ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Manatee underwater. AP A record number of manatees died in Florida last year, according to a report released by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this week. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021, preliminary data shows that there were 1,101 reported manatee deaths in the state — nearly double the five-year average — with most dying of starvation. Of the more than 1,000 deaths, 103 of them were watercraft-related, the state found, seven were crushed or drowned in flood gates and canal locks, and another seven were killed by human-related causes, such as poaching or rope entanglement. More than half of the deceased manatees were not necropsied or their cause of death has been undetermined. There are only about 6,000 manatees in all of Florida, the nonprofit organization Save the Manatee previously told CBS News. “Having lost hundreds of manatees to starvation, that’s never happened before,” Save the Manatee’s Executive Director Patrick Rose told CBS News’ Ben Tracy. He said that the manatees that died of starvation had a “really agonizing death.” Preliminary mortality comparisons for the time period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION More manatees died last year than in any of the five years prior, data shows. In 2020, there were 637 reported manatee deaths, and there were 607 in 2019. The five-year mortality average is 625, according to the state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has classified the surge in deaths as an unusual mortality event (UME) meaning that the issue “demands immediate response.” Florida officials are still investigating but have so far attributed the deaths to environmental conditions and starvation. “Environmental conditions in portions of the Indian River Lagoon remain a concern,” the state’s wildlife department says on its website. “Researchers have attributed this UME to starvation due to the lack [of] seagrasses in the Indian River Lagoon. In recent years, poor water quality in the Lagoon has led to harmful algal blooms and widespread seagrass loss.” The state says that “most of the seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon has disappeared,” and that the lagoon has seen declining rates of seagrass, a staple food for manatees, since 2011. The lagoon has been hit by several algal blooms since that time, which reduces the amount of light able to hit the water and allows seagrass and other aquatic plant life to grow. “The effects of prolonged starvation are detrimental,” Florida Fish and Wildlife says on its website, and can result in organ atrophy, metabolic and reproductive shutdown, decreased mobility and susceptibility to disease. Florida Fish and Wildlife is currently initiating a supplemental feeding trial in the northern area of the lagoon, where most of the deceased manatees have been found, to provide “some aid” to manatees. In December, several environmental groups, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, Save the Manatee Club, and Defenders of Wildlife, announced their intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over the manatee deaths, saying the agency failed to protect the mammals from water pollution. The groups pointed to pollution from wastewater, leaking septic systems and fertilizer runoff for the algal outbreaks and seagrass loss. Many environmentalists have also pointed to last year’s wastewater leak at Piney Point, a former phosphate mining facility, as a cause for the deaths. The leak, during which millions of gallons of wastewater was dumped into Tampa Bay, resulted in algal blooms on Florida’s Gulf coast. “It’s time for EPA to step in and enforce the Clean Water Act for the sake of the manatees and all the other creatures and people that rely on Florida’s waterways,” Earthjustice attorney Elizabeth Forsyth said in a press release. “If watching manatees starve isn’t the tipping point for the EPA to step in, I don’t know what is.” CBS News environmental correspondent Ben Tracy contributed to this report.