New risk factors contribute to heart diseasePort Charlotte High School student arrested for possession of BB gun
New risk factors contribute to heart disease February is American Heart Month, a perfect time to assess your heart health.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte High School student arrested for possession of BB gun According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, a student has been arrested after a BB gun was found in his backpack on Friday.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Regional Library to undergo multiple repairs due to Ian The Fort Myers Regional Library is preparing for essential repairs, nearly two years after Hurricane Ian made its impact.
Drug bust at Collier County home leads to triple arrest Three people are accused of running a drug house that held opioids, fentanyl and other illicit narcotics in Collier County.
Charlotte County’s first Grain & Berry opens Fast-growing organic vegan restaurant franchise Grain & Berry opened in Port Charlotte, making it the 19th in the state out of a total of 23 nationwide.
GOLDEN GATE Body found in Collier County canal prompts death investigation Collier County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation after a body was discovered in a canal.
FORT MYERS DeSantis’ new Boater Freedom Initiative would end random FWC boat safety inspections Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the new Boater Freedom Initiative will protect Sunshine State residents’ right to boat.
CAPE CORAL Couple celebrates their lifelong love on 62nd Valentine’s Day together Hollis and Linda Nash might be living proof that love doesn’t fade with age.
PUNTA GORDA CROW rescues, rehabilitates 2 orphaned baby River Otters Two orphaned baby North American River Otters were rescued by the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife.
FORT MYERS Southwest Florida Reading Festival brings bestselling authors Romance is in the air this Valentine’s Day as we look forward to the Southwest Florida Reading Festival taking place in March.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Florist offers lower prices on roses for Valentine’s Day Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year for florists in Southwest Florida, and one florist is offering lower prices on roses.
Tim Aten Knows: Landert Bread rolling out local retail store Landert Bread’s European rolls, bread, cakes and pastries will be available to more Naples area residents starting this month. A wholesale operation for more than 12 years, Naples-based Landert is launching a retail store in Collier County.
the weather authority Isolated rain can impact your Valentine’s Day evening plans The Weather Authority is tracking isolated rain that may impact your Friday or Valentine’s Day outdoor plans.
Ponte Vedra Beach Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach.
New risk factors contribute to heart disease February is American Heart Month, a perfect time to assess your heart health.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte High School student arrested for possession of BB gun According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, a student has been arrested after a BB gun was found in his backpack on Friday.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Regional Library to undergo multiple repairs due to Ian The Fort Myers Regional Library is preparing for essential repairs, nearly two years after Hurricane Ian made its impact.
Drug bust at Collier County home leads to triple arrest Three people are accused of running a drug house that held opioids, fentanyl and other illicit narcotics in Collier County.
Charlotte County’s first Grain & Berry opens Fast-growing organic vegan restaurant franchise Grain & Berry opened in Port Charlotte, making it the 19th in the state out of a total of 23 nationwide.
GOLDEN GATE Body found in Collier County canal prompts death investigation Collier County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation after a body was discovered in a canal.
FORT MYERS DeSantis’ new Boater Freedom Initiative would end random FWC boat safety inspections Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the new Boater Freedom Initiative will protect Sunshine State residents’ right to boat.
CAPE CORAL Couple celebrates their lifelong love on 62nd Valentine’s Day together Hollis and Linda Nash might be living proof that love doesn’t fade with age.
PUNTA GORDA CROW rescues, rehabilitates 2 orphaned baby River Otters Two orphaned baby North American River Otters were rescued by the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife.
FORT MYERS Southwest Florida Reading Festival brings bestselling authors Romance is in the air this Valentine’s Day as we look forward to the Southwest Florida Reading Festival taking place in March.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Florist offers lower prices on roses for Valentine’s Day Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year for florists in Southwest Florida, and one florist is offering lower prices on roses.
Tim Aten Knows: Landert Bread rolling out local retail store Landert Bread’s European rolls, bread, cakes and pastries will be available to more Naples area residents starting this month. A wholesale operation for more than 12 years, Naples-based Landert is launching a retail store in Collier County.
the weather authority Isolated rain can impact your Valentine’s Day evening plans The Weather Authority is tracking isolated rain that may impact your Friday or Valentine’s Day outdoor plans.
