The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest FloridaLee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Celebrating Free Comic Book Day in SWFL JP Sports store manager Jonathan Powell said this is a generational event that brings families together to reminisce on comics and other hobby-related knickknacks.
FORT MYERS Group rescues dogs before getting put down in Lee County Our animal shelters are packed with amazing puppies who have the sole desire to be loved.
FORT MYERS FGCU student beats all odds and is able to graduate Nearly four years ago, Marisa Manning had her heart set on going to Florida Gulf Coast University but never thought she’d find her passion for studying parasites.
FORT MYERS Victim in MLK Blvd. shooting identified as social media influencer The victim of the Martin Luther King Boulevard shooting has been identified as a local social media influencer.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (Credit: News Service of Florida) Florida will receive 179,400 doses of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine in its first shipment from the federal government, Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a video recording released Thursday evening. More than half of the vaccines — 97,500 doses — will be sent to five Florida hospitals to be administered to high-contact and high-exposure health care personnel, DeSantis said. The remaining 81,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be sent to CVS and Walgreens and the Department of Health for use in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. DeSantis has made clear that residents of long-term care facilities are his top priority. “We are working to get as much vaccine for our citizens as possible, but Florida will not, nor will any state, have enough to vaccinate everyone right off the bat,” DeSantis said in the video. According to DeSantis, 60,450 doses will be sent to CVS and Walgreens, which are under contract with the federal government to provide vaccines to residents and staff at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Another 21,450 doses will be sent to the Florida Department of Health. The state agency, along with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida National Guard, will administer the vaccine in areas of the state that “have a high concentration of facilities,” DeSantis said in the video. The governor didn’t provide any additional details on which areas are considered to have a high concentration of facilities. Florida was required to submit its final COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to the federal government by Dec. 4. The News Service of Florida has made repeated requests for the public document but the governor’s office has not responded. Thursday’s video was the first time DeSantis publicly said how many vaccines the state will receive. While the governor said Thursday that the five hospitals will receive 97,500 doses, he did not say how many vaccines each of facilities — Jackson Memorial in Miami, AdventHealth in Orlando, Tampa General Hospital, the Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County and UF Health Jacksonville — will be provided. DeSantis’ office released the video about the vaccines hours after Florida Senate Democrats criticized his handling of the coronavirus. “The vaccine distribution needs to be done in a scientific manner, and we haven’t seen that that’s happening at all here in the state right now,” Sen. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, told reporters during a virtual press conference. At a White House summit earlier this week, Trump administration officials said the vaccine would be shipped to states within 24 hours of receiving emergency approval. Pfizer’s vaccine candidate has not yet received emergency authorization approval from the federal government. Clearing the way for final approval, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee on Thursday endorsed the vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer in conjunction with BioNTech Manufacturing. Florida is closing in on 20,000 COVID-19 deaths and has logged more than 1.08 million cases of the virus since the onset of the pandemic. Since the beginning of December, Florida has reported daily averages of 9,338 new COVID-19 cases and about 98 daily deaths tied to the virus. The daily average of cases is the highest for a nine-day period since late July. The release of the vaccine information also comes amid a national spotlight on Rebekah Jones, a former Department of Health employee who was fired earlier this year. State agents and local police showed up at Jones’s Tallahassee home Monday morning to serve a search warrant. Later in the day, Jones tweeted a video of armed police entering her home. Jones’ video shows officers brandishing guns and telling Jones to exit the house. The video also shows a law enforcement officer commanding Jones’ husband to “come down the stairs now.” Jones can be heard saying in a high-pitched voice, “He just pointed a gun at my children.” The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has contended that none of the agents pointed their guns at anyone in Jones’s house. On Thursday, FDLE released body-camera video from one of the officers outside Jones’ home. The video shows agents repeatedly on her front door. Jones did not respond for more than 13 minutes, the video shows. The video “demonstrates that FDLE agents exercised extreme patience,“ FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a prepared statement accompanying the body-camera footage. “Agents afforded Ms. Jones ample time to come to the door and resolve this matter in a civil and professional manner. As this video will demonstrate, any risk or danger to Ms. Jones or her family was the result of her actions,” he said. Jones was fired earlier this year after complaining that DeSantis’ administration was manipulating COVID-19 data to make the virus appear less prevalent as the governor pushed to reopen Florida’s economy. Monday’s search was part of an investigation into an unauthorized message that was sent on an internal state communications system.