Colonial Boulevard continuous flow intersection opens Sunday in Fort MyersSun and clouds with a stray shower possible
FORT MYERS Colonial Boulevard continuous flow intersection opens Sunday in Fort Myers Drivers along Interstate 75 near Colonial Boulevard can expect changes soon.
the weather authority Sun and clouds with a stray shower possible The Weather Authority says sun and clouds overhead will lead to another day with above-average temperatures.
FORT MYERS LCSO offering youth boxing program The Lee County Sheriff’s Office youth boxing program is your kid’s golden ticket to mastering the art of self-defense.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man speaks on helping apprehend armed 13-year-old The man who helped apprehend an armed 13-year-old spoke on the incident.
NAPLES Naples Cars on Fifth event fuels $2M for local charity efforts For over two decades, car enthusiasts in Southwest Florida have gathered on Fifth Avenue in Naples.
MARCO ISLAND Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island set to reopen Collier County announced the reopening of the Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Animal Shelter to host Puppy Bowl 3 ahead of big game Ahead of the big game on Sunday, Cape Coral Animal Shelter will be featuring its very own Puppy Bowl III.
FORT MYERS From the ballpark to the beach: the Minnesota Twins are back for Spring Training 1700 miles later the Twins truck is here and the team from Minnesota is ready to spend the next six weeks here in Fort Myers.
the weather authority Warm stretch continues throughout this weekend The Weather Authority says if you are a fan of the warmer weather, you are going to love this weekend.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s red tide raises health alerts and wildlife concerns With great weather in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a perfect beach weekend. However, visitors to the barrier islands should exercise caution.
NAPLES Naples Automotive Experience raises funds for St. Matthew’s House The Naples Automotive Experience brought excitement and philanthropy to the community, raising money for St. Matthew’s House.
MATLACHA Little Pine Island bridge work causes delays, FDOT promises progress Construction on the Little Pine Island Bridge has narrowed traffic to one lane, causing significant delays for drivers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Support women’s heart health on National Wear Red Day The first Friday in February marks National Wear Red Day!
Ongoing repairs following Naples plane crash A deadly plane crash that occurred one year ago in Naples, Florida continues to impact lives in Southwest Florida. The tragic event involved two pilots who lost their lives on Interstate 75.
FORT MYERS Colonial Boulevard continuous flow intersection opens Sunday in Fort Myers Drivers along Interstate 75 near Colonial Boulevard can expect changes soon.
the weather authority Sun and clouds with a stray shower possible The Weather Authority says sun and clouds overhead will lead to another day with above-average temperatures.
FORT MYERS LCSO offering youth boxing program The Lee County Sheriff’s Office youth boxing program is your kid’s golden ticket to mastering the art of self-defense.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man speaks on helping apprehend armed 13-year-old The man who helped apprehend an armed 13-year-old spoke on the incident.
NAPLES Naples Cars on Fifth event fuels $2M for local charity efforts For over two decades, car enthusiasts in Southwest Florida have gathered on Fifth Avenue in Naples.
MARCO ISLAND Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island set to reopen Collier County announced the reopening of the Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Animal Shelter to host Puppy Bowl 3 ahead of big game Ahead of the big game on Sunday, Cape Coral Animal Shelter will be featuring its very own Puppy Bowl III.
FORT MYERS From the ballpark to the beach: the Minnesota Twins are back for Spring Training 1700 miles later the Twins truck is here and the team from Minnesota is ready to spend the next six weeks here in Fort Myers.
the weather authority Warm stretch continues throughout this weekend The Weather Authority says if you are a fan of the warmer weather, you are going to love this weekend.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s red tide raises health alerts and wildlife concerns With great weather in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a perfect beach weekend. However, visitors to the barrier islands should exercise caution.
NAPLES Naples Automotive Experience raises funds for St. Matthew’s House The Naples Automotive Experience brought excitement and philanthropy to the community, raising money for St. Matthew’s House.
MATLACHA Little Pine Island bridge work causes delays, FDOT promises progress Construction on the Little Pine Island Bridge has narrowed traffic to one lane, causing significant delays for drivers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Support women’s heart health on National Wear Red Day The first Friday in February marks National Wear Red Day!
