NAPLES Increasing amount of homeless seniors in SWFL Saint Matthew House told Wink News that 20% of the people they shelter are over 60 years old.
NAPLES Man suspected of threatening pickelballers with machete A man has been arrested after authorities say he chased a group of pickleball players off a Naples court. “I don’t know. It just seemed like he snapped,” said William Nehrkorn, father of one of the pickleball players. 53-year-old Pelican Marsh maintenance worker Joseph Devalle ran toward Nehrkorn’s son and friends, not with a paddle […]
NAPLES Turtle Club in Naples reopens Following a 19-month closure because of Hurricane Ian, the Turtle Club has reopened.
FORT MYERS BEACH Hurricane season preparations at Lee County construction sites Many already know the drill when hurricane season is around the corner.
SANIBEL Bones found on Sanibel concern beachgoers A husband and wife found what appeared to be bones. What type and where they came from is being investigated.
FGCU FGCU president reflects on first year with graduating class Alico Arena was packed this weekend as Florida Gulf Coast University graduated 1,900 students in four ceremonies.
Reverse shoulder replacement offers new approach to pain management Shoulder replacement is the third most common replacement in the US, following hip and knee replacement.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Lee County teachers bargain for new raises Kevin Daly is the voice of the Lee County Teachers Union, and he says he knows firsthand the struggle teachers experience across the state.
FORT MYERS New Starbucks off Colonial expected to add to traffic headaches It’s a venti-sized traffic nightmare. That’s how Gina O’Donnell envisions the future of this plaza.
NAPLES Feeding families through Meals of Hope They’re a Naples-based non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger both locally and throughout the country.
Family dealing with two losses in quick succession A teenager will not get to celebrate turning 21 years old with friends, can’t put a smile on his family member’s faces and will never get to see his mother again.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli leaders have approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah Israeli leaders approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces were striking targets in the area, officials announced Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal.
FORT MYERS Middle school tech worker uses CPR skills to save pickleball player’s life It was the right place, at the right time, and that right place was near the pickleball court.
EVERGLADES Big Sugar’s lawsuit for control over Lake Okeechobee water A local non-profit is calling one lawsuit a battle for who controls the water in the State of Florida. Three major sugar companies filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the design and intended use of the Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) Reservoir.
NAPLES Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day program returns to Jewish Federation of Greater Naples Sunday was a day to remember the six million men, women and children lost in the Holocaust.
NAPLES Increasing amount of homeless seniors in SWFL Saint Matthew House told Wink News that 20% of the people they shelter are over 60 years old.
NAPLES Man suspected of threatening pickelballers with machete A man has been arrested after authorities say he chased a group of pickleball players off a Naples court. “I don’t know. It just seemed like he snapped,” said William Nehrkorn, father of one of the pickleball players. 53-year-old Pelican Marsh maintenance worker Joseph Devalle ran toward Nehrkorn’s son and friends, not with a paddle […]
NAPLES Turtle Club in Naples reopens Following a 19-month closure because of Hurricane Ian, the Turtle Club has reopened.
FORT MYERS BEACH Hurricane season preparations at Lee County construction sites Many already know the drill when hurricane season is around the corner.
SANIBEL Bones found on Sanibel concern beachgoers A husband and wife found what appeared to be bones. What type and where they came from is being investigated.
FGCU FGCU president reflects on first year with graduating class Alico Arena was packed this weekend as Florida Gulf Coast University graduated 1,900 students in four ceremonies.
Reverse shoulder replacement offers new approach to pain management Shoulder replacement is the third most common replacement in the US, following hip and knee replacement.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Lee County teachers bargain for new raises Kevin Daly is the voice of the Lee County Teachers Union, and he says he knows firsthand the struggle teachers experience across the state.
FORT MYERS New Starbucks off Colonial expected to add to traffic headaches It’s a venti-sized traffic nightmare. That’s how Gina O’Donnell envisions the future of this plaza.
NAPLES Feeding families through Meals of Hope They’re a Naples-based non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger both locally and throughout the country.
Family dealing with two losses in quick succession A teenager will not get to celebrate turning 21 years old with friends, can’t put a smile on his family member’s faces and will never get to see his mother again.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli leaders have approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah Israeli leaders approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces were striking targets in the area, officials announced Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal.
