The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecastChaotic lake getting fence and security
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.
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.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
LITTLE HICKORY BAY Improving ‘Hell’s Gate’ safety, a notoriously dangerous waterway for boaters A push to make an area known as “Hell’s Gate” safer since it’s a dangerous stretch of water with several blind corners within Little Hickory Bay.
Fixing failed back surgeries More than a million and a half people in the U.S. undergo back surgery each year. However, classic back surgery has one of the highest failure rates of any surgery.
WINK NEWS Getting an inside look at the FEMA discount controversy Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian has been difficult for many and moving on can impact our wallets.
FGCU FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff playing for hometown team after labrum injury FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff is living the dream playing for the hometown team after he overcame a labrum injury.
LEHIGH ACRES Frustrated Lehigh parents want action after violent school fights go viral online Violence at a Lehigh Acres Middle school was captured and posted online.
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.
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.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
LITTLE HICKORY BAY Improving ‘Hell’s Gate’ safety, a notoriously dangerous waterway for boaters A push to make an area known as “Hell’s Gate” safer since it’s a dangerous stretch of water with several blind corners within Little Hickory Bay.
Fixing failed back surgeries More than a million and a half people in the U.S. undergo back surgery each year. However, classic back surgery has one of the highest failure rates of any surgery.
WINK NEWS Getting an inside look at the FEMA discount controversy Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian has been difficult for many and moving on can impact our wallets.
FGCU FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff playing for hometown team after labrum injury FGCU pitcher Dylan Wolff is living the dream playing for the hometown team after he overcame a labrum injury.
LEHIGH ACRES Frustrated Lehigh parents want action after violent school fights go viral online Violence at a Lehigh Acres Middle school was captured and posted online.
Two lionfish are shown in an aquarium at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach, Florida, in 2013. The invasive species is considered menacing to native wildlife. SUZETTE LABOY / AP Think about climate change, and you may picture melting ice caps and stranded polar bears. But you should also picture a reef-destroying lionfish, voracious Burmese python, or disease-spreading Asian tiger mosquito. As seasonal cycles shift and ecosystems are thrown off balance, those invasive species — and many others — could infiltrate a broader range of territories with devastating consequences to our health, vital habitats and industries. A species is considered invasive when it moves into an ecosystem that has not evolved to control it. Once a species gains a foothold in territory without its natural predators, it multiplies and eventually takes over. This is not a new phenomenon. According to the Convention on Biodiversity, 40 percent of all species that have gone extinct over the last 400 years have met that fate at least in part due to invasive species. However, climate change has already started to exacerbate the situation. A 2017 study found that at least a third of new introductions of invasive species in the last 200 years have occurred since 1970. In the last three to five decades, the U.S. has suffered the impact of several invasive species. Burmese pythons have wreaked havoc in the Florida Everglades, reducing some native species by 99 percent since 1997. Lionfish have invaded reefs in the Bahamas, wiping out up 95 percent of native marine life in some areas. The beautiful but destructive fish has also spread through the Gulf of Mexico and nearly the entire length of North America’s Eastern Seaboard, the third largest reef system in the world. Asian carp, meanwhile, have effectively taken over the Mississippi River basin and are decimating local fishing industries. These insatiable giants were first imported in the 1970s to remove algae from ponds, but they were displaced by flooding and spilled out into the waterways, where they now crowd out favorites like catfish, shrimp and buffalo fish. Richard Durrett, a lifelong Louisiana-based commercial fisherman, says that for the last decade he’s been struggling to stay afloat. “I mean, when I was a younger guy we had probably 30, 32 local fishermen. We’re down to seven now,” he said. “It’s a big threat,” said Philippe Parola, a local chef and businessman who took us out on the water. “Not only here — we in Louisiana here — but they’re all the way to Canada in the entire Mississippi basin. They multiply. They spawn like three million eggs per year.” And because they didn’t evolve here, there’s no local predator to keep their numbers in check. Efforts to contain the problem include an underwater electric barrier built to keep them from entering the Great Lakes, where a $7 billion fishing industry is at risk. Asian carp have crowded out local species and made it hard for these Louisiana fishermen to earn a living. CBS NEWS Until now, many invasive species have been limited in their spread because of environmental factors like temperature and humidity. But the prospect of climate change threatens to open up new territory for foreign flora and fauna to take over. Burmese pythons, for example, have thrived and multiplied in South Florida, where conditions are somewhat similar to their native Southeast Asia. But in 2012, a Burmese python was spotted as far north as southern Georgia. Experts fear that climate change could eventually enable these enormous snakes to migrate even farther north. It’s not just large or exotic animals that people are concerned about. An invasive species can be any kind of living organism, including insects, plants, fungi, even microorganisms like bacteria — raising alarm about the increased possibility of global pandemics that could sicken millions of people or decimate wholesale food supplies like livestock and produce. Invasive plants alone already cost $30 billion per year in eradication efforts, a number that’s likely to rise as climate conditions continue to shift. The growing season in the United States is already about two weeks longer than it was a century ago, allowing invasive plants to bloom earlier, sapping nutrients out of the soil and stealing an outsized share of the sunlight as they dwarf native species. While dealing with the impact of invasive species typically falls under the purview of local or regional authorities, combating climate change requires a worldwide effort. Virtually every nation in the world came together to sign the Paris climate agreement in 2015 aiming to curtail greenhouse gases and keep the average global temperature from climbing 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But in June 2017, President Trump announced that the United States was pulling out of the accord.