Crews battle 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village DriveJake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people
ESTERO Crews battle 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive San Carlos Park Fire District is on the scene fighting a 2.5-acre brushfire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive.
FORT MYERS Jake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people One Fort Myers mom is turning her pain into purpose after her son, who she refers to as her “heavenly Angel,” took his own life.
CAPE CORAL New renderings for the Cape Coral Yacht Club promise a bright future The Cape Coral Yacht Club, which has been part of this community since the 1960s, will now have a new look after Hurricane Ian’s devastating effects.
LEHIGH ACRES Owner bars public from Barefoot Lake, LCSO installs Watch Tower Every weekend, roughly 200 people go to Barefoot Lake in Lehigh Acres to relax, fish, swim and have a good time.
CAPE CORAL Concern over water shortage in Cape Coral Concern is flowing through Cape Coral as neighbors are seeing their canal levels low and their wells run dry.
FORT MYERS FSW softball swinging for success in the postseason Now their focus shifts to states which means the newbies are looking to the experienced sophomores for advice.
BONITA SPRINGS Young SWFL tennis player competing with professionals You may not know her name now, but you might want remember it because 16-year-old Cookie Jarvis-Tredgett is already competing with professionals.
NORTH NAPLES ‘It’s all about connection,’ Statement Peace makes jewelry with sustainability in mind The brand Statement Peace, once started inside founder Jessica Lee’s home, is now in 2,700 stores across the country
Pine Manor 2 arrested for firing gun at birthday party in Pine Manor A party ended with two people behind bars.
FORT MYERS Shooting investigation on busy Fort Myers street Police are conducting a shooting investigation that involves a traffic crash near Michigan Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.
FGCU New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis ready to build on department’s success New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis talks about the department’s future amid the age of NIL and the transfer portal.
FORT MYERS More middle-aged women being treated for acne You probably thought you broke up with it after high school, but acne is rearing it’s ugly blackheads in adult women.
Lee County student ran up and hit teacher in head, report shows The report says a 13-year-old student ran up and smacked a teacher in the head because multiple classmates offered him money to do so.
NAPLES Collier Planning Commission continues discussion for apartments near Fiddler’s Creek The developer of Fiddler’s Creek wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments on a slice of a 600 acre-plus property known as section 29.
CAPE CORAL Fatigue sets in for third day of FEMA hearings Flying several hours to come to a FEMA code compliance hearing in Cape Coral is the reality for John Gasparini from Maryland.
ESTERO Crews battle 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive San Carlos Park Fire District is on the scene fighting a 2.5-acre brushfire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive.
FORT MYERS Jake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people One Fort Myers mom is turning her pain into purpose after her son, who she refers to as her “heavenly Angel,” took his own life.
CAPE CORAL New renderings for the Cape Coral Yacht Club promise a bright future The Cape Coral Yacht Club, which has been part of this community since the 1960s, will now have a new look after Hurricane Ian’s devastating effects.
LEHIGH ACRES Owner bars public from Barefoot Lake, LCSO installs Watch Tower Every weekend, roughly 200 people go to Barefoot Lake in Lehigh Acres to relax, fish, swim and have a good time.
CAPE CORAL Concern over water shortage in Cape Coral Concern is flowing through Cape Coral as neighbors are seeing their canal levels low and their wells run dry.
FORT MYERS FSW softball swinging for success in the postseason Now their focus shifts to states which means the newbies are looking to the experienced sophomores for advice.
BONITA SPRINGS Young SWFL tennis player competing with professionals You may not know her name now, but you might want remember it because 16-year-old Cookie Jarvis-Tredgett is already competing with professionals.
NORTH NAPLES ‘It’s all about connection,’ Statement Peace makes jewelry with sustainability in mind The brand Statement Peace, once started inside founder Jessica Lee’s home, is now in 2,700 stores across the country
Pine Manor 2 arrested for firing gun at birthday party in Pine Manor A party ended with two people behind bars.
FORT MYERS Shooting investigation on busy Fort Myers street Police are conducting a shooting investigation that involves a traffic crash near Michigan Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.
FGCU New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis ready to build on department’s success New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis talks about the department’s future amid the age of NIL and the transfer portal.
