Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCUFGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
Budget Director Mick Mulvaney testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on Capiol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, on President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) The Trump administration in recent months has made its stance clear on public assistance and welfare programs: If you’re able-bodied and want benefits, you have to work. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, released Monday, makes reference to legislative reforms to programs like food stamps and housing assistance that include adding or tightening work requirements. Simultaneously, the budget calls for deep cuts to those programs, significantly shrinking the overall spending for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and slashing funding for food stamps, officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The budget proposals come as the administration sets its sights on welfare reform. Last month, the administration announced a decision to allow states to impose work requirements for Medicaid. Kentucky is the first state to roll out the requirements, and 10 other states have asked to do the same. But advocates say that while encouraging people to work is fundamentally a good thing, imposing strict requirements on already vulnerable populations, particularly when coupled with an aggressive effort to slash funding and shrink public assistance programs, could be disastrous for those in need. “When you get a job, that’s not the end of the story, that’s often where the story begins,” said Heather Hahn, senior fellow in the Center for Labor, Human Services and Population at the Urban Institute. “Often there’s a revolving door of low-wage, unstable work, and the public safety net serves as a form of unemployment insurance for people in those situations. The reality is, low-wage work is increasingly unstable and unpredictable, and doesn’t allow people to support their families without the help of supports like Medicaid and SNAP.” A requirement that able-bodied adults who want to receive SNAP benefits for more than three months at a time must work in some capacity isn’t new. But the recent budget proposal tightens some of those rules by raising the age limit for recipients who are exempt from the work requirement and restricting the ability of states to offer waivers. The budget also includes cutting SNAP funding by roughly $213 billion, or 30 percent, over the next 10 years. Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the work requirement initiatives are designed to get millions of people who currently rely on SNAP benefits off the rolls rather than encourage or enable more people to find and keep jobs. “They’re cuts,” Dean said. “There would be no circumstance under which a childless adult can’t work 20 hours a week. Imagine someone leaving prison with a felony conviction on their record; they might find it more difficult to find steady employment than someone else.” Trump’s budget also references a plan to require tenants receiving rental assistance to work. The budget line says only that the administration wants to push forward reforms “to encourage work and self-sufficiency across its core rental assistance programs” and that the reforms “require able-bodied individuals to shoulder more of their housing costs and provide an incentive to increase their earnings, while mitigating rent increases for the elderly and people with disabilities.” But a leaked draft bill, circulated in recent weeks and reviewed by The Associated Press, outlines what those reforms could potentially look like. The draft bill proposes rent increases, and includes a provision that would allow public housing agencies and private owners to impose work requirements of up to 32 hours per week. Such requirements could have dire consequences for those already experiencing barriers to finding, and keeping, a job. Single mothers who can’t afford child care, people who lack access to transportation, and those who suffer from mental illness or other “invisible disabilities” are likely to suffer the most, said Sarah Mickelson, director of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “It would impose these work requirements without any resources that connect people with well-paying jobs and the skill sets they need,” she said. “The real effect is that it would do very little to create the source of job opportunities people need to lift themselves out of poverty. Instead it punishes people by taking away their housing assistance that make it possible for them to work in the first place.” MORE: Trump administration proposes ‘Blue Apron-style’ overhaul for food stamps