ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Bernard Demczuk leads officers through a tour of a Washington, D.C. neighborhood. CBS NEWS Law enforcement officials across the country now acknowledge the link between black history and the current divide between police and community. A recent survey found 83 percent of people subjected to “stop and frisk” in Washington, D.C. are black, though African-Americans make up 47 percent of the population in the nation’s capital. And that is why D.C.’s police now mandate new training to address racial bias. It includes a tour of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. The tour compels officers to explore black history in America in order to help reduce the tension between police and the community. Bernard Demczuk has led hundreds of police officers on tours through historically black neighborhoods in the center of D.C., known as Shaw and U Street. “What I want to do is introduce why Washington, D.C., is known as the ‘black Mecca of America,'” he said. “Murals tell our history – we don’t want to hide our history behind closed doors.” Demczuk says those neighborhoods have a history of oppression at the hands of a police force that was majority white. Racial tensions caused riots in this neighborhood when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. “The first brick went through a store that would not hire African-Americans,” Demczuk said. Fires set by the rioters burned blocks of buildings to the ground. Fifty years later, the resentment still simmers. “It’s a tension; be conscious of it,” he said. Over the past year, Metropolitan Police have seen a 36-percent rise in use of force incidents. In 2016 D.C. police were involved in the deadly shooting of Terrence Sterling, an unarmed black man, which led to protests. In another high-profile case, an officer was photographed wearing a shirt with racist imagery. Officers Regenna Greer, Melvin Evans and Sarah Snapko say police feel that tension when they walk the beat. “I was called names, and it was very uncomfortable, it was different,” Snapko said. “And I couldn’t understand why there was that conflict. And this is one of the reasons why this training is such a benefit.” Officer Snapko worked in the Shaw neighborhood. “Just knowing the history, the background, I hope that reverberates with the community, that they realize we want to know.” All three are trainers at the police academy and have taken the tour. Correspondent Jeff Pegues asked, “Learning this type of information and going out onto the beat, do you think that lowers the temperature level, it makes everyone feel a little bit more at ease?” “I really believe that it does,” Greer replied. Evans said, “When you look at past history, you don’t want to repeat the same mistakes again. When you look at mistakes in law enforcement, you say, ‘No, we don’t want to go there as a department.'” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined Police Chief Peter Newsham to implement the new training. “The chief can’t do his job effectively if the community doesn’t trust him and his officers,” Bowser said. Chief Newsham saw the National Museum of African-American History and Culture as a learning opportunity for officers who did not learn about African-American history in school. He told the officers, “Hopefully you will get out of this training what I got out of going to this museum. It’s an experience like no other experience. “We’re not teaching our kids across the country about what happened to African-Americans in this country, and I think a lot of us are missing something.” Lessons he hopes they have learned now. “I think importantly, it’s for our officers to understand how some folks in our community feel about how the police played a role in some of the injustices that we have in our society.” Officer Evans says the training will make a difference: “The only way you make a bridge or build that bridge of getting along is allowing people to know that I know about you. I have something that I can talk to you about. I understand what you went through. I understand your concerns. You learn from your community and the community learns from you. And at the end of the day they really know that you’re here to aid and assist them.” This is the first program in the country that is required for an entire police force, but cities have started offering courses like it in Chicago and Philadelphia. They hope this class will catch on in more cities.