Genesis of Naples breaking ground on new car dealershipEmails show beginnings, contradictions of South Seas resort amendment
Genesis of Naples breaking ground on new car dealership A genesis—or new beginning—is under way for Genesis of Naples. The local franchise plans to break ground this summer on a new and expanded luxury auto dealership in North Naples.
Emails show beginnings, contradictions of South Seas resort amendment South Seas resort ownership group’s engineer proposed a land-use amendment for Lee County’s government at least six months before the first public discussions and at least seven weeks before the county’s official timeline began, emails between the resort’s representatives and county show.
CAPE CORAL 13-year-old arrested for allegedly getting involved in hit-and-run with stolen car, fleeing from Cape Coral police A teen was arrested on multiple charges after allegedly getting involved in a hit-and-run with a stolen car and then fleeing from police.
NORTH FORT MYERS Caloosahatchee River Bridge to close overnight for construction The Caloosahatchee River Bridge from First Street to North Key Drive in North Fort Myers will close so crews can perform bridge work.
CAPE CORAL Accused Cape Coral double murderer, Wade Wilson, will be in court to try to get death penalty off the table Wade Wilson, the man who allegedly murdered two women, will be in court to try to persuade the court to get the death penalty off the table.
Jupiter DeSantis announces funding for developmentally disabled individuals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke on education for children with developmental disabilities at the Els Center of Excellence in Jupiter.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY Bradenton man arrested after allegedly masturbating inside Charlotte County Walmart A man from Bradenton has been arrested after he was allegedly masturbating inside a Walmart in Charlotte County.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres work trailer explosion injures 1 The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District responded to a work trailer explosion that injured one person.
CBS News Trump and DeSantis, once GOP rivals, meet in South Florida to talk about 2024 election Florida Governor Ron DeSantis met privately with former President Donald Trump for several hours on Sunday morning to talk, in part, about fundraising ahead of the 2024 general election, several sources familiar with the meeting tell CBS News.
WINK NEWS Florida Prepaid open enrollment deadline approaches All parents fear the expense of college for their children; however, the state offers a great option in the Florida Prepaid Plan.
The Weather Authority Few showers this Monday afternoon after a pleasant and dry morning The Weather Authority is tracking a cool and pleasant Monday morning start with the possibility of afternoon rain showers.
NORTH FORT MYERS 1 dead, 1 arrested after North Fort Myers shooting The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested one person following an evening shooting that killed a man in North Fort Myers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Bishop of the Diocese of Venice releases statement following sexual abuse allegations by SWFL priest The Bishop of the Diocese of Venice is speaking out after Charlotte County Reverend Leo Riley was arrested on five counts of sexual battery stemming from his past work as a priest in Iowa.
NEW YORK (AP) Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely delaying a long-awaited menthol cigarette ban, a decision that infuriated anti-smoking advocates but could avoid a political backlash from Black voters in November.
FORT MYERS Gone but not forgotten: Traveling Vietnam Memorial pays tribute to veterans A powerful symbol of honor and remembrance is standing proudly here in Southwest Florida. The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall is open to the public, a reminder of those we lost who served our country.
Genesis of Naples breaking ground on new car dealership A genesis—or new beginning—is under way for Genesis of Naples. The local franchise plans to break ground this summer on a new and expanded luxury auto dealership in North Naples.
Emails show beginnings, contradictions of South Seas resort amendment South Seas resort ownership group’s engineer proposed a land-use amendment for Lee County’s government at least six months before the first public discussions and at least seven weeks before the county’s official timeline began, emails between the resort’s representatives and county show.
CAPE CORAL 13-year-old arrested for allegedly getting involved in hit-and-run with stolen car, fleeing from Cape Coral police A teen was arrested on multiple charges after allegedly getting involved in a hit-and-run with a stolen car and then fleeing from police.
NORTH FORT MYERS Caloosahatchee River Bridge to close overnight for construction The Caloosahatchee River Bridge from First Street to North Key Drive in North Fort Myers will close so crews can perform bridge work.
CAPE CORAL Accused Cape Coral double murderer, Wade Wilson, will be in court to try to get death penalty off the table Wade Wilson, the man who allegedly murdered two women, will be in court to try to persuade the court to get the death penalty off the table.
Jupiter DeSantis announces funding for developmentally disabled individuals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke on education for children with developmental disabilities at the Els Center of Excellence in Jupiter.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY Bradenton man arrested after allegedly masturbating inside Charlotte County Walmart A man from Bradenton has been arrested after he was allegedly masturbating inside a Walmart in Charlotte County.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres work trailer explosion injures 1 The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District responded to a work trailer explosion that injured one person.
