Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort MyersThe Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics
FORT MYERS Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort Myers The Lee County GOP is hosting the Trumparilla Boat Parade in support of the Republican nominee.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
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.
FORT MYERS Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort Myers The Lee County GOP is hosting the Trumparilla Boat Parade in support of the Republican nominee.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
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.
flickr/ bayasaa null The Fourth of July is still over a week away, but in many cities, it’s already arrived. From New York to San Francisco, the skies light up every night — and early morning — for hours, and with no apparent reason. Now, officials have had enough. Firework complaints are soaring, and they come after months of pandemic-induced isolation followed by weeks of tense protests against police brutality and racism. Why the fireworks are going off so frequently is anyone’s guess. And city officials say they don’t yet know where the big ones are coming from. Conspiracies abound over who’s responsible, but it’s clear that the incessant fireworks displays are an inconvenient and dangerous phenomenon in an already surreal American moment. Firework problems in the Northeast and West Coast There seems to be no geographic pattern behind which cities are shooting off the most. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told reporters that calls to police about illegal fireworks jumped 2,300% in May compared to the same period in 2019. He said some of the calls were originally for gunshots that turned out to be fireworks. “This is a serious issue,” he said. “People are frightened. People are losing sleep. Babies and kids are woken up. Pets are terrified. Our veterans and others with PTSD are experiencing real harm, and it’s a real fire hazard in our city.” California’s Alameda County, where San Francisco and Oakland are located, has received complaints about a “higher than normal use” of illegal fireworks, too, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Southern California’s staying up all night, too. The city of Pasadena said firework complaints are up 400%, and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies recently seized a truckload of illegal fireworks valued at $10,000, according to CNN affiliate KCBS. New York’s fireworks problem is among the worst, with residents in all five boroughs losing sleep for over a week. Nuisance fireworks are not an entirely new issue for the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a Tuesday news conference, but there are “more [fireworks] than we’ve seen” in years past, and they’re being lit up earlier than usual. “This is a real problem,” de Blasio said. “Not just a quality of life problem and a noise problem, and it’s certainly that. But it can also be dangerous.” RELATED: DeSantis legalizes fireworks for certain holidays; some places excluded In one example, footage shared by the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association this week showed a man lighting a firework and throwing it at a homeless man in Brooklyn. The department has asked for the public’s help in identifying the perpetrator. NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said the firework exploded near the man and burned his back. CNN has reached out to the department to learn more about the man’s condition. And last weekend, fire officials said that an apartment fire in Yonkers that left six families homeless might’ve been caused by fireworks, too, the Journal News of the Lower Hudson Valley reported. De Blasio said the NYPD, along with the New York City Sheriff’s Office and fire officials, will create an illegal fireworks task force to crack down on illegal fireworks sales in the city and surrounding states. Participating officers will conduct “sting operations” to locate the supply and cut it off, the mayor said. New York’s firework problem In the last two months, New York 411 received at least 4,862 complaints of fireworks. Almost half of them were concentrated in Brooklyn, which received 2,233 complaints, according to the office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. The light show is more than a nuisance keeping New Yorkers up all night — the explosives are dangerous too. According to Adams’ office, a Bronx teen was hit in the chest with a firework and hospitalized in stable condition, and a 33-year-old Brooklyn man was hospitalized in critical condition when a firework he set off ricocheted off a window and hit him. Adams said he doesn’t know how New Yorkers are accessing these fireworks — fireworks of all kinds are banned from the city, and the state only allows sparklers. The fireworks he’s seen more closely resemble display fireworks that are only available to licensed professionals, he said, similar to those used in the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show. “As I stroll around and look at some of these fireworks, they’re extremely sophisticated, beyond the normal scope of what we used as children,” Adams said. “This is definitely not just some firecracker.” Most of the Brooklynites he encounters tell him they set off the fireworks to blow off steam after being cooped up for most of the spring — New York was for months considered the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. “Some said they were in their home for a few months, and this is just their way of having fun,” he said. “Oftentimes, people don’t realize the dangers associated with it.” And of course, there are the conspiracies hinting at nefarious motives — unproven allegations in the fog of a late-night M-80. This year could see more ‘backyard fireworks’ than ever Leaders in the fireworks industry expect the run-up to July 4th to end the lull in sales throughout the winter and early spring. But even they’ve never seen sales soar quite as early as they did this year. And those are just the legal ones. Backyard firework use is expected to hit an all-time high this Fourth of July, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group for consumer and commercial fireworks retailers. Bill Weimer is vice president and general counsel at Phantom Fireworks, which brands itself the leading fireworks retailer in the US. In his nearly 30 years in the pyrotechnics business, this is the first season that’s “knocked [him] over.” “Without reviewing specific numbers, the demand and the business we’ve seen so far has been the strongest early fireworks season I’ve seen in my years of involvement in the fireworks business,” he said. Weimer said more people are buying fireworks from Phantom, and they’re buying them earlier than ever. Weeks before the the usual busy season of mid-June through the Fourth, Phantom locations have seen customers turn into repeat customers. Around 40% of them are first-time buyers, he said. And because cities are canceling fireworks shows for the Fourth, Weimer suspects residents are taking it on to light up the skies themselves. “It’s a combination of people getting out, being anxious and having this pent-up energy, and then right around the corner is a quintessential firework holiday,” he said. “Put the two together, consider the fact that there won’t be a lot of fireworks, and suddenly, you have a formula that means people are buying more and more fireworks, and buying them earlier.” Mayor de Blasio, for his part, is hoping to bring the fireworks to the people. He announced the city will host a traveling, 5-minute fireworks show in each of the five boroughs starting next week, which will culminate in the televised Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show next month. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.