Hot and dry Monday afternoon before isolated storms pop up this eveningCaught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU
WINK NEWS Hot and dry Monday afternoon before isolated storms pop up this evening On monday morning, the weather is starting mild and humid with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
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.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
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.
WINK NEWS Hot and dry Monday afternoon before isolated storms pop up this evening On monday morning, the weather is starting mild and humid with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
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.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
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.
Wayne Ogden Smith. (Credit: WINK News) Vietnam is the most unpopular war of its time. Yet more than two-thirds of the armed forces volunteered to step up and serve their country. On January 18, 1968, and Wayne Ogden Smith, an Air Force fighter pilot embarked on his 90th combat mission in Vietnam. “I was happy then,” he said, looking at a photo of himself just before he left on the mission. “You can see I’m all fully ready, got my flak vest on.” But that mission would not end like the others. “All of a sudden the plane just flips upside down, punched out, chute open, landed in a tree 12 feet above the ground,” Smith said. “And I bet it didn’t take 10 or 12 minutes before I was captured.” Smith was dragged to one of the several prison camps in and around Hanoi where behind the fortified walls, Smith and many other prisoners of war endured torture, starvation, and unspeakable horrors. Smith endured the daily agony for five years and two months. “Usually when I was tortured,” Smith said, “they would keep you alive so you wouldn’t pass out. “I would get two bowls of soup. There were times when they’d deprive you of water and stuff like that. But for the most part, they wanted you to be cognizant. ” Kept in isolation, the enemy waited for the POWs to break. Instead, the men found ways to outwit them. “Our captors did not know the hundreds of ways we found to communicate,” Smith said. The late Sen. John McCain was among them. “I watched John McCain,” Smith said. “That poor man, gosh, he has two broken arms, a broken leg, he was next to me and trying to communicate, which we did.” Using an alphabetical grid, they spoke in code assigning numbers to letters, tapping out words in ingenious ways. “They’d have us sweep the courtyard around these prisons,” Smith said. “And we’d go, ‘swoosh. Swoosh.’ We would always sign off with ‘GBU.’” Translation: God bless you. Powerful words to lift each other up when surviving each day seemed like a miracle. Smith told WINK News that every day during captivity was a new day to appreciate being alive. “You pray to God, get me through today,” he said. Until finally, freedom was on the horizon. A peace treaty ended the U.S. involvement in the war in January 1973, and the POWs started coming home. Smith said within five minutes of the planes landing; they were on board. The engines stayed on, and they took flight. Smith could not believe it until around 20 minutes later, when a crew member said, “Gentlemen, feet wet!” They were out of the Gulf of Tonkin. “We’re home, basically,” he said. They were over the water, out of Vietnam, and out of harm’s way. After a special ceremony as part of Operation Homecoming, they returned to a hero’s welcome. Crowds jammed the streets for a parade. There was all smile sand waving flags. Smith will always remember that celebration and how different it was from the several protests other service-members faced when they finally returned home. Now, we also cannot forget that over 1,200 Americans are still missing from Vietnam. The U.S. POW and Missing in Action investigators are continually pursuing leads in Hanoi until everyone is accounted for. As for Smith, he donated a lot of his POW and other memorabilia to the Naples Museum of Military History, including a cup he used to pass messages to the other POWs. Smith told WINK that he would tuck tiny notes into the rim of that cup. He smuggled pieces of lead from interrogators and used that to write them. After this decorated veteran returned to the U.S., he went on to become a highly successful business executive. He served at the helm of two global companies before retiring in Naples.