KEY LARGO

The 20th anniversary of the storied intentional sinking of a former Naval ship to become an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is being celebrated Tuesday in Key Largo.

The 20th anniversary of the storied intentional sinking of a former Naval ship to become an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is being celebrated Tuesday in Key Largo. The 510-foot-long (155-meter-long) Spiegel Grove earned international notoriety when it sank prematurely May 17, 2002, and landed with its upside-down bow protruding above the ocean’s surface about 6 miles (10 kilometers) off Key Largo. “Ultimately, the Spiegel Grove is a story that Hollywood would never have been able to script in a million years,” said Rob Bleser, a Key Largo dive operator and the vessel's sinking project manager.

Two sperm whales have died within a week of each other in the Florida Keys, but officials did not immediately see a connection between the deaths.

Two sperm whales have died within a week of each other in the Florida Keys, but officials didn’t immediately see a connection between the deaths.

Rigoberto Morales, 54, and Arlem Cristina Silva Cruz, 35, were both charged with grand theft.

A 33-year-old woman from Key Largo was arrested over the weekend after she bit and spit on a deputy, authorities said.

Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard has interdicted 1,053 Cuban migrants. That is more than the last two fiscal years combined. This is according to data the Coast Guard released on Tuesday.

This was the last meal for a Florida snake.

Haitian migrants are reaching Florida’s shores in repeated suspected human smuggling operations, outpacing last year’s migration waves.

Deputies said they found heroin, cocaine, meth, and ecstasy inside the car of a man from Broward County in Monroe County.

The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 198 migrants to Haiti on Thursday, days after they were spotted on a boat off Key Largo.

Federal officials say a wooden boat carrying hundreds of Haitian migrants in a suspected human smuggling operation ran aground just off Key Largo, Florida.

The U.S. Coast Guard said a vessel came ashore near the Ocean Reef community in Key Largo on Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of migrants from Haiti arrived in a wooden boat off shore of an exclusive gated community in north Key Largo Sunday afternoon, according to authorities.

Bradley Jason Kantor, who owned and operated Mobile Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. (MDI) in Davie, was sentenced in Miami Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison for submitting about $42 million in fraudulent health care claims to United Healthcare.

Ten Cuban migrants in a sinking vessel were rescued off the Florida coast, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Ten Cuban migrants in a sinking vessel were rescued off the Florida coast.

For the third time in as many months, a group of Haitian migrants has come ashore in the Florida Keys.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials confirmed that they responded to reports of a boat with more than 100 people on board that had possibly capsized early Monday morning near Ocean Reef.

More than 50 Haitian migrants landed in the Florida Keys on Friday, according to federal agents.

A 22-year-old man from Miami was arrested Monday on accusations that he attempted to steal two outboard boat engines from a Key Largo dock, authorities said.

A 42-year-old woman from Homestead was arrested Wednesday on accusations that she stole more than $13,000 from an RV park in Key Largo.

Miami has hundreds of places to go for a day trip with a family, in couple, or alone. If you prefer natural activities

Frank Pichel was arrested early Friday on a felony charge of impersonating a police officer after the 59-year-old mayoral candidate allegedly flashed a badge and claimed to be an active deputy in Key Largo, Fla., according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

A 54-year-old man was arrested Monday in connection with the 2017 murder of a woman in Key Largo, authorities confirmed.

Deputies arrested a 43-year-old Cutler Bay man for boating while under the influence of alcohol on Sunday night after he sprayed deputies with saltwater from the twin-engine center console’s outboard engines, deputies said on Monday.

A 15-year-old boy was lobstering on his family’s boat off the shores of Key Largo on Saturday when suddenly his legs were bitten by an unknown underwater creature. Even wildlife police officials don't know what bit him.

A 15-year-old boy was airlifted out of Key Largo on Saturday morning after his legs were bitten while he was lobstering off his family’s boat, state wildlife police said.

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Tropical Storm Elsa will move into the Florida Straits Monday evening, and it will pass near the Florida Keys early Tuesday. Residents of the lower and middle Florida Keys will feel sustained tropical storm winds, 40 mph or higher.

