Caught on Camera: Cape Coral mailbox hit by drifting carDeSoto County man sentenced for deadly DUI crash
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.
Donations helping young kids get fed Food insecurity is a pressing issue in the community, and organizations like the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Meals of Hope and the Guadalupe Center are stepping up to help.
New risk factors contribute to heart disease February is American Heart Month, a perfect time to assess your heart health.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte High School student arrested for possession of BB gun According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, a student has been arrested after a BB gun was found in his backpack on Friday.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Regional Library to undergo multiple repairs due to Ian The Fort Myers Regional Library is preparing for essential repairs, nearly two years after Hurricane Ian made its impact.
Drug bust at Collier County home leads to triple arrest Three people are accused of running a drug house that held opioids, fentanyl and other illicit narcotics in Collier County.
Charlotte County’s first Grain & Berry opens Fast-growing organic vegan restaurant franchise Grain & Berry opened in Port Charlotte, making it the 19th in the state out of a total of 23 nationwide.
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.
Donations helping young kids get fed Food insecurity is a pressing issue in the community, and organizations like the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Meals of Hope and the Guadalupe Center are stepping up to help.
New risk factors contribute to heart disease February is American Heart Month, a perfect time to assess your heart health.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte High School student arrested for possession of BB gun According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, a student has been arrested after a BB gun was found in his backpack on Friday.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Regional Library to undergo multiple repairs due to Ian The Fort Myers Regional Library is preparing for essential repairs, nearly two years after Hurricane Ian made its impact.
Drug bust at Collier County home leads to triple arrest Three people are accused of running a drug house that held opioids, fentanyl and other illicit narcotics in Collier County.
Charlotte County’s first Grain & Berry opens Fast-growing organic vegan restaurant franchise Grain & Berry opened in Port Charlotte, making it the 19th in the state out of a total of 23 nationwide.
MGN SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) – Pope Francis is wrapping up his pilgrimage to Bolivia with a visit Friday to its notoriously violent and overcrowded Palmasola prison, where inmates have the run of the place, drugs are cheaper than on the street and money buys survival. Francis has frequently spoken out about the plight of prisoners, denouncing the widespread abuse of pre-trial detention and calling life sentences a “hidden death penalty.” He has met with prisoners to offer them words of encouragement, and even as pope continued to regularly call a group of Argentine inmates he ministered to when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Palmasola is the most notorious of Bolivia’s 32 prisons, built to detain some 800 people but housing 5,000, more than four in five still awaiting trial. Two years ago, 36 people died in a fierce battle between rival gangs using machetes and homemade flamethrowers. One of the victims was a 1-year-old. U.S. businessman Jacob Ostreicher spent 18 months in Palmasola after being arrested for suspected money laundering. Ostreicher, who was released in 2012 when it was revealed that he had been extorted by a ring of prosecutors, judges and government lawyers, said he doubted Francis would see the real Palmasola. “It’s the lifers who control the prison,” he said. “The police officers who guard the outside of the prison push you inside the prison and you’re on your friggin’ own.” Francis is likely to urge the prisoners to not despair, while also acknowledging the wretched conditions they face. It’s a message of solidarity with the downtrodden that Francis has championed as pope and in particular on his three-nation South American pilgrimage. In his most important speech of the trip, Francis on Thursday apologized for the sins and crimes of the Catholic Church against the continent’s indigenous peoples during the colonial conquest of the Americas. Francis’ final event before leaving for Paraguay would bring him up close with the reality of the continent’s most ostracized and vulnerable. Inside Palmasola, everything has its price. “Here corruption rules and he who has money can live well while the rest suffer jammed into huts with dirt floors,” said Sirley Maria Vargas, the mother of a 21-year-old inmate accused of homicide. “With money you can have your own room, cleaning service, cable TV, air conditioning and Internet.” Inmates pay $1,000 for the right to a cell and $300 a month for individual cells, she said. Cellphones can be bought, and food and drugs are routinely smuggled in. Ostreicher said a small bag of cocaine is cheaper inside than an eight-ounce bottle of water. Bolivia has a notoriously corrupt judiciary, with some 1,000 judges and 300 prosecutors under investigation or on trial for corruption. The country’s prison regimen lets inmates roam outside their cells by day. Module I, which has an open regimen, has streets full of men, women and children, domestic animals, stores, restaurants, a gym, a Catholic and evangelical church and workshops. Other prison sections are less hospitable, particularly Modules 3 and 4, which hold the most dangerous inmates. Module 5 houses the infirm, most with tuberculosis. Francis has gone well beyond his predecessors – and Catholic Church teaching – in saying there is no justification for the death penalty today. He has called solitary confinement a “form of torture” – and said both solitary and the death penalty should be abolished. In a meeting with penal lawyers last year, he denounced prison systems as “out of control” for depriving people of their dignity. He has also offered words of encouragement to prisoners, twice washing the feet of detainees during Holy Thursday services in Rome and recently lunching with inmates during a visit to Naples, where he met with gay and transgender prisoners. The church’s national coordinator for Francis’ visit, the Rev. Aurelio Pesoa, said the pope would receive a wood carving made by inmates, hear a prisoner’s testimony and then a speech by its pastoral coordinator, the Rev. Leonardo Da Silva. Ostreicher said he doubted the pope would be shown the section of the prison where the penniless are “wasting away,” forced to sleep in the open and scrounge for food in garbage containers. Rather, he said, he assumed Francis would be shown a Catholic church-run building where destitute prisoners at least get a place to sleep. But the chickens that usually have the run of its alleys may be caged, he said. Palmasola reflects an all-too-frequent reality in Latin American prisons. “What’s being punished isn’t the crime but rather poverty,” said Juan Carlos Nunez, an investigator at Jubileo, a Catholic think tank.