Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston closed after semi-trailer carrying palm trees loses loadJuvenile and 18-year-old arrested for stealing, burglarizing multiple cars in DeSoto County
CLEWISTON Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston closed after semi-trailer carrying palm trees loses load Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston from U.S. 27 to 13th Street is closed this morning while crews remove trees from the roadway.
ARCADIA Juvenile and 18-year-old arrested for stealing, burglarizing multiple cars in DeSoto County A juvenile and an 18-year-old have been arrested after allegedly stealing several cars and burglarizing them in DeSoto County.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee man arrested for child porn possession An Immokalee man has been arrested and charged on ten felony counts after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.
ESTERO Caught on Camera: Teen catches alligator while fishing for Peacock Bass A 15-year-old teenager from Estero bit off more than he could chew while fishing for Peacock Bass as a hungry alligator chased after the fish and him.
Gainsville Streaming Now: Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Gainsville Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Gainsville.
The Weather Authority Hotter and drier Wednesday with a few inland storms this afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a mild and drier Wednesday morning with rain expected inland this afternoon.
Cape Coral City Council to discuss repairs for yacht club pier The Cape Coral City Council will discuss and possibly decide upon three options to repair the damaged yacht club pier.
LEHIGH ACRES Kitchen fire causes substantial damage to a home in Lehigh Acres The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue responded to a kitchen fire at a Sunset Boulevard home on Tuesday night.
FORT MYERS Lee County making changes to fix bus issues In the past, the Lee County School District struggled to find enough bus drivers.
NAPLES Naples man gets original Bob Ross paintings appraised Bob Ross took this blank canvas in a small studio in Muncie, Indiana, and transformed it into a beautiful masterpiece.
Lee Schools board considers full-day phone bans The biggest talking point in a Lee County School District safety presentation wasn’t about violence or drugs, it was about phones
PORT CHARLOTTE Fallen officer ceremony in Charlotte County commemorates those who lost lives in line of duty The emotional ceremony was held at the William R. Gains Veterans Memorial Park in Port Charlotte.
SAN CARLOS PARK Lee County couple suspected of drugging and sexually abusing child Neighbors say a home in San Carlos Park was just another house before Tuesday.
PINE ISLAND FDOT asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to busy road The Florida Department of Transportation is asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to the busy road.
Food drive for mental health awareness While someone may look healthy, they may be fighting a real inner battle.
CLEWISTON Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston closed after semi-trailer carrying palm trees loses load Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston from U.S. 27 to 13th Street is closed this morning while crews remove trees from the roadway.
ARCADIA Juvenile and 18-year-old arrested for stealing, burglarizing multiple cars in DeSoto County A juvenile and an 18-year-old have been arrested after allegedly stealing several cars and burglarizing them in DeSoto County.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee man arrested for child porn possession An Immokalee man has been arrested and charged on ten felony counts after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.
ESTERO Caught on Camera: Teen catches alligator while fishing for Peacock Bass A 15-year-old teenager from Estero bit off more than he could chew while fishing for Peacock Bass as a hungry alligator chased after the fish and him.
Gainsville Streaming Now: Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Gainsville Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Gainsville.
The Weather Authority Hotter and drier Wednesday with a few inland storms this afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a mild and drier Wednesday morning with rain expected inland this afternoon.
Cape Coral City Council to discuss repairs for yacht club pier The Cape Coral City Council will discuss and possibly decide upon three options to repair the damaged yacht club pier.
LEHIGH ACRES Kitchen fire causes substantial damage to a home in Lehigh Acres The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue responded to a kitchen fire at a Sunset Boulevard home on Tuesday night.
FORT MYERS Lee County making changes to fix bus issues In the past, the Lee County School District struggled to find enough bus drivers.
NAPLES Naples man gets original Bob Ross paintings appraised Bob Ross took this blank canvas in a small studio in Muncie, Indiana, and transformed it into a beautiful masterpiece.
