Ah, Florida: the home of sun, sand, and cat-eating lizards.

State wildlife officials are increasing the hunt for Nile monitor lizards, which can grow more than five feet long. Officials believe thousands of Nile monitor lizards are loose in Florida, and they've recently begun terrorizing Palm Beach County. Since July 2014, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has caught 20 Nile monitor lizards, but they've got plenty more to go.

Nile monitor lizards aren't native to Florida — they're actually found in Africa, but the lizards have made their way to Florida through the exotic pet trade. Unfortunately, Florida's warm climate has been a natural fit for the lizards, and they've been eating local wildlife, including owls and reptiles, as well as cats, The Sun-Sentinel reports. If you needed another reason not to release an exotic pet into the wild, it doesn't get much more terrifying than this. Meghan DeMaria

Authorities have identified Esteban Santiago as the suspected gunman in the shooting Friday afternoon at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which killed at least five people and injured eight others.

Santiago, a 26-year-old born in New Jersey, is believed to have acted alone. Law enforcement said Santiago was a passenger on a flight from Canada and had the weapon in his checked bag; he allegedly began firing after picking up his gun at baggage claim. However, Air Canada said on Twitter that there is no record of a passenger by that name aboard any flights to Fort Lauderdale and that no weapons were checked.

A military ID was found on Santiago when he was taken into custody, though it was not immediately clear if the ID belonged to him. NBC New York reported both "federal and family sources said Santiago had some mental health issues," while The Associated Press reported Santiago's brother said he had "received psychological treatment in Alaska" and that he served in the National Guard. Becca Stanek

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) issued a strong statement against Russia on Friday, shortly after the CIA, FBI, and NSA released a declassified report on Russian hacking during the U.S. presidential election. "Russia has a track record of working against our interests, and they clearly tried to meddle in our political system," Ryan said in a statement. "I strongly condemn outside interference in our elections, which we must work to prevent moving forward."

In the second paragraph of his statement, Ryan echoed President-elect Donald Trump's statement from earlier Friday, in which he maintained Russia had "absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election." Ryan, like Trump, also reiterated that no evidence indicates Russia interfered in the "voting or balloting process." "We cannot allow partisans to exploit this report in an attempt to delegitimize the president-elect's victory," Ryan said. "Donald Trump won this election fair and square because he heard the voices of Americans who felt forgotten."

The report released Friday concluded that "Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him." Becca Stanek

A gunman opened fire in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale airport in south Florida on Friday afternoon, killing five and injuring at least a dozen others. His gun, officials say, had been stored in his checked baggage, and he loaded it in the bathroom after claiming his bag before turning on the crowd.

The incident is likely to complicate the debate around new legislation in the state that would repeal "laws forbidding guns on college campuses, in airport terminals, and at government meetings," the Tallahassee Democrat writes.

While similar open carry attempts have failed to pass in recent years, state Sen. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) is considered "one of the legislature's fiercest opponents to gun-free zones."

"If you want to kill as many people as possible before the cops arrive, then you are likely to go to a place where law-abiding citizens can't carry," Steube said last month. "That's what we've seen, time and time again, and why I think we shouldn't have [gun-free zones]."

Not everyone agrees: "I am not aware of one iota of data that indicates presidents, police chiefs, students, or teachers want guns on campus," said state Rep. Evan Jenne (D-Broward). "It is not a sound policy. It is politicians trying to placate their base, but it is not where we are as a state." Jeva Lange

The Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency on Friday released a declassified report about the 2016 Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta. The report concludes: "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."

The report added, "Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him." The report also cited the intentional use of "paid social media users or 'trolls'" to influence the election.

All three agencies were in agreement on the findings, though Trump himself has cast doubt: After receiving a more detailed, classified report earlier Friday regarding the findings, Trump released a statement asserting "there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election, including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines." The agencies added in their report that even "high confidence in a judgment does not imply that the assessment is a fact or a certainty."

You can read the full declassified report at IC on the Record. Jeva Lange

The Trump Organization's outstanding bills on its new Washington, D.C., hotel total more than $5 million, The Washington Post reported Friday. In a follow-up from its report Thursday, the Post revealed that a third company has moved to protest a lack of payment for work on Trump International Hotel. Three days before Christmas, AES Electrical filed a lien claiming it's owed about $2.1 million.

The company claims it went into overdrive to help President-elect Donald Trump finish up his big hotel ahead of schedule, sending "45 members of its staff to work 12-hour shifts for nearly 50 consecutive days to get the lights, electrical, and fire systems prepared on time," the Post reported. Around the same time that Trump's hotel was announced as completed "under budget and ahead of schedule," AES says it stopped receiving payments from the Trump Organization and its construction manager.

AES is the third business to file a lien regarding the property: Family-owned plumbing company Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc. claims it's out $2.98 million, and A&D Construction says it's owed $79,000 for work on the hotel.

A representative for the Trump Organization wrote in an email to The Washington Post that "the filing of nominal liens at the conclusion of construction is not uncommon as part of the close out process." For more on the story, head over to The Washington Post. Becca Stanek

Shots were fired at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Friday, The Washington Post reports. Five people have been killed, a law official said, and over a dozen other people have been injured, a local mayor told CNN.

The suspect is believed to have been a lone shooter and possibly a member of the military, and is currently in custody. Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca said the gunman was a passenger on a flight from Canada and had the weapon in his checked bag. He took the gun into the bathroom to load before opening fire in the baggage area:

Planes are not allowed to enter or leave Fort Lauderdale for the time being. Planes en route to the airport have been diverted to other Florida landing strips and flights scheduled to leave the airport have been grounded.

President-elect Donald Trump responded to the news of the attack:

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was at the airport at the time of the incident, and confirmed the reports. Jeva Lange

This is a breaking story and has been updated throughout.

President-elect Donald Trump met with the heads of the CIA and FBI and the director of national intelligence on Friday to discuss a 50-page classified report about the Russian hacking last year, which Trump had accused of being a "political witch hunt" earlier on Friday. Trump has long been dismissive of reports pinning the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta on Russia, but he called the meeting "constructive" in a statement:

"While Russia, China, and other countries and outside groups are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses, and organizations … there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines," Trump said, leaving it unclear if he now firmly agrees that Russia was behind the attack.

Trump added that he plans to "appoint a team to give me a plan [to combat cyberattacks] within 90 days of taking office," but that "the methods, tools, and tactics … should not be a public discussion." Jeva Lange