Fort Myers gears up for Edison Festival of Light with safety in focusByron Donalds accused of voter fraud
FORT MYERS Fort Myers gears up for Edison Festival of Light with safety in focus The parade will begin at Fort Myers High School, travel up U.S. Highway 41, and conclude in downtown Fort Myers.
Byron Donalds accused of voter fraud U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds is being accused of voter fraud. A fellow lawmaker on Capitol Hill is making the allegations.
NAPLES FWC seeks Naples community’s help for derelict boat removal The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is searching for derelict boats in Southwest Florida and is asking for community assistance.
FORT MYERS Red dye ban and Valentine’s Day Red is synonymous with Valentine’s Day, seen in everything from roses to candy. However, some red sweets may not be as appealing this year due to a recent ban on a common dye linked to cancer risks.
FORT MYERS Savannah Bananas at JetBlue Park this weekend Are you heading out to watch the Savannah Bananas this weekend? This is what you need to know.
Punta Gorda Historic District home set for demolition, rebuild When builder T.J. Thornberry was hired by clients to demolish and build two new homes on their Chasteen Street properties within the Punta Gorda Historic District, little did he realize he would be embarking on an odyssey laden with roadblocks lasting nearly three months.
PORT CHARLOTTE Rays begin Spring Training ahead of season away from home The Charlotte Sports Park is home to the Tampa Bay Rays for the next six weeks for, but after that they don’t actually get to go home.
Eligible taxpayers in Florida file for free with IRS Direct File The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers in Florida they can file their taxes for free with the agency using IRS Direct File.
TALLAHASSEE (AP) DeSantis signs sweeping immigration bills after a feud with Florida Republicans Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a package of sweeping immigration bills.
Registration for Lee County Parks and Recreation Summer Camp to open Lee County Parks and Recreation Summer Camp has announced that registration will open to the public in two weeks.
Collier Sheriff speaks on high-tech tools stopping criminals before they act According to Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, Southwest Florida is seen as an easy target for criminals; however, law enforcement has begun to incorporate cutting-edge technology to prevent future crimes from happening.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral to host two German Culture Biergarten The German American Social Club of Cape Coral will host the first of two Biergarten in the Bavarian Garden to celebrate its German heritage.
Execution of Charlotte County killer James Ford set for tonight A convicted killer on death row since 1999 is scheduled to be executed tonight for the murder of a couple in Charlotte County.
NORTH PORT Citywide burn ban in effect for North Port The North Port Fire Rescue has enacted a citywide outdoor burn ban due to extreme drought conditions and an increased wildfire threat.
cape coral Minor hospitalized with gunshot wound; 2 people in custody The Cape Coral Police Department is actively investigating a scene located on Skyline Boulevard.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers gears up for Edison Festival of Light with safety in focus The parade will begin at Fort Myers High School, travel up U.S. Highway 41, and conclude in downtown Fort Myers.
Byron Donalds accused of voter fraud U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds is being accused of voter fraud. A fellow lawmaker on Capitol Hill is making the allegations.
NAPLES FWC seeks Naples community’s help for derelict boat removal The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is searching for derelict boats in Southwest Florida and is asking for community assistance.
FORT MYERS Red dye ban and Valentine’s Day Red is synonymous with Valentine’s Day, seen in everything from roses to candy. However, some red sweets may not be as appealing this year due to a recent ban on a common dye linked to cancer risks.
FORT MYERS Savannah Bananas at JetBlue Park this weekend Are you heading out to watch the Savannah Bananas this weekend? This is what you need to know.
Punta Gorda Historic District home set for demolition, rebuild When builder T.J. Thornberry was hired by clients to demolish and build two new homes on their Chasteen Street properties within the Punta Gorda Historic District, little did he realize he would be embarking on an odyssey laden with roadblocks lasting nearly three months.
PORT CHARLOTTE Rays begin Spring Training ahead of season away from home The Charlotte Sports Park is home to the Tampa Bay Rays for the next six weeks for, but after that they don’t actually get to go home.
Eligible taxpayers in Florida file for free with IRS Direct File The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers in Florida they can file their taxes for free with the agency using IRS Direct File.
TALLAHASSEE (AP) DeSantis signs sweeping immigration bills after a feud with Florida Republicans Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a package of sweeping immigration bills.
Registration for Lee County Parks and Recreation Summer Camp to open Lee County Parks and Recreation Summer Camp has announced that registration will open to the public in two weeks.
