TALLAHASSEE (CBS) Governor DeSantis signs AI and vape bills Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed 28 bills, including a measure requiring disclaimers on certain political ads created using artificial intelligence and a bill about regulation of vape products.
ESTERO Gold Star Golf Tournament honors fallen veteran Behind each putt and swing of a golf club at the Gold Star Golf Tournament is someone who knew John Wirka Junior.
NEW YORK (AP) How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you’re measuring via internet time. What’s now in question is whether it will be around much longer and, if so, in what form?
FORT MYERS Man wanted for armed robbery at Fort Myers convenience store Crime Stoppers is asking the public for help identifying an armed robber who held up a convenience store Saturday morning.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Rifles, inappropriate texts and Donut shop debacle This week’s segment of WINK Neighborhood Watch features a scary mall trip, an inappropriate coach, and a Dunkin Donuts assault.
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.
TALLAHASSEE (CBS) Governor DeSantis signs AI and vape bills Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed 28 bills, including a measure requiring disclaimers on certain political ads created using artificial intelligence and a bill about regulation of vape products.
ESTERO Gold Star Golf Tournament honors fallen veteran Behind each putt and swing of a golf club at the Gold Star Golf Tournament is someone who knew John Wirka Junior.
NEW YORK (AP) How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you’re measuring via internet time. What’s now in question is whether it will be around much longer and, if so, in what form?
FORT MYERS Man wanted for armed robbery at Fort Myers convenience store Crime Stoppers is asking the public for help identifying an armed robber who held up a convenience store Saturday morning.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Rifles, inappropriate texts and Donut shop debacle This week’s segment of WINK Neighborhood Watch features a scary mall trip, an inappropriate coach, and a Dunkin Donuts assault.
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.
Lois Riess. Credit: via WINK News. If you’ve ever chatted with a stranger in a restaurant or bar, you might rethink doing that, especially if that stranger looks like you. We looked back into a well-known killer to many of us here in Southwest Florida, and the women who could have been her next victims. There’s something about beach towns that makes it easy to strike up a conversation with a stranger. If you’ve been in Southwest Florida a while, you probably remember convicted killer Lois Riess chatting it up at the bar with a woman who looked similar to her, a woman she’d later murder. Looks, as they say, can be deceiving, and even when you know someone, people can change. “Lois was a super sweet, loving gal. She talked about her grandkids all the time,” said Tess Koster, a Riess family friend. Koster knew Riess and her late husband from their tiny town in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. “They actually came to our lake home a few years after we met them and spent the weekend,” Koster said. “Lois was a very gracious guest. She brought steaks for everyone and cooked them up. She was the first one to say, ‘Oh, I’ll do the dishes for you,’ and just a really nice gal.” Riess was a nice gal Koster never suspected would be the kind to shoot and kill her husband. Then, Riess drove 1,300 miles from Minnesota to Fort Myers Beach and looked up her old friend Tess Koster who is a snowbird to the beach town. “One day, I’m out cleaning the garage, and here pulls a Cadillac Escalade in my driveway,” Koster recalled. “Our eyes met as I stepped forward to say, ‘Can I help you?’ And it was Lois, and I was just in shock, and I think she was shocked too because she quick, ‘Wrong house, wrong house,’ and got in her car and drove away.” When she drove off, Koster called 911. “There’s an APB out for a Lois Riess from Blooming Prairie, Minnesota,” Koster was recorded talking to dispatchers. “She just got out of her car at my Florida house.” It was only a block from Koster’s home where Riess killed Pam Hutchinson, a vacationer she met at a bar. Laurie Russell manages the resort where she was staying. “I walk in. The door was closed at this point, and I think, ‘Well, it’s 9 o’clock. Maybe they’re sleeping and didn’t hear me,” Russell explained. “Then, I went to push it; it went thud; and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’” It was Hutchinson shot dead on the bathroom floor, and Lois became her. Riess stole her ID, cash, put on her hat and drove the victim’s car to another beach town, South Padre Island, Texas, to find her next look-alike, Bernadette Mathis, alone at a bar. “She came in. She saw that I was sitting alone, and said, ‘Well, I guess we’re both having dinner alone this evening,” said Mathis, as told to Killers Amongst Us with Nancy Grace. “She said that she just came back from Florida. That she was a widow. She was thinking about relocating … Guess that’s how she ended up back at my house, since I was going to show her around my area. We went in the hot tub. She had her bathing suit. She just brought a bathing suit and a little sun hat.” So why not Bernadette Mathis? Why not take her identity and become her next? Mathis thinks she got spooked by her home surveillance cameras. “She really has to thank her lucky stars she’s still here,” Koster said. “That would’ve been her next victim.” Koster agreed she was also lucky. “Oh, definitely. Yep,” she said. Neither Koster nor Mathis saw Lois Riess in person again. Lois Riess was finally caught — arrested in a bar smack dab in the middle of a group of women while she was on the prowl. We think she was searching for her next look-alike. “How can such a nice person turn into such a monster? It’s crazy,” Koster said. Her pattern of searching for look-alikes to take on their identities ended there. Lois Riess pleaded guilty to the 2018 murders of her husband and Pam Hutchinson. She’s serving a life sentence. Now, at least two women live peacefully with the knowledge they dodged what could have been a real bullet.