New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashesNew leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents react to $100M North Cape land deal The city of Cape Coral is seeing two projects that will change the city. One is called one of the most lucrative deals in county history.
Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association breaks ground on new Fort Myers headquarters As Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association’s president pointed out, about 1,000 people are still moving to Florida every day, and many of them are finding their way to Southwest Florida.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County drug trafficker sentenced to 10 years A Charlotte County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
lehigh acres ‘How to sign away parental rights?’; Lehigh Acres woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents react to $100M North Cape land deal The city of Cape Coral is seeing two projects that will change the city. One is called one of the most lucrative deals in county history.
Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association breaks ground on new Fort Myers headquarters As Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association’s president pointed out, about 1,000 people are still moving to Florida every day, and many of them are finding their way to Southwest Florida.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County drug trafficker sentenced to 10 years A Charlotte County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
lehigh acres ‘How to sign away parental rights?’; Lehigh Acres woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby.
The entrance to Walmart’s health center in Calhoun, Georgia. (Credit: Walmart) Not only are home coronavirus test kits increasingly hard to find, but they’re also becoming more expensive. Kroger and Walmart are raising prices on scarce over-the-counter rapid COVID-19 tests after both companies fulfilled pledges to offer Abbott Laboratories’ kits to consumers at cost for 100 days, forgoing any profits during the initial sales period. In 2021, Kroger, Walmart and Amazon agreed to sell the tests at cost or a discount of up to 35% for three months to expand testing options for Americans. Without the retailer markups, the kits sold through select retail outlets and containing two tests cost consumers $14. But the White House had trumpeted that deal in mid-December. A spokesperson for Kroger told CBS MoneyWatch that the supermarket chain had fulfilled its commitment to the Biden administration to make home COVID-19 tests available at cost, saying that the “pricing program has now phased out and retail pricing has been reinstated.” Abbott’s Binax Now at-home COVID-19 test kit, one of the most popular varieties, is available in Kroger stores with pharmacies for $23.99. It is out of stock on Kroger’s website amid surging demand for rapid, or antigen, self-test kits. According to the company spokesperson, Kroger sells Quidel’s QuickVue test in the supermarket chain’s nonpharmacy stores. Walmart also made good on its promise and offered the tests for $14 a box past the program’s expiration date and through the holidays before increasing the price, a spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch. The retail giant’s Binax Now test kits, which are also sold out online, are listed for sale on its website for $19.88. “We have seen significant demand for at-home Covid-19 testing kits and are working closely with our suppliers to meet this demand and get the needed product to our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. The spokesperson added that customers might have more luck procuring the tests in Walmart’s stores versus online, where orders are limited to eight kits per customer. Other retailers had already been selling the kits at higher prices, never having struck deals with the White House. Despite those costs, many consumers buy the kits amid record numbers of COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant. Pharmacy chain CVS Health, for example, has been selling the tests for $23.99 a box and is also sold out online. Customers have come up empty-handed in stores, as well. NowInstock.net, a service that tracks the availability of products, indicates that at-home rapid COVID-19 tests are nearly entirely sold out online. In some cases, kits are available for pre-order. An unlikely source of test kits One bright spot: Intrivo Diagnostics’ On/Go rapid self-test kit, which works similarly to the BinaxNow product, is in stock at Walmart.com. It retails for $29.99 for a box of two kits. It’s also available from a less obvious source — health care company Ro, better known for solving mens’ health care needs like hair loss and erectile dysfunction. Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano said the test kits were among the company’s three most sought-after products over the holidays. “Our patients kept asking for tests, and we partnered with the makers of the On/Go test to provide them,” he told CBS MoneyWatch this week. “They have been investing tremendously in manufacturing capacity even as cases have ebbed and flowed in the potential case where there was a far more contagious variant that spread quickly.”