Tropical Storm Erin continues to move west at a steady pace while maintaining its status but is very close to becoming a hurricane.

Hurricane Erin, the first of the 2025 Atlantic season, strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds.

Dangerous rip currents are expected from this storm, which are expected to last through much of this week.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state plans to use a shuttered prison in North Florida to boost detention of people targeted for deportation.

Two separate lawsuits could halt plans for “ Alligator Alcatraz ,” the controversial makeshift immigrant detention center in Florida’s swampy Everglades.

DeSantis’s announcement comes as the state’s first facility, the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, has come under scrutiny for alleged poor conditions.

For the first time in a decade, Floridians will be legally allowed to hunt black bears in the state. The move was unanimously approved by the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this month, but not without opposition from some conservation and animal rights groups.

A federal judge has closed the chapter on key parts of Florida’s censorious ban on school library books that conservatives deem “pornographic” and harmful to children.