World’s largest bounce castle to spring into Bonita SpringsGatorama owner bitten during alligator feeding show
BONITA SPRINGS World’s largest bounce castle to spring into Bonita Springs The Big Bounce America, the world’s largest inflatable bounce castle is set to appear in Bonita Springs.
palmdale Gatorama owner bitten during alligator feeding show Gatorama owner Allen Register was sent to hospital after being bitten by an alligator during a feeding show.
CAPE CORAL Man accused of Cape Coral DUI accident with serious injuries A man has been arrested after allegedly causing an accident with injuries while driving under the influence in Cape Coral.
wink news Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
the weather authority Another warm afternoon for your Tuesday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warm Tuesday afternoon with stray rain showers expected in our inland communities.
port charlotte Suspected impaired driver in custody after slamming into Port Charlotte home’s garage The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and North Port Police Department are investigating a crash involving a suspected impaired driver slamming into a home garage.
NORTH FORT MYERS Cape Coral man faces 16 charges after fleeing multiple traffic stops Marcus Selby, 24, is facing multiple charges after a dramatic series of events involving Cape Coral police and Florida Highway Patrol troopers.
SANIBEL Sanibel residents brace for traffic surge with new advisory and app aid Sanibel residents are bracing for increased traffic as the city issued a “heavy traffic advisory” for the entire week.
FGCU FGCU’s Casey Santoro battles back from Achilles injury FGCU women’s basketball player Casey Santoro is back on the floor after suffering an Achilles injury a season ago.
BABCOCK RANCH Heaviest Florida panther ever recorded located in Babcock Ranch Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists recently captured and collared the heaviest Florida panther ever recorded.
Lee County deputies using VR for safe high-risk training scenarios The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has taken a significant step forward in training by incorporating virtual reality technology.
NAPLES FC Naples signs local soccer star Joffre followed his dream across continents after graduating from Gulf Coast. Now he’s back on the professional soccer pitch in his hometown.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach businesses face floodplain compliance deadline Fort Myers Beach’s businesses face pressure to comply with floodplain regulations or leave the island by March 1.
NAPLES Persistent red tide bloom off Naples to Boca Grande raises concerns As the weather warms up, more people are heading to the beach. However, those with beach plans in Southwest Florida should be aware of the persistent red tide affecting the coastline.
FORT MYERS Community aids in search for missing pitbull after Lee County crash A crash on I-75 near Daniels Parkway in Lee County turned a routine drive into a heartbreaking search for a missing pet.
BONITA SPRINGS World’s largest bounce castle to spring into Bonita Springs The Big Bounce America, the world’s largest inflatable bounce castle is set to appear in Bonita Springs.
palmdale Gatorama owner bitten during alligator feeding show Gatorama owner Allen Register was sent to hospital after being bitten by an alligator during a feeding show.
CAPE CORAL Man accused of Cape Coral DUI accident with serious injuries A man has been arrested after allegedly causing an accident with injuries while driving under the influence in Cape Coral.
wink news Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
the weather authority Another warm afternoon for your Tuesday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warm Tuesday afternoon with stray rain showers expected in our inland communities.
port charlotte Suspected impaired driver in custody after slamming into Port Charlotte home’s garage The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and North Port Police Department are investigating a crash involving a suspected impaired driver slamming into a home garage.
NORTH FORT MYERS Cape Coral man faces 16 charges after fleeing multiple traffic stops Marcus Selby, 24, is facing multiple charges after a dramatic series of events involving Cape Coral police and Florida Highway Patrol troopers.
SANIBEL Sanibel residents brace for traffic surge with new advisory and app aid Sanibel residents are bracing for increased traffic as the city issued a “heavy traffic advisory” for the entire week.
FGCU FGCU’s Casey Santoro battles back from Achilles injury FGCU women’s basketball player Casey Santoro is back on the floor after suffering an Achilles injury a season ago.
BABCOCK RANCH Heaviest Florida panther ever recorded located in Babcock Ranch Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists recently captured and collared the heaviest Florida panther ever recorded.
Lee County deputies using VR for safe high-risk training scenarios The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has taken a significant step forward in training by incorporating virtual reality technology.
