Hotter and drier day ahead with isolated storms staying inlandGov. DeSantis to hold news conference in Cape Canaveral
the weather authority Hotter and drier day ahead with isolated storms staying inland The Weather Authority is tracking a hot and dry Tuesday morning with inland isolated storms expected in the afternoon.
Cape Canaveral Gov. DeSantis to hold news conference in Cape Canaveral Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Cape Canaveral.
WINK News Lee County School Board to hold a transportation workshop With one month left for the academic year, parents’ concerns have turned to frustration as buses struggle to get kids to and from school.
Readying for hurricane season with Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Hurricane season is rapidly approaching as Floridians prep for potential storms with the upcoming Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday.
NAPLES Increasing amount of homeless seniors in SWFL Saint Matthew House told Wink News that 20% of the people they shelter are over 60 years old.
NAPLES Man suspected of threatening pickelballers with machete A man has been arrested after authorities say he chased a group of pickleball players off a Naples court. “I don’t know. It just seemed like he snapped,” said William Nehrkorn, father of one of the pickleball players. 53-year-old Pelican Marsh maintenance worker Joseph Devalle ran toward Nehrkorn’s son and friends, not with a paddle […]
NAPLES Turtle Club in Naples reopens Following a 19-month closure because of Hurricane Ian, the Turtle Club has reopened.
FORT MYERS BEACH Hurricane season preparations at Lee County construction sites Many already know the drill when hurricane season is around the corner.
SANIBEL Bones found on Sanibel concern beachgoers A husband and wife found what appeared to be bones. What type and where they came from is being investigated.
FGCU FGCU president reflects on first year with graduating class Alico Arena was packed this weekend as Florida Gulf Coast University graduated 1,900 students in four ceremonies.
Reverse shoulder replacement offers new approach to pain management Shoulder replacement is the third most common replacement in the US, following hip and knee replacement.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Lee County teachers bargain for new raises Kevin Daly is the voice of the Lee County Teachers Union, and he says he knows firsthand the struggle teachers experience across the state.
FORT MYERS New Starbucks off Colonial expected to add to traffic headaches It’s a venti-sized traffic nightmare. That’s how Gina O’Donnell envisions the future of this plaza.
NAPLES Feeding families through Meals of Hope They’re a Naples-based non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger both locally and throughout the country.
Family dealing with two losses in quick succession A teenager will not get to celebrate turning 21 years old with friends, can’t put a smile on his family member’s faces and will never get to see his mother again.
the weather authority Hotter and drier day ahead with isolated storms staying inland The Weather Authority is tracking a hot and dry Tuesday morning with inland isolated storms expected in the afternoon.
Cape Canaveral Gov. DeSantis to hold news conference in Cape Canaveral Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Cape Canaveral.
WINK News Lee County School Board to hold a transportation workshop With one month left for the academic year, parents’ concerns have turned to frustration as buses struggle to get kids to and from school.
Readying for hurricane season with Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Hurricane season is rapidly approaching as Floridians prep for potential storms with the upcoming Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday.
NAPLES Increasing amount of homeless seniors in SWFL Saint Matthew House told Wink News that 20% of the people they shelter are over 60 years old.
NAPLES Man suspected of threatening pickelballers with machete A man has been arrested after authorities say he chased a group of pickleball players off a Naples court. “I don’t know. It just seemed like he snapped,” said William Nehrkorn, father of one of the pickleball players. 53-year-old Pelican Marsh maintenance worker Joseph Devalle ran toward Nehrkorn’s son and friends, not with a paddle […]
NAPLES Turtle Club in Naples reopens Following a 19-month closure because of Hurricane Ian, the Turtle Club has reopened.
FORT MYERS BEACH Hurricane season preparations at Lee County construction sites Many already know the drill when hurricane season is around the corner.
SANIBEL Bones found on Sanibel concern beachgoers A husband and wife found what appeared to be bones. What type and where they came from is being investigated.
FGCU FGCU president reflects on first year with graduating class Alico Arena was packed this weekend as Florida Gulf Coast University graduated 1,900 students in four ceremonies.
Reverse shoulder replacement offers new approach to pain management Shoulder replacement is the third most common replacement in the US, following hip and knee replacement.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Lee County teachers bargain for new raises Kevin Daly is the voice of the Lee County Teachers Union, and he says he knows firsthand the struggle teachers experience across the state.
FORT MYERS New Starbucks off Colonial expected to add to traffic headaches It’s a venti-sized traffic nightmare. That’s how Gina O’Donnell envisions the future of this plaza.
NAPLES Feeding families through Meals of Hope They’re a Naples-based non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger both locally and throughout the country.
Family dealing with two losses in quick succession A teenager will not get to celebrate turning 21 years old with friends, can’t put a smile on his family member’s faces and will never get to see his mother again.
Florida governor’s mansion and state capitol building. Credit MGN TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Saying it’s time to put the “death penalty” debate to rest, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature began taking its first steps Wednesday to find a way to preserve executions in the state. State senators spent hours with prosecutors, former judges, and defenders to come up with a way to respond to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. The nation’s highest court earlier this month found that Florida’s death penalty procedure is flawed because it allows judges – not juries – to decide death sentences. Since then, judges and prosecutors across the state are delaying death penalty cases because of the uncertain legal situation. Attorneys for Michael Lambrix, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 11, will go before the Florida Supreme Court next week to ask that justices block the execution because of the ruling. Sen. Greg Evers, the Milton Republican in charge of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, vowed that in the next few weeks legislators would pass a bill to preserve the death penalty. But he conceded that legislation will likely call for major changes – including changing the state law that now requires only a simple majority of jurors to recommend that the judge impose the death penalty. “We will keep the death penalty in Florida,” Evers said. “It will change in a way that we feel will be more constitutional.” Most states with the death penalty require a unanimous decision from a jury. Several experts told legislators Florida’s death penalty laws will remain at risk of being struck down by the courts if they don’t do the same. They also pointed out that in other criminal cases a unanimous decision is required for a conviction. But Brad King, the state attorney for Florida’s 5th Judicial Circuit, said that prosecutors remain opposed to changing Florida law to require a unanimous decision in death sentences. He said it was wrong to allow one juror “with no education of the law” and no qualifications as a judge to make the final decision. “You give them absolute control over what that sentence is going to be,” King said. While prosecutors and other attorneys made suggestions to legislators, top officials in the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to make any recommendations. Bondi’s office is responsible for handling death penalty appeals. The overhaul of Florida’s death penalty system was prompted by the case of Timothy Lee Hurst. Hurst was convicted of the 1998 murder of his manager at a Popeye’s restaurant in Pensacola. A jury divided 7-5 in favor of death, but the judge imposed the sentence. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the state’s sentencing procedure was flawed. Florida has 390 inmates on death row. State officials have argued that the court decision should apply only to those whose initial appeals are not yet exhausted. But one state senator pointed out Wednesday that a state law passed during the ’70s said all inmates needed to be resentenced if the death penalty were ever declared unconstitutional. Lawyers for Lambrix have already asked the state Supreme Court whether that law would apply now given the U.S. Supreme Court decision.