Charlotte County residents fear Helene debris will worsen with incoming MiltonTS Milton continues to organize and strengthen in the SW Gulf, heading east
Charlotte County residents fear Helene debris will worsen with incoming Milton Some in Charlotte County are worried about piles of debris leftover from Hurricane Helene as Tropical Storm Milton makes its way to Florida.
TS Milton continues to organize and strengthen in the SW Gulf, heading east Tropical Storm Milton continues to strengthen in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, and it is predicted to reach hurricane status in less than 24 hours.
FORT MYERS Lee County officials to hold Facebook Live update ahead of Milton The Lee County Public Safety Director, Ben Abes, and the county commissioners are set to provide updates regarding Tropical Storm Milton.
SANIBEL Sanibel officials to provide live update on storm preparations ahead of Milton Sanibel’s mayor, Richard Johnson, and the city manager, Dana Souza, are set to provide a live update on storm preparations.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY Rain & storms across SWFL throughout Sunday The Weather Authority is tracking heavy rain and storms on Sunday, especially in the afternoon and evening.
TALLAHASSEE DeSantis urges Floridians to prepare for Milton Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference to update the public on preparations for Tropical Storm Milton, which is expected to become a hurricane in less than 24 hours.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY NHC has bumped up Milton’s peak intensity forecast to 120mph The Weather Authority is tracking Tropical Storm Milton, the latest named storm which will lead to a week of heavy rain for southwest Florida beginning Sunday.
PUNTA GORDA Punta Gorda residents loading up on sandbags ahead of Milton With Tropical Storm Milton developing in the tropics and heavy rain expected Sunday, people in Charlotte County are getting prepared by loading up their cars with sandbags.
NORTH FORT MYERS Debris from Helene has neighbors worrying about Milton While many are still trying to pick up the pieces left from Hurricane Helene, residents in North Fort Myers still have a lot of leftover debris piling up.
Free sandbag locations available ahead of this Sunday’s heavy rainfall The Weather Authority has been tracking a potential rainmaker that will impact our area from Sunday through Wednesday.
FEMA urging Florida residents to prepare for Milton FEMA is monitoring Milton which is set to become a Category 3 Hurricane as it makes landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
DeSantis declares state of emergency in 35 Florida counties ahead of Milton In an X post on Saturday evening, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 35 Florida counties ahead of Milton.
SANIBEL Sanibel residents preparing for Tropical Storm Milton Another tropical system is taking aim at Florida. The devastation from Helene is still fresh on the minds of Sanibel residents, and they aren’t wasting time preparing.
PORT CHARLOTTE Charlotte County opens resource center for those affected by Helene Charlotte County has opened a multi-agency resource center at the Port Charlotte Town Center to help those affected by Helene.
High-speed chase leads to PIT maneuver in Lee County A high-speed pursuit between a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a vehicle ended in a PIT maneuver in Lee County.
Charlotte County residents fear Helene debris will worsen with incoming Milton Some in Charlotte County are worried about piles of debris leftover from Hurricane Helene as Tropical Storm Milton makes its way to Florida.
TS Milton continues to organize and strengthen in the SW Gulf, heading east Tropical Storm Milton continues to strengthen in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, and it is predicted to reach hurricane status in less than 24 hours.
FORT MYERS Lee County officials to hold Facebook Live update ahead of Milton The Lee County Public Safety Director, Ben Abes, and the county commissioners are set to provide updates regarding Tropical Storm Milton.
SANIBEL Sanibel officials to provide live update on storm preparations ahead of Milton Sanibel’s mayor, Richard Johnson, and the city manager, Dana Souza, are set to provide a live update on storm preparations.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY Rain & storms across SWFL throughout Sunday The Weather Authority is tracking heavy rain and storms on Sunday, especially in the afternoon and evening.
TALLAHASSEE DeSantis urges Floridians to prepare for Milton Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference to update the public on preparations for Tropical Storm Milton, which is expected to become a hurricane in less than 24 hours.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY NHC has bumped up Milton’s peak intensity forecast to 120mph The Weather Authority is tracking Tropical Storm Milton, the latest named storm which will lead to a week of heavy rain for southwest Florida beginning Sunday.
PUNTA GORDA Punta Gorda residents loading up on sandbags ahead of Milton With Tropical Storm Milton developing in the tropics and heavy rain expected Sunday, people in Charlotte County are getting prepared by loading up their cars with sandbags.
