HIGHLIGHT: FLORIDA
St. Petersburg: Lettuce will be on the menu again this year for Florida manatees as part of an effort to slow the starvation deaths of the beloved marine mammals, wildlife officials said. Plans are already in place to resume an experimental feeding program at a warm-water power plant near Cape Canaveral. Last year, about 202,000 pounds of lettuce was fed to manatees that gather there by the thousands when the weather turns colder. The greater goal is to reduce pollution from agriculture, urban and sewage sources that has triggered a die-off in the seagrass beds manatees depend on for food. The feeding program was launched last winter after a record 1,100 manatees died in 2021.