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 Sept. 4, 2021, file photo, a man receives the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a bus that serves as a mobile COVID-19 vaccination unit in Bucharest, Romania. In both the U.S. and the EU, officials are struggling with the same question: how to boost vaccination rates to the max and end a pandemic that has repeatedly thwarted efforts to control it. In the European Union, officials in many places are requiring people to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from COVID-19 to participate in everyday activities — even sometimes to go to work. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File) The Belgian town of Aarschot has a vaccination rate of 94% of all adults, but Mayor Gwendolyn Rutten worries her town is too close for comfort to the capital of Brussels, where the rate stands at 63%. But there’s not much she can do about it. Her hope is that the government mandates vaccination. “Otherwise, you drag all others back into danger,” Rutten said in a recent interview. But few European Union countries have issued outright mandates, instead requiring people to show proof of immunization, a negative test or recent recovery from COVID-19 to participate in ever more activities — even sometimes to go to work. More sweeping requirements are the order of the day in the U.S., which has faced significant vaccine resistance. President Biden announced mandates last week that cover large portions of the population, sometimes without any option to test instead. Despite apparently divergent strategies, officials in both the U.S. and the EU are struggling with the same question: how to boost vaccination rates to the max and end a pandemic that has repeatedly thwarted efforts to control it. And the apparent split may in fact be narrowing. While not calling their restrictions mandates, some European countries are making life so difficult for those without the vaccine that it may amount to the same thing. In a perhaps surprising move in a country known for touting individual freedoms, Biden has imposed sweeping vaccine requirements for as many as 100 million Americans, including many private-sector employees and health care workers. Employees at firms with more than 100 workers will need to get immunized or test weekly, while vaccination will be required for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. There are some exemptions. The seemingly more aggressive U.S. policy may reflect greater pressures there. The EU, which initially lagged way behind the United States in terms of vaccinations, surpassed it at the end of July. As of Thursday, the 27-nation bloc had 60% of its population vaccinated compared to 53% for the United States, according to Our World In Data. In the both places, immunization rates vary widely from country to country or state to state. American authorities from Biden on down have labeled the current phase a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” with data showing that nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are now are in people who weren’t vaccinated. EU officials have used the same description for continuing outbreaks in their countries. But it’s harder for the EU writ large to impose vaccine mandates since health policies are the responsibility of the 27 national governments, and top EU officials walk on egg shells addressing the issue. Asked specifically by The Associated Press whether mandatory vaccination could be part of the solution, three EU commissioners swerved around the question, though none argued against it. “This is not within our remit. This is not part of our legal framework,” EU Vice President Margaritis Schinas said, before adding: “But if there is a message that we would like to repeat to member states and through member states to the European citizens, it is ‘vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.’” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasized that supply wouldn’t be an issue, and the bloc would “be ready for everything which is needed.” That underscores that such debates can only play out in wealthy nations, while many lower-income countries remain unable to even offer all their citizens a first shot. But while officials in Brussels can’t impose a mandate on the EU’s 450 million citizens, many national governments are ramping up restrictions for those who are not vaccinated. Some countries are, in fact, requiring vaccines for some groups: Slovenia is imposing them for government employees, with no option to test out. More common in the EU, however, is essentially requiring regular testing for those who aren’t vaccinated. Want to see “The Last Judgment” by Flemish Primitive Rogier van der Weyden at a Burgundy museum? You must show a so-called COVID pass — which provides proof of a negative test, a vaccination or recent recovery from COVID-19 — to be allowed to admire that Northern Renaissance gem. The restrictions apply across France for everything from entering restaurants to visiting the Eiffel Tower. Struggling to boost its paltry vaccination rates in the early summer, France was the first major EU nation to start using such passes. Macron then announced obligatory vaccinations for all health workers in July. It proved effective. In the eight weeks since the announcement, the French public health service said that the overall vaccination rate went from 40% fully vaccinated to 69%. As a result, it has found other takers in the bloc. And on Thursday, Italy, which already required the pass for many activities, upped the ante. Premier Mario Draghi’s government said workers in both the public and private sectors will soon be forced to show one to go to work. Slovenia and Greece have adopted similar measures, but Italy is the first major European economy to require the COVID pass to access places of work across all sectors. The health pass “is not a nudge to get vaccinated, it is a not-so-gentle push,″ Italian legal expert Vitalba Azzollini said. On both sides of the Atlantic, people have sometimes felt the push more like a shove. In the United States, there has been lots of angry rhetoric and scattered demonstrations. “Everyone should have a right to say ‘no’ to something, and not lose everything,” said Candace Ganjavi, a nurse at Memorial Herman Healthcare in Houston, Texas, who is helping others with advice on how to obtain an exemption from the vaccine mandate her employer has imposed. Meanwhile, Republican governors across the U.S. have loudly condemned Biden’s mandate and vowed to take legal action. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster vowed to fight the president “to the gates of hell.” Biden has defended the mandates by saying “my job as president is to protect all Americans.” Italy and France have seen thousands take to the streets in protests of the COVID passes, some of which resulted in clashes with police in Paris. In Slovenia, hundreds of anti-vaccination protesters hurled flares at the parliament building on Wednesday to protest new measures that require a COVID pass for entering almost any shop as well as restaurants and private workplaces. The government doubled down, announcing Friday it would expand the requirement to government employees. Vaccination rates have soared since the first measures were announced. “I would be more pleased if people understood why they have to get vaccinated,” said Bojana Beović, the chief of the Health Ministry’s advisory group on COVID-19. “But the main thing is that the share of the vaccinated population is increasing.” ___ Associated Press writers Christina Larson in Washington, Josh Hoffner in Phoenix, Angela Charlton in Paris, Colleen Barry in Milan, Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and AP reporters from across the EU contributed to this report.