Collier Sheriff speaks on high-tech tools stopping criminals before they act According to Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, Southwest Florida is seen as an easy target for criminals; however, law enforcement has begun to incorporate cutting-edge technology to prevent future crimes from happening.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral to host two German Culture Biergarten The German American Social Club of Cape Coral will host the first of two Biergarten in the Bavarian Garden to celebrate its German heritage.
Execution of Charlotte County killer James Ford set for tonight A convicted killer on death row since 1999 is scheduled to be executed tonight for the murder of a couple in Charlotte County.
NORTH PORT Citywide burn ban in effect for North Port The North Port Fire Rescue has enacted a citywide outdoor burn ban due to extreme drought conditions and an increased wildfire threat.
cape coral Minor hospitalized with gunshot wound; 2 people in custody The Cape Coral Police Department is actively investigating a scene located on Skyline Boulevard.
ULA A powerful United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral Saturday evening, putting on a spectacular weekend show for area residents and tourists as it boosted a multi-satellite military payload into space. Taking advantage of near-ideal weather, the rocket’s Russian-built RD-180 first stage engine roared to life at 7:13 p.m. ET, followed moments later by ignition of five strap-on solid-fuel boosters, almost instantly pushing the 20-story rocket skyward. Mounted in the rocket’s nose cone were a military communications support satellite and another experimental spacecraft carrying multiple experiments, including a free-flying sub-satellite named Mycroft, presumably after Sherlock Holmes’ older brother. All three were bound for a high orbit near the region where military and commercial communications satellites operate 22,300 miles above the equator. Generating a combined 2.6 million pounds of thrust, the Atlas 5’s workhorse Russian engine and the five strap-ons majestically pushed the rocket away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, leaving a churning cloud of exhaust and a crackling roar in its wake. The initial moments of the flight appeared to go smoothly as the towering rocket knifed through the sound barrier and shot away through the early evening sky, arcing away to the east above the Atlantic Ocean. The strap-on boosters fell away about a minute and 50 seconds into flight and the RD-180 shut down two minutes and 45 seconds later, after boosting the vehicle out of the thick lower atmosphere. The rocket’s Centaur second stage’s hydrogen-fueled Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine ignited a few moments later. ULA ended it’s launch broadcast at that point and no additional details about the booster’s performance were released. Three Centaur firings were required to put the satellite payload into its planned orbit. An initial firing was planned to put the spacecraft into a preliminary “parking” orbit. A second five-minute 50-second burn was designed to put the payload into an elliptical orbit with a high point of around 28,200 miles. A third Centaur firing five-hours after launch was planned to circularize the orbit. The spacecraft — the Continuous Broadband Augmented SATCOM, or CBAS, and another known as EAGLE — were to be released to fly on their own in a circular orbit slightly above the 22,300-mile-high geostationary orbits used by military and civilian communications satellites. CBAS, the upper satellite, is “a military satellite communications spacecraft destined for geosynchronous orbit to provide communications relay capabilities to support senior leaders and combatant commanders, the Air Force said in a statement. “CBAS will augment existing military satellite communications capabilities and broadcast military data continuously through space-based, satellite communications relay links,” the Air Force said. No other details were released. The lower satellite in the Atlas nose cone featured one of the more convoluted names used by the Pentagon, the “Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter Augmented Geosynchronous Laboratory Experiment,” or EAGLE. Built by Orbital ATK and managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, EAGLE is designed to demonstrate a “space vehicle design which allows six or more deployable or hosted spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit,” according to an Air Force Fact sheet. ‘It will also demonstrate the capability to provide low-cost access to geosynchronous orbit and geosynchronous transfer orbit for smaller class space vehicles by using excess weight and volume available on (the military) launch vehicle family.” One of EAGLE’s experiments is a sub-satellite known at Mycroft, also built by Orbital ATK, that was intended to test space situational awareness technology, or SSA. “The Mycroft vehicle will deploy from EAGLE, drift to approximately 35 km away and cautiously progress over several months to ranges approaching 1 km,” according to the fact sheet. “Mycroft will evaluate the region around EAGLE using a SSA camera. Mycroft will also use its sensors and software to perform advanced guidance, navigation and control functions-key functions in all satellite operations.” The fact sheet said the EAGLE satellite also carries sensors and experiments to “detect, identify and analyze system threats such as man-made disturbances, space weather events or collisions with small meteorites. “Together, EAGLE and Mycroft help train operators and development of tactics, techniques and procedures during exercises or experiments to improve space war fighting.”