The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest FloridaLee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
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.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
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.
Sisters Ashanti and Kadeesha Williams recently moved from the Bronx to a 95-acre farm in Sloansville, New York to start a farm that will act as an incubator to other Black farmers. (CREDIT: CBS News) Sisters Ashanti and Kadeesha Williams come from a long line of American farmers who have stewarded land in the U.S. for over 100 years but have never owned it. Now, they’re creating a community of farmers called “The Black Yard Farm Cooperative.” “Our relationship to the land started way before chattel slavery. Not just slaves but sharecroppers and the way that we have had access to land,” Kadeesha told “CBS This Morning: Saturday” co-host Michelle Miller. “The exploitative nature of access,” Ashanti added. “(It’s) always been exploitive. We want to change that. And, we want people to reconnect,” Kadeesha said The Williams sisters recently moved from the Bronx to this 95-acre farm in Sloansville, New York. Ashanti is in charge of livestock, and errands include picking up 3-day old turkeys at the local post office. Kadeesha will run the vegetable operation-all in a sustainable way that helps mitigate the effects of climate change. “It comes down to lessening the carbon footprint in terms of where our food comes from and where it goes to,” Kadeesha said. The Corbin Hill Food Project, a non-profit committed to food sovereignty, helped arrange use of the land for two years, at which point, the farmers hope to own it. “So the idea is that throughout the 95 acres, as we expand and grow as a family, as a farmly as you said, we’ll bring in new farmers. The idea is they’ll apprentice with us,” Kadeesha said. “An incubator program,” Ashanti added. “And then they’ll incubate, yeah. So incubation is, I’ve gone through an apprenticeship. I’ve learned how to do my own business. Here is 10 acres. Here’s some start-up funds,” Kadeesha said. It’s essentially a one-stop shop to create a black farmer, they add. Just 1.3% of farmers in the U.S. are Black. Over the last century, America’s Black farmers have lost more than 90% of their land because of systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt. “At the end of the day, if you own your own land, then you have the capacity to create wealth and to preserve wealth,” Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, said. He is looking to close the gap between White farmers and socially disadvantaged farmers. “The eight years of the Obama administration were focused on trying to respond specifically to specific acts of discrimination and to compensate people for those specific acts of discrimination. So we had a variety of settlements of class action cases against the Department of Agriculture,” he said. “And in that process, one of the things we learned was that the Farm Service Agency offices in the past made it more difficult for some socially disadvantaged producers to access credit, or when they accessed credit, it was late in the growing season. Or it was at a higher interest rate… So it’s a systemic issue,” Vilsack said. President Biden’s coronavirus relief program aims to fix these inequities by providing an estimated $5 billion in aid and debt relief to farmers of color. The legislation provides as much funding as the USDA needs to wipe out the debt of roughly 15,000 socially disadvantaged producers. This is Vilsack’s second time as agricultural secretary after serving for the Obama administration in 2009. While some critics say Secretary Vilsack didn’t do enough for Black farmers in his first stint on the job, he’s proud of the work he has done, including expanding the number of Black farmers who received loans. “We inserted minority members in those county committees, so people got a fair shake on appeals. It’s a steady march,” Vilsack said. As for the Williams sisters, armed with the opportunity of a lifetime, they’re working to regenerate their land, along with the lives of those committed to preserving it. We’ll connect with the land in a way that helps us see that we belong here, and we can treat the planet in a way that makes it so we can stay here,” Kadeesha said.