FORT MYERS Middle school tech worker uses CPR skills to save pickleball player’s life It was the right place, at the right time, and that right place was near the pickleball court.
EVERGLADES Big Sugar’s lawsuit for control over Lake Okeechobee water A local non-profit is calling one lawsuit a battle for who controls the water in the State of Florida. Three major sugar companies filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the design and intended use of the Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) Reservoir.
NAPLES Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day program returns to Jewish Federation of Greater Naples Sunday was a day to remember the six million men, women and children lost in the Holocaust.
Bradley Despaigne, 36, and Joseph Benson, 30, show off Despaigne’s 1981 DeLorean which they have made into a time machine replica DeLorean modeled off of the original Back To The Future movie, while pictured at Edgewater Drive Park, on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020 in Clearwater. Despaigne purchased the DeLorean in September 2019 and the two have been working on it for a little over a year. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP) After watching “Back to the Future” “hundreds of times” since he “was in Pampers,” Clearwater’s Bradley Despaigne claims he can recite the movie verbatim from start to finish. His favorite quote? When Marty McFly incredulously asks Doc Brown, “Are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?” It is a question now posed to him. “I hear it a lot,” Despaigne, 36, said. Despaigne purchased a DeLorean a little more than a year ago. He and friend Joe Benson have since converted it into a near-exact replica of the famed cinematic time machine, right down to the Flux Capacitor. “This is what makes time travel possible: the Flux Capacitor,” Despaigne said with a laugh, quoting Doc Brown’s explanation to Marty McFly in the popular 1985 film. There are only two differences between his time machine and the cinematic one. His is still missing the ceiling console, but that will be added in the coming months. And, of course, his does not go back in time when it hits 88 miles per hour “yet,” Despaigne said with a wink. Some of the time machine’s parts are sold online — the flux capacitor and the digital “time circuit” that displays the destination time, present time and last time departed. Despaigne recently had the destination set for 6:30 a.m. on August 29, 1984, the day and time of his birth. “I want to run into the hospital room and tell my mom, ’What are you doing? Push harder,” he chuckled. Other parts had to be fabricated. The “plutonium chamber” lid on the back of the car is a 1976 Dodge Polara hubcap and the time circuit lever is a double-sided wire brush handle. Benson said those were the materials used to create the cinematic prop, too. “We wanted everything to be as authentic as possible,” Benson, 30, said. “We made this just like the movie made theirs.” If real, how would such a time machine work? “According to the movie, it requires 1.21 gigawatts of power for the flux capacitor, which is where the plutonium comes into play,” Despaigne said. “Once the car hits 88 mph, it pulls the required power that then activates the wormhole emitter, which transports the DeLorean through time.” Bradley Despaigne, left, and Joseph Benson, 30, show off Despaigne’s 1981 DeLorean which they have made into a time machine replica DeLorean modeled off of the original Back To The Future movie, at Edgewater Drive Park, on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020 in Clearwater. Despaigne purchased the DeLorean in September 2019 and the two have been working on it for a little over a year. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP) He agrees that the DeLorean is the perfect car for a time machine. “The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style,” said Despaigne, again quoting Doc Brown. The DeLorean was only produced from 1981 to 1983. Despaigne paid $20,000 for a 1981 DeLorean that had 23,000 miles on it. He has since driven it 1,000 miles. The rare car needed thousands of dollars in repairs before it was road ready, Benson said. “You can’t exactly go to an auto parts store and ask for parts for a 1981 DeLorean. A lot of what we needed had to be custom made, some in Australia, some in Europe.” Thousands more were spent creating the replica time machine. “This is just something I wanted for myself,” Despaigne said. “I love the movie, obviously.” He is not alone in his obsession. Fans around the world own similar replica time machines, the most famous being Jay Leno. Despaigne’s is for rent, but for event display only, not for drives. Inquiries should go through his Instagram page — @81DMC_CLW. The first time he took his time machine on the highway and watched the odometer hit 88, Despaigne laughed that he wondered if he’d “soon see sparks, enter a wormhole and run into dinosaurs. When I didn’t, I wondered if the car would hold together at that speed. I don’t go that fast anymore.”