Lee County allocates $41.6M in federal money for affordable housingPoached closing longtime restaurant in North Naples
Lee County allocates $41.6M in federal money for affordable housing The money comes from the federal government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development. Lee County commissioners voted 5-0 in allocating the money, part of a $1.1 billion Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery fund.
Poached closing longtime restaurant in North Naples Poached soon is going to be toast—as in defunct. The local breakfast-lunch restaurant is permanently closing next week in Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples.
PINE ISLAND ‘We’re Pine Island proud,’ Pine Island artists paint power poles Relaunching after 20 years, Pine Island artist have been painting power poles up and down Stringfellow Road in efforts to bring back color and vibrancy after Hurricane Ian.
Naples Airport presented with 4 site options in eastern Collier County Environmental Science Associates conducted an exploratory study and met with landowners interested in selling land. ESA whittled that to a list of four sites for a general airport.
Expert: Buying or renting depends on your situation Shelton Weeks, Lucas professor of real estate and director of the Lucas Institute for Real Estate Development and Finance, is asked a lot by students whether they should rent or buy.
Attorneys offer update on Bonita Estero Rail Trail project The proposed project hit a milestone in February when the Trust for Public Land secured a purchase and sale agreement for $82 million with the Seminole Gulf Railway on a 14.9-mile segment stretching from Alico Road to Collier County for conversion to a hiking and biking trail.
NAPLES Woman arrested for stealing over $150K from Naples Ballet The Naples Police Department arrested a woman for allegedly stealing over $150,000 from the Naples Ballet, a non-profit organization.
NORTH FORT MYERS Duo accused of stealing from North Fort Myers store Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is seeking information on two people accused of stealing from a North Fort Myers store.
WINK NEWS Lee Commissioners award over $41.6M for rehabilitation of affordable housing units The Lee Board of County Commissioners voted to award more than $41.6 million in Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery funds.
New York (AP) Defense rests without Trump testifying in hush money case The defense rests its case without ex-President Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money case. Closing arguments are expected next Tuesday.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee girls robotics team competes at VEX Worlds The Immokalee High School girls robotics team got to compete and learn at the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Police Department launches drone program The Cape Coral Police Department has officially launched its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program.
BUCKINGHAM Airplane crashes after veering off runway at Buckingham Airport An airplane veered off the Buckingham Airport runway during takeoff, according to the FAA incident report, leaving it damaged.
FORT MYERS Premier Mobile Health Services adds 6th Lee County location in Fort Myers The Premier Mobile Health Services has added its sixth Lee County mobile clinic location in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS FDOT discusses plan to close Caloosahatchee Bridge for construction The Florida Department of Transportation held a news conference regarding the closure of the Caloosahatchee Bridge to speed up a construction project on the bridge.
Lee County allocates $41.6M in federal money for affordable housing The money comes from the federal government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development. Lee County commissioners voted 5-0 in allocating the money, part of a $1.1 billion Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery fund.
Poached closing longtime restaurant in North Naples Poached soon is going to be toast—as in defunct. The local breakfast-lunch restaurant is permanently closing next week in Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples.
PINE ISLAND ‘We’re Pine Island proud,’ Pine Island artists paint power poles Relaunching after 20 years, Pine Island artist have been painting power poles up and down Stringfellow Road in efforts to bring back color and vibrancy after Hurricane Ian.
Naples Airport presented with 4 site options in eastern Collier County Environmental Science Associates conducted an exploratory study and met with landowners interested in selling land. ESA whittled that to a list of four sites for a general airport.
Expert: Buying or renting depends on your situation Shelton Weeks, Lucas professor of real estate and director of the Lucas Institute for Real Estate Development and Finance, is asked a lot by students whether they should rent or buy.
Attorneys offer update on Bonita Estero Rail Trail project The proposed project hit a milestone in February when the Trust for Public Land secured a purchase and sale agreement for $82 million with the Seminole Gulf Railway on a 14.9-mile segment stretching from Alico Road to Collier County for conversion to a hiking and biking trail.
NAPLES Woman arrested for stealing over $150K from Naples Ballet The Naples Police Department arrested a woman for allegedly stealing over $150,000 from the Naples Ballet, a non-profit organization.
NORTH FORT MYERS Duo accused of stealing from North Fort Myers store Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is seeking information on two people accused of stealing from a North Fort Myers store.
WINK NEWS Lee Commissioners award over $41.6M for rehabilitation of affordable housing units The Lee Board of County Commissioners voted to award more than $41.6 million in Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery funds.
