The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest FloridaLee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
MGN Online WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve plans to keep a key interest rate at a record low to support a U.S. job market that’s improving but still isn’t fully healthy and to help boost unusually low inflation. As expected, it’s also ending a bond purchase program that was intended to keep long-term rates low. The Fed on Wednesday reiterated its plan to maintain its benchmark short-term rate near zero “for a considerable time.” Most economists predict it won’t raise that rate before mid-2015. The Fed’s benchmark rate affects rates on many consumer and business loans. In a statement ending a policy meeting, the Fed noted that the job market is strengthening. The statement drops a previous reference to “significant” in referring to an “underutilization” of available workers. Instead, the Fed said the excess of would-be job holders is “gradually diminishing.” It also noted solid hiring gains and a lower unemployment rate, now 5.9 percent. One of the Fed’s major goals is to achieve maximum employment, which it defines as an unemployment rate between 5.2 percent and 5.5 percent. The Fed repeated previous language that the likelihood of inflation running persistently below its 2 percent target rate has diminished, even though inflation is being restrained by lower energy prices and other factors. Investors responded to confirmation that the Fed would end its bond-buying program by positioning themselves for higher rates. Stocks sold off, and the dollar rose against other currencies. Bond yields rose, and the price of gold fell. Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the Fed still appears likely to put off any rate increase until well into next year. “This isn’t the Fed rushing to the exits,” he said. Hanson noted that while the Fed kept its “considerable time” phrasing, it added language stressing that any rate increase would hinge on the economy’s health. Previously, many analysts had interpreted the “considerable time” phrase to mean the Fed wouldn’t raise rates for a specific period after it ended its bond purchases. The Fed’s statement was approved 9-1. The one dissent came from Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Fed’s regional bank in Minneapolis. He contended that the Fed should have signaled its intention to maintain a record-low benchmark rate until the inflation outlook has reached the central bank’s 2 percent target. And he argued that the Fed should have continued its bond purchases at the current pace. Kocherlakota is considered one of the Fed’s “doves” – officials who are more concerned about unemployment than are “hawks,” who worry more about the risk of high inflation. At the September meeting, two “hawks” – Presidents Charles Plosser of the Philadelphia Fed and Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed – had dissented. On Wednesday, they voted for the statement. The U.S. economy has been benefiting from solid consumer and business spending, manufacturing growth and a surge in hiring that’s reduced the unemployment rate to a six-year low. Still, the housing industry is still struggling, and global weakness poses a potential threat to U.S. growth. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has stressed that while the unemployment rate is close to a historically normal level, other gauges of the job market remain a concern. These include stagnant pay; many part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs; and a historically high number of people who have given up looking for a job and are no longer counted as unemployed. What’s more, inflation remains so low it isn’t even reaching the Fed’s long-term target. When inflation is excessively low, people sometimes delay purchases – a trend that slows consumer spending, the economy’s main fuel. The low short-term rates the Fed has engineered are intended, in part, to lift inflation. The Fed’s decision to end its third round of bond buying had been expected. It has gradually pared the purchases from $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds each month to $15 billion. And the Fed had said it would likely end the program after its October meeting if the economy continued to improve. Even with the end of new purchases, the Fed’s investment holdings stand at $4.5 trillion – more than $3 trillion higher than when the bond purchases were launched in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The Fed has said it won’t begin selling its holdings until after it starts raising short-term rates. Though most economists have predicted that the Fed’s first rate hike won’t occur until summer, some foresee no increase until fall. That’s in part because of fears thatWASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve plans to keep a key interest rate at a record low to support a U.S. job market that’s improving but still isn’t fully healthy and to help boost unusually low inflation. As expected, it’s also ending a bond purchase program that was intended to keep long-term rates low. The Fed on Wednesday reiterated its plan to maintain its benchmark short-term rate near zero “for a considerable time.” Most economists predict it won’t raise that rate before mid-2015. The Fed’s benchmark rate affects rates on many consumer and business loans. In a statement ending a policy meeting, the Fed noted that the job market is strengthening. The statement drops a previous reference to “significant” in referring to an “underutilization” of available workers. Instead, the Fed said the excess of would-be job holders is “gradually diminishing.” It also noted solid hiring gains and a lower unemployment rate, now 5.9 percent. One of the Fed’s major goals is to achieve maximum employment, which it defines as an unemployment rate between 5.2 percent and 5.5 percent. The Fed repeated previous language that the likelihood of inflation running persistently below its 2 percent target rate has diminished, even though inflation is being restrained by lower energy prices and other factors. Investors responded to confirmation that the Fed would end its bond-buying program by positioning themselves for higher rates. Stocks sold off, and the dollar rose against other currencies. Bond yields rose, and the price of gold fell. Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the Fed still appears likely to put off any rate increase until well into next year. “This isn’t the Fed rushing to the exits,” he said. Hanson noted that while the Fed kept its “considerable time” phrasing, it added language stressing that any rate increase would hinge on the economy’s health. Previously, many analysts had interpreted the “considerable time” phrase to mean the Fed wouldn’t raise rates for a specific period after it ended its bond purchases. The Fed’s statement was approved 9-1. The one dissent came from Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Fed’s regional bank in Minneapolis. He contended that the Fed should have signaled its intention to maintain a record-low benchmark rate until the inflation outlook has reached the central bank’s 2 percent target. And he argued that the Fed should have continued its bond purchases at the current pace. Kocherlakota is considered one of the Fed’s “doves” – officials who are more concerned about unemployment than are “hawks,” who worry more about the risk of high inflation. At the September meeting, two “hawks” – Presidents Charles Plosser of the Philadelphia Fed and Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed – had dissented. On Wednesday, they voted for the statement. The U.S. economy has been benefiting from solid consumer and business spending, manufacturing growth and a surge in hiring that’s reduced the unemployment rate to a six-year low. Still, the housing industry is still struggling, and global weakness poses a potential threat to U.S. growth. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has stressed that while the unemployment rate is close to a historically normal level, other gauges of the job market remain a concern. These include stagnant pay; many part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs; and a historically high number of people who have given up looking for a job and are no longer counted as unemployed. What’s more, inflation remains so low it isn’t even reaching the Fed’s long-term target. When inflation is excessively low, people sometimes delay purchases – a trend that slows consumer spending, the economy’s main fuel. The low short-term rates the Fed has engineered are intended, in part, to lift inflation. The Fed’s decision to end its third round of bond buying had been expected. It has gradually pared the purchases from $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds each month to $15 billion. And the Fed had said it would likely end the program after its October meeting if the economy continued to improve. Even with the end of new purchases, the Fed’s investment holdings stand at $4.5 trillion – more than $3 trillion higher than when the bond purchases were launched in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The Fed has said it won’t begin selling its holdings until after it starts raising short-term rates. Though most economists have predicted that the Fed’s first rate hike won’t occur until summer, some foresee no increase until fall. That’s in part because of fears that the global economy is weakening and could threaten the U.S. economy.