Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concernsStudents benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
GOLDEN GATE Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate Collier commissioners unanimously approved a long term lease and operating agreement to reopen the Golden Gate golf course Tuesday.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcyclists ride in SWFL to help veterans battle suicide A group of veterans from the American Legion are grabbing their helmets and boots for a motorcycle ride to bring awareness to the staggering rates of suicide among veterans.
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema prepares for opening at Mercato The newest movie theater in Southwest Florida opens April 29, and it does so with an array of entertainment offerings that go beyond the usual options across the region.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
GOLDEN GATE Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate Collier commissioners unanimously approved a long term lease and operating agreement to reopen the Golden Gate golf course Tuesday.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcyclists ride in SWFL to help veterans battle suicide A group of veterans from the American Legion are grabbing their helmets and boots for a motorcycle ride to bring awareness to the staggering rates of suicide among veterans.
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema prepares for opening at Mercato The newest movie theater in Southwest Florida opens April 29, and it does so with an array of entertainment offerings that go beyond the usual options across the region.
MGN WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal health officials will meet in May to review problems with the design and cleaning of specialized medical instruments linked to at least two recent “superbug” outbreaks. The Food and Drug Administration has set a two-day meeting for mid-May to gather expert opinion on improving the safety of the specialized endoscopes, which are used on about 500,000 U.S. patients each year. The meeting’s announcement comes amid escalating criticism of the FDA’s oversight of the hard-to-clean devices, which have been linked to sometimes fatal outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at several hospitals in recent years. Last week 10 members of Congress asked the FDA to answer questions about the devices, including how the agency reviews manufacturers’ cleaning instructions. In the last month, two Los Angeles hospitals have reported superbug infections in patients despite following manufacturer’s guidelines. The scopes’ complex design – to help physicians drain fluids in the body – also makes them extremely difficult to clean. Bodily fluids and other particles can stay in the device’s crevices even after cleaning and disinfection. Previously the FDA recommended hospitals follow manufacturers’ instructions for disinfecting the devices, which typically involves the use of germ-killing disinfectants and manual or machine-assisted processing. But after the first of the two recent outbreaks, the FDA acknowledged that those instructions may not fully disinfect the devices. In the first case, seven patients at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center contracted an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria after undergoing endoscopic procedures with a device made by Olympus Corp. Two patients died from the infection. Last week officials at another Los Angeles Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, reported that four patients were infected with the same superbug after being treated with the same Olympus scope. The specialized device, known as a duodenoscope, is a flexible fiber-optic tube that is inserted down the throat, through the stomach and small intestine to treat conditions in the pancreas and bile ducts. Industry experts say that FDA guidelines do not require makers of reusable medical instruments to provide scientific evidence that their cleaning instructions fully disinfect the devices. Some hospitals have adopted extra cleaning procedures, including sterilizing scopes with toxic ethylene oxide gas. Other steps include quarantining the devices for several days after each use to test for dangerous bacteria. Those techniques are becoming more common in Europe, Australia and elsewhere, but they are also more expensive than the current U.S. practices. Experts say adopting those techniques would require U.S. hospitals to purchase larger inventories of scopes that can be cycled in and out of use. One duodenoscope can cost about $40,000. FDA officials have previously said that contamination problems have been reported with devices made by all three U.S. manufacturers of the devices: Olympus, Pentax Medical and Fujifilm. Despite these problems, regulators said pulling the products off the market would cause a shortage and interfere with routine hospital care.