Manatee rehab team members take a blood sample from a rescued manatee, exposed to Red Tide in Southwest Florida, during treatment at the David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Hospital at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, Florida, March 13, 2013.

TAMPA, Florida | Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:59pm EDT

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Virginia Edmonds, standing in shallow water, used her legs to slowly nudge an ailing young manatee to one side of a treatment pool. A half dozen other female members of a manatee rehabilitation team hovered close by - one with a syringe - waiting for the signal.

"OK!" Edmonds called, as the others jumped in and threw a mat over the manatee to try and hold it still.

The 545-pound (247-kg) mammal bucked, thrashed, rolled and tossed the women off before they could inject an antibiotic; just one minor challenge in an effort to rescue and treat members of this endangered species that are dying in record numbers from an algae bloom.

The so-called Red Tide algae bloom has killed a total of 181 manatees so far this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

That figure already surpasses the highest number of Red Tide manatee deaths on record - 151 in 1996 - and experts expect the number to keep rising through the spring.

"We'll probably have Red Tide victims several more months," said Dr. Larry Killmar, head of animal science and conservation at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, which is home to the manatee rehab team.

So far 12 rescued manatees have been brought in for treatment from Red Tide poisoning.

"We're not even getting a chance to work on many of them," Killmar said of the large number of deaths. "If we can get them early enough, we can save them."

TOXINS IN THE WATER

The problem, Killmar and other experts note, was Florida's warm winter, which appears to have sparked an earlier-than- normal algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico along a 70-mile (112-km) swath of southwest Florida's coast, home to a large share of the state's estimated 5,000 manatees.

The naturally occurring algae that blooms into Red Tide carries toxins that are usually inhaled by manatees when they come up for air, typically every 20 minutes. But now they animals are also ingesting the toxins when they eat, after the Red Tide saturated sea grasses the manatees graze on, Killmar said.

The toxins spark seizures and paralyze the manatees, which struggle to breathe or surface for air - causing them to drown.

Most of the victims have been found in coastal rivers in the area of Fort Myers.

"Most are passed out when they come in," said Edmonds, the animal care manager of Florida mammals at Lowry Park Zoo. After they are brought in by a rescue team from the wildlife conservation commission, the manatees immediately receive an injection of the anti-toxin atropine and the first of three possible antibiotic injections.

For the past few weeks, staff members in the zoo's manatee hospital stood in shallow pool waters around the clock to help keep the manatees' heads above water.

"One woke up in 15 minutes," Edmonds said. Others take hours, possibly depending on the length of time they were exposed to Red Tide.

To make room for more critical care patients, two recovered manatees were sent to Sea World last week and three other Red Tide survivors are headed to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park this week.

The animals cannot be released back into the wild until the Red Tide dissipates because they will migrate back to the same area and become sick once again.

Meanwhile, the others will stay at the zoo's manatee hospital with several other resident patients recovering from a mixture of ailments, including boat strikes, which are one of the biggest killers of manatees.

HELPING HANDS

They manatees will be monitored and continue to get follow-up antibiotic injections like the one Edmonds and her team were trying to administer to a feisty 2-year-old male manatee on Wednesday.

About 20 zoo spectators had gathered to watch the unexpected display, holding up cameras and placing toddlers on their shoulders to see.

"I want to help," 9-year-old Ben Arnett of Englewood, Florida, whispered to his brother, 11-year-old Josh, an aspiring marine biologist.

Normally it is against state law to touch, chase, harass and - in one recent notorious case that unleashed public outrage and brought criminal charges - to ride manatees. But now fast-thinking residents are playing a critical role in saving them - holding their heads above the water until rescuers arrive.

The state released a hotline number for residents to call if they see a distressed manatee. "If they didn't have people in the public trying to help," said Lee Ann Rottman, the zoo's animal curator, "those manatees wouldn't make it."

(Editing by David Adams, Eric Walsh and Dan Grebler)

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TALLAHASSEE | Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:40pm EST

TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - Florida's Republican governor on Thursday proposed a hefty $4 billion hike in state spending in a budget plan that includes a $1.2 billion increase in school aid, cuts in business taxes, and relies on fatter state sales-tax collections.

Accompanied by teachers, business leaders and state employees, Gov. Rick Scott told reporters at the Capitol that his $74.2 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2013-14 illustrated economic recovery in Florida and tough budget decisions made by lawmakers over the last few years when revenues were faltering.

Buoyed by increases in sales-tax revenues, Scott's plan was the first since the 2008-09 budget cycle that did not include a sizeable revenue shortfall going into the legislative session set to begin in March.

Scott's proposal includes recommendations to lawmakers, who craft the state's spending plan ahead of the new budget year starting on July 1.

