Fatal multi-vehicle crash closes all lanes on SR-82 in Lehigh AcresTribute breakfast to be held for Charlotte County Sgt. Elio Diaz
Fatal multi-vehicle crash closes all lanes on SR-82 in Lehigh Acres The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash involving multiple vehicles on SR-82 west of 40th Street in Lehigh Acres.
port charlotte Tribute breakfast to be held for Charlotte County Sgt. Elio Diaz A tribute breakfast is set to be held for Charlotte County Deputy Sgt. Elio Diaz, who was killed in the line of duty in December.
winter haven Streaming Now: Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Winter Haven Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Winter Haven.
FORT MYERS Shell Factory & Nature Park announces online auction liquidation of remaining inventory Fans of the now-closed Shell Factory & Nature Park will have a final chance to own a piece of nostalgia with two virtual auctions.
the weather authority More clouds than sun for your Wednesday The Weather Authority is tracking an increased cloud coverage along with cooler conditions this Wednesday afternoon.
Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads-Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox-Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘It’s devastating’: Neighbor reflects on fatal fire in Port Charlotte A devastating house fire Monday night in Port Charlotte has left one person dead and another hospitalized while neighbors mourn the possible loss of a beloved member of their community.
‘The sound of death’ Neighbors concerned by amount of crashes on Joel Blvd A woman is heartbroken from witnessing crash after crash outside her Lehigh Acres home.
Fort Myers get 15% increase on flood insurance discount WINK News is finding out what led to the city of Fort Myers going from just a 5% FEMA flood insurance discount to a 20% discount.
FORT MYERS Locals house California wildfire victims The effects of the California wildfires are being felt worldwide, and as people evacuate, some are in Southwest Florida.
LOVERS KEY Couple returns to Lovers Key condo post Ian While Hurricane Ian is long gone from Southwest Florida, many are still feeling its impacts.
EVERGLADES Biden signs Water Resources Development Act, its effect on SWFL President Biden recently signed into law the Water Resources Development Act with an aim to improve rivers and harbors across the country and provide for the conservation of water. Southwest Florida was included in that act. Putting the 240-page plan together took a lot of work, not just from state and federal lawmakers, but also […]
Turning business travel into a vacation Would work travel seem a little easier if you could turn it into a vacation? Two professors say they have proof that would help business travel.
The future of biometrics: Safer security or new AI risks? In 2021, the Transportation Service Agency (TSA) launched its new touchless identity solution in the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport.
CAPE CORAL Pelican Elementary resource officer saves infant A school resource officer at Pelican Elementary saved an infants’ life at a traffic stop in Cape Coral.
Fatal multi-vehicle crash closes all lanes on SR-82 in Lehigh Acres The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash involving multiple vehicles on SR-82 west of 40th Street in Lehigh Acres.
port charlotte Tribute breakfast to be held for Charlotte County Sgt. Elio Diaz A tribute breakfast is set to be held for Charlotte County Deputy Sgt. Elio Diaz, who was killed in the line of duty in December.
winter haven Streaming Now: Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Winter Haven Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Winter Haven.
FORT MYERS Shell Factory & Nature Park announces online auction liquidation of remaining inventory Fans of the now-closed Shell Factory & Nature Park will have a final chance to own a piece of nostalgia with two virtual auctions.
the weather authority More clouds than sun for your Wednesday The Weather Authority is tracking an increased cloud coverage along with cooler conditions this Wednesday afternoon.
Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads-Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox-Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘It’s devastating’: Neighbor reflects on fatal fire in Port Charlotte A devastating house fire Monday night in Port Charlotte has left one person dead and another hospitalized while neighbors mourn the possible loss of a beloved member of their community.
‘The sound of death’ Neighbors concerned by amount of crashes on Joel Blvd A woman is heartbroken from witnessing crash after crash outside her Lehigh Acres home.
Fort Myers get 15% increase on flood insurance discount WINK News is finding out what led to the city of Fort Myers going from just a 5% FEMA flood insurance discount to a 20% discount.
FORT MYERS Locals house California wildfire victims The effects of the California wildfires are being felt worldwide, and as people evacuate, some are in Southwest Florida.
LOVERS KEY Couple returns to Lovers Key condo post Ian While Hurricane Ian is long gone from Southwest Florida, many are still feeling its impacts.
EVERGLADES Biden signs Water Resources Development Act, its effect on SWFL President Biden recently signed into law the Water Resources Development Act with an aim to improve rivers and harbors across the country and provide for the conservation of water. Southwest Florida was included in that act. Putting the 240-page plan together took a lot of work, not just from state and federal lawmakers, but also […]
Turning business travel into a vacation Would work travel seem a little easier if you could turn it into a vacation? Two professors say they have proof that would help business travel.
The future of biometrics: Safer security or new AI risks? In 2021, the Transportation Service Agency (TSA) launched its new touchless identity solution in the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport.
CAPE CORAL Pelican Elementary resource officer saves infant A school resource officer at Pelican Elementary saved an infants’ life at a traffic stop in Cape Coral.
President Donald Trump Congressional negotiators reached agreement to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed Monday night to far less money for President Donald Trump’s border wall than the White House’s $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The agreement means 55 miles (88 kilometers) of new fencing – constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall – but far less than the 215 miles (345 kilometers) the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. “With the government being shut down, the specter of another shutdown this close, what brought us back together I thought tonight was we didn’t want that to happen” again, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Details won’t be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Aides revealed the details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. “Our staffs are just working out the details,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. The pact also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: “We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they’ve given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so.” Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as lawmakers back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. “They said that progress is being made with this committee,” Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. “Just so you know, we’re building the wall anyway.” Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Trump’s signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the roughly 49,000 detainees held on Feb. 10, the most recent date for which figures were available. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border – a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency – ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Trump met Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. “We can call it anything. We’ll call it barriers, we’ll call it whatever they want,” Trump said. “But now it turns out not only don’t they want to give us money for a wall, they don’t want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers.” The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Trump’s poll numbers tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days, agreeing to the current temporary reopening without getting money for the wall. The president’s supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though he could face challenges in Congress or the courts. The negotiations hit a rough patch Sunday amid a dispute over curbing ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. According to ICE figures, 66 percent of the nearly 159,000 immigrants it reported detaining last year were previously convicted of crimes. Reflecting the two administration’s differing priorities, in 2016 under President Barack Obama, around 110,000 immigrants were detained and 86 percent had criminal records. Few convictions that immigrants detained last year had on their records were for violent crimes. The most common were for driving while intoxicated, drugs, previous immigration convictions and traffic offenses. The border debate got most of the attention, but it’s just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. ___ Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Jill Colvin in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report. (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)