Wildlife officials encourage residents to use foghorns and motion lights to keep coyotes away and keep pets from roaming free.

A woman tells Monroe County Sheriff's Office that she found nude photos of herself on a bartender's phone.

There are now over 150 million Americans relying on an employer-sponsored health plan, and then there are people like Deanna Major, a restaurant manager in the Florida Keys who struggled to find coverage on her own.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is searching for three men who they said killed a tarpon in Key Largo.

A Key Largo man was found in possession of different drugs and also had a syringe hidden in the crack of his buttocks, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating a boat crash in Key Largo, but they believe the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed.

El Distrito de Control de Mosquitos de los Cayos de Florida y la compañía biotecnológica Oxitec anunciaron el jueves que esta semana se están colocando cajas de liberación, cajas de no liberación y cajas de control de calidad con malla en seis sitios: dos en Cudjoe Key, uno en Ramrod Key y tres en Vaca Key.

A 31-year-old woman from Miami-Dade County died Friday morning after she was pulled from the water off Key Largo.

There is traffic on U.S. 1 from Miami-Dade County to Duck Key, an oceanside community in Monroe County. Tourists have been flocking there during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bruce Rauner, last week gave the Florida governor's campaign committee $250,000. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried joined Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist in calling for federal officials to probe the DeSantis administration’s vaccine distribution programs. AdDuring a Thursday news conference, DeSantis expressed no misgivings about the early vaccinations at the exclusive Key Largo community. In recent weeks, other reports have surfaced of wealthy retirement communities getting exclusive access to vaccine doses through pop-up vaccine sites. Bruce Rauner to the Florida governor's campaign committee.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Friday afternoon at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo to announce that Monroe County will be receiving $16.7 million through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Rebuild Florida program for various projects. During Friday’s news conference, the governor also touted the state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts, saying close to 20% of seniors ages 65 and older in Florida have been vaccinated. DeSantis also praised the state’s economic growth, saying Florida has added 20,000 private sector jobs in the last month, while many states have reported higher job losses. The governor credited the falling unemployment rate in the state with keeping Florida “open” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Key Largo man was arrested Friday night after a fight in which deputies said he punched a 60-year-old woman in the chest. The victim told Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies that she believed the punch damaged her pacemaker. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Captain Jax Mobile Home park in the 103000 block of the Overseas Highway at 6:43 p.m. Friday after reports of a fight. While speaking with Deputy Richard Rodriguez, the report said the woman started having a medical emergency and the deputy began performing CPR on her. Costa was taken to jail, according to sheriff’s deputies.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – Dillon Deese was on his couch watching a movie when the tempestuous wind ripped a massive Bayan tree out of the ground and crushed his home with it. Tropical Storm Eta’s torrential rain didn’t stop Alex Lubja and Deese’s other Key Largo neighbors from running outside of their homes to investigate the loud noise. An advertising billboard lies on the ground after falling from high winds and rain from Tropical Storm Eta, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, in Key Largo, Fla. In other parts of Key Largo, there were streets underwater and more property damage. Tree limbs block a road after they broke and fell due to high winds and rain from Tropical Storm Eta, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, in Key Largo, Fla.

A strengthening Tropical Storm Eta cut across Cuba on Sunday, and forecasters say it's likely to be a hurricane before hitting the Florida Keys Sunday night or Monday. Eta made landfall in the Florida Keys and posed a serious threat across South Florida, which was already drenched from more than 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain last month. “Never seen this, never, not this deep,” said Anthony Lyas, who has lived in his now-waterlogged Fort Lauderdale neighborhood since 1996. Eta was not done yet with Cuba, just 90 miles (140 kilometers) south of Florida, where the storm continued to swell rivers and flood coastal zones. ___Associated Press writers Cody Jackson in Fort Lauderdale, Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, and Haleluya Hadero in Atlanta contributed to this report.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – One of the largest Great White sharks ever tagged is lurking out in the Atlantic and pinged Thursday morning off the coast of Key Largo. According to OCEARCH, the shark named Unama’ki pinged Sunday off Vero Beach and then pinged at 5:46 a.m. Thursday off Key Largo. Unama’ki is more than 15 feet long and weighs more than 2,000 pounds. Just two months ago, the shark pinged off Nova Scotia, Canada. The name Unama’ki comes from the indigenous Mi’kmaq people in Nova Scotia and means “Land of the Fog.”

