ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
MGN LEE COUNTY, Fla. – WINK News uncovered a growing trend in the number of parents choosing to not vaccinate their children. Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the number of measles cases to 121. The disease has now spread to 17 states and Washington, D.C. The CDC has reported the majority of the people who have contracted measles were unvaccinated. Growing Trend WINK News Investigators obtained shot records from 2011-2015 in Charlotte, Collier and Lee County school districts to determine the number of children not vaccinated or under-vaccinated in Southwest Florida. There are three reasons a student can still attend school without all of his/her required vaccines. Those include permanent medical exemptions, temporary medical exemptions and religious exemptions. A permanent medical exemption is for anyone who is in an immunocompromised state. A doctor must sign off on the exemption. The second exemption, a temporary medical exemption, also requires a doctor to approve. It’s mostly used to allow children to attend school or child care while in the process of receiving the required vaccines. These exemptions are typically for no more than a few months. A religious exemption is the only option that allows the parent to choose and does not require a doctor’s approval. In order to receive this exemption, a parent must go to the local health department once in their child’s lifetime and fill out a form. WINK News uncovered in Lee County public schools the number of children listed under ‘religious exemption’ jumped 66 percent in four years from 709 students in the 2011-2012 school year to 1,183 in the 2014-2015 school year. “Religious exemptions are increasing, I can’t deny that. I can remember when they were below one percent. As you see more children unimmunized, either religious exemption or other forms of exemption…it decreases the number of people who are immunized and puts a pool of people at risk,” said David Fee, with the Lee County Health Department Immunization Section. “It can be concerning because you are concerned about the overall public health.” The trend is consistent in Charlotte and Collier counties as well. In the Charlotte County school district, the number of students listed under ‘religious exemption’ jumped 26 percent from the 2011-2012 school year to the 2014-2015 school year. In the Collier County school district, the numbers jumped 41 percent in the same time period. WINK News talked to one mother, who asked to remain anonymous, about her decision to not vaccinate her child. “We [her and her husband] talked about the illnesses, and how we can, how we can treat them at home, whether or not we were more comfortable with the illnesses or the ingredients and possible side effects of the vaccines,” she explained. “We just had to decide if we were more comfortable treating measles at home, if we had a good enough relationship with our pediatrician that we felt comfortable to go to him and make sure that nothing would go wrong.” This mother said when her child does get sick, she makes sure to keep him at home to ensure he does not infect other children. However, local pediatricians strongly advise against not vaccinating your child, unless they have a serious medical condition. “People need to realize that by not vaccinating their children, they are putting the rest of society at risk. It’s not just affecting you and your child, it’s affecting 40-year-old people, whose immunity from their childhood shots might not be so great anymore,” said pediatrician Dr. Annette St. Pierre-Mackoul. “You’re putting the rest of society at risk and you’re bringing back diseases that we thought we had eradicated and we had been successful in getting rid of…Once you know the facts, there’s no question that vaccination is best.” The Risk Factors WINK News wanted to know if measles could easily spread to Southwest Florida, so we compared our risk factors to San Mateo County in California. This county is not ground-zero for the most recent measles outbreak in Disneyland, but the CDC has reported three cases in the county associated to the outbreak. To draw a comparison, WINK News investigators looked at religious exemptions in private and public schools in San Mateo County and compared those to Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties. We found the number of religious exemptions, or parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids, was virtually the same. Last year, San Mateo County reported 1.9 percent of public school kindergartners were listed under ‘religious exemption.’ Compare that to 1.5 percent in Charlotte and 1.7 percent in Collier and Lee counties. For private school kindergartners, San Mateo County reported 4.1 percent last year; compared to 6.7 percent in Collier, 7.5 percent in Lee, and 8.5 percent in Charlotte.