LCSO searching for family of wandering non-verbal teen in Lehigh AcresProposal to rename Seahawk Park in Cape Coral
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO searching for family of wandering non-verbal teen in Lehigh Acres Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies are seeking the family members of a young boy found between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.
FORT MYERS Southwest Florida Ag Expo brings agriculture and fun to Fort Myers Fort Myers is holding the Southwest Florida Ag Expo, which promises a mix of agriculture, entertainment, and education this year.
CAPE CORAL Proposal to rename Seahawk Park in Cape Coral The City of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation Department has proposed renaming Seahawk Park to Seahawk Airfield at Festival Park.
Lee County student accused of making school threat A student from Cypress Lake High School is facing charges for making school threats.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY Warm and breezy this Wednesday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a warm and breezy Wednesday with increased cloud coverage.
miami beach Gov. DeSantis annouces Freedom Boater Initative Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced several marine incentives boaters may take advantage of ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 2025 Miami Beach International Boat Show.
WINK NEWS 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.
FORT MYERS Drivers react to newly opened intersection on Colonial Blvd. The dreaded drive through one of our busiest intersections has been the focus of several construction projects.
Dinosaur from Shell Factory finds new home in Saint James City marina A dinosaur has found a new home at the soon-to-be Nauti-Dolphin Marina in Saint James City, Florida. This prehistoric attraction is already drawing attention even though it’s the only thing currently on the property. Dean Zoner, owner of the Nauti-Dolphin Marina, acquired the dinosaur from the Shell Factory, a local business that was going out […]
Florida lawmakers to vote on revamped Governor backed immigration bill on Thursday The House and Senate are set to vote on a new immigration bill on Thursday. The bill aims to address illegal immigration and support federal mass deportation efforts.
CLEWISTON Community raises concerns about Clewiston Animal Services The Clewiston Animal Shelter has made significant improvements, but there is still work to be done to bring conditions to a more humane level.
Collier County beachgoers react to Gulf of America name change The Gulf of Mexico has been officially renamed the “Gulf of America” following an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump.
ENGLEWOOD Englewood Beach’s closure impacts local economy; businesses seek answers Business owners on Englewood Beach are growing increasingly anxious as they await the reopening of the beach, which has been closed since hurricanes Helene and Milton.
FORT MYERS BEACH Food truck park proposal on Estero Blvd divides Fort Myers Beach locals The Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency recently voted on whether to transform a vacant lot on Estero Boulevard into a food truck park.
Collier County Sheriff’s Office to work with ICE to catch SWFL suspects State lawmakers are working on a new immigration bill. Here in Southwest Florida, one county has been following strict guidelines on illegal immigration for quite some time.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO searching for family of wandering non-verbal teen in Lehigh Acres Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies are seeking the family members of a young boy found between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.
FORT MYERS Southwest Florida Ag Expo brings agriculture and fun to Fort Myers Fort Myers is holding the Southwest Florida Ag Expo, which promises a mix of agriculture, entertainment, and education this year.
CAPE CORAL Proposal to rename Seahawk Park in Cape Coral The City of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation Department has proposed renaming Seahawk Park to Seahawk Airfield at Festival Park.
Lee County student accused of making school threat A student from Cypress Lake High School is facing charges for making school threats.
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY Warm and breezy this Wednesday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a warm and breezy Wednesday with increased cloud coverage.
miami beach Gov. DeSantis annouces Freedom Boater Initative Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced several marine incentives boaters may take advantage of ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 2025 Miami Beach International Boat Show.
WINK NEWS 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.
FORT MYERS Drivers react to newly opened intersection on Colonial Blvd. The dreaded drive through one of our busiest intersections has been the focus of several construction projects.
Dinosaur from Shell Factory finds new home in Saint James City marina A dinosaur has found a new home at the soon-to-be Nauti-Dolphin Marina in Saint James City, Florida. This prehistoric attraction is already drawing attention even though it’s the only thing currently on the property. Dean Zoner, owner of the Nauti-Dolphin Marina, acquired the dinosaur from the Shell Factory, a local business that was going out […]
Florida lawmakers to vote on revamped Governor backed immigration bill on Thursday The House and Senate are set to vote on a new immigration bill on Thursday. The bill aims to address illegal immigration and support federal mass deportation efforts.
