Climate change could shift the kinds of fish swimming in your favorite childhood fishing hole – and maybe for the better. Avid fisherman Mike Allen has his line out in the Gulf of Mexico for snook, a fish that wasn’t in his backyard 15 years ago. His sunglasses reflect a more tropical coastline in Cedar Key, filled with new organisms that now call the region home. He puts snook in a new category emerging from climate change: a term experts have been calling “neo-natives.” In Florida and around the world, these organisms are native to a region but expanding to nearby areas because of climate sh ..read more

Several rounds of potentially dangerous thunderstorms are forecasted for parts of Florida’s Panhandle and North Florida on Thursday and Friday. According to specialists at the Storm Prediction Center in Normal Oklahoma, these storms could produce all modes of severe weather: Straight-line winds in excess of 60 mph, large hail, and tornadoes. On Thursday morning, mid-level energy was exiting the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys to the east, after producing numerous supercell thunderstorms and tornado reports over the region Wednesday night. Several clusters of thunderstorms were, on Thursday m ..read more

Drip torch in hand, Barry Couliette makes his way through the longleaf pines of northeast Florida’s Cary State Forest. A clean line of fire trails behind him. The flames, only a few feet high, appear instantaneously — gasoline sparked to life by the lit spout of his drip torch. In their wake, piles of dry leaves and fallen pine needles turn to ash: the sight of fire doing its job. Starting out with the Florida Forest Service in 1979 and joining the Alachua Conservation Trust in 2017, Coulliette has conducted hundreds of burns throughout his career. Nowadays, he spends most of November through ..read more

A protestor waves a Palestinian flag, in the Plaza of The Americas at the University of Florida, in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis during his press conference at UF in Gainesville, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Lee Ann Anderson/WUFT News) Dozens of Florida Highway Patrol officers flanked metal gates separating pro-Palestinian protesters from a press conference at the University of Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis condemned their actions on Wednesday. The crowd of about 40 protesters wore keffiyehs and waved signs and Palestinian flags throughout the conference, crying “Free, free Palestine” and “Di ..read more

Florida’s hottest months have not officially arrived, but this week temperatures could reach the hottest so far this year, and heat indices could reach the triple digits in places as far north as Jacksonville. Luckily, the heat will be quickly tamed, for a few days, by a cold front that will come to the rescue saving the weekend for at least the northern half of the Sunshine State. The heat arrives due to the winds shifting in response to the large low-pressure system located over the Great Lake area, which is dragging all the severe weather from west to east, producing several violent tornad ..read more

<i>Junior Faith Hardy won the Gainesville Sun’s Girls Soccer Player of the Year for her accomplishments throughout the season. (Donna Burch/Courtesy Photo)</i> As the echoes of their historic 2023-24 season still reverberate through the halls, the P.K. Yonge high school girls soccer team defied odds last year but want to win it all next season. “It’s seamless, on and off the field,” said head coach Rebecca Schakow. “It’s just like life is one big field for them.” Schakow and her P.K. Yonge Blue Wave team had the best season in program history winning their first district title in s ..read more

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto wants the wildlife agency to renew efforts to designate a “state bird” that is unique to Florida. “The state bird of Florida is the (northern) mockingbird. However, five other states have the mockingbird as the state bird,” Barreto said Thursday during a commission meeting in Daytona Beach. “I’ve got to believe we can find a bird that is different than five other states.” Barreto recalled the agency holding a contest with fourth- and fifth-grade students about designating a new state bird. “I want to kinda dust that off ..read more

HammerTime Hollow is a dairy operation in the process of moving to central Florida due to the severe weather in their current Tampa location. ((Photo courtesy of HammerTime Hollow)) HammerTime Hollow, a small dairy operation from Tampa, plans to relocate north to steer clear of severe weather and to expand its business. The 30-acre, 35-head dairy farm is expected to more than double in size with the move to its new facility in Lake Panasoffkee in Sumter County. “Not knowing what’s going to happen with the weather until it’s practically on top of us, having to move all the cows out of danger's ..read more

Kaitin Donner of Satellite Beach recently set the world record for running the mile while pushing a stroller. (Keith Snodgrass/Rabbit Club/Facebook) SCOTT DETROW, HOST: I like to run. I've also got young kids. And the combination of the two can be tricky for a lot of parents. It can be hard to find the time or the energy or the elusive magical combination of both to go get that run in when there's always so much to do. And that is where the running stroller comes in. Now, some parent runners hate them, some love them, but no parent in world history has done what Kaitlin Donner recently pulled ..read more

<i>Predrag Panisic stands on the sideline as he watches his teammates play a scrimmage. (Adrian Carmona/WUFT News)</i> More than 5,000 miles away from home, Serbian basketball player Predrag Panisic has settled into life in Gainesville. Panisic is a freshman student-athlete from Krajevac, Serbia playing forward for the Santa Fe Saints. He is hoping to reach the next level in his basketball career. At 14 years old, Panisic watched the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals and was instantly hooked on the game. After a two-year hiatus due to a spr ..read more