The Great Wolf Lodge had its grand opening on Thursday and a special guest was on hand, someone who has experience with grand celebrations.

Florida residents looking to stay at a luxurious indoor water park won’t have to wait much longer.

A maintenance man was led away from a Naples-area pickleball court in handcuffs after deputies say he threatened players while wielding a machete.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent Tuesday promoting Florida parks and venues for summer activities.

Two women from Orlando were killed and a child in their vehicle was critically injured in a crash early Wednesday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

One highway in Florida is considered to be among the best places to spot alligators: a stretch of Interstate 75 dubbed “Alligator Alley.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a news conference at The Freedom Institute of Collier County.

Seminole County's unemployment rate in December was 2.8% — ranked #58 highest out of 67 in the state.

Dramatic new video shows the moments before a jet crashed on an interstate in Southwest Florida, erupting in flames and killing two people.

The southbound lanes of Interstate 75 in Collier County have reopened two days after an airplane crashed on the roadway, damaging two vehicles and sparking a fire that killed two people.

Interstate 75 was shut down Friday afternoon in Collier County after an airplane collided with two vehicles, sparking a fire and killing two people, according to officials in Southwest Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be joined by Florida House Speaker Paul Renner.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., claimed that his Naples home was “swatted” while he and his wife were out having dinner.

Diaz-Martinez reportedly asked to see one of the firearms “because he wanted to have a firearm of his own and he thought they were cool,” the affidavit states.

One highway in Florida is considered to be among the best places to spot alligators: a stretch of Interstate 75 dubbed “Alligator Alley.”

A Florida man said a python almost overpowered him and four other people. "We literally put all of our weight on the snake, we sat on it, and the snake pushed back and lifted us off the ground..."

Wildlife officials say two endangered Florida panthers have been struck and killed by vehicles.

Martin sarcastically thanked Collier County Public Schools for removing his novel from school libraries

Bears are a common sight in Florida, but it's not often you see them hanging out on a boat.

The longest documented Burmese python in Florida was captured in Big Cypress National Reserve on Monday.

An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Wednesday morning in Collier County to sign SB 102, the “Live Local Act.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference at a state college in Naples.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced new developments in disaster-recovery efforts still underway nearly a month after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida.

A missing child alert was issued Friday for a 17-year-old girl last seen in Collier County on Tuesday.

Deputies said 31-year-old Michael Marolla had the animal inside an open plastic tub in the bed of the pickup, along with two firearms.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a “No Patient Left Alone” bill into law Wednesday, establishing in-person hospital and nursing home visitation rights throughout the state regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office released body camera video and a 911 call Friday in connection with a tiger attacking a man earlier this week at an airboat attraction in Southwest Florida.

The man entered the tiger enclosure while it was being fed.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, troopers found a 12-foot alligator on the side of Interstate 75.

A winter storm that was expected to blast the southern U.S. with dangerously high winds Sunday did not disappoint, as some South Floridians witnessed and filmed infamous weather events likely uncommon to them: tornadoes.

A dangerous winter storm combining high winds and ice is blasting through parts of the U.S. Southeast.

A deputy shot a tiger at the Naples Zoo that was biting a man who entered an unauthorized area on Wednesday, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials say a former bookkeeper stole more than $800,000 from three southwest Florida companies, including a charity.

Rescuers believe the bear likely had the plastic container on its head for weeks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis held two press conferences today, in Collier and Sarasota counties, where he announced $5.8 million to fund a new technical college location in Collier County and $1.7 million to fund the installation of wastewater infrastructure in the city of North Port.

Two hundred and twenty-three Burmese pythons were removed from the Everglades during a contest in July, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle. It’s the sixth panther death attributed to fatal collisions, out of nine total deaths this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. On Friday, the remains of a male panther cub were found on private land near the Collier County landfill, officials said. Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeast, but now their habitat mostly is confined to a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild.

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man who nearly hit a gas pump pulled out a package of “Dank Gummies” instead of his driver’s license to show a deputy who was trying to help him, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Lopez said he didn’t have the keys to the vehicle but then rummaged through his pockets and pulled out the keys, according to the report. Deputies said Lopez also had a package of “Medicated Nerds ropes” that contained 400 mg of THC per rope. Lopez claimed his girlfriend had a medical marijuana card due to a cancer diagnosis, according to the affidavit. Use the form below to sign up for the ClickOrlando.com Strange Florida newsletter, sent every Friday.

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man is accused of decapitating a hamster and leaving its body in a box near the road he lives on not long after he purchased it from a pet store, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said a woman who lives in the area was walking along 27th Avenue NE on Jan. 5 when she noticed a small pet store box discarded along the road and found the dead hamster inside. She said she’s found five other boxes within the past year that also contained “sadistically mutilated” small animals, records show. Deputies said he admitted to buying the hamster and providing a false name on the sales record. Ad“Animal cruelty can never be justified,” Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said.

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – A man accused of trying to street race in the Naples area blared the “Cops” TV show theme song from his speakers after he was pulled over, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said they had just finished up a call around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday on U.S. 41 North when they saw a red Ford Mustang and a silver Infiniti slow roll past them. Then, according to authorities, the passenger of the Mustang leaned out the window and yelled “20 roll on three,” which deputies said means to start racing at 20 mph. The drivers were going 80 mph to 95 mph in a 55 mph zone, a news release said. Aguilar Hernandez is accused of knowingly riding as a passenger and coordinating a race between vehicles.

IMMOKALEE, Fla. – An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle. It's the 15th panther death attributed to fatal collisions, out of 18 total deaths this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The remains of the 3-year-old male panther were found Friday in Collier County on a rural road east of Immokalee, wildlife officials said. Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeast, but now their habitat mostly is confined to a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild.

IMMOKALEE, Fla. When much of the world was staying at home to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, Elbin Sales Perez continued to rise at 4:30 a.m. to report to his landscaping job in a rural Florida town. If we dont, then who does it? said Sales Perez, 31, who noted that his job was deemed essential. Sales Perez knows many people who have gotten sick in this rural town known for its tomato farms. This week, health authorities expanded testing from weekends to weekdays after seeing hundreds lining up in the Florida heat two Sundays in a row. We are worried as we hear a lot of people are getting sick, she said, holding her 4-year-old daughters hand.

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. A small plane carrying two people made an emergency landing on a busy Collier County interstate Friday much to the surprise of drivers on the road. According to the Collier County Sheriffs Office, a small, single-engine, two-seat Cessna plane made an emergency landing on southbound Interstate 75 around 10 a.m. The plane was coming from Sanford and was making its final approach to Naples Municipal Airport when it began experiencing engine failure, deputies said. Neither the pilot, nor the passenger was injured in the crash, and the Federal Aviation Administration was called in to investigate the emergency landing, as is standard procedure. Deputies said the incident caused the southbound entry ramp to be shut down, but I-75 remained open to traffic.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers an interactive atlas online on heart disease statistics in every county. CLICK HERE FOR INTERACTIVE ATLAS ON HEART DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATESThe map compares different statistics with county numbers, state numbers, and a national average. It allows the user to look at how many people in a specific county are impacted by heart disease. The charts show how health insurance costs compare with heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women, according to the CDC.

NAPLES, Fla. – A 12-year-old driver was fatally injured when her all-terrain vehicle flipped and landed on her, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Officials said Kaeli McCormick, of Naples, was critically injured Sunday in Collier County and hospitalized. She was pronounced dead Monday. It’s unclear what caused the ATV to overturn. Authorities said she wasn’t wearing a helmet.