CLEWISTON Community raises concerns about Clewiston Animal Services The Clewiston Animal Shelter has made significant improvements, but there is still work to be done to bring conditions to a more humane level.
Collier County beachgoers react to Gulf of America name change The Gulf of Mexico has been officially renamed the “Gulf of America” following an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump.
ENGLEWOOD Englewood Beach’s closure impacts local economy; businesses seek answers Business owners on Englewood Beach are growing increasingly anxious as they await the reopening of the beach, which has been closed since hurricanes Helene and Milton.
FORT MYERS BEACH Food truck park proposal on Estero Blvd divides Fort Myers Beach locals The Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency recently voted on whether to transform a vacant lot on Estero Boulevard into a food truck park.
Collier County Sheriff’s Office to work with ICE to catch SWFL suspects State lawmakers are working on a new immigration bill. Here in Southwest Florida, one county has been following strict guidelines on illegal immigration for quite some time.
America’s white working class is the smallest it has ever been. (Credit: CBS News) White working-class Americans were once the backbone of the U.S. economy, accounting for 70% of the adult population in 1975. Just over four decades later, that number has shrunk to 40% — an all-time low — new economic research reveals. Behind the group’s decline is a confluence of demographic, economic and cultural changes, according to economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Those include an increase in the number of employees who are minorities; higher college graduation rates for whites, which has lifted many into the professional class; and a surge in recent years of what researchers have termed “deaths of despair,” the sharp rise in fatalities due to drug overdoses and suicides. That tectonic national shift could have major implications for everything from political power to the strength of local economies. Already, the U.S. is experiencing a divergence between faster-growing coastal cities that attract college-educated workers and “left-behind” regions like the Rust Belt, widening economic and political divides. Indeed, such areas are “diverging fast” in key metrics such as family income and economic growth, analysts at the Brookings Institution wrote earlier this month. The share of white working-class Americans has declined in every U.S. region, but suffered the biggest drops in the Northeast and West, the St. Louis Fed said. The only region where the white working class remains a majority is the Midwest, where it constitutes 52% of the adult population. “The decline of this group will undoubtedly continue to have lasting economic and social consequences for the U.S.,” noted St. Louis Fed economist Bill Emmons and analysts Ana Kent and Lowell Ricketts. Diverging paths Multiple studies have shown that, in the past decade, the political views of the white working class have largely split from whites with college degrees. Whites with no more than high school degrees are increasingly voting Republican, while those with college educations are more likely to vote as Democrats. Interestingly, the shift comes not only as the white working class is losing population, but also falling back in terms of income and wealth. College-educated white workers, meanwhile, are experiencing strong income gains, placing the two groups on divergent economic paths. For example, white college-educated Americans saw their share of the nation’s income rise from 41% in 1989 to 53% in 2016, according to a separate St. Louis Fed paper published last year. But white working-class workers saw their income share plunge to 27% from 45% over that period, economists found. In other words, not only are there fewer white working class Americans than in previous decades, but they’re earning less and falling further behind economically. A decade ago, according to Brookings, voters in Republican and Democratic districts earned almost identical incomes. That’s no longer true. Median household income in Democratic districts now stands at $61,000, compared with $53,000 for Republicans, the centrist think tank found. “Deaths of despair” So-called “deaths of despair” are also taking a toll on the white working class. As first identified by Princeton economists Anne Case and Nobel Prize-winner Angus Deaton, the death rate for middle-aged white Americans has risen sharply, fueled by the opioid crisis, alcohol and drug addiction, and suicide. As a result, over the last three decades, less educated whites have seen declining life expectancy and rising mortality rates. But the root cause, they and other researchers have argued, is a breakdown in societal institutions like marriage, rising inequality and a more perilous economic outlook for workers without college degrees. To be sure, life has grown more tenuous for this group in recent years. But despite their decline, it’s a group that remains prominent — and still commands a larger share of the population than either college-educated whites or working-class minorities, according to St. Louis Fed data.