Naples-based fashion designer supports teen who was denied entrance to promStaying safe against rip currents
NAPLES Naples-based fashion designer supports teen who was denied entrance to prom Sophie Savidge is getting some swanky bow ties from Naples-based fashion designer Peter Jean-Marie.
FORT MYERS BEACH Staying safe against rip currents Mother Nature is throwing us for a loop. Right now, most of our beaches are at high risk for rip currents.
FORT MYERS Football officials work to keep the ‘Friday’ in Friday night lights Whether you think they are making good calls or bad ones, without officials there would be no Friday night lights.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE Army Corps prepares Lake Okeechobee ahead of ‘extremely active’ hurricane season This year, we had an abnormally wet dry season. The lake rose when it should have been receding.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man charged with felony after allegedly backing into Publix employee A man on a grocery store run turned into a hit-and-run victim after he allegedly backed onto a Publix employee, according to the arrest report.
FORT MYERS Avoiding the “Summer Slide”: How to keep students engaged during the summer Every kid looks forward to summer, but they also face the “Summer Slide”, a term for students who aren’t mentally engaged over the summer.
NAPLES Details: Judge Judy files defamation suit against National Enquirer parent company Television personality Judge Judy Sheindlin, a resident of Collier County, filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Accelerate360 and A360 Media LLC, the parent companies of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly.
CAPE CORAL Exclusive video shows why family of 13-year-old hit and killed in Cape Coral is filing civil rights complaint In a newly released exclusive video sent to WINK news, you can see the moments before a 13-year-old was fatally struck while riding his electric scooter in Cape Coral.
Tackling the teacher shortage in Lee County Are your kids losing out on the value of going to school because of inconsistency in who their teachers are?
6 bus crash victims identified; Immokalee community mourns loss Eight Mexican migrant farmworkers’ lives were cut short in an instant during a bus crash in Central Florida, and now we know who at least six of them were.
CAPE CORAL CCPD holds memorial service for fallen officers The Cape Coral Police Department, along with city employees took some time Wednesday to pray, thank, and honor the men and women who risk their lives every day to make sure our families are safe.
NAPLES Greater Naples Fire Rescue District starts Project Fire Buddies Greater Naples Fire is the first fire department to start a Project Fire Buddies program in Florida.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO investigating shooting at Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres; 1 injured The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is reporting one person has been injured in a shooting near the Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres, and though they haven’t arrested anyone, they are investigating.
LEHIGH ACRES Deputies investigating reports of man pulling rifle on Waste Pro worker in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports of a man pulling a rifle on a garbage truck worker in Lehigh Acres.
Collier County Schools postpones possible school zoning changes The Collier County School Board voted four to one against two different proposals that could redraw school boundaries.
NAPLES Naples-based fashion designer supports teen who was denied entrance to prom Sophie Savidge is getting some swanky bow ties from Naples-based fashion designer Peter Jean-Marie.
FORT MYERS BEACH Staying safe against rip currents Mother Nature is throwing us for a loop. Right now, most of our beaches are at high risk for rip currents.
FORT MYERS Football officials work to keep the ‘Friday’ in Friday night lights Whether you think they are making good calls or bad ones, without officials there would be no Friday night lights.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE Army Corps prepares Lake Okeechobee ahead of ‘extremely active’ hurricane season This year, we had an abnormally wet dry season. The lake rose when it should have been receding.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man charged with felony after allegedly backing into Publix employee A man on a grocery store run turned into a hit-and-run victim after he allegedly backed onto a Publix employee, according to the arrest report.
FORT MYERS Avoiding the “Summer Slide”: How to keep students engaged during the summer Every kid looks forward to summer, but they also face the “Summer Slide”, a term for students who aren’t mentally engaged over the summer.
NAPLES Details: Judge Judy files defamation suit against National Enquirer parent company Television personality Judge Judy Sheindlin, a resident of Collier County, filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Accelerate360 and A360 Media LLC, the parent companies of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly.
CAPE CORAL Exclusive video shows why family of 13-year-old hit and killed in Cape Coral is filing civil rights complaint In a newly released exclusive video sent to WINK news, you can see the moments before a 13-year-old was fatally struck while riding his electric scooter in Cape Coral.
Tackling the teacher shortage in Lee County Are your kids losing out on the value of going to school because of inconsistency in who their teachers are?
6 bus crash victims identified; Immokalee community mourns loss Eight Mexican migrant farmworkers’ lives were cut short in an instant during a bus crash in Central Florida, and now we know who at least six of them were.
CAPE CORAL CCPD holds memorial service for fallen officers The Cape Coral Police Department, along with city employees took some time Wednesday to pray, thank, and honor the men and women who risk their lives every day to make sure our families are safe.
NAPLES Greater Naples Fire Rescue District starts Project Fire Buddies Greater Naples Fire is the first fire department to start a Project Fire Buddies program in Florida.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO investigating shooting at Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres; 1 injured The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is reporting one person has been injured in a shooting near the Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres, and though they haven’t arrested anyone, they are investigating.
LEHIGH ACRES Deputies investigating reports of man pulling rifle on Waste Pro worker in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports of a man pulling a rifle on a garbage truck worker in Lehigh Acres.
Collier County Schools postpones possible school zoning changes The Collier County School Board voted four to one against two different proposals that could redraw school boundaries.
