Florida Keys

New phone customers in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys will get a 645 area code starting Aug. 4, the state Public Service Commission announced Friday.

White-bearded Gerrit Marshall from Madison, Wisconsin, has won the 2023 Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, a highlight of Key West's annual Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday.

Twenty-five competitors chowed down on the Florida Keys’ signature dessert July 4 in Key West -- without using their hands -- but no one did it faster than Joshua Mogle, a 38-year-old tire manufacturing manager from Altoona, Iowa.

Diving explorer and medical researcher Dr. Joseph Dituri surfaced Friday after living underwater for 100 days while carrying out a scientific research mission in a Florida Keys marine habitat.Dituri set a new record for the longest time living underwater at ambient pressure while residing in the Jules’ Undersea Lodge habitat in Key Largo, eclipsing the previous record of 73 days that was set in 2014 at the same location.

The Homeland Security Task Force - Southeast said they have stopped or removed more than 1,300 refugees at sea or from Dry Tortugas National Park and other areas of the Florida Keys since Dec. 30 and urged family members of Cubans and Haitians thinking of making their way to the U.S. to dissuade such efforts.

The closure, which is expected to last several days, is necessary for the safety of visitors and staff because of the resources and space needed to attend to the refugees. A camper on the island witnessed several of the landings.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's Restoration Blueprint would add Pulley Ridge in the Gulf of Mexico to its boundaries, in addition to putting additional protections on more than 450 square miles around the Keys.

State health officials reported 1,707 new COVID-19 cases, Monday, bringing the statewide total to 756,727 cases. The Florida Department of Health also reported 54 new coronavirus related deaths, Oct. 19, increasing the statewide death toll to 16,222 fatalities.

State health officials reported 10,347 new cases of COVID-19, Monday, increasing the statewide total to 360,394 cases.Monday marked the 27th consecutive day of single-day increases of at least 5,000 cases.The Florida Department of Health also reported 90 new coronavirus-related deaths, July 20, bringing the statewide death toll 5,072 fatalities.

Naval Air Station Key West is like a small city within the Keys — so it's had its own response to COVID-19. There are about 5,500 employees and...