ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Claire O’Keefe, (Credit: WINK News) 20 years have passed since 9/11, but for a woman who frequented Ground Zero, the memories of pain and loss have not. Claire O’Keefe, who now lives in Naples, is a New Yorker at heart, and her office sat across from the World Trade Center on that horrific day. “20 years later, I have never been back to Ground Zero,” O’Keefe said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever go back.” O’Keefe, now associate dean of admissions at Ave Maria Law School, worked at the Office of the New York State Attorney General one-and-a-half blocks away from the World Trade Center. However, she wasn’t present on 9/11. “This is my neighborhood; I would look out every night and see the Trade Center,” O’Keefe said. “I would walk to work… and the Trade Centers to my left. I’d go shopping there at lunchtime… it was Manhattan.” That very same heart of Manhattan was struck a terrible blow, killing 2,606 in minutes. “I remember all I could see was the orange dust and silence… I mean, silence like you’ve never heard before,” O’Keefe said. “The next morning, we went to pick up my car at the train station, and there were still so many cars sitting there, and I thought, ‘Are these people who are not coming home?'” She says she should have been out on the street, getting her bagel “at that exact moment.” O’Keefe still has an email that serves as a stark reminder of the danger and confusion of that day. It’s dated 9/11, at 9:24 a.m. The subject is “Evacuation of 120 Broadway” and reads: “As a result of a possible terror attack on the World Trade Center, a precautionary evacuation of 120 Broadway is underway.” Thankfully, O’Keefe was three hours north, getting off an Amtrak in Albany. “I heard someone say, ‘The Trade Center’s collapsed,'” O’Keefe said. “And I thought, ‘What are they talking about?'” She watched the second tower collapse on TV like so many other Americans. Unlike many Americans, however, she rushed back into the city. Newspapers she’s kept for 20 years show what she headed towards. “There was this haze, this orange, and the smell—I’ll never forget the smell as long as I live,” O’Keefe said. “I could not believe that it had happened.” 10 days later, she returned to her office, within an area remembered in one article of the time as “Hell’s Half-Acre.” “If you shifted your blotter or stacks of paper, you could see the outline of the dust,” O’Keefe said. “But it wasn’t just dust, and you knew that. You know, I lost somebody I went to high school with.” For months, she attended memorials, walked out of the subway to see people holding posters of their missing loved ones, and wondered how someone could do that to the country. Then came a day in October when she walked into work to find 22 voicemails. The first saved message was from Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 8:52 a.m. “Claire, where are you?” it asked. O’Keefe remembers gasping, “to hear the terror, the absolute terror in their voices, I’ll never forget it.” While Claire O’Keefe has never been back to Ground Zero, she is spending this anniversary in the city and going to a Mets and Yankees game on Sept. 10. The Mets played 10 days after the attack to deliver a message about American resilience, and 20 years later, she’ll be among the people delivering that message yet again.