Black bear spotted in downtown Fort MyersCar with bullet holes towed away from Cape Coral home after police search car, home
FORT MYERS Black bear spotted in downtown Fort Myers A Florida black bear had been spotted in downtown Fort Myers early Monday morning. FWC is responding to relocate the bear.
CAPE CORAL Car with bullet holes towed away from Cape Coral home after police search car, home A Mercedes with at least one bullet hole has been towed from a Cape Coral home.
WINK NEWS Hot and dry Monday afternoon before isolated storms pop up this evening On Monday morning, the weather is starting mild and humid with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
FORT MYERS Black bear spotted in downtown Fort Myers A Florida black bear had been spotted in downtown Fort Myers early Monday morning. FWC is responding to relocate the bear.
CAPE CORAL Car with bullet holes towed away from Cape Coral home after police search car, home A Mercedes with at least one bullet hole has been towed from a Cape Coral home.
WINK NEWS Hot and dry Monday afternoon before isolated storms pop up this evening On Monday morning, the weather is starting mild and humid with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
MGN NEW YORK (AP) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to have it his way with New York’s fast-food industry – and restaurant owners aren’t loving it. Franchise owners say they’re considering a lawsuit against Cuomo’s plan to raise the minimum wage in their eateries to $15 an hour, arguing that it is not fair or legal to be saddled with such a significant increase in labor costs that won’t apply to retail, landscaping, child care or other traditionally low-wage industries. “Singling out fast food restaurants while ignoring other industries that hire workers who are paid under $15 is unfair and discriminatory, harms New York workers, and puts some New York businesses – including mine and my fellow New York McDonald’s franchisees – at a competitive disadvantage,” said Jack Bert, who owns seven locations in Queens. Labor activists say the Democratic governor’s plan to gradually increase the wage will improve the lives of some 200,000 New Yorkers. The state’s minimum wage for all other workers will remain $8.75 an hour. The increase awaits formal approval by Cuomo’s labor commissioner, but it was endorsed Wednesday by a Wage Board that Cuomo convened after attempts to raise the minimum wage across the board fell flat in the Legislature. Lawyers representing fast-food restaurants say their lawsuit could focus on whether the increase was arbitrarily and unfairly applied to a single group. Attorney Randy Mastro said he will review the measure before deciding whether to pursue a legal claim. “This proposal is an irrational and discriminatory race to judgment to achieve a predetermined outcome,” he said. The increase would be phased in over three years in New York City and over six years in the rest of the state. It would apply to any fast-food company with 30 or more locations in the state. Cuomo and other supporters say it makes sense to target the fast-food industry because it employs more low-wage workers than any other sector. And unlike landscaping firms or child-care operators, fast-food is dominated by multinational companies with billion-dollar profits. “You have McDonald’s, which has had unprecedented profits,” Cuomo said on public radio’s The Capital Pressroom on Thursday. “They’re paying a wage that keeps people below poverty.” Franchisees note that most fast-food restaurants are owned by a local business person and not the national chain. And Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, questioned the justification for treating low-wage workers differently. “What about a Starbucks in a Target? Are the employees working the Starbucks going to make $15 while the people in electronics make $9?” she said. “We’ve never seen a single industry targeted in this respect.” New York once set specific minimum wages for particular industries but began unifying them in 1962. Now, only certain industries – tipped restaurant servers, hotel housekeepers – have separate wage rules. Critics are also unhappy with Cuomo for letting an unelected Wage Board issue the recommendation instead of letting the Legislature debate the idea. Dennis Kessler owned 21 Burger Kings in western New York and now teaches at the University of Rochester’s business school. He said he believes fast-food workers deserve a raise – but that the way it was done was wrong. “I think it was strategic,” he said. “There would have been a lot of pushback from the industry in the Legislature. He circumvented that process … I think it’s underhanded, slimy and typical of Albany.” Workers whose jobs don’t fit the fast-food category had issues with fairness. Abdoulaye Ahmat, a security guard at a midtown Manhattan beauty supply shop, said the same minimum wage should apply to everyone. “If McDonald’s workers make that much, why not other people?” said Ahmat, who said he earns the minimum wage. “All of us work long hours. A job is a job, work is work.” Tiffany Fagan, a Staples copy center employee in Manhattan, said retail workers should be included too. “I feel like that’s not right,” she said. “We work very hard. Fast food workers work very hard under some pressured conditions, with the hot food and everything. But I feel like this should not be just for them, but for all of us.” Lawmakers approved a series of minimum wage increases in 2013, the last of which will take the wage to $9 at year’s end. Efforts to raise it further have been blunted by the state Senate’s Republican majority. Cuomo vowed to continue to push for a broader minimum wage increase but makes no apologies for going around the Legislature when necessary. “I am the executive,” Cuomo said Thursday. “Therefore I use executive power.”