FORT MYERS LCSO offering youth boxing program The Lee County Sheriff’s Office youth boxing program is your kid’s golden ticket to mastering the art of self-defense.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man speaks on helping apprehend armed 13-year-old The man who helped apprehend an armed 13-year-old spoke on the incident.
NAPLES Naples Cars on Fifth event fuels $2M for local charity efforts For over two decades, car enthusiasts in Southwest Florida have gathered on Fifth Avenue in Naples.
MARCO ISLAND Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island set to reopen Collier County announced the reopening of the Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Animal Shelter to host Puppy Bowl 3 ahead of big game Ahead of the big game on Sunday, Cape Coral Animal Shelter will be featuring its very own Puppy Bowl III.
FORT MYERS From the ballpark to the beach: the Minnesota Twins are back for Spring Training 1700 miles later the Twins truck is here and the team from Minnesota is ready to spend the next six weeks here in Fort Myers.
the weather authority Warm stretch continues throughout this weekend The Weather Authority says if you are a fan of the warmer weather, you are going to love this weekend.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s red tide raises health alerts and wildlife concerns With great weather in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a perfect beach weekend. However, visitors to the barrier islands should exercise caution.
NAPLES Naples Automotive Experience raises funds for St. Matthew’s House The Naples Automotive Experience brought excitement and philanthropy to the community, raising money for St. Matthew’s House.
MATLACHA Little Pine Island bridge work causes delays, FDOT promises progress Construction on the Little Pine Island Bridge has narrowed traffic to one lane, causing significant delays for drivers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Support women’s heart health on National Wear Red Day The first Friday in February marks National Wear Red Day!
Ongoing repairs following Naples plane crash A deadly plane crash that occurred one year ago in Naples, Florida continues to impact lives in Southwest Florida. The tragic event involved two pilots who lost their lives on Interstate 75.
Naples jet crash, one year later: new details on emergency response Sunday marks one year since a jet crashed after its pilots attempted an emergency landing on I-75 just outside of Naples. “Your mind goes back to everything that happened that day,” said Heather Mazurkiewicz, public information officer with the North Collier Fire Rescue. “I think about the fact that there weren’t more lives lost.” At […]
LCSO cutting down law enforcement response times The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is gearing up to implement “Prepared 9-1-1,” a new tool designed to enhance emergency response times.
FORT MYERS LCSO offering youth boxing program The Lee County Sheriff’s Office youth boxing program is your kid’s golden ticket to mastering the art of self-defense.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man speaks on helping apprehend armed 13-year-old The man who helped apprehend an armed 13-year-old spoke on the incident.
NAPLES Naples Cars on Fifth event fuels $2M for local charity efforts For over two decades, car enthusiasts in Southwest Florida have gathered on Fifth Avenue in Naples.
MARCO ISLAND Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island set to reopen Collier County announced the reopening of the Caxambas Park boat ramp on Marco Island.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Animal Shelter to host Puppy Bowl 3 ahead of big game Ahead of the big game on Sunday, Cape Coral Animal Shelter will be featuring its very own Puppy Bowl III.
FORT MYERS From the ballpark to the beach: the Minnesota Twins are back for Spring Training 1700 miles later the Twins truck is here and the team from Minnesota is ready to spend the next six weeks here in Fort Myers.
the weather authority Warm stretch continues throughout this weekend The Weather Authority says if you are a fan of the warmer weather, you are going to love this weekend.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s red tide raises health alerts and wildlife concerns With great weather in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a perfect beach weekend. However, visitors to the barrier islands should exercise caution.
NAPLES Naples Automotive Experience raises funds for St. Matthew’s House The Naples Automotive Experience brought excitement and philanthropy to the community, raising money for St. Matthew’s House.
MATLACHA Little Pine Island bridge work causes delays, FDOT promises progress Construction on the Little Pine Island Bridge has narrowed traffic to one lane, causing significant delays for drivers.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Support women’s heart health on National Wear Red Day The first Friday in February marks National Wear Red Day!
Ongoing repairs following Naples plane crash A deadly plane crash that occurred one year ago in Naples, Florida continues to impact lives in Southwest Florida. The tragic event involved two pilots who lost their lives on Interstate 75.
Naples jet crash, one year later: new details on emergency response Sunday marks one year since a jet crashed after its pilots attempted an emergency landing on I-75 just outside of Naples. “Your mind goes back to everything that happened that day,” said Heather Mazurkiewicz, public information officer with the North Collier Fire Rescue. “I think about the fact that there weren’t more lives lost.” At […]
LCSO cutting down law enforcement response times The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is gearing up to implement “Prepared 9-1-1,” a new tool designed to enhance emergency response times.
FILE – In this March 4, 2021, file photo, a sign reading “Welcome Back Now Open” is posted on the window of a Morton’s Steakhouse restaurant as a man works inside during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. California lost close to 70,000 jobs in January. But new numbers released Friday, March 12, 2021, by the state’s Employment Development Department show the unemployment rate declined slightly to 9%. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) As COVID-19 vaccination efforts expand across Florida, the state’s unemployment rate ticked down in February. Florida’s jobless rate went from 4.8 percent in January to 4.7 percent in February, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity. That was better than the national rate of 6.2 percent. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was in Port Canaveral on Friday discussing ways to revive the passenger cruise industry amid the pandemic, said the jobless numbers are better than what many people expected. “That’s a 4.7 percent, which is much better than anyone predicted we would be at a year ago,” he said. “But that’s 4.7 percent where we have one of our major industries that has been idled by the federal government for over a year, the cruise line industry.” The February rate reflects and estimated 474,000 Floridians out of work from a workforce of 10.1 million. The number of unemployed people was 124,000 higher than in February 2020, just before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the state and national economy. The February 2020 unemployment rate was 3.3 percent. In addition to people still looking for work, the new numbers indicate another 337,000 Floridians had left the workforce over the previous year and don’t qualify for state or federal assistance. The Department of Economic Opportunity has since March 15, 2020, distributed nearly $24.75 billion in state and federal relief to 2.3 million claimants. Adrienne Johnston, the department’s chief economist, said labor-force numbers should continue to improve as more people get vaccinated against COVID-19. “As more people become vaccinated, then certainly they’re going to feel more confident to go back and connect into the labor market, to go back into purchasing goods and services and engage in economic activity,” Johnston said. “And as that happens, that’s certainly going to drive employment up and reduce our unemployment overall.” More than 5.3 million people in Florida have received at least one vaccination shot. More than 2 million people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, and about 33,000 Floridians have died. On Thursday, DeSantis announced that all Floridians ages 40 and older will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccinations starting Monday and that all adults will be eligible on April 5. The Department of Economic Opportunity said Florida has recovered 709,200 of the 1.27 million jobs lost between February and April of 2020. Still the biggest impacts remain in the leisure and hospitality industry, which lost 286,200 jobs, or 22.4 percent of its workforce, from February 2020 to last month. Across the state, only one of 24 metro areas had seen job growth in the year-long period, the Lakeland-Winter Haven region, which was up 3,100 jobs. “Every region was impacted a little bit differently, every region had a different approach to mitigation efforts, and their industry mix is certainly going to impact that,” Johnston said. “So, if there’s more of a trade, transportation presence in certain areas, then they may not be impacted as much. Other parts of Central Florida are heavily reliant on tourism, and so that’s certainly going to prolong the impact for those areas.” The tourism dependent Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan statistical area, which lost 168,500 jobs over the year-long period, had the highest unemployment rate in February at 6.5 percent, followed by the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area at 6.3 percent.