Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma AwarenessCDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps
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.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
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.
FORT MYERS Could a Ferris wheel in downtown Fort Myers work? Right now, there are talks to bring a Ferris wheel to downtown Fort Myers, but several things are still up in the air.
20-year-old Alex Kearns took his own life last June mistakenly believing he’d lost nearly $750,000 in a risky bet on Robinhood, the stock-trading app where he started trading as a teenager. His parents plan to file a lawsuit, first obtained by CBS News, on Monday accusing Robinhood of wrongful death, negligent infliction of emotional distress and unfair business practices. While the company’s stated mission is to stand up for the little guy and “democratize finance,” Alex’s mother and father say in the lawsuit that Robinhood targeted young and inexperienced customers, then pushed them to engage in risky trading practices. And when those investors needed help – as Alex did the day he died – Robinhood provided no “meaningful customer support,” the suit says. In an interview with “CBS This Morning,” Dan and Dorothy Kearns said they had a full house last year after the pandemic brought their son Alex home early from college. Dan said, “To be honest, it was really a joyful household.” Dorothy Kearns said she and Alex would spend evenings in the kitchen. “And one night he says to me, he’s like, ‘Mom, I don’t — I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet. But I do know I want to help people.'” Alex was interested in investing, and before he graduated from high school, he opened an account with Robinhood. The app lets anybody buy and sell stocks, with no fees and no experience. Alex started with his own savings. It was “Grandma and Grandpa money,” Dan Kearns said, from birthday gifts and cash saved from his summer job lifeguarding. “All told he might’ve had maybe $5,000 in his savings.” Dan and Dorothy Kearns knew Alex was trading stocks. “I didn’t see the harm in doing that.” Dan Kearns said, adding he spoke with his son about responsible investing and believed Alex had “limited exposure.” But Dan and Dorothy Kearns didn’t realize Robinhood had also approved Alex to buy and sell options, a risky financial instrument with the potential for huge losses. “I don’t understand how they allowed that to happen in the first place,” Dan Kearns said. The Kearns believe Alex’s inexperience is what got him into trouble after a transaction last year. On June 11, he saw Robinhood restricted his account reflecting what appeared to be a negative balance of $730,000. Later that night, at 3:26 a.m., the company sent an automated email demanding Alex take “immediate action,” requesting a payment of more than $170,000 in just a few days. In fact, according to the family’s attorneys, Alex may not have lost money at all, because of the way the options bets were structured. “He thought he blew up his life. He thought he screwed up beyond repair,” Dan Kearns said. Robinhood had no customer service phone number, but Alex emailed its support address three times late that night and the following morning. He asked for help understanding what had happened, and whether he could still offset the losses with another trade. Alex wrote, “I was incorrectly assigned more money than I should have, my bought puts should have covered the puts I sold. Could someone please look into this?” In response, he received an automated message: “Thanks for reaching out to our support team!” The email said, “We wanted to let you know that we’re working to get back to you as soon as possible, but that our response time to you may be delayed.” The company assigned him a case number, 06849753. “And their response was a canned reply,” Dan Kearns said. “Basically, ‘We’ll get back to you later.'” Dan said his son just wanted an answer, but no one was there to respond. “It haunts me. It really does,” he said. Later that day, the sheriff knocked on the Kearns family’s front door to deliver the news: Alex was dead. “I lost the love of my life. I miss him more than anything,” Dorothy Kearns said. “I can’t tell you how incredibly painful it is. It’s the kind of pain that I don’t think should be humanly possible for a parent to overcome.” The day after Alex took his own life, Robinhood sent an automated email suggesting the trade had been resolved and he didn’t owe any money. “Great news!” The email read, “We’re reaching out to confirm that you’ve met your margin call and we’ve lifted your trade restrictions. If you have any questions about your margin call, please feel free to reach out. We’re happy to help!” Robinhood says its mission is to bring younger and more diverse investors into the market – an approach the company highlighted in its Super Bowl ad this year. The commercial is part of a larger marketing campaign called “We are all investors,” a company spokesperson told CBS News. “You don’t need to become an investor,” the ad announces, as a young woman in a jean jacket opens the app on her phone. “You were born one. Robinhood.” But some critics say Robinhood has been reckless in its rush to sign up new investors. William Galvin, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth and the chief financial regulator in the state of Massachusetts, says online broker-dealers like Robinhood need greater regulation. “I think it demands some sort of national standard for this behavior,” he said. “There was a very deliberate effort on the part of Robinhood to particularly entice younger, inexperienced investors.” Galvin points to the company’s marketing. He said it rewards daily usage of the app and encourages frequent trading. Galvin’s office filed a complaint against Robinhood in December. The complaint described the app’s features — which included a digital confetti effect when users make trades — as “gamification.” Galvin said, “They’re not treating it as a serious risk of money.” Galvin said the app doesn’t exemplify its name. Although the fabled Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor, he said, that’s not happening on the Robinhood app. “They have not acted in the best interests of their customers. So the idea that they’re caring for the poor,” he said, “is simply not true.” What happened to Alex Kearns is of particular worry to Galvin and his team. In Massachusetts alone, they said, they found more than 600 examples of Robinhood customers who, by Robinhood’s own standards, shouldn’t have been approved for options trading, but were. “Their rush to make money out of this has caused them to add people to their base,” Galvin said, “and to recklessly bring people on board who they probably should have said, ‘No, we won’t qualify you for options right now.'” In a statement to CBS News, a Robinhood spokesperson said, “We disagree with the allegations in the complaint by the Massachusetts Securities Division and intend to defend the company vigorously.” Since the death of Alex Kearns, Robinhood said it has “revised experience requirements” for customers seeking riskier types of options, but CBS News confirmed last week just how easy it was to get approved for basic options trading on the app. As part of the sign-up questionnaire, the app asks, “How much investing experience do you have?” Choose “none,” and Robinhood rejects you from trading options. But the app then asks if you want to update your experience level. If you change the response to, “not much,” the app approves you for options trading. “Welcome to options,” the app says. Dan Kearns says the safety checks aren’t strong enough. “How are those guardrails? How does that — how does that stop an 18-year-old from making risky trades that they don’t really understand?” In a note to his parents before he died, Alex had similar questions. He wrote, “How was a 20-year-old with no income able to get assigned almost $1 million worth of leverage?” He added, “The puts I bought/sold should have cancelled out, too, but I also have no clue what I was doing now in hindsight. There was no intention to be assigned this much and take this much risk, and I only thought that I was risking the money that I actually owned. If you check the app, the margin investing option isn’t even ‘turned on’ for me. A painful lesson. F*** Robinhood.” Mental health resources in Southwest Florida Below are mental health resources available to Southwest Floridians at the national and local level. National Suicide Prevention Hotline suicidepreventionlifeline.org 1-800-273-8255 David Lawrence Center (Collier County) davidlawrencecenter.org (239)455-8500 SalusCare Emergency Services saluscareflorida.org (239)275-4242 National Alliance on Mental Illness, Collier County namicollier.org National Alliance on Mental Illness, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry Counties namilee.org The National Alliance for Caregiving offers a free handbook Circle of Care: A Guidebook for Mental Health Caregivers Collier County Mental Health Court ca.cjis20.org/home/collier Lee County Mental Health Court ca.cjis20.org/home/lee Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance convio.net Local Support Groups: Anxiety and Depression Association of America adaa.org U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Mental Health and Addiction Insurance Help) hhs.gov/programs/topic-sites/mental-health-parity Local veterans resource: Home Base SWFL https://homebase.org/home-base-southwest-florida/