The Weather Authority: Sunny Saturday with a nice breeze; fire danger increasesSenior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night
The Weather Authority: Sunny Saturday with a nice breeze; fire danger increases Warm temperatures for your Saturday with a nice breeze into the afternoon.
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas was surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society raises concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
The Weather Authority: Sunny Saturday with a nice breeze; fire danger increases Warm temperatures for your Saturday with a nice breeze into the afternoon.
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas was surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society raises concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Florida’s unemployment rate grew overall in July and every county in our area felt the effects. But at the same time, we saw jobs grow. As we’re closing in on the end of August, July numbers can feel a little out of date. But if we look at the July unemployment rate, 11.3%, we can see it grew a point higher from June. People in Southwest Florida say that doesn’t surprise them. “I see every day, people talking about applying and applying. And you know there just aren’t any jobs down here right now,” said Bonnie Armstrong. She has unemployment on her mind all the time and just wants to get back to her serving job in Naples. “I anticipated I’d be back to work by now. So now without that additional money, I’m really just bare-bones,” she said. Despite employment growing by nearly 78,000 jobs, the unemployment rate kicked up too. “So that shows you that employment increased on the household side to meet those business needs, we may have had people coming back into the labor force and not immediately have a job. And that could be why unemployment also increased,” said Adrienne Johnston. And remember, in July, theme parks opened up and bars closed. So what about now, when unique unemployment claims are about to reach three million people since March? “What we have seen recently in the past month actually seeing a decline overall in initial claims and continued claims,” Johnston said. So some people are going back to work, while others are left waiting. “I just know that the one time that I’ve ever needed the government for something, this is the time,” Armstrong said. She and millions of other people across the state are in a tight spot with no end in sight. “The evection moratorium ends again at the end of the month, or the beginning of September, and so there’s going to be a lot of people aren’t going to have a place to live if they don’t get some relief,” she said. Jobs did grow in the leisure and hospitality industry — one of the hardest hit in Southwest Florida. The stat says of the nearly 1.2 million jobs lost between February and April, we’ve gained back about half. Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 11.3% in July 2020, up 1.0 percentage point from the revised June 2020 rate, and up 8.2 percentage points from a year ago. There were 1,125,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 9,975,000. The U.S. unemployment rate was 10.2% in July. Florida’s seasonally adjusted total nonagricultural employment was 8,465,700 in July 2020, an increase of 77,900 jobs (+0.9 percent) over the month. UNEMPLOYMENT RATES LOCAL (all June numbers were adjusted) CHARLOTTE – 10% (9.1% in June) COLLIER – 10.4% (9.4% in June) LEE – 10.7% (9.6% in June) HENDRY – 13% (10.6% in June) GLADES – 8.5% (7.1% in June) DESOTO – 6.7% (5.9% in June) Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA has the seventh-highest unemployment in the state at 10.7% STATE 11.3% in July 10.3% in June (revised from 10.4%) Nearly two million eligible claims have been processed since March 15. The DEO says 99.8-99.9% of all benefits requested through July 31 have been paid to claimants. For more unemployment data and information, head over to the DEO’s unemployment claims dashboard.