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.
(Getty Images) Teachers across the U.S. are protesting, calling in sick, quitting or taking early retirement rather than return to classrooms during a pandemic killing more than a thousand Americans a day. Some of the country’s biggest school systems, including in Chicago and Los Angeles, are opting to remain closed to in-person instruction this fall. But others are plowing ahead with getting students back to class. Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee are among the states where schools have started opening, mostly in the suburbs and rural areas. But the openings have not all gone smoothly, and teachers and their unions are decrying plans they feel don’t take their safety into account. The 1.7-million American Federation of Teachers is calling for “safety strikes” if teachers are not protected, while the Florida State Education Association is asking a court to overturn a state order mandating that schools physically open five days a week or risk having their funding cut. In Utah, plans to return to in-person classes have prompted at least 79 educators to resign or retire early across Salt Lake County, which has seen the most coronavirus cases in the state. Jan Roberts, a third-grade teacher, is among those packing it up. Beyond concern for herself and her students, Roberts, 54, worries about bringing the virus home to her elderly father and young daughter. “We’re just being told to jump in like nothing is wrong,” Roberts told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s not OK.” The choice not to return to the classroom is heart-wrenching for Roberts and others, including Heidi Hisrich, a 42-year-old teacher at Richmond High School in Richmond, Indiana, who quit her “dream job” instead of resuming in-person classes in the fall. “I am leaving the classroom I’ve been in for 13 years at the school that I expected I would stay at until I retired,” she recently told CBS MoneyWatch. “I thought I would be there another 15 to 20 years.” When Hisrich quit on July 18, her school planned to run a full schedule at capacity, meaning Hisrich would see as many as 150 students. It wasn’t clear if masks would be required or even if protective gear would be provided. Some of those concerns appeared to be addressed in a plan revised four days later. Kelly Treleaven, who teaches middle school English in the Houston, Texas, area, questions how many teachers will stick around if forced to return to the classroom amid a still-raging pandemic. State leaders already “ignore teachers’ pleas for buildings without black mold creeping out of ceiling tiles, for sensible gun legislation, and for salaries we can live on without having to pick up two to three additional part-time jobs,” she wrote in an essay published Monday in the New York Times. The virus concerns exacerbate a teacher shortage already in play since well before the coronavirus began its rampage across the U.S., with states lowering qualifications to teach to replace those who’ve left for higher pay and benefits, Treleaven noted. “We’re about to see it get a lot worse,” she added. Treleaven’s contention is borne out in a 2016 report from the Learning Policy Institute, which found that when school districts resumed hiring after years of layoffs during the Great Recession, many “had serious difficulty finding qualified teachers for their positions.” Within three weeks of the first school districts reopening in Tennessee, more than a few have had to backtrack. At least 25 school districts in the state have closed schools or changed schedules due to exposures to the virus, according to the Tennessean. Roughly 110 school districts had begun the school year as of Aug. 13 — the majority in-person — and at least 97 COVID-19 cases tied to schools have so far been reported, the newspaper stated. Teachers in Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia’s largest school district, returned to work to prep for in-person learning in the fall only to have 260 district employees barred the next week due to positive test results or exposure to those who had. The schools opened for online learning last week while offering a staggered transition to in-person instruction for families that want it. Classes were canceled Monday through Wednesday in the J.O. Combs Unified School District in East Valley, Arizona after a number of teachers made it clear they wouldn’t be showing up. “While we continue to work diligently on this matter, we also continue to receive a high volume of staff absences,” district officials wrote in a statement released on Tuesday. The district will hold a school board meeting Wednesday evening to discuss “next steps.” J.O. Combs was among a handful of Arizona districts that intended to reopen for in-person classes on Monday, according to the Arizona Republic. While COVID-19 cases seem to be trending lower, the state does not yet meet the recommended benchmarks set by its leaders, the newspaper reported. Teachers at dozens of school districts stuck to their vehicles while protesting plans by some U.S. governors to resume in-class instruction during the coronavirus. The horn-honking by educators in cities including Chicago, Milwaukee and Philadelphia came amid demands that instruction be offered online until tests show that classrooms are safe and districts hire more nurses. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, which represents public school teachers across the state, posted pictures on social media of cardboard gravestones, constructed by protesters, adorned with messages such as “RIP Grandma caught COVID helping grandkids with homework.” In Minnesota’s Hennepin County, dozens of teachers parked their cars outside Osseo Area Schools headquarters last Thursday, according to a local news report. One sign covering a windshield offered an edict popular with the crowd: “Stay Online Until COVID Declines.”