Sanibel workshop teaches residents benefits of elevating homes and businessesSanibel Causeway construction causing confusion and costing local business
SANIBEL Sanibel workshop teaches residents benefits of elevating homes and businesses With each hurricane that brings damage to our area, many people rush to be more resilient. On Sanibel, more than 300 people have RSVP’d to learn about raising their homes and businesses.
SANIBEL Sanibel Causeway construction causing confusion and costing local business Repairing the Sanibel Causeway after recent storms has caused more than just traffic back-ups.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Speakeasy in downtown Fort Myers honors local historic figures Everything inside the Escondido Lounge whispers an authentic speakeasy, from the dim red lights to the fancy vintage glasses.
ESTERO Caught on camera: Man steals money from tip jar in Estero A business manager feels violated after a man took money from a tip jar on Tuesday.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral ranked 13th for establishing small businesses A blog set out to find the top U.S. cities where aspiring business owners can thrive in 2024, Cape Coral was named 13th.
NAPLES Minimally invasive balloon procedure for sinus issues Battling a sinus infection is bad enough, but contending with chronic sinus infections can be a real problem.
Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for November 13, 2024 Here are some of Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for November 13, 2024.
ESTERO Car crashes into restaurant window in Gulf Coast Town Center Authorities are investigating after an SUV crashed into a restaurant at the Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero.
WEST PALM BEACH Trump picks Sen. Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State President-elect Donald Trump named Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state on Wednesday.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres man arrested in connection to cockfighting A Lehigh Acres man has been arrested after deputies found he was running a cockfighting ring near his home.
WINK NEWS Atlanta Dream hires long-time FGCU coach The Atlanta Dream has hired longtime FGCU coach Karl Smesko to lead the team as he steps down as head women’s basketball coach of the Eagles.
Duo arrested in Collier County for bank jugging The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two men who stand accused of bank jugging, stealing thousands of dollars in cash from a victim.
PUNTA GORDA 2 accused of trafficking narcotics after reckless driving stop in Punta Gorda A man and woman have been arrested for allegedly possessing trafficking amounts of drugs after deputies stopped them for reckless driving in Punta Gorda.
HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital purchases land in Bonita Springs Charlotte County’s HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital purchased a 4.3-acre site on Bonita Beach Road in Bonita Springs, according to Lee County property records.
NORTH PORT North Port woman wins $1M prize playing scratch-off A woman in North Port won $1 million from a scratch-off game.
SANIBEL Sanibel workshop teaches residents benefits of elevating homes and businesses With each hurricane that brings damage to our area, many people rush to be more resilient. On Sanibel, more than 300 people have RSVP’d to learn about raising their homes and businesses.
SANIBEL Sanibel Causeway construction causing confusion and costing local business Repairing the Sanibel Causeway after recent storms has caused more than just traffic back-ups.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Speakeasy in downtown Fort Myers honors local historic figures Everything inside the Escondido Lounge whispers an authentic speakeasy, from the dim red lights to the fancy vintage glasses.
ESTERO Caught on camera: Man steals money from tip jar in Estero A business manager feels violated after a man took money from a tip jar on Tuesday.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral ranked 13th for establishing small businesses A blog set out to find the top U.S. cities where aspiring business owners can thrive in 2024, Cape Coral was named 13th.
NAPLES Minimally invasive balloon procedure for sinus issues Battling a sinus infection is bad enough, but contending with chronic sinus infections can be a real problem.
Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for November 13, 2024 Here are some of Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for November 13, 2024.
ESTERO Car crashes into restaurant window in Gulf Coast Town Center Authorities are investigating after an SUV crashed into a restaurant at the Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero.
WEST PALM BEACH Trump picks Sen. Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State President-elect Donald Trump named Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state on Wednesday.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres man arrested in connection to cockfighting A Lehigh Acres man has been arrested after deputies found he was running a cockfighting ring near his home.
WINK NEWS Atlanta Dream hires long-time FGCU coach The Atlanta Dream has hired longtime FGCU coach Karl Smesko to lead the team as he steps down as head women’s basketball coach of the Eagles.
Duo arrested in Collier County for bank jugging The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two men who stand accused of bank jugging, stealing thousands of dollars in cash from a victim.
PUNTA GORDA 2 accused of trafficking narcotics after reckless driving stop in Punta Gorda A man and woman have been arrested for allegedly possessing trafficking amounts of drugs after deputies stopped them for reckless driving in Punta Gorda.
HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital purchases land in Bonita Springs Charlotte County’s HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital purchased a 4.3-acre site on Bonita Beach Road in Bonita Springs, according to Lee County property records.
NORTH PORT North Port woman wins $1M prize playing scratch-off A woman in North Port won $1 million from a scratch-off game.
MGN WASHINGTON (AP) – A college degree practically stamped Andres Aguirre’s ticket to the middle class. Yet at age 40, he’s still paying the price of admission. After a decade of repayments, Aguirre still diverts $512 a month to loans and owes $20,000. The expense requires his family to rent an apartment in Campbell, California, because buying a home in a decent school district would cost too much. His daughter has excelled in high school, but Aguirre has urged her to attend community college to avoid the debt that ensnared him. “I didn’t get the warmest reception on that,” he said. “But she understands the choice.” America’s crushing surge of student debt, now at $1.2 trillion, has bred a disturbing new phenomenon: School loans that span multiple generations within families. Weighed down by their own loans, many parents lack the means to fund their children’s educations without sinking even deeper into debt. Data analyzed exclusively by The Associated Press, along with surveys about families and rising student debt loads, show that: – School loans increasingly belong to Americans over 40. This group accounts for 35 percent of education debt, up from 25 percent in 2004, according to the New York Federal Reserve. Contributing to this surge: Longer repayment schedules, more midcareer workers returning to school and additional borrowing for children’s education. – Generation X adults – those from 35 to 50 years old – owe about as much as people fresh out of college do. Student loan balances average $20,000 for Generation X. Millennials, who are 34 and younger, have roughly the same average debt, according to a report by Pew Charitable Trusts. – Gen-X parents who carry student debt and have teenage children have struggled to save for their children’s educations. The average they have in college savings plans is just $4,000, compared with a $20,000 average for teenagers’ parents who aren’t still repaying their own school loans, Pew found. A result is that many of their children will need to borrow heavily for college, thereby perpetuating a cycle of family debt. – Student debt is surpassing groceries as a primary expense, with the gap widening most for younger families. The average college-educated head of household under 40 owes $404 a month in student debt payments, according to an AP analysis of Fed data. That’s slightly more than what the government says the average college-educated family spends at the supermarket. The multigenerational debt cycle reflects a rush to pursue college as a path to middle class security. Roughly 25 years ago, federal policies began encouraging borrowing on a mass scale to cover soaring college costs. Policymakers figured borrowers could afford the debt because college degrees would all but guarantee comfortable incomes. The reality played out somewhat differently. Roughly 6 million Gen-X households still owe student debt. Some, like Aguirre, are forgoing home ownership. Others have moved to remote stretches of the country to qualify for loan forgiveness programs. At no point before, experts say, has such a large share of the U.S. population begun their careers indebted. – DIFFERENT PATHS Nathan Anderson received his first student loan in 1991. His time at Johns Hopkins University overlapped with the start of the lending boom: The government was raising borrowing limits, introducing unsubsidized Stafford loans and incentivizing private lenders. Majoring in psychology, Anderson hoped to become a child psychologist. But after suffering a shoulder injury while playing soccer, he found relief only from an acupuncturist. The treatment led him to study Chinese medicine and become a licensed acupuncturist himself in 2004. He had already racked up $45,000 in college debt; acupuncture school required more. Now 42 with a blended family of five, he runs an acupuncture clinic in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife, Julie, also an acupuncturist. Combined, their monthly student loans bills approach $1,700. “More than we spend on groceries and kind of like having a second mortgage,” Anderson said. The student lending boom never fully appreciated how many students might switch major or careers, nor that incomes would stagnate as debt levels rose. – NO CHOICE BUT DEBT Part of the problem is that job opportunities can require workers to return to school and borrow at a time in life when savings traditionally became a priority. In Kansas, the Bigler family lives in the remote town of Ashland as part of a government-backed program to forgive the debt for the father, Jonathan, 54, who in a mid-career switch became a physician assistant. With a population of 853, Ashland is 50 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart and an hour from hamburgers at the closest Sonic Drive-In. Including the college debts for their three daughters, ages 22 to 27, the Biglers write checks totaling $2,531 each month to repay student debts. The family is on track to be debt-free when Jonathan turns 72.