Your Florida Daily: Flight from Orlando diverted after bomb rumor, experimental manatee feeding program to end

ORLANDO, Fla. – A midair scare forced a flight from Orlando to divert to Jacksonville after an argument on board.

According to the FAA, the flight had left from Orlando International Airport Tuesday and was on the way to Providence, Rhode Island when it had to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville.

Passengers say a couple was fighting when they started hearing the word “bomb” being mentioned

“The people were talking about or claiming the other person had a bomb during their fight,” said passenger Rachael Corrigan. “The people around them heard the word ‘bomb,’ reported it to the airline, and they’re obligated to land the plane.”

Video shared by a passenger showed the man apologizing to the other passengers as he was being placed in handcuffs.

All the passengers who got off the plane were told they would be reimbursed if they got a hotel room for the night and that their flight would take off again today.

Florida Gov. DeSantis unveils $114.4B state budget proposal

With just weeks to go before the next legislative session, Gov. DeSantis is out with his new budget plan.

The $114 billion proposal is actually $4.5 billion less than this year’s budget but it still includes $200 million more for teacher pay, along with more than $430 million intended to lower property insurance premiums.

It also includes six different sales tax holidays and reduces the state’s workforce by more than 1,000 people.

“This is a budget that I think is respecting the taxpayers of this state,” DeSantis said during a news conference. “We are living within our means, we’re even paring back expenses. We’re reducing the size of government, we’re cutting taxes.”

The governor says he also wants to set aside $1 million to help with any lawsuits that could come out of the recent decision not to include Florida State in the College Football Playoff.

Manatee feeding program to end in Brevard County

A feeding program designed to help manatees survive in Brevard County is now coming to an end.

For the last two years, wildlife teams with FWC have provided manatees with lettuce near an FPL power station.

When their primary source of food, seagrass, disappeared from the river, it caused manatees to starve.

In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared an unusual mortality event when at least 1,100 manatees died. According to data from FWC, 800 manatees died last year.

Last March, wildlife officials said they provided almost 400,000 pounds of lettuce to hundreds of manatees.

They also said the pace of manatee deaths seemed to be slowing. If anything changes with the manatees, officials do have a plan to implement feeding if it’s needed.

Meantime, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the situation to see if manatees need to be relisted as an endangered species.

Random Florida Fact

In the spring of 1982, an invasion came to a neighborhood in Seminole County.

Called “The Great Longwood Toad Invasion,” people living in the Windsor Manor neighborhood recall hundreds of thousands of tiny frogs swarming the streets, yards and even hopping into homes.

Experts think the invasion may have been caused by the just-right conditions of heavy rains leading to a breeding frenzy.

See more pictures and read the full story here.