NAPLES FC Naples signs local soccer star Joffre followed his dream across continents after graduating from Gulf Coast. Now he’s back on the professional soccer pitch in his hometown.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach businesses face floodplain compliance deadline Fort Myers Beach’s businesses face pressure to comply with floodplain regulations or leave the island by March 1.
NAPLES Persistent red tide bloom off Naples to Boca Grande raises concerns As the weather warms up, more people are heading to the beach. However, those with beach plans in Southwest Florida should be aware of the persistent red tide affecting the coastline.
FORT MYERS Community aids in search for missing pitbull after Lee County crash A crash on I-75 near Daniels Parkway in Lee County turned a routine drive into a heartbreaking search for a missing pet.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Princess Leia was our first girl movie heroine, and we made our moms braid brunette yarn so we’d have earmuff buns for Halloween. Carol Brady of “The Brady Bunch” was the ideal mother we probably didn’t have, because our moms had to work and left us latchkey kids home alone, with TV and processed food our only companions. Carrie Fisher and Florence Henderson – and other icons of Generation X’s youth – are now gone, stolen by the cruel thief that is 2016. The year has left the generation born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s wallowing in memories and contemplating its own mortality. “It’s a very melancholy time,” sighed Shelly Ransom, a 47-year-old speech-language pathologist in Darien, Connecticut. “This is really bringing back a lot of teen angsty feelings. These people are supposed to still be the voices of my generation. It’s sad to see these artists not there to be our voice.” Or, as weary, 51-year-old Lawrence Feeney, a filmmaker from New Port Richey, Florida, put it: “You lose George Michael and Carrie Fisher in a three-day span, you feel like you’ve gotten a couple of daggers thrown at you.” Throughout the year, office conversations, dinner party discussions and social media have exploded with incredulity, sadness and fear, as one ’80s celebrity after another died, starting in January with David Bowie. The feelings have been particularly acute for Gen X, whose members came of age when many of these cultural figures were popular. We adored Bowie in the movie “Labyrinth” and danced to “Modern Love” at prom. We remember reading the words “Purple Rain” on the theater marquee and wondered why that little guy in high heels was so sexy. We made out fervently in cars in high school as George Michael crooned on the FM dial (Remember radio? It came decades before Spotify, and you couldn’t pick your music). “We were the generation that was going to change the world. When I was a young man, I watched people my age stand in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square and tear down the Berlin Wall. Now I find myself complaining about arthritis in my hands and taking care of my aging parents,” lamented Rob Withrow, a 43-year-old landscape business owner in Palm Bay, Florida. He added: “The musicians I admired growing up are now dying off. Hopefully, I still have quite a few more decades left in me, but the reality of dying is much clearer to see.” Of course, this happens to every generation: Our idols die off, and we suddenly feel our youth slipping away. But Lou Manza, a professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, said baby boomers and older generations weren’t as invested in or connected to their celebrities. Gen X had MTV, which put pop stars like Prince and Bowie into our homes in heavy rotation. That, combined with the immediacy and intimacy of 21st-century social media – we knew when platinum-haired punk rocker Billy Idol turned 61 because Facebook informed us, for instance – amplifies the sadness. “Our parents in the ’70s would hear about a celebrity death on the nightly news, or the next day in the newspaper,” Manza said. “Now, there’s more and more of an immediacy with every successive generation.” Sarah McBride Wagner, a 37-year-old writer in Weirton, West Virginia, said social media has created a place for collective mourning. “We’ve never met these people. Yet we’re all so affected by it,” she said. “Being a shared grief both makes it bigger and easier.” For some, the death of beloved childhood figures reminds us of the passing of people closer to us and of the march of time, which seems more like a fast jog. “We’re at the age now when we really start to see ourselves in our parents. My son just turned 10, and it occurred to me as he hung out with my parents that it’s really not going to be too many more years before my husband and I are my parents, and he is us,” said Amanda Forman, a 38-year-old mother of three and a writer from Flourtown, Pennsylvania. “The celebrity deaths of people we’ve admired exacerbate those feelings. I think in the case of those who passed who are slightly older, it makes us feel like we are that much closer, that our generation is next. And it makes us feel like our childhood is that much further behind us.”