PUNTA GORDA Homes For Our Troops grants veteran new home Through all the cheers and a community-wide escort, it’s a ‘welcome to your forever home for army sergeant veteran Brandon Rethmel and his family.
ALVA LCSO responds to triple drowning in Alva The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is responding to a scene of a water rescue where three people were recovered.
PUNTA GORDA Preparing for hurricane season at the 2024 Charlotte County Hurricane Expo With hurricane season less than two weeks away, it’s important to start preparing.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Beat the Heat: Stay safe during extreme weather The Weather Authority has issued a heat advisory for portions of South, Southeast, and Southwest Florida from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
FORT MYERS Leaders discuss possibility of shutting down Caloosahatchee Bridge Should residents endure two years of partial lane closures, or fully shut the Caloosahatchee bridge down for 10 weeks?
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball parents cherish NCAA Tournament experience The parents of the FGCU softball team are relishing seeing their daughters play in the NCAA Tournament.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Hot, hot, hot Heat advisory in place for Saturday until 8 p.m.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over five and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
Firefighter recovering from heat exhaustion after battling flames in Collier County It happened at Progress Rail, a transit corporation on Mercantile Avenue just before 5am on Friday.
PUNTA GORDA Homes For Our Troops grants veteran new home Through all the cheers and a community-wide escort, it’s a ‘welcome to your forever home for army sergeant veteran Brandon Rethmel and his family.
ALVA LCSO responds to triple drowning in Alva The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is responding to a scene of a water rescue where three people were recovered.
PUNTA GORDA Preparing for hurricane season at the 2024 Charlotte County Hurricane Expo With hurricane season less than two weeks away, it’s important to start preparing.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Beat the Heat: Stay safe during extreme weather The Weather Authority has issued a heat advisory for portions of South, Southeast, and Southwest Florida from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
FORT MYERS Leaders discuss possibility of shutting down Caloosahatchee Bridge Should residents endure two years of partial lane closures, or fully shut the Caloosahatchee bridge down for 10 weeks?
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball parents cherish NCAA Tournament experience The parents of the FGCU softball team are relishing seeing their daughters play in the NCAA Tournament.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Hot, hot, hot Heat advisory in place for Saturday until 8 p.m.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over five and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
Firefighter recovering from heat exhaustion after battling flames in Collier County It happened at Progress Rail, a transit corporation on Mercantile Avenue just before 5am on Friday.
The five FIFA presidential candidates meet in Miami on Friday with the election’s most inscrutable voters who are deep in their own leadership race amid a financial crisis. Nothing is simple these days with scandal-rocked CONCACAF which has had three recent presidents indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in a sprawling FIFA bribery case. Still, the 35 FIFA voting federations from North and Central America and the Caribbean could be decisive in the Feb. 26 election. “Every member can make their own decision,” Victor Montagliani, the Canadian Soccer Association’s president, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “The CONCACAF executive committee is not going to issue any statement that they will support any candidate.” That freedom alone makes the region’s intentions unpredictable, plus its non-aligned status with the FIFA candidates coming from Africa, Asia and Europe. They are: Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa, the presumed front-runner from Bahrain who leads Asian soccer; UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino from Switzerland; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, a former FIFA vice president from Jordan; former FIFA international relations director Jerome Champagne of France; and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, who leads FIFA’s anti-discrimination task force. Prince Ali had pockets of support in the region when losing to now-banned FIFA President Sepp Blatter last May, while Infantino now has pledged votes from the seven-member Central American group. Two weeks from the ballot in Zurich, FIFA politics are not the main reason for the special gathering of 41-member CONCACAF, which includes small island federations not yet affiliated to the world body. CONCACAF, like FIFA, is pushing through wide-ranging reforms to improve governance and protect against corruption. Both soccer bodies had their leadership structures and reputations shredded last May when U.S. and Swiss investigations of corruption spanning decades were unsealed. In an extreme scenario, both bodies risk being shut down and indicted as corporate defendants by federal prosecutors. On Friday, CONCACAF members will take a position on the slate of FIFA reforms being voted on this month and update on their own revamp. “We thought it was important that we get together now rather than in Zurich,” Montagliani said. “When we leave Miami we can agree to disagree on some things but at least everyone is clear.” Money will also be a main talking point. FIFA left a $10 million hole in CONCACAF finances when taking its audit panel’s advice in December to block funding to the region. That has hurt members, some from tiny Caribbean islands, where FIFA cash generated by the $5 billion-earning World Cup is key to survival. “We want to get a clear indication of why it was done,” said Montagliani. “At the end of the day, FIFA is there for its members. We will work it out and the money will be released accordingly.” CONCACAF meets without a president until it holds a May 12 election in Mexico City. The past two elected leaders – Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago and Jeffrey Webb, a Cayman Islands banker living in Logansville, Georgia – and their interim successor, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, are DoJ targets. Webb already pleaded guilty and faces sentence in June in a Brooklyn court. Montagliani is among four men already seeking one of the hottest seats in world soccer. The others are: FIFA appeal committee chairman Larry Mussenden of Bermuda, Gordon Derrick of Antigua and Barbuda, and Mark Rodrigues of Guyana. “It’s off to a good start,” said Montagliani, a fluent speaker of Spanish and French who was endorsed this week by the Central American group. “Obviously we need to get our house in order,” he said. “There’s a lot of good people in CONCACAF and a lot of people are upset, but I think everyone realizes the only way we get out of this is to come together.”