Tim Aten Knows: 2 new eateries coming to East Naples After operating La Rosa Pizzeria for more than 15 years, owners Bill and Alda Rosa decided to sell their local business and restaurant space.
the weather authority Warmer with sun and clouds for your Friday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warmer day ahead, with a mixture of sun and clouds expected this Friday afternoon.
FDOT to open all lanes of Caloosahatchee Bridge year ahead of construction schedule The Florida Department of Transportation announced it will open all lanes of the Caloosahatchee Bridge a year ahead of its pedestrian sidewalk project.
NAPLES 12-year-old collecting donations for the needy during the holidays A 12-year-old Naples boy isn’t worried about what he’s getting for Christmas. Instead, he’s working on his 6th annual “Holiday Sock Drive.”
Fort Myers man facing homelessness before the holidays A 75-year-old man is on the brink of homelessness despite working over 80 hours a week.
NAPLES Adoptee uses non-profit to provide suitcases for foster children This holiday season, a Naples woman is on a mission to bring foster children something many take for granted: a suitcase filled with dignity.
MARCO ISLAND City of Marco Island discusses lead awareness during city council meeting The city of Marco Island sent out 4900 letters to residents warning them that their pipes could contain plastic or lead.
NAPLES The future of electric planes in Southwest Florida Features of living near an airport include persistent headache-inducing engine rumbles and foul-smelling jet fuel, but electric planes could play a part in the solution.
PORT CHARLOTTE Neighbors awaiting answers on Port Charlotte Beach Park repairs Neighbors said a contractor hired by the Florida Division of Emergency Management mishandled the boats at Port Charlotte Beach Park.
FGCU introduces new technology for cognitive health screenings Ten minutes. That’s all it takes for doctors to assess how well you remember, how quickly you learn things, and how your brain is working overall.
WINK Investigates: Disgraced contractor faces new lawsuits and allegations Paul Beattie, a disgraced home builder is back doing business but legal challenges continue as another one of his businesses gets sued. Former employees of Beattie speak out, only to WINK.
SWFL reacts to UNC hiring Bill Belichick Southwest Florida reacts to North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick as its new head football coach and how that could impact the decisions of local recruits.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Some Floridians want more alone time during the holidays The holidays are all about spending time with family and friends, but nearly half of Americans say they really want more alone time during the holiday.
LABELLE Hendry County rolls out cameras for school speed zones The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out a new way of enforcing school zone speed limits by using cameras that will target drivers traveling over a certain speed in a school zone.
Aggressive driving concerns on the rise in Southwest Florida The arrest of a man who, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said, killed a motorcyclist after crashing into him on purpose is raising concerns over aggressive driving in Southwest Florida.
Tim Aten Knows: 2 new eateries coming to East Naples After operating La Rosa Pizzeria for more than 15 years, owners Bill and Alda Rosa decided to sell their local business and restaurant space.
the weather authority Warmer with sun and clouds for your Friday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warmer day ahead, with a mixture of sun and clouds expected this Friday afternoon.
FDOT to open all lanes of Caloosahatchee Bridge year ahead of construction schedule The Florida Department of Transportation announced it will open all lanes of the Caloosahatchee Bridge a year ahead of its pedestrian sidewalk project.
NAPLES 12-year-old collecting donations for the needy during the holidays A 12-year-old Naples boy isn’t worried about what he’s getting for Christmas. Instead, he’s working on his 6th annual “Holiday Sock Drive.”
Fort Myers man facing homelessness before the holidays A 75-year-old man is on the brink of homelessness despite working over 80 hours a week.
NAPLES Adoptee uses non-profit to provide suitcases for foster children This holiday season, a Naples woman is on a mission to bring foster children something many take for granted: a suitcase filled with dignity.
MARCO ISLAND City of Marco Island discusses lead awareness during city council meeting The city of Marco Island sent out 4900 letters to residents warning them that their pipes could contain plastic or lead.
