‘Like a Football’: Man accused of throwing dog over apartment balconyCape Coral man federally sentenced for COVID-19 relief fraud
FORT MYERS ‘Like a Football’: Man accused of throwing dog over apartment balcony The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who stands accused of animal cruelty, throwing his dog over an apartment balcony.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man federally sentenced for COVID-19 relief fraud A Cape Coral man has been sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The Weather Authority The Weather Authority: More rain and storms for your Tuesday plans The Weather Authority is tracking isolated rain and storms arriving inland before moving towards the coast.
lehigh acres Driver killed following crash into canal in Lehigh Acres The Florida Highway Patrol and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a deadly crash into a canal in Lehigh Acres.
Motorcyclist injured after Golden Gate crash A motorcyclist is fighting to recover from a crash in a Golden Gate neighborhood on Monday.
NAPLES Patients caught in the middle of NCH and Florida Blue negotiations Patients are worried they’ll have to find new doctors if Florida Blue and NCH cannot reach an agreement.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Apartment community center ransacked in Downtown Fort Myers Residents in a luxury apartment woke up on Sunday morning to ransacked packages and what appeared to be blood splatters on the floor.
CAPE CORAL Families forced to vacate Cape Coral find out on WINK News Neighbors living into Cape Coral told WINK News they found out from our reporting last month that soon they’ll have to vacate the properties they’re currently living in and renting.
FORT MYERS Local art institutions still feeling pinch of DeSantis’ $32 million art grant veto Southwest Florida’s growing art landscape is feeling the effects of Governor Ron DeSantis’ art grant veto and is trying to bounce back.
CAPTIVA Captiva Beach continues renourishment project Nearly two years later, the recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian continue on Captiva Beach. People WINK News spoke with say it’s a work in progress since Hurricane Ian, but they are hopeful as more time passes and more sand is brought in for beach renourishment.
Proposal to mine in the Everglades withdrawn for now The now-withdrawn proposal for the Southland Water Resource Project was submitted to the South Florida Water Management District in July by contractor Phillips and Jordan.
FORT MYERS Bishop Verot cross-country runner commits to UF The Bishop Verot Catholic High School senior won a state championship last year. Now, she’s committed to running at the University of Florida.
DeSantis fights back on Amendment 4 Florida may not be the swing state it used to be, but we’ll be on the map and certainly making headlines for at least one big reason this year: Abortion.
The do’s and don’ts of ATV’s An investigation is underway after a car crashed into an ATV with six people, including children, on it. Concerns are now being raised over the rules and regulations of ATVs.
SANIBEL Sanibel city council votes on E-bike limits The Sanibel City Council has voted to set new speed limits for e-bikes and whether they can ride on the island’s bike paths.
FORT MYERS ‘Like a Football’: Man accused of throwing dog over apartment balcony The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who stands accused of animal cruelty, throwing his dog over an apartment balcony.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man federally sentenced for COVID-19 relief fraud A Cape Coral man has been sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The Weather Authority The Weather Authority: More rain and storms for your Tuesday plans The Weather Authority is tracking isolated rain and storms arriving inland before moving towards the coast.
lehigh acres Driver killed following crash into canal in Lehigh Acres The Florida Highway Patrol and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a deadly crash into a canal in Lehigh Acres.
Motorcyclist injured after Golden Gate crash A motorcyclist is fighting to recover from a crash in a Golden Gate neighborhood on Monday.
NAPLES Patients caught in the middle of NCH and Florida Blue negotiations Patients are worried they’ll have to find new doctors if Florida Blue and NCH cannot reach an agreement.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Apartment community center ransacked in Downtown Fort Myers Residents in a luxury apartment woke up on Sunday morning to ransacked packages and what appeared to be blood splatters on the floor.
CAPE CORAL Families forced to vacate Cape Coral find out on WINK News Neighbors living into Cape Coral told WINK News they found out from our reporting last month that soon they’ll have to vacate the properties they’re currently living in and renting.
FORT MYERS Local art institutions still feeling pinch of DeSantis’ $32 million art grant veto Southwest Florida’s growing art landscape is feeling the effects of Governor Ron DeSantis’ art grant veto and is trying to bounce back.
CAPTIVA Captiva Beach continues renourishment project Nearly two years later, the recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian continue on Captiva Beach. People WINK News spoke with say it’s a work in progress since Hurricane Ian, but they are hopeful as more time passes and more sand is brought in for beach renourishment.
Proposal to mine in the Everglades withdrawn for now The now-withdrawn proposal for the Southland Water Resource Project was submitted to the South Florida Water Management District in July by contractor Phillips and Jordan.
FORT MYERS Bishop Verot cross-country runner commits to UF The Bishop Verot Catholic High School senior won a state championship last year. Now, she’s committed to running at the University of Florida.
DeSantis fights back on Amendment 4 Florida may not be the swing state it used to be, but we’ll be on the map and certainly making headlines for at least one big reason this year: Abortion.
