Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truckFGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over four and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
Firefighter recovering from heat exhaustion after battling flames in Collier County It happened at Progress Rail, a transit corporation on Mercantile Avenue just before 5am on Friday.
FORT MYERS How do SWFL graduation rates compare to the state average? How do graduation rates for Charlotte, Lee and Collier Counties stack up against the state? WINK News crunched the numbers.
FORT MYERS Community divisive over ‘justified’ officer-involved shooting of Christopher Jordan A detective who killed an unarmed black man in a controversial shooting will be back at work on Monday.
CAPE CORAL Family submits civil complaint against Cape Coral Police Department The family of a 13-year-old boy who was struck and killed while riding his scooter has officially filed a civil complaint.
FORT MYERS Community reacts to ‘justified’ officer-involved shooting of Christopher Jordan Leaders with the NAACP are saying there is a divide between the black community and Fort Myers police.
NAPLES Inside look at $21 million Naples Players Theater, set to open at the end of May On Friday, as the theater’s 70th season approached, leaders and organizers invited WINK News for a ‘hard-hat-tour’ to showcase the new additions and construction updates.
FORT MYERS Detective who fired fatal shot at Christopher Jordan returns to work Monday Fort Myers police have confirmed to WINK News the detective who shot and killed a man inside his home will return to work Monday morning.
FORT MYERS Bishop Verot onto first state semifinals in nearly a decade A trip to the FHSAA State Semifinals has been a long time coming for the Bishop Verot Vikings who have not been since 2016.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over four and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
Firefighter recovering from heat exhaustion after battling flames in Collier County It happened at Progress Rail, a transit corporation on Mercantile Avenue just before 5am on Friday.
FORT MYERS How do SWFL graduation rates compare to the state average? How do graduation rates for Charlotte, Lee and Collier Counties stack up against the state? WINK News crunched the numbers.
FORT MYERS Community divisive over ‘justified’ officer-involved shooting of Christopher Jordan A detective who killed an unarmed black man in a controversial shooting will be back at work on Monday.
CAPE CORAL Family submits civil complaint against Cape Coral Police Department The family of a 13-year-old boy who was struck and killed while riding his scooter has officially filed a civil complaint.
FORT MYERS Community reacts to ‘justified’ officer-involved shooting of Christopher Jordan Leaders with the NAACP are saying there is a divide between the black community and Fort Myers police.
NAPLES Inside look at $21 million Naples Players Theater, set to open at the end of May On Friday, as the theater’s 70th season approached, leaders and organizers invited WINK News for a ‘hard-hat-tour’ to showcase the new additions and construction updates.
FORT MYERS Detective who fired fatal shot at Christopher Jordan returns to work Monday Fort Myers police have confirmed to WINK News the detective who shot and killed a man inside his home will return to work Monday morning.
FORT MYERS Bishop Verot onto first state semifinals in nearly a decade A trip to the FHSAA State Semifinals has been a long time coming for the Bishop Verot Vikings who have not been since 2016.
MGN PHOENIX (AP) – Televised images of New York City’s glittery ball drop have become inextricably linked with New Year’s Eve. But Times Square isn’t the only place to ring in the new year with an object dropping at midnight. Las Cruces, New Mexico, is spicing up New Year’s Eve with its first ever chile drop. In Miami, a 35-foot neon orange will light up Wednesday night, while Atlanta and Nashville, Tennessee, will mark the start of 2015 with peach and music note drops. In Arizona, the celebratory New Year’s Eve drops include a pine cone, cowboy boot and playing card. Officials in cities with Times Square-styled celebrations have found that the events are great ways to draw people to their downtowns – often with accompanying fireworks displays and concerts – while embracing their heritage. “It’s about raising the level of visibility downtown and doing things downtown that don’t go on elsewhere in the city,” said Andy Hume, coordinator of downtown development for Las Cruces. “For quite a long time, our downtown was on life support, and that’s putting it nicely.” The city is also taking a more interactive approach by asking residents the age-old New Mexico question: red or green? Las Cruces residents have been voting through an online poll on whether the chile’s LED lights should shine red or green, organizer Russ Smith said. “Since red and green is so common in the vocabulary here in New Mexico, it blends perfectly with the interest of the people,” Smith said. “It has created curiosity and interest on the part of the public.” Around the country, the countdown-to-midnight events are quirky and sometimes bizarre. Objects range from a watermelon to walleye to a live opossum. The town of Brasstown, North Carolina, for most of the past 20 years has used a live animal in its New Year’s Eve Possum Drop. But this year, after challenges from animal rights protesters, the organizer says he’ll no longer use a live opossum – instead, it’ll be a road-kill opossum or perhaps a pot of opossum stew. Flagstaff, Arizona, celebrates the new year with a 6-foot pine cone that drops from a downtown hotel twice – once at 10 p.m. at an event geared toward families and again at midnight. In nearby Prescott, the city began dropping a 6-foot spurred cowboy boot above downtown’s Whiskey Row four years ago in a nod to its western culture. The Flagstaff tradition started in 1999 when the Weatherford Hotel was celebrating its 100th anniversary and welcoming the new millennium. The pine cone started off as a big metal trash can but now has a more artistic design with colored LEDs. The pine cone is fitting for the mountain town that lies within the world’s largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest. Several thousand people gather on closed streets – typically in freezing weather – to watch the pine cone drop and a fireworks show. “There have been a few years where it’s insanely cold out there,” said Joann Hudson with the Flagstaff Convention & Visitors Bureau. Officials in the Arizona town of Show Low deal a deuce of clubs card on New Year’s. The card represents how the town, which is about 180 miles northeast of Phoenix, supposedly got its name. A settler won a ranch through a card game where the object was to show the lowest card, hence the two of clubs. Since 2010, a 7-by-4-foot card has dropped from a crane in a downtown park. “We seem to get a steady group of people each year that come out for that,” said Steve North, who oversees economic development for Show Low. “It’s getting some play around the state. We’ll likely get some people who will travel up here.”