation unit officers were jointly conducting an operation to monitor for stone crab vessels fishing in the closed areas of the Big Bend stone crab – shrimping zones. The FWC aviation crew...
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Innovative nutrient reduction project begins on Lake Okeechobee
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is leading a new, innovative project to remove invasive aquatic plants and evaluate nutrients removed to improve water quality in Lake Okeechobee in south Florida. This effort is part of the FWC’s strategy to use a variety of tools and explore new techniques to best manage for...