Bodies in bodybags are placed on the side of the road after an accident in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state, Mexico, Dec. 9, 2021. Mexican authorities say at least 49 people were killed and dozens more injured when a cargo truck carrying Central American migrants rolled over on a highway in southern Mexico. (AP Photo ) Rescue workers rushing to a highway accident found a horrific scene of death and injury after a freight truck jammed with as many as 200 migrants tipped over and crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge in southern Mexico. The migrants inside the cargo trailer were tossed and crushed in a pile of both the living and the dead. By late Thursday, the death toll stood at 53, and authorities said at least 54 people had been injured. It was one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas. Volunteer rescuers hauled bodies off the pile by their arms and legs, while some migrants scrambled to extract themselves from the twisted steel sheets of the collapsed container. One young man, pinned in a heap of unmoving bodies, wriggled to free the lower half of his frame, his face wrenched into a grimace as he extracted himself from the weight of the dead. Nearby, a man blinked his eyes, unable to move as he lay on the shoulder of the road. Next to him was a fellow migrant, stouter and older, whose eyes stared lifeless and unblinking into the setting sun. While the Mexican government is trying to appease the United States by stopping caravans of walking migrants and allowing the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, it hasn’t been able to stop the flood of migrants stuffed hundreds at a time into freight trucks operated by smugglers who charge thousands of dollars to take them to the U.S. border — trips that all too often lead them only to their deaths. The most severely injured, many bloodied, were carried by their arms and legs to plastic sheets set on the road. Those who could walk were led, stunned and uncomprehending, to the same sheets. Ambulances, cars and pickup trucks were pressed into service, ferrying the injured to hospitals. Later, the dead were laid in rows of white sheets, side by side, on the highway. Rescue workers who first arrived said that even more migrants had been aboard the truck when it crashed and had fled for fear of being detained by immigration agents. One paramedic said some of those who hurried into surrounding neighborhoods were bloodied or bruised, but still limped away in their desperation to escape. About 200 migrants may have been packed into the truck, said Guatemala’s top human rights official, Jordán Rodas. While shocking, that number is not unusual for migrant smuggling operations in Mexico, and the weight of the load — combined with speed and a nearby curve — may have been enough to throw the truck off balance, authorities said. Luis Manuel Moreno, head of the Chiapas state civil defense office, said about 21 of the injured had serious wounds and were taken to local hospitals. The federal Attorney General’s Office said three were critically injured in the crash on a highway leading from the Guatemalan border toward the Chiapas state capital. Sitting on the pavement beside the overturned trailer, survivor Celso Pacheco of Guatemala said the truck felt like it was speeding and then seemed to lose control. Pacheco said there were migrants mostly from Guatemala and Honduras aboard and estimated there were eight to 10 young children. He said he was trying to reach the United States, but now expected to be deported to Guatemala. Marco Antonio Sánchez, director of the Chiapas Firefighter Institute, said ambulances raced victims to three hospitals, carrying three to four injured each. When there weren’t enough ambulances, they loaded them into pickup trucks, he said. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei wrote on Twitter: “I deeply regret the tragedy in Chiapas state, and I express my solidarity for the victims’ families, to whom we will offer all the necessary consular assistance, including repatriation.” At the Vatican, Pope Francis, who visited Chiapas in 2015 and has made the plight of migrants a hallmark of his papacy, sent a telegram of condolences Friday to the archbishop of Tuxtla Gutierrez. In the note, he offered prayers for the victims, their families and for the injured. The truck had originally been a closed freight module of the kind used to transport perishable goods. The container was smashed open by the force of the impact. It was unclear if the driver survived. Those who spoke to survivors said the migrants told of boarding the truck in Mexico, near the border with Guatemala, and of paying between $2,500 and $3,500 to be taken to Mexico’s central state of Puebla. Once there, they would presumably have contracted with another set of smugglers to take them to the U.S. border. In recent months, Mexican authorities have tried to block migrants from walking in large groups toward the U.S. border, but the clandestine and illicit flow of smuggling has continued. In October, in one of the largest busts in recent memory, authorities in the northern border state of Tamaulipas found 652 mainly Central American migrants jammed into a convoy of six cargo trucks heading toward the U.S. border. Irineo Mujica, an activist who is leading a march of about 400 migrants who have been walking for almost 1 1/2 months across southern Mexico, blamed Thursday’s disaster on Mexico cracking down on migrant caravans. Mujica and his group had almost reached the outskirts of Mexico City, after weeks of dealing with National Guard officers who tried to block the march. Mujica said the group would stop and offer prayers for the dead migrants. “These policies that kill us, that murder us, is what leads to this type of tragedy,” Mujica said. In fact, they are two very different groups. Caravans generally attract migrants who don’t have the thousands of dollars needed to pay migrant smugglers. Migrants involved in serious accidents are often allowed to stay in Mexico at least temporarily because they are considered witnesses to and victims of a crime, and Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said it would offer humanitarian visas to the survivors. The agency also said the Mexican government would help identify the dead and cover funeral costs or repatriation of their remains. Mass deaths of migrants are something that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been desperate to avoid, even as his administration has accepted requests from the U.S. government to stem the flow of migrants moving north. “It is very painful,” he wrote on his Twitter account about the crash.