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – It was a group of Key Largo residents visiting Big Pine Key who noticed the female Key deer on Sunday. Valerie Preziosi, the founder of the nonprofit organization Save Our Key Deer, said her phone rang. Preziosi said a group of seven volunteers arrived and took turns by bicycle, car, and on foot and saturated the area to find the injured deer. An officer snared the deer and veterinarian Douglas Mader deftly removed the hook with his bare hands, before the stunned deer was released and pranced away. “This successful Key deer rescue is the first in many years achieved through a novel cooperation between federal, state and local resident entities for our native animals,” Preziosi wrote in an email.

Voters in the Florida Keys decided on Monroe County’s state attorney, and three commission seats were also in play in the November general election. That’s in addition to some other municipal election decisions in Key West, Islamorada, Key Colony and Key Largo, depending on where you live. See the results below, including how Monroe County residents voted in the presidential race.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Homestead man ended up with 16 stitches after a nurse shark clamped onto his foot while he was working on a dock. Andres Garcia was in the water on Sept. 29 in Key Largo when he said the shark bit down and grabbed on. His coworkers tried to pry the shark from the man’s foot, but it held on tighter, Garcia said. The shark held on to his foot for at least 15 minutes, he said. According to oceana.org, nurse sharks are one of the most commonly seen sharks on coral and rocky reefs in the Atlantic Ocean.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Hollywood boy, drifting alone onboard the family boat off Key Largo, helped save his grandparents in the ocean. “They were just floating away,” recalls 11-year-old Avani Perez. Jim Harris, Perez' grandfather, went into the water to free the line and ended up cutting it. 11-year-old Avani Perez and his grandfather, Jim Harris. “But we are even more thankful for them for what they did to help us.”11-year-old Avani Perez with two members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A new flood control measure was keeping some Key Largo streets dry while tides were higher than usual on WednesdayCheryl Whitmer, of U.S. Flood Control, had workers install temporary water-filled barriers in two low-lying neighborhoods: Twin Lakes and Stillwright Point. “The Tiger Dam System is comprised of 50-foot sections of flood barrier that interlock together to create a seamless flood protection dam,” Whitmer said about the reusable dam workers placed along South Blackwater Lane. Kristen Livengood, a spokeswoman for Monroe County, said Key Largo is testing the 24-inch temporary barriers. Monroe County officials are working to release a new plan with more permanent solutions to the flooding problem by August 2021.

After starting the school year virtually, Monroe County welcomed back kindergarten through fifth-grade students full-time Monday. With signage, sanitization and smaller classrooms with separated desks, Lietaert says students will spend all day with their classmates in what they call a cohort. The older students have an easier time navigating the computer platforms, plus parents feel more comfortable leaving them at home alone. Those students in grades 6-12 are in an “A/B” schedule, returning to the classroom part-time and attending school online on other days. Lietaert said parents get two weeks to decide if want to keep their students at school full time or want to stay virtual.

KEY LARGO, Fla. Four cases of Dengue fever have recently been confirmed in the Florida Keys, bringing the total number of cases reported this year to 26, health officials said. Most of the Dengue fever cases are in a two-mile (3,218-meter) area of Key Largo, the Miami Herald reported. In 2010, 66 cases of locally acquired Dengue fever in Florida were associated with Key West, health officials said. Dengue fever often presents flu-like symptoms with severe muscle aches and pain, fever and a rash. Health officials said this is the same mosquito that carries the Zika virus, which has symptoms similar to Dengue.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – There are major COVID-19 concerns from a lot of people who live in the Florida Keys, and as the numbers continue to rise, Monroe County is trying to figure out what the next move should be. Just one day after the checkpoints came down, the entire county only had 109 cases of COVID-19. And now lobster mini season is approaching quickly, bringing with it the promise of a massive influx of visitors. So far, the FWC says they are moving forward with the mini season as planned. Monroe County has asked residents not to call 911 to ask about the status of lobster mini season, urging them to check monroecountyem.com/covid19 and the county’s Facebook page for updates.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – Bars in Monroe County had re-opened recently after a shutdown on March 17 because of COVID-19. Key Largo’s historic and family-run Caribbean Club owners were stunned by the short tweet from FDBPA issued Friday. We want to do what is right for our community, but it would have been nice to have heads up. In Monroe County, COVID-19 cases have nearly doubled since opening to visitors on June 1. Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers explained that they do not have the same hospital capacity as bigger counties like Miami-Dade and Broward.

