Edison Festival parade lights up Fort Myers with floats and bandsCharlotte County Sheriff’s Office investigating shooting in Punta Gorda
FORT MYERS Edison Festival parade lights up Fort Myers with floats and bands The Edison Festival parade was a spectacle of lights and sounds, drawing crowds to celebrate the legacy of Thomas Edison.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office investigating shooting in Punta Gorda The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a road rage/shooting in the Punta Gorda area on Saturday night.
CAPE CORAL Goth Gala for the Forlorn; How the alt scene honored Valentine’s Day Love Your Rebellion hosted the Goth Gala for the Forlorn at Nice Guys Pizza in Cape Coral on Friday night.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers gears up for Edison Festival parade; road closures in place Downtown Fort Myers is buzzing with excitement as the Edison Festival of Light Parade is set to begin.
the weather authority Near-record heat with sun and clouds for your Saturday The Weather Authority says the above-normal temperatures that Southwest Florida has been experiencing will stick around yet again for Saturday.
LEE COUNTY Savannah Bananas bring fun on the diamond at JetBlue Park The Savannah Bananas amazed and entertained a sold out JetBlue Park Friday night for the first time in Southwest Florida.
CAPE CORAL Caught on Camera: Cape Coral mailbox hit by drifting car A Cape Coral homeowner was left in shock after a car sent her mailbox flying through the air and left tire tracks next to her home.
ARCADIA DeSoto County man sentenced for deadly DUI crash Justice for a mother and son killed by a man driving under the influence.
NAPLES Oldest Black-owned business in SWFL continues to serve community Cleveland Bass Movers, founded in 1969, stands as the oldest Black-owned business in Southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS BEACH Broken gate on Lovers Key Beach Resort frustrating residents Residents of Lover’s Key Beach Club in Fort Myers Beach are frustrated with a gate that remains wide open, despite “No Trespassing” signs, since Hurricane Ian struck two years ago.
St. James City Church plans $700k flood-proofing project for future safety Hurricanes have caused flood after flood, and one island church, The First Baptist Church of Saint James City, wants to build higher.
Romance scams rise in the US, AARP warns residents to beware Romance scams are on the rise, with the Federal Trade Commission reporting over 64,000 cases in the U.S. in 2023.
Fort Myers Savannah Bananas make their way to Fort Myers for first time The Savannah Bananas have made their way to JetBlue Park for Friday’s sold-out game in Fort Myers to watch “the greatest show in sports.”
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Yacht Club receives key permit Cape Coral received a key permit for a Yacht Club Community Park. This permit opens up the necessary steps for the park to be built.
PORT CHARLOTTE Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church holds 31st annual Greek Fest The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Port Charlotte kicked off its 31st annual Greek Fest on Friday.
FORT MYERS Edison Festival parade lights up Fort Myers with floats and bands The Edison Festival parade was a spectacle of lights and sounds, drawing crowds to celebrate the legacy of Thomas Edison.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office investigating shooting in Punta Gorda The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a road rage/shooting in the Punta Gorda area on Saturday night.
CAPE CORAL Goth Gala for the Forlorn; How the alt scene honored Valentine’s Day Love Your Rebellion hosted the Goth Gala for the Forlorn at Nice Guys Pizza in Cape Coral on Friday night.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers gears up for Edison Festival parade; road closures in place Downtown Fort Myers is buzzing with excitement as the Edison Festival of Light Parade is set to begin.
the weather authority Near-record heat with sun and clouds for your Saturday The Weather Authority says the above-normal temperatures that Southwest Florida has been experiencing will stick around yet again for Saturday.
LEE COUNTY Savannah Bananas bring fun on the diamond at JetBlue Park The Savannah Bananas amazed and entertained a sold out JetBlue Park Friday night for the first time in Southwest Florida.
CAPE CORAL Caught on Camera: Cape Coral mailbox hit by drifting car A Cape Coral homeowner was left in shock after a car sent her mailbox flying through the air and left tire tracks next to her home.
ARCADIA DeSoto County man sentenced for deadly DUI crash Justice for a mother and son killed by a man driving under the influence.
NAPLES Oldest Black-owned business in SWFL continues to serve community Cleveland Bass Movers, founded in 1969, stands as the oldest Black-owned business in Southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS BEACH Broken gate on Lovers Key Beach Resort frustrating residents Residents of Lover’s Key Beach Club in Fort Myers Beach are frustrated with a gate that remains wide open, despite “No Trespassing” signs, since Hurricane Ian struck two years ago.
St. James City Church plans $700k flood-proofing project for future safety Hurricanes have caused flood after flood, and one island church, The First Baptist Church of Saint James City, wants to build higher.
Romance scams rise in the US, AARP warns residents to beware Romance scams are on the rise, with the Federal Trade Commission reporting over 64,000 cases in the U.S. in 2023.
Fort Myers Savannah Bananas make their way to Fort Myers for first time The Savannah Bananas have made their way to JetBlue Park for Friday’s sold-out game in Fort Myers to watch “the greatest show in sports.”
