Pets rescued from Hurricane Katrina will be among those at an adopt-a-thon this weekend in Fort Myers. Pam Geiser reports.

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With natural gas prices at record highs, pressure is mounting to increase drilling in the Eastern Gulf. Part of a new bill would open up the entire outer continental shelf to natural gas companies almost immediately, but Fort Myers Republican Congressman Connie Mack says he won’t let that happen. From our Capitol Hill Bureau, Terry Gildea reports.

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Commissioners from Lee and Collier Counties voted to ratify a resolution creating the SW Florida Expressway Authority. The purpose is to speed the widening of I-75 by funding the project with tolls. Valerie Alker has more.

Manor Court was scheduled for demolition by the City of Cape Coral. The evacuees will be allowed to stay there rent free for about seven months.
Mike Kiniry reports.

Democratic Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings is challenging the Republican majority in the US House. He filed a discharge petition that would force the House to consider an independent commission to investigate Hurricane Katrina response. Jill Morrison reports from Capitol Hill.

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Eighty-five infant sea turtles were released off the Florida Keys Tuesday. Their release was delayed a week due to Hurricane Rita. Eighty one of the silver dollar-size reptiles were endangered green sea turtles while four were threatened loggerheads.

The director of a turtle hospital in Marathon Richie Moretti says the animals were rescued on the beaches in the Keys about three weeks ago. They were either stuck in the bottom of their nests or tried to swim to sea, but couldn't. Moretti says the release took place on a sargassum weedline about 10 miles off Marathon.

"And they're going to stay in this weed for the next 15-20 years of their life. And they're going to go all around the Sargasso Sea. They're going to go up along North Carolina and turn right to the Azores. Alright. They're waving good-bye, thank you for the ride."

Weedlines are natural habitats that nurture young sea turtles. Early Tuesday, Moretti flew in a small plane off the Keys to find the weedline. The U.S. Coast Guard base in Marathon provided a boat and crew to transport him and the turtles to it.