TAVERNIER, Fla. – A man in Key Largo was arrested Saturday night after sheriff’s deputies said he hit his neighbor in the face with a hammer. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office charged Timothy Lee Burton, 33, of Tavernier with aggravated battery. The 26-year-old victim and other people on the road waved for the driver to slow down. That’s when, according to witnesses, Burton got out of his vehicle and began arguing with the victim, eventually striking him in the face with a hammer. The victim was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center with severe injuries to his face.

KEY LARGO, Fla. A Key Largo man was arrested Thursday night after a domestic dispute led to his girlfriend falling from the hood of his moving GMC pickup truck, authorities announced on Friday. According to Monroe County Sheriffs Office spokesman Adam Linhardt, witnesses called 911 after seeing the 29-year-old victim falling from the hood of the truck and Luna fleeing the scene. Linhardt said Luna drove with his girlfriend on the hood of his truck until the 900 block of Lobster Lane, when she fell off, landing on the ground unconscious, but breathing. Witnesses told deputies that Luna initially got out of the truck after his girlfriend fell, but then got back inside and drove away. Linhardt said Luna confessed to drinking alcohol before the incident and told deputies that he had a medical marijuana card and THC cartridges in his pocket.

Still, Mayor Heather Carruthers is keeping the Florida Keys closed to customers. The checkpoints at mile marker 112.5 on U.S. 1 and State Road 905 will remain in place and screenings will continue at Key West International and Marathon Florida Keys airports. In Monroe County, some re-opening of restaurants and non-essential businesses are for locals only, and that includes the city of Key West. As of April 30, Monroe County had 79 coronavirus cases and 3 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health. Florida coronavirus map lists cases by zip codeHow full are the hospital beds in South Florida?

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Drivers heading from South Florida to the Florida Keys face two Monroe County Sheriff’s Office checkpoints during the coronavirus pandemic. Monroe County issued an emergency declaration closing the area to all tourists on March 20, but the lack of compliance prompted Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers to tighten measures. “And we are going to still say, ‘Come as you are!' Deputies started to screen drivers heading southbound on Friday morning at Manatee Bay Marina on U.S. 1 at Mile Marker 112.5 and at Card Sound Road, also known as State Road 905. Deputies are only allowing drivers who can prove they have essential business in Monroe County or live there permanently.

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Monroe County reported its first presumptive positive COVID-19 case on Thursday night. The Florida Department of Health confirmed the case of the patient in the Florida Keys is related to travel. According to a source familiar with the case, the patient is 72 years old and traveled to the United Kingdom. On Thursday night, the Florida Department of Health reported the CDC confirmed 101 cases in Miami-Dade County and 96 cases in Broward County. Officials announced a COVID-19 patient died in Duval County raising the number of deaths in Florida to nine.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Jacksonville man suspected of killing a woman was arrested Thursday afternoon in the Florida Keys. McPherson is a person of interest in the shooting death of Stacey McPherson-Dillon. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Adam Linhardt said the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office notified deputies that McPherson might be in the area. According to WJXT in Jacksonville, McPherson is the victim’s son. McPherson also had a warrant for his arrest by Key West police on a charge of battery on a person 65 or older.

KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Homestead man wanted for murder in Mexico was arrested Thursday morning in the Florida Keys. Edgar Delgado Munoz was stopped at the entrance gate to the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, where he was trying to enter the property without a pass so he could work, Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Adam Linhardt said. Delgado Munoz, 42, had been wanted by Interpol since 2004 on a murder charge in Mexico. He was detained by deputies and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.