Florida's general revenue portion of the budget, a $27.1 billion pot used for discretionary spending, marks an increase of 4.7 percent over last year.

"This is further evidence that Florida's economy is back on track and growing again," Scott told reporters.

Other states, such as California, are also seeing increased revenues. Jerry Brown, California's Democratic governor, three weeks ago proposed a budget plan with the state's first surplus in a decade, but urged restraint in spending.

Some other governors are championing tax cuts, and in Texas on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Rick Perry recommended returning excess state revenue to taxpayers.

Florida's jobless rate stood at 8 percent in December, the best showing in four years for a state still battling back from the U.S. housing bust. But it still remains among the highest rates and above the national unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, according to federal government data. (For details, please see: here)

For business, Scott's plan calls for expanding the state sales-tax exemption on machinery and equipment used in manufacturing, a tax break expected to save 17,500 employers about $140 million a year.

On the education front, Scott seeks an across-the-board $2,500 raise for public school teachers as part of his proposed $1.2 billon of increases in K-12 education spending.

The plan drew praise from Florida's largest teachers union, whose members generally haven't seen raises in several years.

"We are happy the governor is recognizing and investing in Florida's high performing public schools," said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association. "In most of Florida, our public schools are the largest employer."

The governor's proposal also includes $60 million for Everglades restoration and another $75 million for the state's environmental land buying program.

Scott sees a lean year for bonding. His budget blueprint includes about $750 million in transportation bonds, which are paid for by fuel tax revenues and do not affect the state's general revenue budget. The proposal does not include any bonding for school construction or environmental land purchases.

(Writing and additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks at a meeting of the Latin Builders Association in Miami, Florida January 27, 2012.

MIAMI | Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:56pm EST

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida's Republican governor wants President Barack Obama to invoke federal law and order a cooling-off period if nearly 15,000 longshoremen walk off the job in a looming strike that would be a big blow to the state's economy, according to a letter he sent the president this week.

The International Longshoremen's Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance grouping of shippers and ports have been bargaining since March but reportedly remain far from a deal covering cargo handling at 15 ports on the U.S. Gulf and eastern coasts.

In October, when a previous contract expired, the sides agreed to a 90-day extension of terms that runs out on December 29.

Florida ports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale would be directly hit by a strike or lockout but a stoppage would also rattle overall transport and trade, which accounts for 550,000 jobs in the state and $66 billion in economic activity, Florida Governor Rick Scott said in a letter dated Thursday.

"The threat to national safety and security that would result from mass closure of ports cannot be overstated," Scott told Obama.

Scott said Obama had the power under 1947's Taft-Hartley Act to prevent or interrupt a work stoppage at the ports. Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush both used Taft-Hartley, which calls for 80-day cooling-off periods and mediation, Scott said.

"The Taft-Hartley Act provides your administration with tools that can help avoid this threat," Scott said. "On behalf of the State of Florida, I respectfully request that you invoke the act when the contract ... expires at the end of the month."

(Reporting By Michael Connor in Miami; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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A protective layer of ice form on oranges in a grove near Dover, Florida December 14, 2010.

MIAMI | Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:37pm EST

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. government forecasters have issued a freeze warning for parts of Florida's key citrus-growing region as a cold front threatens to carry icy temperatures into the Sunshine State this weekend.

The National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay-Ruskin said in an advisory on Friday that the freeze warning for Levy, Citrus, Sumter, Hernando and Pasco counties was in effect from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST (0700-1400 GMT).

Tyler Fleming, a senior forecaster in the Tampa Bay office, said it was the first freeze warning of the year for the area and that temperatures could dip below freezing for at least two hours.

A freeze watch was also in effect for the same five-county area for late Saturday night through early Sunday morning, Fleming said.

Typically, citrus can be damaged by four hours or more of temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2 Celsius).

Andrew Meadows, spokesman for the state's leading growers association, Florida Citrus Mutual, said the weekend chill was unlikely to be long-lasting or extreme enough to cause any damage to the state's $9 billion citrus industry.

"Actually, this kind of cold event is a good thing because it brings the brix content up in the fruit and helps prepare the tree for any cold weather ahead," Meadows said in an email.

Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association in central Florida, agreed that there was no cause for alarm.

"The next two nights will be the coldest nights of the season so far," Royce told Reuters in a phone interview.

"There may be a chance for frost," he said, "but it doesn't appear that there's going to be enough cold to damage wood or to damage fruit."

Royce added a note of caution, however.

"You never know what could happen. You just don't want to get flat-footed and have it all of a sudden be 5 or 6 degrees colder than you're expecting."

Florida's groves yield more than 75 percent of the U.S. orange crop and account for about 40 percent of the world's orange juice supply.

(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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