NORTH FORT MYERS Debris from Helene has neighbors worrying about Milton While many are still trying to pick up the pieces left from Hurricane Helene, residents in North Fort Myers still have a lot of leftover debris piling up.
Free sandbag locations available ahead of this Sunday’s heavy rainfall The Weather Authority has been tracking a potential rainmaker that will impact our area from Sunday through Wednesday.
FEMA urging Florida residents to prepare for Milton FEMA is monitoring Milton which is set to become a Category 3 Hurricane as it makes landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
DeSantis declares state of emergency in 35 Florida counties ahead of Milton In an X post on Saturday evening, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 35 Florida counties ahead of Milton.
SANIBEL Sanibel residents preparing for Tropical Storm Milton Another tropical system is taking aim at Florida. The devastation from Helene is still fresh on the minds of Sanibel residents, and they aren’t wasting time preparing.
PORT CHARLOTTE Charlotte County opens resource center for those affected by Helene Charlotte County has opened a multi-agency resource center at the Port Charlotte Town Center to help those affected by Helene.
High-speed chase leads to PIT maneuver in Lee County A high-speed pursuit between a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a vehicle ended in a PIT maneuver in Lee County.
MGN Online PARIS (AP) – EU sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine are cutting both ways: hurting Russia as well as pinching some big European companies. But economic relief isn’t likely any time soon, diplomats and analysts say, since EU divisions make the sanctions tough to overturn. France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are trying to set up talks next week in Astana, Kazakhstan, to ease the tensions behind the punitive measures that, along with slumping oil prices and U.S. sanctions, have sent the ruble sinking. The sanctions, and Russian retaliation, have in turn squeezed corporate Europe – including banks, oil companies, machinery makers and food giants that do business with Russia. European Union rules complicate any attempt to modify the sanctions put into place last year amid the separatist violence in eastern Ukraine and after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. A unanimous decision by all 28 EU nations is needed to change the sanctions, and analysts say such unanimity doesn’t exist. The main EU sanctions – which have hit Russian banks and oil companies and have banned arms exports and the export of dual-use goods – are in place until the end of July. A first review of some sanctions could come in March. “We don’t turn any sanction screw just for the sake of turning,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters Monday. “The sanctions are responses to concrete situations from the Russian side and concrete situations in eastern Ukraine.” Under the combined blow of sanctions and slumping oil prices, the ruble has lost about half its value this year and the Russian economy has drifted into recession. President Vladimir Putin has promised the economy will rebound, but he has failed to offer a specific plan for easing Russia’s heavy dependence on oil and gas revenues. Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said France and Italy are among the nations more open to lifting the sanctions while Poland, Britain and the Baltic countries want to stand firm. It’s not certain the talks scheduled for Jan. 15 in Astana will take place – diplomats say high-level preparatory talks are planned Friday. French President Francois Hollande told France-Inter radio that he would only attend the Astana talks if progress could be made in easing the tensions. “The sanctions should be lifted if there’s progress. If there’s no progress, the sanctions will remain,” he said Monday, adding that Putin “of course is not letting on that he has the slightest difficulty.” “The sanctions … and the decrease of the oil price … weaken him. He doesn’t say it of course, he doesn’t let people think that he has any kind of difficulty, but he has some difficulties.” So do some European corporate titans. Hollande was to meet Wednesday with Patrick Pouyanne, the new chief executive of the French oil giant Total, in part to discuss the EU sanctions. Pouyanne has echoed his predecessor – who died in a plane crash in Russia in October – in calling the sanctions “unjust and unproductive.” The Western sanctions have hurt European companies that do business in or with Russia. For example, some Russian clients can no longer pay them because they are going into debt or payments are blocked in sanctions-hit banks. In addition, demand has dried up because Russians are struggling financially. Paul Ivan, a policy analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels, said Russian retaliation has added to Europe’s economic pain. Moscow has imposed a one-year ban on imports on a range of food produced by EU countries, hitting Lithuanian dairy farmers, Italian cheese makers and Belgian apple growers alike. The European statistics agency Eurostat said Russia absorbs 10 percent of all EU agricultural and food exports. But overall, the fallout was limited to less than 1 percent of GDP in all EU countries, Ivan said. Beyond the tensions in parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian militants, diplomats from three EU delegations said Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea was making it impossible to move quickly to ease the sanctions, and no moves were underway to ease the pressure on Moscow. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “There are no serious reasons to change the policy,” Ivan said. “Fighting in Ukraine goes on. There are reports of new Russian military vehicles. There are no real improvements. … The policy will continue as long as the situation doesn’t improve there on the ground.”