San Francisco (AP) — A Northern California aquarium has raised more than $2 million for sea otter conservation in just two days. All it took was Taylor Swift wearing a vintage T-shirt.
Swift wore a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium otter conservation T-shirt in a release party movie for her new “The Life of a Showgirl” album, sending her ardent fans on a quest to buy the shirt last produced in the 1990s. After the aquarium was flooded with calls about buying the T-shirt showing two otters floating on their back, it decided to re-release the garment Thursday as part of a special campaign to raise $1.3 million, a nod to Swift’s favorite number, said Liz MacDonald, the aquarium’s director of content strategy.
The aquarium met and surpassed its goal to raise the funds for its sea otter conservation program in less than eight hours, averaging about $100,000 in sales every 15 minutes, MacDonald said. Donors who give at least $65.13 to its newest fundraising campaign to help injured and orphan otters will be mailed a T-shirt, MacDonald said.
“We definitely had a little Taylor Swift dance party in the office yesterday afternoon when we hit the goal,” she said.
The aquarium began accepting back-orders and by Friday afternoon it had raised more than $2 million, according to its website.
How Swift acquired the T-Shirt that was last produced more than 32 years ago — when she was just 3 years old — remains a mystery.
She and fiancé Travis Kelce have been documented visiting nearby Carmel, but MacDonald said the aquarium is not aware of the couple having been in their shop.
MacDonald said the staff has had fun speculating about Swift's interest in the T-shirt.
When Taylor announced the release of her new album on Kelce’s podcast "New Heights" a couple of weeks ago, the couple had a little banter about how he loves otters and loves sending her videos of the furry sea creatures.
“One of my favorite theories is that we have a sea otter on our exhibit whose name is Opal and she was named by the fans through an online poll, and I wonder if Taylor Swift may have been one of the people that voted for the name Opal,” MacDonald said, adding that opal is Kelce’s birthstone and that Opalite is the name of one of Swift’s songs.
Whatever the reason, the aquarium and Liberty Graphics, an employee-owned company printing the T-shirts, are reveling in the moment.
“They’re a company based in Maine who were as taken by surprise as us, but who are also as delighted to have this opportunity to be part of this amazing moment that does so much for sea otters and for ocean conservation,” MacDonald said.
Liberty Graphics will use 100% cotton in the T-shirts and water-based ink, which is more ocean-friendly and sustainable, she said.
“We’re also working to make sure that the packaging doesn’t use plastic," she added.
The company of 50 employees normally produces 1,500 shirts a day, said Matt Enos, a company manager.
Enos said that beginning Monday the company will probably have to focus most of its resources on fulfilling T-shirt orders from Swifties.
“We definitely didn’t envision something this big but it’s a pretty good problem to have,” he said.
FILE - A pair of sea otters swim at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif., March 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
A business jet crashed into a South Florida neighborhood and erupted into a ball of flames, killing all nine people on board and leaving a fiery crater. The cause was not immediately clear, but federal investigators are expected to provide an update Monday.
Video recorded by passersby captured the terrifying moment on Sunday afternoon when the Bahamas-bound aircraft plunged from the sky before slamming into the ground and exploding in Green Acres, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) southwest of West Palm Beach. Flames flickered around chunks of pavement lining the crater as shocked residents looked on in horror. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site.
“Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire,” Anthony Blackmon, who lives near the crash site, told NBC affiliate WTVJ. “I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground injured or killed. Authorities have not released the names of the people who died.
Palm Beach County authorities were evacuating about 600 people from a nearby mobile home community while the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigate the crash.
Authorities have not provided any information about what caused the Bahamas-bound Learjet 60 to crash. NTSB officials planned to hold a news conference in West Palm Beach on Monday.
The jet began its journey at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, and airport spokesperson Jim Reynolds described it as a private aircraft. He could not immediately provide details about who was on board.
The plane was heading east at 35,000 feet (about 11 kilometers) when the pilot started to report problems.
The pilot said ice was accumulating on the jet and that turbulence was jolting it by as much as 700 feet (213 meters), according to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net. Rain pounded the region on Sunday.
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers.
The situation rapidly deteriorated.
The pilot requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (about 610 meters) then quickly declared an emergency as the jet lost altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed, before delivering a devastating acknowledgment of what was about to happen. “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The plane banked sharply to the right before crashing and exploding.
“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” DeSantis told reporters at the scene. “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”
Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Associated Press transportation writer Josh Funk in Gretna, Nebraska, contributed.
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