New York (AP) Defense rests without Trump testifying in hush money case The defense rests its case without ex-President Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money case. Closing arguments are expected next Tuesday.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee girls robotics team competes at VEX Worlds The Immokalee High School girls robotics team got to compete and learn at the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Police Department launches drone program The Cape Coral Police Department has officially launched its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program.
BUCKINGHAM Airplane crashes after veering off runway at Buckingham Airport An airplane veered off the Buckingham Airport runway during takeoff, according to the FAA incident report, leaving it damaged.
FORT MYERS Premier Mobile Health Services adds 6th Lee County location in Fort Myers The Premier Mobile Health Services has added its sixth Lee County mobile clinic location in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS FDOT discusses plan to close Caloosahatchee Bridge for construction The Florida Department of Transportation held a news conference regarding the closure of the Caloosahatchee Bridge to speed up a construction project on the bridge.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, wears a face mask as he arrives for the the White House COVID-19 Response Team’s regular call with the National Governors Association in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Washington. Fauci says the U.S. should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel as coronavirus infections surge. To date the Biden administration has balked at the idea, anticipating legal entanglements. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Monday the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, signaling a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed, as COVID-19 cases spike. Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief science adviser on the pandemic response, said such a mandate might drive up the nation’s lagging vaccination rate as well as confer stronger protection on flights, for which federal regulations require all those age 2 and older to wear a mask. “When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated,” Fauci told MSNBC. “If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered.” The Biden administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Two officials said Biden’s science advisers have yet to make a formal recommendation for such a requirement to the president. ADVERTISEMENT The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said a vaccine mandate on planes could trigger a host of logistical and legal concerns. CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC Live updates: Belgian culture centers appeal against closure World’s fair in Dubai warns of possible closures over virus German court orders rules to protect the disabled in triage Fauci: US should consider vaccine mandate for US air travel The U.S. currently mandates that most foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, though citizens and permanent residents only need to show proof of a negative test taken within a day of boarding. Federal rules don’t require people travelling by air within the U.S. to show a negative test. Hawaii requires travelers to test or show proof of vaccination to avoid a mandatory quarantine. Biden did not respond to questions on whether he was considering implementing a domestic air travel vaccination requirement, but he told reporters the subject was discussed on a call with the nation’s governors Monday morning. “They asked Dr. Fauci some more questions about everything from whether or not he thought he was going to move to test at home — I mean, on air flights and that kind of thing,” Biden said of the call before departing the White House for his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. During the virtual meeting with governors, Biden pledged the full support of the federal government to states facing surges in COVID-19 cases from the more-transmissible omicron variant and a run on at-home tests that dominated headlines over the holiday season. “My message is: If you need something, say something, and we’re going to have your back any way we can,” Biden said. He acknowledged long lines and chaotic scenes as Americans sought out testing amid the case surge and as they looked to safely gather with family and friends over the holiday. “Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do,” he said. He referenced his administration’s plan to make 500 million rapid tests available to Americans beginning next month through an as-yet-to-be-developed website. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the National Governors Association chairman, raised concerns Biden’s plan could get in the way of state efforts to boost supply of tests. “That dries up the supply chain for what we might offer as governors,” he said, saying the lack of supply “has become a real challenge.” Biden assured Hutchinson that the federal effort won’t interfere with state actions. “This gets solved at the state level,” he said. A White House official said the new tests would come from new manufacturing capacity and wouldn’t interfere with existing supply chains. Earlier this year the White House explored a domestic vaccination requirement for flights, or one requiring either vaccination or proof of negative test. But officials have not been eager to mandate vaccination for domestic air travel because they expected it to face immediate legal challenges, mitigating its potential effectiveness as a tool to drive up vaccinations. Pressed last week on why Biden had not mandated vaccinations for domestic air travel, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told MSNBC that “we know that masking can be, is, very effective on airplanes.” “We also know that putting in place that additional restriction might delay flights, might have additional implications,” she added. “We would do it, though, if the health impact was overwhelming. So we rely always on the advice of our health and medical experts. That isn’t a step at this point that they had determined we need to take.” Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show more than 241 million Americans, about 77% of the eligible population age 5 and over, have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Officials believe, though, that there is some overcount in the figures due to record-keeping errors in the administration of booster shots. Since the summer, the Biden administration has embraced various vaccination requirements as a way to get unvaccinated Americans to roll up their sleeves. It has instituted requirements that federal workers, federal contractors and those who work in health care get their shots, and that employers with 100 or more employees institute vaccination-or-testing requirements for their workers. Those vaccination requirements have been mired in legal wrangling, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments Jan. 7 in cases seeking to overturn them. ___ Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed.