Sanibel Church rebuilds after Hurricane IanCostco construction causes commotion in Collier County community
SANIBEL Sanibel Church rebuilds after Hurricane Ian The Sanibel Community Church has completed its remarkable rebuild after Hurricane Ian devastated their place of worship over two years ago.
NAPLES Costco construction causes commotion in Collier County community Costco is eyeing a plot of land in Collier County for a new store, but residents are voicing strong opposition.
NAPLES Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho’s impact on education and Southwest Florida Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho, a beloved philanthropist and advocate for education, dedicated his life to empowering others through opportunity and knowledge.
SANIBEL Sanibel cracks down on school zone speeders with new camera system Sanibel is tightening its grip on school zone speeders with newly installed cameras.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry expands efforts with Harry Chapin support The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers plays a crucial role in supporting smaller food banks in the area.
Fort Myers Beach Pier scheduled to be finished a year ahead of schedule The Fort Myers Beach Pier remains a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian two years ago. Efforts to rebuild it has taken a lot of time.
FORT MYERS Iconic Fort Myers statue to undergo repairs The iconic “Rachel at the Well” statue on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers has been a landmark for 94 years. However, it became a casualty of Hurricane Ian in 2022, and discussions for its repair are ongoing.
Salvation Army Thrift Store closing its doors in Collier County The Salvation Army has announced the permanent closure of the Naples Family Store on Davis Boulevard.
SANIBEL Rebuilding the Sanibel Causeway with a cause Construction crews are hard at work making the Sanibel Causeway more resilient. The bridge is being fortified to withstand future storms.
LEE COUNTY No. 2 prospect in MLB Roman Anthony with Red Sox for Spring Training Roman Anthony, who is ranked as the second best in baseball, is with the Boston Red Sox for his first Spring Training.
MANASOTA KEY Popular Manasota Key restaurant reopens after storm damage Manasota Key is steadily recovering from a challenging hurricane season, and residents are celebrating the reopening of a beloved local spot.
PINE ISLAND Construction to start on hurricane-proof fire station on Pine Island A new hurricane-proof fire station is coming to Pine Island. The current station, over 40 years old, is in dire need of replacement.
NORTH PORT Braves’ Chris Sale on the mound in southwest Florida once again Spring Training is in full swing for the Atlanta Braves, whoβs full squad reported on Tuesday, that means Chris Sale is back in SWFL.
NAPLES Denise Brown speaks on domestic violence at Naples fundraiser event A record crowd of 825 people gathered at the Ritz Carlton Tiburon to raise money and awareness to end domestic violence.
NORTH NAPLES Construction on Collier County diverging diamond begins in March Construction on Southwest Florida’s third diverging diamond interchange is set to begin in March.
SANIBEL Sanibel Church rebuilds after Hurricane Ian The Sanibel Community Church has completed its remarkable rebuild after Hurricane Ian devastated their place of worship over two years ago.
NAPLES Costco construction causes commotion in Collier County community Costco is eyeing a plot of land in Collier County for a new store, but residents are voicing strong opposition.
NAPLES Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho’s impact on education and Southwest Florida Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho, a beloved philanthropist and advocate for education, dedicated his life to empowering others through opportunity and knowledge.
SANIBEL Sanibel cracks down on school zone speeders with new camera system Sanibel is tightening its grip on school zone speeders with newly installed cameras.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry expands efforts with Harry Chapin support The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers plays a crucial role in supporting smaller food banks in the area.
Fort Myers Beach Pier scheduled to be finished a year ahead of schedule The Fort Myers Beach Pier remains a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian two years ago. Efforts to rebuild it has taken a lot of time.
FORT MYERS Iconic Fort Myers statue to undergo repairs The iconic “Rachel at the Well” statue on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers has been a landmark for 94 years. However, it became a casualty of Hurricane Ian in 2022, and discussions for its repair are ongoing.
Salvation Army Thrift Store closing its doors in Collier County The Salvation Army has announced the permanent closure of the Naples Family Store on Davis Boulevard.
SANIBEL Rebuilding the Sanibel Causeway with a cause Construction crews are hard at work making the Sanibel Causeway more resilient. The bridge is being fortified to withstand future storms.