FORT MYERS More middle-aged women being treated for acne You probably thought you broke up with it after high school, but acne is rearing it’s ugly blackheads in adult women.
Lee County student ran up and hit teacher in head, report shows The report says a 13-year-old student ran up and smacked a teacher in the head because multiple classmates offered him money to do so.
NAPLES Collier Planning Commission continues discussion for apartments near Fiddler’s Creek The developer of Fiddler’s Creek wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments on a slice of a 600 acre-plus property known as section 29.
CAPE CORAL Fatigue sets in for third day of FEMA hearings Flying several hours to come to a FEMA code compliance hearing in Cape Coral is the reality for John Gasparini from Maryland.
MGN WASHINGTON (AP) – A smirking Martin Shkreli briefly united Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill this week, as lawmakers took turns blasting the price-hiking former CEO who has become the new poster child for corporate greed. But the gridlocked state of Congress virtually assures federal efforts to lower drug prices will remain in limbo for years. And even then, experts warn that the options available to Congress would not stop companies like Turing Pharmaceuticals, where Shkreli engineered a 5000 percent price increase of a critical anti-infection drug. For now, experts say the worst lawmakers can do is give price-gouging executives a verbal lashing before their committees. Richard Evans, a pharmaceutical analyst for SSR, says that won’t be enough to deter some companies. “If you’re willing to take a public shaming – and that’s the only counterweight to a price increase – then you can take the price increase,” he said. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle took their best rhetorical shots at Shkreli on Thursday, but he was mostly mum. The 32-year-old entrepreneur repeatedly declined to answer questions, citing his Fifth amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. When lawmakers suggested that legal defense shouldn’t stop him from talking about his tenure as Turing’s CEO, Shkreli retorted: “I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, and not yours.” Shkreli faces securities-fraud charges in New York unrelated to Turing. Concerns about sky-high drug prices have been building for years but boiled over this fall after stories about Turing and Canadian drugmaker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, hiking prices for previously low-priced medicines for patients with heart problems and other life-threatening conditions. Many pharmaceutical companies increase prices annually as a matter of doing business. But the staggering size of the hikes by Turing and Valeant drew congressional interest. Valeant bought two life-saving heart drugs last February and promptly hiked their prices, tripling one and raising the other six-fold. It’s an approach that’s attracted unprecedented media coverage and seemed to confirm the public’s worst fears about pharmaceutical companies: that they are more Wall Street-driven investment vehicles than actual developers of medicines. But while congressional scrutiny has weighed on pharmaceutical stocks, including Valeant’s, industry analysts have repeatedly reminded investors that the chances for real action to curb prices is low. “Congressional Republicans, the majority in both houses of Congress, oppose regulating drug pricing and will stop all attempts by congressional Democrats to do so,” Evercore ISI analyst Terry Haines advised clients, in a recent note. Even if Democrats take back control of the Senate later this year, Haines says they would lack the votes there and in the House to move reforms on pharmaceutical pricing. Unlike many other developed countries, the U.S. government has never set price controls on prescription medicines. And efforts to give federal health plans like Medicare – the largest drug purchaser in the nation – more negotiating power have repeatedly failed to pass Congress. Instead, drugmakers deal with a fragmented web of public and private insurance providers, resulting in limited discounts that are well below those available in many parts of the world. For example, new cancer drugs are generally available in Europe for 20 to 40 percent less than their U.S. list price, according to analysis firm IMS Health. Even with major changes to programs like Medicare, analysts say there would still be little to stop companies from hiking prices of drugs when they are the sole provider, as in the case of Turing and Valeant. Evans says more targeted solutions would be needed to address those cases, which he calls “the sociopathic extreme of drug pricing.” For instance, the government could potentially allow emergency importation of cheaper versions of a drug from overseas. But that technique has only ever been used when a drug is in short supply – not merely over-priced. As with other changes, emergency importation would require action by Congress or administration officials. And with Washington turning its attention to the upcoming elections, Evans questions whether there is enough political momentum to make those changes. “I think for this issue, the immediate grassroots urgency is probably not where it was a few months ago,” he said.