NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO searching for missing endangered adult Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a missing person.
The Weather Authority: Scattered storms for your Saturday The Weather AuthorityĀ is tracking afternoon scattered storms for Saturday this Labor Day weekend.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 2 The Golden Eagles took down the Cougars 64-7 to win the Crosstown Showdown for the 26th year in a row.
NAPLES Naples mayor speaks out after DUI arrest Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann has sent a statement to WINK News after being charged with a DUI.
FORT MYERS Woman stabbed at Fort Myers gas station Authorities responded to an active scene at a 7-eleven in Fort Myers after a woman was stabbed early Friday evening.
FORT MYERS FMPD investigating a van that followed a student from bus stop Police said a suspicious van followed a middle school student home from the bus stop on Thursday and yelled, “Get in the van.”
CAPE CORAL Report: Teen was on crosswalk when she was hit The driver of the box truck told officers he didn’t see Kendra as she rode in front of him, and he started to go.
FORT MYERS BEACH Celebration of Jimmy Buffet Day at Margaritaville Friday was Jimmy Buffett Day at Margaritaville and Fort Myers Beach is gearing up for a fun party all weekend long.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County deputies hold training for mental health encounters Charlotte County deputies are entering the community equipped with a new tool for handling mental health: the crisis initiative training.
Neighbors worried about flooding in Rotonda Heights Neighbors in Rotonda Heights are fed up with the flooding and they want to see it fixed.
ORLANDO Smart living moms reclaim their careers Betsy Gardner president and CEO of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce started Relaunch, a program to help stay-at-home moms.
FORT MYERS BEACH A closer look at the gas leak that killed 2 men at Fort Myers Beach home A closer look at the gas leak that killed two men in Fort Myers Beach has revealed some new details leading up to the deaths.
SANIBEL Sanibel CVS Pharmacy reopening after Hurricane Ian The CVS Pharmacy in Sanibel is reopening nearly two years after Hurricane Ian caused severe damage to it.
FORT MYERS Woman transported after boat hits large wake under Midpoint Bridge A woman had to be transported to the hospital after suffering an injury when the boat she was in struck the wake of a yacht.
NEW YORK (AP) Trump has history sparking outrage for incidents around veterans even as military voters backed him The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trumpās staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.
NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO searching for missing endangered adult Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a missing person.
The Weather Authority: Scattered storms for your Saturday The Weather AuthorityĀ is tracking afternoon scattered storms for Saturday this Labor Day weekend.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 2 The Golden Eagles took down the Cougars 64-7 to win the Crosstown Showdown for the 26th year in a row.
NAPLES Naples mayor speaks out after DUI arrest Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann has sent a statement to WINK News after being charged with a DUI.
FORT MYERS Woman stabbed at Fort Myers gas station Authorities responded to an active scene at a 7-eleven in Fort Myers after a woman was stabbed early Friday evening.
FORT MYERS FMPD investigating a van that followed a student from bus stop Police said a suspicious van followed a middle school student home from the bus stop on Thursday and yelled, “Get in the van.”
CAPE CORAL Report: Teen was on crosswalk when she was hit The driver of the box truck told officers he didn’t see Kendra as she rode in front of him, and he started to go.
FORT MYERS BEACH Celebration of Jimmy Buffet Day at Margaritaville Friday was Jimmy Buffett Day at Margaritaville and Fort Myers Beach is gearing up for a fun party all weekend long.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County deputies hold training for mental health encounters Charlotte County deputies are entering the community equipped with a new tool for handling mental health: the crisis initiative training.
Neighbors worried about flooding in Rotonda Heights Neighbors in Rotonda Heights are fed up with the flooding and they want to see it fixed.
ORLANDO Smart living moms reclaim their careers Betsy Gardner president and CEO of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce started Relaunch, a program to help stay-at-home moms.
FORT MYERS BEACH A closer look at the gas leak that killed 2 men at Fort Myers Beach home A closer look at the gas leak that killed two men in Fort Myers Beach has revealed some new details leading up to the deaths.
SANIBEL Sanibel CVS Pharmacy reopening after Hurricane Ian The CVS Pharmacy in Sanibel is reopening nearly two years after Hurricane Ian caused severe damage to it.
FORT MYERS Woman transported after boat hits large wake under Midpoint Bridge A woman had to be transported to the hospital after suffering an injury when the boat she was in struck the wake of a yacht.
NEW YORK (AP) Trump has history sparking outrage for incidents around veterans even as military voters backed him The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trumpās staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.
FORT MYERS, Fla. Nicole Waid was an outsider who knew of the dysfunction inside the Fort Myers Police Department. Waid, formerly the chief assistant U.S. attorney for Southwest Florida, described a department that isolated itself from the community and other law enforcement agencies to the point that it “created a lack of resources and a lack of an ability to actually solve crime.” “You had administrations before them who, when other state and local and federal agencies would go and say ‘hey do you need help because we want to help you,’ there was almost this ‘we don’t want your help because we don’t want you to know what’s been going on,'” said Waid, who was the region’s top federal law-enforcement official until she left for private practice in 2014. City leaders reached out to her regarding ways to address the department’s challenges. She suggested hiring an outside agency to review the department. The result was an “unprecedented” report, the result of interviews with more than 200 current and former employees, alleging cronyism, corruption and other problems within Fort Myers police. The report has spawned a number of changes since its release in February, including city leaders approving the addition of a deputy chief and a request by police chief Derrick Diggs for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate alleged officer misconduct. Diggs’ request, which was the report’s top recommendation, represents a change from previous department practice, Waid said. “When you’re offered help and all the resources behind the federal government to solve a problem, and you had a lot of agencies saying we don’t need you and we don’t want you to come in, and why is that,” she asked. “I cant say why. I can assume there were certain issues they didn’t want people to know about. Maybe they just thought they had it under control. But it was very frustrating because you had these resources you were willing to give, and so my first recommendation to the mayor to his administration was you need to figure out whats going on there.” Waid praised Diggs’ request, but added that since the alleged incidents happened in the past, they may be challenging to prove. But doing nothing will worsen matters, she said. “Baltimore, Ferguson, I mean, when you have a community that is this disjointed, Chicago, when you have a community that is this disjointed from their law enforcement without any oversight, you are creating just a firestorm of anger that is going to brew over at some point, there is going to be a breaking point,” she said. “That’s the exact opposite of what you want to have happen here and that’s why I truly commend chief Diggs for doing an independent audit.” This story is the latest in WINK News’Ā continuing series about the FMPD audit.