Critical Wildlife Area

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis suggested the state should have looked again at the prices of three conservation-land deals that totaled $193 million before they were approved Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Cabinet members.Patronis said after the Cabinet meeting that a federal judge’s ruling last month in a battle about wetlands permitting has affected the appraised values of the 27,742 acres of agricultural land in Polk, Seminole, Hendry and Collier counties.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act is helping create new opportunities to help the endangered Florida panther, but the species is facing some new and emerging threats including a neurological disorder called feline leukomyelopathy and a number of proposed new developments in Lee and Collier counties. We take a closer look in a conversation with Amber Crooks from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

A Florida administrative law judge in Fort Myers began hearing testimony this week over the proposed construction of a private boardwalk over a publically…