The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropicsWoodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
MGN LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dwayne Angebrandt wasn’t all that surprised when his bosses at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked their expert on sex trafficking to put together a public presentation on how to spot its signs. What really took him aback was the audience he was asked to deliver it to: a group of strip-club operators. For years, law enforcement had suspected such a group would likely be made up of some of the very people who are quietly selling women into prostitution. Or at the least, acting as middle men for people who do. “I wondered where was the intersection with what our message is and what their message is,” he said of entrepreneurs whose business model is hiring women to dance naked in front of men and then paying them with only the tips the men offer. But as the special agent in charge of the Southern California office investigating human trafficking quickly learned, many of the club operators and their dancers he met were surprisingly clueless when it came to spotting the problem. Three years after his first presentation an unlikely alliance has formed between his agency and a group called Club Organizers Against Sex Trafficking. It’s one that seeks to train managers and dancers how to spot pimps and other traffickers who shadow their clubs and to report them to authorities. Since the presentations have begun officials with COAST and Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement say several suspected pimps have been reported to authorities and a handful have been arrested. “There was stuff they were telling us to watch for like if a girl comes in to audition and she has someone with her to speak for her, that’s a red flag. If she doesn’t have access to her own I.D., that’s a red flag,” said a 24-year-old dancer who attended a recent session in Denver. “It’s stuff that sounds kind of fishy but I probably wouldn’t have put two and two together if I hadn’t had a class like that,” added the woman who dances under the name Tandy, and who like other dancers insisted she be identified only by her stage name out of concern for her safety. “But, now, definitely, I would report it,” she added. Michael Ocello, who operates 17 clubs and who founded COAST after one of them in Maine was raided as a result of a tip that turned out to be unfounded, said one of the first legitimate busts resulting from the training occurred at another of his clubs, in Denver. An attractive young woman came to apply for a job accompanied by an authoritative woman who held the applicant’s I.D. and did all the talking while the prospective dancer sat nervously. The nervousness wasn’t surprising, Ocello said, noting a career change to nude dancing isn’t something anyone takes lightly. But the training session had made his manager suspicious, and he asked to call the woman aside for a private audition. Instead, he asked why she wanted the job. “The answers are simple. I lost my job, I’ve got to make tuition, I’ve got to make rent, I’ve got a kid, my husband lost his job, there’s a gazillion reasons, but they’re all going to focus on that financial aspect,” Ocello said. “But this woman said, ‘Well, this is where my friend said I got to work.'” ICE was contacted and the woman arrested. Ocello didn’t know the case’s outcome, but he added he hoped his club manager saved someone’s life. In Beaverton, Ore., a club’s call to police to report that it had discovered it was employing a 15-year-old runaway “with a very good fake I.D.,” led to the girl’s pimp being sentenced to life in prison. In that 2014 case, said police Detective Chad Opitz, the club had been busted before for hiring an underage girl and was being careful not to let it happen again. Opitz, who has attended a COAST training session himself, isn’t sure how much of an impact the efforts really have in influencing an industry he sometimes finds reluctant to cooperate with authorities. But he adds, “I think it can’t hurt. Awareness within the club is always very important.” That’s what Angebrandt was counting on when he spoke to more than 100 club operators, and a handful of dancers, at a training seminar in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank earlier this month. So far about 10,000 people have attended such gatherings nationwide, Ocello said, including recent ones in Houston, Louisville and Indianapolis. Angebrandt told the Burbank group of a case involving a trafficker posing as a video producer who persuaded a woman to dance in a club in Atlanta. Soon he was pimping her for sex with club patrons. When she tried to return home he threatened her family. “Was your industry a part of that?” he asked. “No, but it was your industry that was promoting it.” Afterward, Chris Hassey, who operates a club in Sacramento, said the advice was “very informative, eye-opening.” “I’m going to have a long talk with a couple of my girls when I get back,” he said, adding he was particularly concerned by the warning to watch for women leaving a club each night with a “boyfriend” they don’t seem to like.