Time to dive into South Florida's week that ended December 12, 2025 (late--sorry)
New beginnings are afoot, or a-wing, in South Florida with the re-opening of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades National Park Visitors Center after it was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, the press still thinks Florida is a mysterious and dangerous place for all the stupidest reasons, and more in This Week in Florida.
Table of Contents
Finite
Disappointment
I like getting these out by Saturday morning, the day after the week ends. But, things happened, nothing bad (just busy) and it got delayed and now things at Brown University and Bondi Beach in Sydney have happened and I'm just going to say I would rather think about the pretty bird in the photo than the monstrous acts carried out on human beings this week that are in the news.
In fact, here's another pretty birdy–this one doing the smart thing and flying away from humans.
Florida
Gonna Florida and the Press Lives for It
As I was looking for press coverage of the opening of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitors Center in Everglades National Park I happened upon few stories about that–it's been eight years since that visitors center was destroyed and the re-opening is a big deal, or should be–I happened upon multiple stories of the press making Florida Man look good.
The first is about alligators.
OK, they're both about alligators.
The first I saw was about a family that was making a mistake in how they interacted with an alligator. "Passerby shares footage of upsetting sighting in the Florida Everglades: 'Incredible lack of survival instincts'" the headline of a story about a family posing in front of a gaping alligator reads.
Rachel Rear
Here's the thing, a gaping alligator is an alligator that's doing what a dog does when it pants: trying to cool down. Yes, as the family in the video gets within 15 feet of the alligator and turns their backs to it, they are being unwise. But with 31 alligator related fatalities since the Truman Administration in the United States, none in Everglades National Park, there's a reason why the thing you don't see is a Park Ranger–they made a common mistake that almost never leads to an injury much less a fatality.
Am I saying what the tourists did was okay and acceptable? No, I'm saying what they did is akin to jay walking–it's a bad idea that can get you hurt or worse but though it happens daily, it rarely leads to an injury (I say this as a person married to someone who was once struck by a car while jay walking–jay walking is dangerous!).
Of course, the analogy breaks down when you consider that 7500 people were struck and killed by cars in 2022 alone. The problem isn't the family or the alligator, but the person who mocked the family with the video and the lazy press (the article is where I got the 31 fatalities since 1948 number!) that boosted it.
The second story is basically the same as the first.
A father and son ran out of gas while swamp running their ATV during dry season. Dry season doesn't mean everything out there is dry, far from it, especially at the beginning of dry season, which is where we are right now. It means it doesn't rain almost every day like it does during the wet season (also known as hurricane season) and things can get boggy where there's normally water.
So this pair got stuck in the mud, literally.
How did the press cover it?
Kevin Fitzgerald
"Must-see video: Father, son dramatically rescued from deep in the alligator-infested Florida Everglades."
In this case, the only humans that were really being dumb was the press. The father and son ran out of gas, called 911, provided their GPS coordinates, and the Aviation Bureau located them and sent a helicopter to get them.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) declared "This is another example of CCSO's great training put into practice and the success that comes from seamless partnerships," and they weren't wrong.
The father and son's biggest threat was the cold, followed by starvation (assuming they were too incompetent to forage in an area abundant with edible flora and fauna) not alligators, not pythons either and certainly not crocodiles, who are in the area too.
In fact, Sasquatch was almost the same level of threat as the reptiles in the area.
Historic
Interlude
Happy Birthday Everglades National Park!
On December 6, 1947, after years of pressure from people like Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Everglades National Park officially opened with President Truman there to celebrate the event.
Sappy Birthday Sugar Industry in Florida!
Cane sugar growing was introduced to Florida in the 1500s, yes, the 1500s, by the Spanish. But when Robert Kann of Illinois and G. F. Tucker of Mississippi announced they were opening a large sugar plantation and mill in Fellsmere, a community that today is about an hour and a half north of West Palm Beach, it made the news as a big deal.
As locals, particularly ones attuned to environmental issues in Florida, "Big Sugar" is a big deal today.
Tim Padgett
Bush v. Gore goes into overdrive 25 years ago this week
It's hard to imagine that on December 8, 2000, we still didn't know who the next President of the United States would be.
You'll be shocked to learn that ultimately George W. Bush was sworn is as President.
Infinite
Hope
It was a little surreal listening to the Deputy Secretary of the Interior Kate MacGregor lavish praise on the Trump Administration for the building she was helping open. On the one hand, without crucial funding and support by the 45th and 47th presidencies, the Visitors Center, which was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, would not have opened this week.
On the other hand, the same administration delayed the opening by furloughing many of the workers building it during the longest government shutdown in history, is controversially increasing entrance fees by a factor of four to the park for international tourist, who make up as much as 50% of the park's visitors, cut promised funding by nearly $300 million this year at the park system's time of "greatest need."
Because of those cuts that TWIFL strongly disapproves of, nay, abhors, this contrast does give hope for the future. The facility is gorgeous.
While the building itself was both beautiful and a bit of a technical marvel due to its ability to withstand the next hurricane that destroyed its predecessor, the wildlife, as is befitting America's first park set aside for its wildlife, stole the show.
Brown pelicans stole the show during the ribbon cutting ceremony at the brand new Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center in Everglades National Park, prompting a jokingly disapproving comment from the Deputy Secretary of the Interior, whose speech they constantly interrupted with their diving. Photos Credit Philip Cardella TWIFL Copyright 2025.
Ever since I moved to Florida in 2021 I've tried to get good images of pelicans and on Friday, I got hundreds of shots of them (most are blurry, lol). Marjory Stonemand Douglas helped get this park set aside 78 years ago this week to protect the wildlife in 1947 and today, at least, the wildlife is still stunning visitors from around the world.
Bear
The History Hound Finds
Aaron Rupar
Kevin Kruse
Aaron Rupar
Made by History