Gov. DeSantis to hold news conference in Cape CanaveralLee County School Board to hold a transportation workshop
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.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli leaders have approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah Israeli leaders approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces were striking targets in the area, officials announced Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal.
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.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli leaders have approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah Israeli leaders approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces were striking targets in the area, officials announced Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal.
MGN DENVER (AP) – Colorado’s tourists aren’t just buying weed now that it’s legal – they’re ending up in emergency rooms at rates far higher than residents, according to a new study. Doctors reviewed marijuana-related emergency-room admissions at a hospital near Denver International Airport during 2014, when the sale of recreational pot became legal. The results will be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The physicians found that the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to marijuana doubled among out-of-state residents in the first year of recreational pot sales. The rate went from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014. Among Colorado residents, the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to cannabis use did not change significantly between 2013 and 2014. Among Colorado resident emergency-room patients, 106 per 10,000 visits complained of marijuana-related ailments in 2013 and 112 per 10,000 visits complained of marijuana-related ailments in 2014. The difference between tourists and residents played out statewide. Doctors in the study compared the hospital rates to data from the Colorado Hospital Association. That showed the rate among out-of-state residents rose from 78 per 10,000 visits in 2012 to 112 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 163 per 10,000 visits in 2014. Among Colorado residents, the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to cannabis use increased from 61 to 70 to 86 to 101, respectively. Tourists and Coloradans also had different complaints related to marijuana. Coloradans across the time period mostly complained of gastrointestinal problems, while the most common ailment by visitors was psychiatric, including aggressive behavior and hallucinations. Men were more two to three times more likely than women among both groups to complain of cannabis-related ailments in emergency rooms. Coloradans were slightly younger than out-of-state residents, with a median age of 34 for residents and a median age of 35.5 for visitors. The doctors said the difference between tourists and residents caught them by surprise. “We didn’t expect people from out of state to actually be coming to the emergency department mentioning this drug more often,” said Dr. Andrew Monte, a toxicologist and emergency-room physician at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora. The cases of both tourists and residents reporting feeling like they’d overdosed on pot were a “vast minority” of those showing up complaining of a cannabis-related ailment, Monte said. Instead, the patients usually reported that pot exacerbated an underlying medical condition, especially schizophrenia or psychosis. The study included all cases where patients mentioned cannabis. Monte said the increase has two likely explanations: more people using pot, and more patients fessing up about using pot to doctors because it’s legal. “There’s more communication between patients and providers, and of course there’s just more marijuana out in the community,” Monte said. “People can come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got chest pains and I used marijuana a week ago.’ Now, that’s got nothing to do with the marijuana.” None of the cases in Monte’s study were fatal. The effect of marijuana legalization on Colorado tourism is a matter of some dispute. Colorado set records in 2014 for overall visitors (71.3 million) and tourist spending ($18.6 billion). But Colorado had also set records in the previous three years, when pot sales were restricted to state residents with medical ailments. (Tourist numbers for 2015 aren’t yet available.) The Colorado Tourism Office did report in a 2015 visitor survey that the marijuana laws influenced vacation decisions nearly 49 percent of the time. State health officials say they’re trying to educate tourists about responsible pot usage through educational pamphlets and signs at pot shops, a big part of a $5.7 million “Good To Know” campaign launched last year. But health authorities add that Colorado can’t advertise about how to use pot in other states, and that travelers likely use marijuana differently than people staying home. “You’re more likely to overdo it on vacation, with marijuana just like with anything else,” said Mike Van Dyke, branch chief for environmental epidemiology at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “You have that vacation mentality. You’re there to have a good time.”