Ponte Vedra Beach Gov. DeSantis holds news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Arden Blumenthal, a NY/NJ Trails conference intern, puts a GPS in Dia’s dog pack in Harriman State Park in Tuxedo, N.Y., Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019. The nonprofit New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has trained Dia to find Scotch broom plants in two state parks 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of New York City. The invasive shrub is widespread in the Pacific Northwest but new to New York, and land managers hope to eradicate it before it gets established. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) In brushy terrain where a botanical interloper evades detection by the human eye, count on Dia to sniff it out. Dia is a spunky Labrador retriever trained to track down a yellow-flowered shrub that’s taking root in New York state parks. She’s one of a new breed of detection dog assisting conservationists in the fight against invasive species. With her handler, Joshua Beese, of the nonprofit New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Dia began last fall to hunt for Scotch broom in Bear Mountain and Harriman state parks about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of New York City. The shrub, which displaces native plants with thickets impenetrable to wildlife, is a widespread noxious weed in the Pacific Northwest but is fairly new to New York. Land managers hope to eradicate it before it becomes widespread. “If we had to find all these plants ourselves, combing the grass for every tiny plant, it would take so much longer — and we’d still miss a lot,” Beese said on a recent morning after Dia showed him hundreds of Scotch broom shoots hidden in a field of tall grass and sweetfern. Beese later uprooted them. The plants had been overlooked by volunteers with the conference’s Invasives Strike Force who had previously pulled 2,500 plants from the search area. Detection dogs have long been used to sniff out drugs, explosives, cadavers and disaster survivors. In the mid ’90s, handlers started training them for conservation tasks such as sniffing out scat from endangered species and detecting trafficked ivory. Now, the olfactory prowess of detection dogs is becoming an important tool in the fight against invasive plants and insects. “Our field in the last 15 years has just exploded,” said Pete Coppolillo, executive director of the nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation in Bozeman, Montana. The organization partners with government agencies, researchers and nonprofits on five continents to provide trained dogs and handlers for conservation projects. One of its handlers mentored Beese on training Dia. Working Dogs for Conservation has trained dogs to find spotted knapweed in Montana, Chinese bush clover in Iowa, yellow star thistle in Colorado, rosy wolf snails in Hawaii and brown tree snakes in Guam. It’s doing a feasibility study in Minnesota on using detection dogs to identify trees invaded by emerald ash borers. In five Western states, dogs have been employed to detect invasive zebra and quagga mussels on boats. “We’ve trained over 200 dog and handler teams to help in global wildlife trafficking, and now we’re doing a lot of invasive species work,” Coppolillo said. “It’s really exciting. As ecologists we’ve always talked of invasives as something we manage, but now we may actually be able to eradicate them in some places.” Dyer’s woad, a knee-high weed from Russia that lights up roadsides with golden blossoms across the West, is a case study of how dogs can eradicate invasives that elude human crews. Weed-pulling teams had tried for years to get rid of the weed at Mount Sentinel in Missoula, Montana, without making much headway. A border collie and a golden retriever from Working Dogs for Conservation were brought in to focus the teams’ efforts. Within a few years the plants were almost gone. The key is that the dogs can sniff out plants hidden among other species, and they don’t need flowers to identify them like people do. “That’s a game-changer,” Coppolillo said. “Each plant can set up to 15,000 seeds a year, and seeds can live seven years in the soil. Dogs find plants before they flower and reproduce.” Working Dogs for Conservation trains shelter dogs for detection work, screening 1,000 dogs for every one they put to work. To make the cut, the dogs have to be not only good sniffers and high-energy, but also seriously obsessed with toys so they’ll stay motivated to work for a reward: the chance to chomp a ball. In New York, Beese got Dia from a Wisconsin breeder specializing in field competition dogs. He taught her to hunt Scotch broom last fall and trained her on an invasive nonnative grass called slender false brome this summer. He plans to train his Belgian malinois, a certified search-and-rescue dog, to sniff out spotted lanternfly, a destructive forest and agricultural pest discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014. In the field, Dia takes off sniffing the air when Beese says “Go find!” She follows a targeted scent to its source and shows Beese each plant by touching it with her nose before sitting for a reward — a game of tug and fetch with her ball on a rope. Beyond field work, Dia is bringing awareness to the trail conference’s 8-year-old Invasives Strike Force program. “The great thing about dogs is that they’re charismatic and people love them,” said Arden Blumenthal, a conservation intern working with Beese. “It’s a great way to draw attention to the invasives issue. Let’s face it, plants aren’t all that sexy.”