Ongoing repairs following Naples plane crash A deadly plane crash that occurred one year ago in Naples, Florida continues to impact lives in Southwest Florida. The tragic event involved two pilots who lost their lives on Interstate 75.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown toured the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Ore., Saturday afternoon, Sept. 12, 2020, where she spoke with volunteers and evacuees. Brown also toured the animal facility where evacuated animals are being kept. Fires along Oregon’s Cascade Range grew Saturday, but at a slower rate than earlier in the week. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP, Pool) Wildfire smoke that posed a health hazard to millions choked the West Coast on Saturday as firefighters battled deadly blazes that obliterated some towns and displaced tens of thousands of people, the latest in a series of calamities this year. For people already enduring the coronavirus pandemic, the resulting economic fallout and political tensions evident in the Black Lives Matter protests and far-right counter protests, the fires added a new layer of misery. “What’s next? You have the protests, coronavirus pandemic, now the wildfires. What else can go wrong?” lamented Danielle Oliver, 40, of Happy Valley, southeast of Portland. The death toll from the fires in California, Oregon and Washington stood at 31 and was expected to rise sharply. Most of the fatalities were in California and Oregon. Oregon’s emergency management director said officials were preparing for a possible “mass fatality event” if many more bodies turn up in the ash. And the state fire marshal resigned after abruptly being placed on administrative leave. The state police superintendent said the crisis demanded an urgent response that required a leadership change. Oliver has an autoimmune disorder that makes her vulnerable to wildfire smoke, so she agreed to evacuate. She was nervous about going to a shelter because of the virus, but sleeping in a car with her husband, 15-year-daughter, two dogs and a cat was not a viable option. The temperature checks and social distancing at the American Red Cross shelter helped put her mind at ease. Now the family waits, hoping their house will survive. She has previously experienced homelessness. “I’m tired. I’m tired of starting all over. Getting everything, working for everything, then losing everything,” she said. Those who still had homes were not safe in them. A half-million Oregonians were under evacuation warnings or orders to leave. With air contamination levels at historic highs, people stuffed towels under door jambs to keep smoke out. Some even wore N95 masks in their own homes. Some communities resembled the bombed-out cities of Europe after World War II, with buildings reduced to charred rubble piled atop blackened earth. Residents either managed to flee as the flames closed in, or perished. Cat food and water are seen as residents try to find lost pets who went missing during wildfires in Talent, Ore. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein) Millicent Catarancuic’s body was found near a car on her 5-acre property in Berry Creek, California. The flames came so quickly she did not have time to get out. On Tuesday, she packed several of her dogs and cats in the car but later called her daughter to say she decided to stay. Firefighters had made progress battling the blaze. The wind was calm. The flames still seemed far away. Then they rushed onto the property. “I feel like, maybe when they passed, they had an army of cats and dogs with her to help her through it,” said her daughter, Holly Catarancuic. In Oregon alone, more than 40,000 people have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, Gov. Kate Brown said. Fires along Oregon’s Cascade Range grew Saturday, but at a slower rate than earlier in the week, when strong easterly winds acted like a bellows, pushing two large fires — the Beachie Creek Fire and the Riverside Fire — toward each other and the state’s major population centers, including Portland’s southeastern suburbs. Fire managers did get a spot of good news: Higher humidity slowed the flames considerably. In California, a total of 28 active major fires have burned 4,375 square miles, and 16,000 firefighters are trying to suppress the flames, Cal Fire Assistant Deputy Director Daniel Berlant said. Large wildfires continued to burn in northeastern Washington state too. George Coble douses a still smoldering tree at his property destroyed by a wildfire Saturday in Mill City, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher) In all, 22 people have died in California since wildfires began breaking out across the state in mid-August. President Donald Trump will visit California on Monday for a briefing on the West Coast fires, the White House announced. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and the governors of California, Oregon and Washington state — all Democrats — have said the fires are a consequence of global warming. “We absolutely must act now to avoid a future defined by an unending barrage of tragedies like the one American families are enduring across the West today,” Biden said. The same smoke that painted California skies orange also helped crews corral the state’s deadliest blaze of the year by blocking the sun, reducing temperatures and raising humidity, officials said. A man stops on his bike along the Willamette River as smoke from wildfires partially obscures the Tilikum Crossing Bridge in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher) Smoke created cooler conditions in Oregon too, but it was also blamed for making the dirtiest air in at least 35 years in some places. The air quality index reading Saturday morning in Salem, the state capital, was 512. The scale normally goes from zero to 500. “Above 500 is literally off the charts,” said Laura Gleim, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Because past air quality was rarely so poor, the government’s yardstick for measuring it capped out at 500, Gleim said. The department started monitoring in 1985. A person rides a bike along the Willamette River as smoke from wildfires partially obscures the Tilikum Crossing Bridge in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher) The weather conditions that led up to the fires and fed the flames were likely a once-in-a-generation event, said Greg Jones, a professor and research climatologist at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon. A large high-pressure area stretching from the desert Southwest to Alaska brought strong winds from the east toward the West Coast, reducing relative humidity to as low as 8% and bringing desert-like conditions, even to the coast, Jones said. Instead of the offshore flows that the Pacific Northwest normally enjoys, the strong easterly winds pushed fires down the western slopes of the Cascade Range. It isn’t clear if global warming caused the conditions, Jones said, but a warmer world can increase the likelihood of extreme events and contribute to their severity. The smoke in Portland filled the air with an acrid metallic scent like dull pennies. It was so thick that Ashley Kreitzer could not see the road when she headed out to work as a ride-hailing driver. “I couldn’t even see five feet ahead of me,” she said. “I was panicking, I didn’t even know if I wanted to go out.” Smoke from wildfires fills the sky over Pasadena, Calif., in this view looking east down Colorado Boulevard. (AP Photo/John Antczak) George Coble had no home to return to. He came with some of his employees Saturday to a wasteland of charred tree trunks just outside Mill City, Oregon. Coble lost everything: his fence-and-post business, five houses in a family compound and vintage cars, including a 1967 Mustang. The family – three generations that lived in the compound — evacuated with seven people, three horses, five dogs and a cat. “We’ll just keep working and keep your head up and thank God everybody got out,” Coble said. “There are other people that lost their family. Just be thankful for what you did get out with.” George Coble carries a bucket of water to put out a tree still smoldering on his property destroyed by a wildfire in Mill City, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher) Erik Tucker spent the day hauling buckets of water through what remained of his neighborhood to douse hot spots smoldering in tree trunks five days after the wildfire tore through the area. Tucker, who lives in Lyons, Oregon, had expected the worst but found his family’s home still standing while homes just down the street were gone. He was coated in ash and smudged with charcoal. “No power, debris everywhere, smoke, can’t breathe,” he said. ___ Whitehurst reported from Portland. Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus in Mill City, Oregon, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Adam Beam in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.