FORT MYERS Students make goodie bags for kids fighting Cancer A special delivery, straight from the heart, to Galisano’s Children’s Hospital. Three 8th graders from Lexington Middle School delivered 100 goodie bags to bring smiles to kids fighting cancer.
TICE Large police presence at park in Tice Deputies and K9s are investigating Schandler Hall Community Park on Palm Beach Boulevard in Tice.
CAPE CORAL Lee County superintendent candidates face off in debate These three people, Denise Carlin, Morgan Wright and Sheridan Chester, are making it clear that they want the job.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA DEA to reclassify Marijuana as Schedule Three drug When you think of marijuana in Florida, You might think of an illegal drug seized by law enforcement. Kim Rivers, the CEO of Florida-based cannabis retailer Trulieve, says when used medicinally, it can help a lot of people.
FORT MYERS Expect more delays on Colonial and Fowler due to intersection project Work on the Colonial Fowler intersection in Fort Myers is underway, and there are many moving parts.
FORT MYERS Possible pay-by-text scam in downtown Fort Myers may have cost woman nearly $1,000 Pay-by-text parking may have cost one woman nearly a thousand dollars after her credit card was hacked.
FORT MYERS Lee County STET team protecting our schools with cameras There are cameras in our kid’s schools, dozens of them, but did you know that Lee County Schools sends those live video feeds to the sheriff’s office, and it’s someone’s job to watch them?
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Six-week abortion ban to take effect soon A stricter abortion ban will take effect in Florida on Wednesday.
Estero’s Golf Coast Driving Range shuts down, visitors devastated A place to relax, let loose and hit a few drives, has come to the end of an era for this community. “This is the first place we came to,” said Roxanne Henningsen, a Bonita Springs resident. “And it like became our second home. The people are wonderful. It’s just a great atmosphere. And we’ve […]
CAPE CORAL Business owners reeling after massive fire in Cape Coral “Very scary” are the words Denise Creacy used to describe what she felt when she saw plumes of black smoke, firefighters, and police fill her neighborhood.
LEHIGH ACRES Changing how you are represented in Lee County Leaders want to hear your thoughts this week at a town hall on how you elect county commissioners.
FORT MYERS Frontier Airlines announces nonstop flights from RSW to San Juan, PR These flights will take off on June 2 and run 3 times a week.
NAPLES Fight to save the trees in Naples neighborhood When Sue Canfield looks up in her front yard she sees light shining through the sprawling branches of a 25-year-old Oak towering above her. The trees, which line every road in the waterways of naples, is why she choose this neighborhood but soon those very trees will be taken down.
City of Naples hosts open house workshop for Naples road projects The City of Naples is hosting an open house workshop to hear from the public regarding road improvements.
CAPE CORAL Ollie’s Pub, the home of SWFL’s local music scene, closes after 4 memorable years Ollie’s Pub, once the center of local original music in Southwest Florida, is closing after a prosperous yet arduous four years.
FORT MYERS Students make goodie bags for kids fighting Cancer A special delivery, straight from the heart, to Galisano’s Children’s Hospital. Three 8th graders from Lexington Middle School delivered 100 goodie bags to bring smiles to kids fighting cancer.
TICE Large police presence at park in Tice Deputies and K9s are investigating Schandler Hall Community Park on Palm Beach Boulevard in Tice.
CAPE CORAL Lee County superintendent candidates face off in debate These three people, Denise Carlin, Morgan Wright and Sheridan Chester, are making it clear that they want the job.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA DEA to reclassify Marijuana as Schedule Three drug When you think of marijuana in Florida, You might think of an illegal drug seized by law enforcement. Kim Rivers, the CEO of Florida-based cannabis retailer Trulieve, says when used medicinally, it can help a lot of people.
FORT MYERS Expect more delays on Colonial and Fowler due to intersection project Work on the Colonial Fowler intersection in Fort Myers is underway, and there are many moving parts.
FORT MYERS Possible pay-by-text scam in downtown Fort Myers may have cost woman nearly $1,000 Pay-by-text parking may have cost one woman nearly a thousand dollars after her credit card was hacked.
