In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration center christened "Alligator Alcatraz,” modeled after the state’s frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans.

Hurricane Flossie has once again weakened into a Category 2 hurricane off Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast after it became a powerful Category 3 hurricane overnight.