NAPLES The future of electric planes in Southwest Florida Features of living near an airport include persistent headache-inducing engine rumbles and foul-smelling jet fuel, but electric planes could play a part in the solution.
PORT CHARLOTTE Neighbors awaiting answers on Port Charlotte Beach Park repairs Neighbors said a contractor hired by the Florida Division of Emergency Management mishandled the boats at Port Charlotte Beach Park.
FGCU introduces new technology for cognitive health screenings Ten minutes. That’s all it takes for doctors to assess how well you remember, how quickly you learn things, and how your brain is working overall.
WINK Investigates: Disgraced contractor faces new lawsuits and allegations Paul Beattie, a disgraced home builder is back doing business but legal challenges continue as another one of his businesses gets sued. Former employees of Beattie speak out, only to WINK.
SWFL reacts to UNC hiring Bill Belichick Southwest Florida reacts to North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick as its new head football coach and how that could impact the decisions of local recruits.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Some Floridians want more alone time during the holidays The holidays are all about spending time with family and friends, but nearly half of Americans say they really want more alone time during the holiday.
LABELLE Hendry County rolls out cameras for school speed zones The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out a new way of enforcing school zone speed limits by using cameras that will target drivers traveling over a certain speed in a school zone.
Aggressive driving concerns on the rise in Southwest Florida The arrest of a man who, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said, killed a motorcyclist after crashing into him on purpose is raising concerns over aggressive driving in Southwest Florida.
A new COVID-19 breakthrough is showing promise – and would be an easy pill to swallow. More than a year into the pandemic, doctors and patients still have few treatment options. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. “You have cells in a dish that are infected with a virus. And then you have lots and lots and lots and lots of dishes. And all of them are exposed to different drugs. And you just look to see which drugs can stop the virus from replicating and which ones don’t. And usually, that ends up you could start with hundreds of 1000s of drugs, and you end up with like, 10,” said Dr. Timothy Sheahan with the Department of Epidemiology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But Sheahan’s team found what they were looking for: a drug that stopped coronaviruses from replicating. “It basically had antiviral activity against all coronaviruses that we tested it against.” It’s called molnupiravir, and it’s earned another new title: the COVID pill. A study by drugmakers Merck and Ridgeback Bio found that after taking the pill two times a day for five days, tests didn’t find any infectious virus in participants. “They basically showed that people who are on the antiviral drug, infectious virus disappeared faster from their nose than people who are not on it. So it’s like direct evidence that your antiviral drug is having an antiviral effect – it’s doing its job; it’s making the virus go away,” said Sheahan. Liz Chandler, pharmacy and clinical specialist for infectious diseases at Lee Health, is encouraged by the findings. “Especially that this new agent is potentially an oral option.” Chandler says taking the COVID treatment by mouth is a new and needed option. “The number of COVID therapeutics that we actually have available currently and are using is really a small handful,” she said. “It’s something that patients could potentially take at home, as opposed to having to go to an infusion center or going to the hospital for.” Still, it’s too early to pull out the prescription pad. “It still needs to undergo larger clinical trials to really determine its place in therapy. Right now, we have some preliminary data about reducing the viral load, for example. But that doesn’t always correlate with how the patients actually do. Does it actually improve their symptoms? Does it actually help prevent progression to hospitalization or even death? Those are a lot of questions that I still have in my mind, and we just don’t have that information yet. So it’s very early on,” said Chandler. “I think we’re gonna learn a lot more in the next few months about whether or not this is not only effective, but it’s also safe for people to take,” said Sheahan. Merck hopes to have interim results by the end of March. The COVID pill is expected to be effective against all coronaviruses, including the different variants. “We take a drug, and we test it against every coronavirus that we know about. And if it works against all those, it’s likely that it will work against those that might emerge in the future,” said Sheahan. “In the next year or so, we’re going to see probably multiple oral antiviral drugs come out. And so I think we might have not just one option but multiple options.”