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Yacht Club receives key permit Cape Coral received a key permit for a Yacht Club Community Park. This permit opens up the necessary steps for the park to be built.
PORT CHARLOTTE Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church holds 31st annual Greek Fest The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Port Charlotte kicked off its 31st annual Greek Fest on Friday.
MGN MILAN (AP) – Italy’s highest court this week takes up the Amanda Knox case for the second time as a parallel trial-by-social media rages online, with partisans on both sides seeking to shape public opinion over a murder case that has polarized observers in three nations. While the Internet advocacy and sparring over the Knox trial details – on blogs, forums and most vociferously on Twitter – have no bearing on the real court case, observers and participants say it does have a role in shaping public opinion, particularly in the United States, where the exchanges are most acerbic. And public opinion could eventually have some bearing, if a confirmed guilty verdict requires Knox to serve a sentence and Italy seeks to extradite her. “This has become their life, and both sides are desperate to win any way they can. Even if that is in the court of public opinion, they will take that win,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor who directs the center for legal advocacy at Loyola Law School. “Everyone has woken up and realized that the law is not etched in stone. It is in the eye of the beholder and they are trying to influence that.” The Italian Court of Cassation on Wednesday is expected to rule on Knox’s and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito’s appeals to their guilty verdicts in British student Meredith Kercher’s 2007 killing, issued last year by a Florence appeals court that sentenced Knox to 28 ½ years and Sollecito to 25 years. Both had been found guilty by a trial court in Perugia, then freed after a Perugia appellate court overturned the convictions, only to find themselves back in an appellate court after the high court vacated the acquittals in a harsh rebuke of the Perugia chief appellate judge’s reasoning. Knox, who spent four years in jail during the investigation and after her lower court conviction, remains free in the United States. She has vowed never to return willingly to Italy. If her conviction is upheld now or in future decisions, any decision on her extradition will include a political component that could, in some part, be swayed by public opinion. “She would need a groundswell of support to at least stave off the (U.S.) government from moving forward” on any extradition request from Italy, said Levenson. Eugene McLaughlin, a professor of criminology at the City of University London who is studying the early days of British media coverage, calls the case one of the first examples of “trial by social media,” one that put the photogenic U.S. defendant at the center of attention, eclipsing the victim in most accounts. “The case is almost beyond legal adjudication,” McLaughlin said. “No matter if Amanda Knox or Raffaele Sollecito are found guilty or not guilty, it has taken on an after-life of its own.’ The protracted online battle took root in the Paleolithic era of social media, when tabloids plumbed Knox’s MySpace page for early photos of a smiling and carefree student, wisps of hair blowing from beneath a rolled knit cap, picking up on the “Foxy Knoxy” moniker. To the British tabloids, the University of Washington student was a she-wolf bent on seduction. The image they portrayed of a deceptively wholesome American roommate with a taste for adventure took hold in the public imagination after the young lovers were filmed embracing outside the crime scene and shopping for lingerie days after the murder. McLaughlin said Knox was assumed guilty in the British press in the early days of coverage, an impression that solidified when Italian police leaked that she had confessed – a confession she later said was forced. “Certainly in the British media, among key newspapers, she was guilty way before they got near any sort of court,” McLaughlin said. In the United States, the story was different. Knox’s parents were frequent guests on U.S. TV networks and Knox’s image was closely managed by family spokesman David Marriott’s PR firm. The company set about disputing what it saw as misconceptions about Knox spawned in the British tabloids and the Italian media in the months after her arrest – a task that eventually landed Knox a reported $4 million book deal. Sollecito, for his part, has responded to requests to speak with non-Italian traditional news outlets that he will grant interviews only in exchange for money. It was in this PR breach the social media engagement ramped up, with blogs, discussion groups, wiki sites and Twitter exchanges on complex Italian court opinions and expert testimony on DNA evidence. One of the latest hashtag battles is being waged by Knox supporters against Sollecito, seeking a boycott of donations to his legal defense fund until he clarifies whether his high court defense strategy amounts to a sellout of Knox. But over the months and years, the hashtag battles have also fought over minute details of the DNA evidence and tussled over highly technical forensic documents, which McLaughlin said can be open to multiple interpretations. This trial-by-social media- conducted in English and unburdened by the weight of law – is being carried out by largely by trial watchers with no direct connection to either the victim or the defendants. “It was like a big whodunit, and I like puzzles,” said Edward McCall, the online alias of the founder of the Murder of Meredith Kercher wiki, one of among a dozen mostly U.S.-based sites on both sides actively monitoring the case. McCall, who says the site is close to achieving its goal of posting translations of all court documents and transcripts, asked not to use his real name to protect himself and family members from harassment. McCall said he was motivated by a desire to confront the pro-Knox PR he felt was prevalent in the U.S. discussion, and that he was now seeing language from his articles seeping into the discussion. As well-meaning as the sites are, the Kercher family lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said translating complex court documents for an English-speaking audience had little value for readers who don’t know have the Italian law knowledge to interpret them properly. “These trials are very difficult. It is not that everyone can play lawyer. If your knowledge is average, these are very technical questions,” Maresca said. “And after that, it slides into gossip.”