LEE COUNTY No. 2 prospect in MLB Roman Anthony with Red Sox for Spring Training Roman Anthony, who is ranked as the second best in baseball, is with the Boston Red Sox for his first Spring Training.
MANASOTA KEY Popular Manasota Key restaurant reopens after storm damage Manasota Key is steadily recovering from a challenging hurricane season, and residents are celebrating the reopening of a beloved local spot.
PINE ISLAND Construction to start on hurricane-proof fire station on Pine Island A new hurricane-proof fire station is coming to Pine Island. The current station, over 40 years old, is in dire need of replacement.
NORTH PORT Braves’ Chris Sale on the mound in southwest Florida once again Spring Training is in full swing for the Atlanta Braves, whoβs full squad reported on Tuesday, that means Chris Sale is back in SWFL.
NAPLES Denise Brown speaks on domestic violence at Naples fundraiser event A record crowd of 825 people gathered at the Ritz Carlton Tiburon to raise money and awareness to end domestic violence.
NORTH NAPLES Construction on Collier County diverging diamond begins in March Construction on Southwest Florida’s third diverging diamond interchange is set to begin in March.
Heather Walsh-Haney, FGCU professor and forensic anthropologist, responded to New York City after the planes hit the World Trad Center on 9/11. She shared her story of investigating the remains of ground zero and the impact the attacks on our nation had on her family 20 years ago. Credit: WINK News. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Heather Walsh-Haney spends her career as a forensic anthropologist piecing together puzzles, identifying the dead, who they were, how they lived and how they died. “What I do is basically piece together the 206 bones of an adult to read their story, and hopefully, what I’m reading that is grounded in science matches how that person saw themselves and how their immediate neighbors and family saw them,β Walsh-Haney explained. Many times, Walsh-Haney has responded in the aftermath of disasters to start picking up the pieces to find answers. She did it after the 1996 ValuJet crash, when a plane plummeted into the Everglades. She did it decades after the 1921 Tulsa massacre. And she did it after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. “As a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, the DMORTs, we were tasked by President Bush to be deployed to ground zero,β Walsh-Haney said. On Sept. 11, 2001, doctor Walsh-Haney was a graduate student at the University of Florida. She remembers the moment she got the news in a meeting with her mentor and former Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell. βIn her meeting room, she had huge television monitors up on her walls, and I remember the news report showing a plane had hit the World Trade Center,β Walsh-Haney said. βI remember the smoke billowing from the plane, and right away, I know in my mind I was trying to understand the scale of the plane that had hit and immediately Dr. Falcetti had said, βThat’s a jetliner. There’s a jet that has hit the World Trade Center. We’re going to be deployed to this mass fatalities event. Be ready, Heather. I’m sure you’ll get your orders.ββ Walsh-Haney got her orders the night of Sept. 11. By daybreak, she was on the road, driving from Gainesville to ground zero. “I felt being a part of it privileged to be able to use my training, education and experience to help our country,β Walsh-Hanye said. βI was also married and wondering, you know, I was leaving my husband behind. When would be the next time that I would see him?” The site at ground zero was too dangerous, so her team worked at the Staten Island landfill. “As I remember, the debris just started coming to the landfill, and it was our job to help identify evidence from firefighter’s jackets with their names on it, to fire hats, to biological materials that would come through, trying to determine whether the material in front of us was human or non,β Walsh-Haney said. The mission included 12-hour days and lonely nights Walsh-Haney worked for three weeks straight. βIt’s not until I myself was up in the plane, and I could still see ground zero smoking and smoldering that it hit me,β Walsh-Haney said. But that was not the only way the aftermath of 9/11 hit her. After her deployment to ground zero, her brother, Nicholas Rudolph Walsh, was deployed to Iraq. “Our response to those attacks, was a war, and so my brother was there,β Walsh-Haney said. Walsh died in the war when he was shot by a sniper. He was 27 years old and left behind two children. Twenty years after 9/11, Walsh-Haney’s emotions are still raw, still palpable. She is still trying to piece together a painful puzzle, one she feels will never really make sense. “I have a very hard time thinking about it and the direction that we are going and where we’ve been,β Walsh-Haney said.