Your daily look at news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today.
MANATEE RESCUED IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Wildlife officials say crews have rescued a 1,000-pound male manatee in southwest Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that the five-day effort came to a successful conclusion Tuesday. The manatee had been suffering from a severe lung injury in a lake at a south Lee County development.
RARE WHOOPING CRANE MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE
One thing stands out this year for birders admiring the field of wintering gray sandhill cranes that make Gainesville home each season: a single, stark-white whooping crane. It’s just not any whooping crane, but a 19-month old male that migrated from Wisconsin along with ultra-light airplanes flown by the nonprofit group Operation Migration to help guide the rare birds south.
MAN IN COMA AFTER FALLING INTO FUEL TANK
Police say a 41-year-old man is in a coma after falling into a fuel tank that he was cleaning. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports Thomas Wood and another worker were cleaning gas tanks at a Race Trac construction site on Monday when Wood fell into the tank. Co-worker Dustin Reed told authorities the tank’s lid was open when he went to his truck to do paperwork. When he returned a short time later, he didn’t see Wood.
MIAMI BEACH MAN CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF RUNNING
As 2014 comes to an end, 64-year-old Robert “Raven” Kraft will do what he’s done every day for 40 years. He’ll take a run on Miami Beach. Kraft told the Miami Herald he started the routine on Jan. 1, 1975, as a challenge to stick to something. He’s never skipped a day, enduring food poisoning, storms and stepping on a nail. Lately, Kraft is fighting through chronic back pain.
COAST GUARD RESCUES 4 BOATERS AND A DOG OFF JACKSONVILLE
The U.S. Coast Guard says a woman, three men and a dog are safe after their boat broke in half and sank in the waters east of Jacksonville. Just over 30 minutes after receiving a distress call on Tuesday night, the boaters were spotted on a 10-foot life raft.
