16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier CountyNew bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents react to $100M North Cape land deal The city of Cape Coral is seeing two projects that will change the city. One is called one of the most lucrative deals in county history.
Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association breaks ground on new Fort Myers headquarters As Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association’s president pointed out, about 1,000 people are still moving to Florida every day, and many of them are finding their way to Southwest Florida.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County drug trafficker sentenced to 10 years A Charlotte County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
lehigh acres ‘How to sign away parental rights?’; Lehigh Acres woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents react to $100M North Cape land deal The city of Cape Coral is seeing two projects that will change the city. One is called one of the most lucrative deals in county history.
Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association breaks ground on new Fort Myers headquarters As Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association’s president pointed out, about 1,000 people are still moving to Florida every day, and many of them are finding their way to Southwest Florida.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County drug trafficker sentenced to 10 years A Charlotte County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
lehigh acres ‘How to sign away parental rights?’; Lehigh Acres woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby.
An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. Currently hurtling through space, less than 25 million miles away from its destination, NASA’s Perseverance rover will soon make the most difficult landing ever attempted on Mars, before it begins its hunt for ancient life. When it arrives on February 18, Perseverance will enter Mars’ atmosphere at over 12,000 miles per hour, streaking across the Martian sky like a meteor for seven nail-biting minutes before finally touching down in the Jezero Crater, a site that the Curiosity rover was technologically incapable of reaching. NASA scientists call it the “seven minutes of terror.” This illustration shows the events that occur in the final minutes of the nearly seven-month journey that NASA’s Perseverance rover takes to Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Then, a “skycrane,” which was also used by Curiosity, will allow Perseverance to lower itself onto the surface. When the rover finally lands, it will touch down on its wheels at a speed slower than humans walk. “I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that entry, descent and landing (EDL) is the most critical and most dangerous part of the mission,” Allen Chen, the EDL lead, said this week during a news conference. “Success is never assured, and that’s especially true when we’re trying to land the biggest, heaviest and most complicated rover we’ve ever built to the most dangerous site we’ve ever attempted to land on.” And Perseverance has to do this all on its own. It takes radio signals more than 11 minutes to get back to Earth, so the entirety of the EDL will be done without the help of mission control. With its heat shield facing the planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover begins its descent through the Martian atmosphere in this illustration. NASA chose the Jezero Crater as the landing site because scientists believe, based on orbital photographs of the region, that it was once filled with water, home to an ancient river delta. The water is long gone, but lakebed deposits make the crater an ideal place to investigate for signs of ancient life. The crater is filled with steep cliffs, sand, boulders and impact craters, all of which make the landing more difficult. When Perseverance touches down, it must do so near the remnants of the delta, where traces of microbial organism could have settled. “Jezero Crater is a great place, a magnificent place for science. But when I look at it from a landing perspective, I see danger,” Chen said. “It’s a formidable challenge.” The Perseverance rover, which launched last July, is the biggest vehicle NASA has ever attempted to land on Mars, weighing over a metric ton and carrying 50% more science and technology than Curiosity, which landed in 2012. Two new technologies will help Perseverance land safely — a range trigger, which allows the rover to decide when to deploy the parachute, and terrain relative navigation, which essentially gives the rover eyes and a map, so it can check to make sure it lands in the right place. “If it wasn’t for range trigger and terrain relative navigation, we just could not go to Jezero,” Chen said. An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. The coronavirus pandemic has only further complicated the landing. “We hoped that the situation on our world with respect to COVID would have improved since launch. It has not, and that has meant that we’ve needed to be flexible and adapt to keep working safely and effectively,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. “Regardless of everything that has happened due to COVID, it is the constant innovation, dedication and above else unity of this team that has allowed work on the Perseverance rover to continue in a safe manner.” Perseverance is carrying a ton of cool, new technology, including a tiny helicopter named Ingenuity and the necessary instruments to collect samples for future study on Earth. For the first time, we’ll also be able to see and hear what it’s like to land on another planet, thanks to a new camera and microphone system. These new and more precise EDL technologies will help enable human exploration of the red planet in the future, scientists said. NASA will be live streaming the historic event on its website on February 18, beginning at 2:15 p.m. ET.