Realtor stops thief trying to steal and sell landBody cam footage of woman and her dog rescued from Prairie Preserve Pines
NORTH FORT MYERS Body cam footage of woman and her dog rescued from Prairie Preserve Pines A woman and her exhausted dog fight to survive while trapped in the elements and oppressive Florida heat.
NAPLES Local surgeon removing cancer through the mouth Surgery to remove cancers in the head and neck can sometimes leave patients with negative impacts long after the cancer is gone. But a new approach is cutting back on damage.
CAPE CORAL Byron Donalds to hold town hall in Cape Coral From flood insurance to pythons and rebuilding from Ian nearly two years later, Southwest Florida has a lot on its plate.
Naples Airport move study finds 4 possible sites There’s a study looking at the possibility of moving the Naples Airport.
NAPLES Playing like a girl in Naples flag football league Through having a positive outlet and strong role models commissioner Lorna McLain hopes flag football makes a difference in the community.
FORT MYERS Caloosahatchee River Bridge to close for 10 weeks to speed up bridge project The Florida Department of Transportation announced a busy Fort Myers bridge is closing for more than two months.
WINK NEWS No plea deal for woman accused of being part of one of Southwest Florida’s largest drug rings No plea deal for woman suspected of being involved in one of the largest drug rings in Southwest Florida.
OLGA All victims identified in the Franklin Lock Park drowning Authorities have released the identities of all three Franklin Lock Park drowning victims.
Title and trust company expands to Charlotte County It’s a family affair at Lyons Title & Trust, which recently opened its third office in Port Charlotte.
Collier rejects $23M price tag for 2,247 acres Collier County commissioners unanimously rejected a $23 million price for a 2,247-acre Immokalee property for possible affordable workforce housing, fire house and other uses, opting to continue negotiating.
Voodoo Brewing Co. upends brewery business model Voodoo Brewing Co. began in 2005 and has since expanded to five corporate locations and 14 franchise locations, with the Fort Myers spot being the first to open in Florida.
COLLIER COUNTY Truck overturns, spills cargo; I-75 at mile marker 63 closed The Rest Area Access Road, under I-75 at mile marker 63, is closed due to an overturned truck that spilled its cargo onto the roadway.
FORT MYERS “I’m so grateful candlelight is here” Gulf Coast Symphony fills venue with thousands of candles Gulf Coast Symphony holds Candlelight concerts in an effort to introduce classical musicians and string quartets to the community in a unique atmosphere.
WINK NEWS 2 men arrested for fleeing from State Troopers; throwing backpack filled with drugs from car on I-75 Two men have been arrested after allegedly fleeing from State Troopers on Interstate 75 and throwing a backpack with drugs out of the car.
fort myers Local NAACP Branch plans protest in response to state attorney’s ruling The Lee County NAACP plans on protesting the state attorney’s ruling of an FMPD detective’s killing of an unarmed black man.
NORTH FORT MYERS Body cam footage of woman and her dog rescued from Prairie Preserve Pines A woman and her exhausted dog fight to survive while trapped in the elements and oppressive Florida heat.
NAPLES Local surgeon removing cancer through the mouth Surgery to remove cancers in the head and neck can sometimes leave patients with negative impacts long after the cancer is gone. But a new approach is cutting back on damage.
CAPE CORAL Byron Donalds to hold town hall in Cape Coral From flood insurance to pythons and rebuilding from Ian nearly two years later, Southwest Florida has a lot on its plate.
Naples Airport move study finds 4 possible sites There’s a study looking at the possibility of moving the Naples Airport.
NAPLES Playing like a girl in Naples flag football league Through having a positive outlet and strong role models commissioner Lorna McLain hopes flag football makes a difference in the community.
FORT MYERS Caloosahatchee River Bridge to close for 10 weeks to speed up bridge project The Florida Department of Transportation announced a busy Fort Myers bridge is closing for more than two months.
WINK NEWS No plea deal for woman accused of being part of one of Southwest Florida’s largest drug rings No plea deal for woman suspected of being involved in one of the largest drug rings in Southwest Florida.
OLGA All victims identified in the Franklin Lock Park drowning Authorities have released the identities of all three Franklin Lock Park drowning victims.
Title and trust company expands to Charlotte County It’s a family affair at Lyons Title & Trust, which recently opened its third office in Port Charlotte.
Collier rejects $23M price tag for 2,247 acres Collier County commissioners unanimously rejected a $23 million price for a 2,247-acre Immokalee property for possible affordable workforce housing, fire house and other uses, opting to continue negotiating.
Voodoo Brewing Co. upends brewery business model Voodoo Brewing Co. began in 2005 and has since expanded to five corporate locations and 14 franchise locations, with the Fort Myers spot being the first to open in Florida.
COLLIER COUNTY Truck overturns, spills cargo; I-75 at mile marker 63 closed The Rest Area Access Road, under I-75 at mile marker 63, is closed due to an overturned truck that spilled its cargo onto the roadway.
FORT MYERS “I’m so grateful candlelight is here” Gulf Coast Symphony fills venue with thousands of candles Gulf Coast Symphony holds Candlelight concerts in an effort to introduce classical musicians and string quartets to the community in a unique atmosphere.
WINK NEWS 2 men arrested for fleeing from State Troopers; throwing backpack filled with drugs from car on I-75 Two men have been arrested after allegedly fleeing from State Troopers on Interstate 75 and throwing a backpack with drugs out of the car.
fort myers Local NAACP Branch plans protest in response to state attorney’s ruling The Lee County NAACP plans on protesting the state attorney’s ruling of an FMPD detective’s killing of an unarmed black man.
MGN NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A federal court has ordered repayment of more than $1.6 million in claim money paid to an Alabama couple’s business after BP’s 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier’s order says the payment to Vision Design Management “was nearly entirely based on fraud.” The ruling issued this week identifies Barbara J. Stokes and Scott B. Stokes as the owners of the corporation. Barbier’s order grants a March 2015 motion for return of the money filed by the oil spill claims administrator, Patrick Juneau, and a court appointed master overseeing the claim process, Louis Freeh. Barbara Stokes declined immediate comment when reached by telephone Thursday. In a letter to the court last year, she denied wrongdoing and said she and her husband don’t have money for restitution. According to court records, the claims center that was established after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico awarded more than $2.1 million to Vision Design Management, a consulting business. The figure was based largely on the company’s submitting of financial documents indicating it had brought in $821,462.98 in revenue in 2009, the year before the spill. But the Deepwater Horizon Economic Claims Center later found that checks totaling more than $773,000 came from a construction loan taken out by another Stokes-owned company, Summerplace LLC. The claims center said the money wasn’t revenue for Vision Design but a “pass through” of payments for expenses for a Summerplace construction project. An attorney for Vision Design Management received more than $500,000 of the claim award. The court records show that the attorney returned the money and no longer works for the Stokeses. The claims center, Barbier wrote, showed “clearly and convincingly” that the award “was nearly entirely based on fraud.” “Given that at least 92% of Vision Design’s claimed revenue was a fiction, the Court finds it is proper to order Vision Design to pay restitution of the entire settlement amount (less the amount returned by Vision Design’s former counsel),” Barbier wrote. In last year’s letter, Barbara Stokes said the claim was legitimate. “Vision Design Management was formed in 2007 and was profitable and worked very hard to make a good business,” Stokes wrote. “The oil spill stopped it!” The Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico for months, disrupting numerous businesses in the gulf states.