The do’s and don’ts of ATV’s An investigation is underway after a car crashed into an ATV with six people, including children, on it. Concerns are now being raised over the rules and regulations of ATVs.
SANIBEL Sanibel city council votes on E-bike limits The Sanibel City Council has voted to set new speed limits for e-bikes and whether they can ride on the island’s bike paths.
President Donald Trump exits the Marine One helicopter as he returns to the White House, Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, in Washington, after speaking at the 2018 Project Safe Neighborhoods National Conference. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Key pieces of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation appear to be falling into place. In three court filings Friday, prosecutors for the first time connected President Donald Trump to a crime involving hush money payments to a porn actress. They revealed new details about outreach from Russia early in Trump’s presidential campaign. They detailed how they say two central figures, lawyer Michael Cohen and onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort , were continually tripped up by lies. Some takeaways from the latest round of court documents from Mueller’s investigation: ___ EARLY RUSSIAN OUTREACH Trump announced his presidential candidacy in June 2015. By that November, the Russians were reaching out about “political synergy.” The court papers provide new details about one of the earliest known contacts between Russia and a Trump campaign associate. In fall 2015, Cohen was months into his work on a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow when an unidentified Russian national proposed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This person, prosecutors say, claimed to be a “trusted person” in Russia who could offer the Trump campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.” This person sought to connect the Trump business project with the campaign, saying the meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact on the proposed tower in Moscow. There is “no bigger warranty in any project than the consent of” Putin, the person told Cohen. Prosecutors say Cohen didn’t follow up and that the meeting never occurred. The outreach is more evidence that Russia was eager to build relationships with the campaign and tried to use Trump’s business as an opening. ___ TRUMP DIRECTED COHEN’S CRIME Prosecutors didn’t mince words: The campaign finance violations Cohen committed came “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump, according to the new filings. Those violations stemmed from payments Cohen made to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women alleged they had affairs with Trump, which the White House denies. Daniels was paid $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election. Trump has denied knowing anything about the Daniels payment. But the filing directly contradicts that claim. It also, for the first time, directly ties Trump to a federal crime. Campaign finance law requires candidates to report any payments made to influence the election. The Trump campaign failed to report the payment at the time. Prosecutors don’t say Trump broke the law and the Justice Department has maintained that a sitting president cannot be indicted. ___ PUBLIC STATEMENTS MATTER TO MUELLER At least such statements did matter to Mueller when Cohen lied to Congress, and that could have implications for other episodes under investigation in the Russia investigation. Cohen has admitted lying to Congress about how long he worked on the Trump Tower Moscow project and repeating the falsehoods to the media. But Mueller’s team doesn’t just consider this self-protection. It was a “deliberate effort” to publicly present a “false narrative” in the hopes of limiting the scope of the various Russia investigations, prosecutors say in the court papers. Mueller’s focus on public assertions and their impact on witnesses, lawmakers and ongoing investigations could serve as a warning to Trump. The president also has spread falsehoods about his campaign’s ties to Russia. The special counsel has questioned witnesses about a statement Trump dictated on Air Force One last year that omitted several details about a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian attorney. The filing suggests Mueller intends to hold witnesses accountable for the statements made privately and publicly. If the lies are meant to influence the investigation, they may factor into Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump has tried to obstruct the probe. ___ TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONTACTS Despite their criminal cases, the Trump administration just can’t leave Manafort or Cohen behind, according to prosecutors. In Cohen’s case, Mueller’s team said he has provided “relevant and useful” information about his contacts with people connected to the Trump White House in 2017 and 2018. With Manafort, prosecutors say he also had several recent administration contacts and lied about them. After Manafort pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government, prosecutors say he told them he had “no direct or indirect” contact with people in the administration. But that was a lie, they say. Instead, they found evidence, including electronic documents, showing contacts with multiple administration officials. That included communication with a “senior administration official” through February 2018. Manafort also directed a person to speak with an administration official on his “behalf” on May 26. Neither Cohen’s nor Manafort’s filings detail the content of the conversations or identify the officials. Manafort has contended he was truthful with Mueller’s team. ___ NOT JUST COHEN’S WORD Since his guilty plea, Trump has attacked Cohen as a liar who is telling “stories” to get a reduced prison sentence. But prosecutors revealed Friday that they’re not just taking Cohen’s word for it. The information Cohen told prosecutors in seven separate interviews “has been credible and consistent with other evidence obtained” in Mueller’s investigation, they note in the sentencing recommendation. Some of that information from Cohen, prosecutors say, concerns “certain discrete Russia-related matters” at the “core” of Mueller’s investigation, particularly those involving his contact with Trump Organization executives. ___ ‘LUCRATIVE’ MOSCOW DEAL Trump and his lawyers have played down the Trump Tower Moscow proposal. The president has said he never put any money into it and ultimately decided not to do it. But Mueller’s team reveals that if he did, they believe they know the windfall. According to Cohen’s filing, the deal could have yielded “hundreds of millions of dollars from Russian sources in licensing fees and other revenues.” They also note that the project’s success likely hinged on Russian government approval, which Cohen sought. ___ Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.