FORT MYERS Lee County STET team protecting our schools with cameras There are cameras in our kid’s schools, dozens of them, but did you know that Lee County Schools sends those live video feeds to the sheriff’s office, and it’s someone’s job to watch them?
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Six-week abortion ban to take effect soon A stricter abortion ban will take effect in Florida on Wednesday.
Estero’s Golf Coast Driving Range shuts down, visitors devastated A place to relax, let loose and hit a few drives, has come to the end of an era for this community. “This is the first place we came to,” said Roxanne Henningsen, a Bonita Springs resident. “And it like became our second home. The people are wonderful. It’s just a great atmosphere. And we’ve […]
CAPE CORAL Business owners reeling after massive fire in Cape Coral “Very scary” are the words Denise Creacy used to describe what she felt when she saw plumes of black smoke, firefighters, and police fill her neighborhood.
LEHIGH ACRES Changing how you are represented in Lee County Leaders want to hear your thoughts this week at a town hall on how you elect county commissioners.
FORT MYERS Frontier Airlines announces nonstop flights from RSW to San Juan, PR These flights will take off on June 2 and run 3 times a week.
NAPLES Fight to save the trees in Naples neighborhood When Sue Canfield looks up in her front yard she sees light shining through the sprawling branches of a 25-year-old Oak towering above her. The trees, which line every road in the waterways of naples, is why she choose this neighborhood but soon those very trees will be taken down.
City of Naples hosts open house workshop for Naples road projects The City of Naples is hosting an open house workshop to hear from the public regarding road improvements.
CAPE CORAL Ollie’s Pub, the home of SWFL’s local music scene, closes after 4 memorable years Ollie’s Pub, once the center of local original music in Southwest Florida, is closing after a prosperous yet arduous four years.
A blue-green algae warning sign is posted at Davis Boat Ramp in Fort Myers Shores Tuesday, May 18, 2021, as blooms have been growing there and other parts of the Caloosahatchee River. Credit: WINK News. Blue-green algae has become a problem recently on the Caloosahatchee River, and it’s taking over some areas of it such as at W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Olga. Green and slimy blue-green algae is something many in Southwest Florida have seen in abundance in the past, and what is being seen now might not clear up soon because rainy season is underway. A lot of rain could mean bad news for water quality. We are at a crossroads in May: On one hand, we desperately need the rain, but on the other, rain means more runoff and potentially more Lake Okeechobee discharges, which could pollute our waterways. We spoke to Jay Zaleski at the Davis Boat Ramp in Fort Myers Shores, where he was testing a couple of boats. “Just water testing boats and doing some mile-an-hour runs,” Zaleski explained. Zaleski could see algae lingering in the water there. “As soon as I got here, I’ve seen green film on the water,” Zaleski said. “So I asked right away what it was.” This is on the east side of the lock. Thick algae is accumulating against the wall and in the vegetation. You can see the comparison to the rest of the water toward the end of the clip. @winknews pic.twitter.com/u1Lae2R72R — Stephanie Byrne (@StephanieWINKTV) May 18, 2021 Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani has also seen the algae blooming in the Caloosahatchee. “We hadn’t planned to sample for toxins this early in the season, but so the blooms have accelerated,” Cassani said. “They’re here in abundance now, and so we thought it was a good time to start doing some toxin analysis.” Cassani told us, while we’re dealing with dry weather now, rain down the road could bring a big flush. “With the rainfall, the kind of the dichotomy here is that the first big rainfall flush brings about 90% of the pollutants seasonally,” Cassani said. The runoff, coupled with Lake Okeechobee releases, fuels blue-green algae. Cassani took four samples Tuesday to send out to a lab. He expects to have toxin results later in the week. Mike Parsons, a professor at FGCU’s The Water School, told us, while we’re seeing a similar pattern from past years with the blue-green algae and red tide, there’s at least one difference. “We’re not suffering from the hurricane hangover of Irma,” Parson said. “So we don’t necessarily have the same freshwater inputs that we had, a lot of the nutrients that came down the river, the flows that we had, like we saw in 2017 with Irma.” Regardless, it’s added pressure to public health, environment and economy. “I think we really need to keep the pressure on our elected officials to make sure they fund projects to make sure they realize that water quality and public health is really important,” Parsons said.