ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
It now takes up to 66 weeks to pay for 52 weeks of middle-class basics. (Credit: CBS News) Although the U.S. economy is riding high by some measures, notably an unemployment rate hovering near a 50-year low, millions of Americans don’t feel they are getting a lift. One reason: The gap between what most workers earn these days and the income they need to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. The typical male worker must now work 53 weeks — or more than a year — to make enough to cover what American Compass Executive Director Oren Cass calls the annual “cost of thriving,” the earnings required to pay of a basket of essentials such as health care and housing. By comparison, in 1985 that same typical employee needed to work 30 weeks to cover those same costs, found a recent analysis from American Compass, a newly formed conservative economic think tank. Women these days need about 66 weeks — or 13 more weeks than men — to afford the same basket of basics, given that they on average earn less than men. But like the typical male worker, they’ve also lost ground since 1985, when the average female employee could cover her basics after 45 weeks of income. With the cost of life’s necessities rising in America, many families are having to take steps such as adding a second job and cutting back on spending to retain their perch in the middle class. But those moves, too, can contribute to a sense of growing financial pressure and of skating on the economic edge that many people report. “One thing I want [Americans] to take away is that they are not crazy,” Cass told CBS MoneyWatch. “People who feel like the trends they are feeling in the economy are posing real challenges to households are correct. To an economist who says, ‘Who are you going to believe, my statistics or your lying eyes,’ they should have confidence that what they are seeing in the world is happening.” Gauging the “cost of thriving” Cass, a former senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute, said he developed the Cost of Thriving Index to better measure the gap between existing economic statistics, such as the Consumer Price Index, and the real financial pressures people face. “The cost of living is the standard measure that gets talked about a lot, but there is a difference between living and thriving,” he said. “Thriving implies a richer conception of what we believe we are achieving, rather than just living.” The Consumer Price Index — a standard measure of inflation — focuses on the cost of food, clothing, housing and other basics that families require. But that doesn’t necessarily reflect the challenges of paying for things you need to flourish in American society today, such as the ever-rising cost of keeping a roof over your head or going to college. Meanwhile, consumer expectations and tastes have changed over the decades, as well as the quality of products available to them. Comparing a 1970s phone to a modern landline telephone isn’t the correct comparison, since Americans now rely on smartphones to remain connected to each other. Instead of using a broad range of basics, the Cost of Thriving Index focuses on four components: the cost of a three-bedroom house, health insurance for a family, one semester at a public college and the expense of operating a car. Those costs have become “difficult for a household budget to accommodate,” Cass said. In other words: In 1985 a male worker would be able to afford housing, health insurance, college and a car after working 30 weeks, leaving 22 weeks of annual income to cover food, entertainment, clothing and so on. Ttoday he’d need 53 weeks of income to cover his 52 weeks of basic housing, health, college and car costs. To be sure, some experts have questioned Cass’ model, pointing out that most Americans still don’t attend college, for example. “There are very fair criticisms about what I include and don’t include,” Cass said. But even after constructing an index that aims to capture the financial needs of a typical family, “You would end up with the same view,” he added. “Things that were plausible for the typical family in the past have become much harder” to afford. A “disconnect” “There is a real problem that when the economy doesn’t generate widespread gains — then you can get this kind of disconnect,” Cass added. “The cost of things are going up at one rate and the ability to pay for them are going at another rate.” Economic reforms that could raise wages for typical workers are “really important,” Cass said. But rather than the proposals put forth by some Democratic candidates, such as Senator Bernie Sanders’s plan for free college, another option would be to invest in other pathways to a good wage. “We also have this problem we said everyone should go to college but not everyone is becoming a college grad,” he said. “Having an education system that meets people where they are and provides an entry to the workforce would set them up to earn better wages.”