Lee Schools board considers full-day phone bans The biggest talking point in a Lee County School District safety presentation wasn’t about violence or drugs, it was about phones
PORT CHARLOTTE Fallen officer ceremony in Charlotte County commemorates those who lost lives in line of duty The emotional ceremony was held at the William R. Gains Veterans Memorial Park in Port Charlotte.
SAN CARLOS PARK Lee County couple suspected of drugging and sexually abusing child Neighbors say a home in San Carlos Park was just another house before Tuesday.
PINE ISLAND FDOT asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to busy road The Florida Department of Transportation is asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to the busy road.
Food drive for mental health awareness While someone may look healthy, they may be fighting a real inner battle.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Tampa Bay home sales showed huge year over year gains in November while prices in Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties also jumped dramatically. The November figures are a sign that Tampa Bay’s housing market remains strong even as rising interest rates threaten to put a chill on sales nationwide. “This has been so busy, this has been our record year in business,” Sarah Howe, an agent with Coastal Properties Group International in Pinellas, said Dec. 21. In November, Hillsborough recorded nearly 29 percent more closed sales of single-family homes than in the same month a year earlier. That was followed by Pinellas, up 26.4 percent, Hernando up 19 percent and Pasco up 5 percent. Pasco had the most impressive price gain, however, with the median cost of a single family home soaring nearly 24 percent to $185,000. Pinellas prices rose almost 20 percent to $219,000, with Hernando showing a 17 percent gain to $140,500 and Hillsborough climbing 7 percent to $224,900. Tampa Bay’s rising prices, though, may be scaring away one critical group of buyers – millennials. A new study found that buyers under 35 are eying cities in the American heartland like Minneapolis and St. Louis where prices are more affordable. Florida and California had the least popular cities for that new generation of homeowners, according to Ellie Mae, a software company that processes almost a quarter of all U.S. mortgage applications. Just 30 percent of millennials preferred the Tampa Bay area compared to 44 percent who saw Minneapolis as a potential home “As housing prices continue to rebound, millennials are increasingly representing a higher percentage of homeowners in the middle of the country, where they can get more home for their money,” said Joe Tyrrell, an executive vice president at Ellie Mae. Like other buyers in the Tampa Bay area, millennials also face a limited selection of homes to choose from. In November, Pasco and Hillsborough both had less than a three-month inventory while Pinellas was right at the three-month mark. Hillsborough recorded November’s top home sale, a new 6,600-square foot custom home in Tampa’s Sunset Park area that went for $3.88 million. The six-bedroom, six-bath house has a 75-foot lap pool and partial views of Tampa Bay. In Pinellas, the priciest transaction was $2.8 million for a 6,300-square foot bayfront home on Snell Isle’s Brightwaters Boulevard. Built in 1995, it is one of several homes on Brightwaters that have recently sold as demand for luxury property near downtown St. Petersburg remains strong. “St. Pete is becoming more and more on the radar for out-of-town buyers,” said Howe, the listing agent. “It’s just a neat place to live and prices are still pretty reasonable compared to other parts of the country where (homes) on the water are so much higher.” Pasco’s top price in November was $810,000 for a nearly 6,000 square foot house on a golf course in the Champions Club area of Trinity. And in Hernando, a buyer paid $615,000 for a three-bedroom, three-bath house with open views of the Gulf of Mexico. For Florida as a whole, single-family home sales rose almost 13 percent compared to November 2015 and prices jumped 10 percent to a median of $220,000. “A continued lack of inventory – particularly in the mid-$200,000 and under range – is creating obstacles for many buyers who are trying to enter Florida’s housing market,” Matey Veissi, president of Florida Realtors said. “Rising median prices also may be an inhibiting factor for these would-be homeowners; however, the uptick in prices could persuade sellers that now is the time to list their properties for sale, which in turn may help ease the tight supply in many areas.”