CBS News Trump and DeSantis, once GOP rivals, meet in South Florida to talk about 2024 election Florida Governor Ron DeSantis met privately with former President Donald Trump for several hours on Sunday morning to talk, in part, about fundraising ahead of the 2024 general election, several sources familiar with the meeting tell CBS News.
WINK NEWS Florida Prepaid open enrollment deadline approaches All parents fear the expense of college for their children; however, the state offers a great option in the Florida Prepaid Plan.
The Weather Authority Few showers this Monday afternoon after a pleasant and dry morning The Weather Authority is tracking a cool and pleasant Monday morning start with the possibility of afternoon rain showers.
NORTH FORT MYERS 1 dead, 1 arrested after North Fort Myers shooting The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested one person following an evening shooting that killed a man in North Fort Myers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Bishop of the Diocese of Venice releases statement following sexual abuse allegations by SWFL priest The Bishop of the Diocese of Venice is speaking out after Charlotte County Reverend Leo Riley was arrested on five counts of sexual battery stemming from his past work as a priest in Iowa.
NEW YORK (AP) Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely delaying a long-awaited menthol cigarette ban, a decision that infuriated anti-smoking advocates but could avoid a political backlash from Black voters in November.
FORT MYERS Gone but not forgotten: Traveling Vietnam Memorial pays tribute to veterans A powerful symbol of honor and remembrance is standing proudly here in Southwest Florida. The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall is open to the public, a reminder of those we lost who served our country.
Cross for Shane Macdonald. More people died walking down the street last year in Lee County than riding motorcycles. Among the 22 pedestrian lives lost: a 15-year-old who loved the outdoors and aspired to be a mechanic. Shane MacDonald died in early December while hanging out with some friends near an empty lot behind his Lehigh Acres home. There are no sidewalks, limited streetlights, and no stop signs on the stretch of roadway where a car hit him. “Right away somebody should have been out here let’s see about putting more lights up let’s see about doing something making it safer for these children to walk down,” said Marcella Grimm, MacDonald’s grandmother. Grimm partially blames the infrastructure issues for her grandson’s premature death, but she’s also very angry with the driver who left the scene of the crash. Adrian Zurita, a teenage driver who was coming home from work, now faces criminal charges for hitting MacDonald and his friend for not stopping to call 9-1-1. MacDonald’s friend survived the crash. Zurita pleaded not guilty He is awaiting trial. Most drivers in these crashes do not face criminal charges as long as they do not leave the scene because the pedestrian is oftentimes at fault. A WINK News analysis of state crash records for the first three quarters of 2020 showed that the driver was only at fault twice out of 16 fatal accidents. “Perhaps the pedestrian was in a dark area and darted out into traffic, and that’s unfortunate and we do not want that to happen,” said Lt. Greg Bueno with the Florida Highway Patrol. FHP does pedestrian and cyclist education in the most common areas for these types of crashes where they discuss the safest ways to cross intersections and hand out bike and backpack lights. WINK News mapped crash data for 2020 and found hotspots for pedestrian and bicycle crashes along US-41 and Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers and Pine Island Road and Del Prado Boulevard in Cape Coral. View Lee County 2020 Ped/Bike Crashes in a full-screen map However, the map shows dozens of pedestrians and cyclists hit within neighborhoods like where MacDonald died. In fact, out of 308 total crashes in the period that WINK News analyzed 143 happened on a local road. “I think it’s important to remember that these tragedies can happen anywhere,” said Bueno. But Southwest Florida ranks amongst the most dangerous places in the country for pedestrians and cyclists according to a 2019 report by Smart Growth America, a Washington DC-based transportation advocacy group. The report, “Dangerous by Design“, placed the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area as the 8th most dangerous place for walking and cycling. “Usually out of everybody that are killed on our roads in a year it should be no more than 12 or 15 of them that are non-motorists. But here we’re at 25 to 30 every year. Every year this has been going on for decades,” said Dan Moser a longtime advocate with Bike Walk Lee. Moser said that it has actually improved since he first started advocating for bicycle and pedestrian safety. He pointed to the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s complete streets initiative as a success story. But according to Don Scott, the executive director for the Lee County MPO, too many areas of Southwest Florida were not originally developed with necessary infrastructure, such as sidewalks and bike lanes. “It’s unfortunate the facilities weren’t built to begin with. Retrofitting after the fact is extremely expensive,” said Scott. He provided a recent study that estimated it would cost more than $1 billion to add sidewalks to neighborhoods in Cape Coral. Federal funding is available to use on local roads, but according to Moser, there has to be political-will to dedicate money to those projects. “It’s mostly now the elected officials that have to change priorities more than anyone else because the engineers and the planners are well aware of what needs to be done,” said Moser.