Blue Angels returning for 2025 Florida International Air ShowLee County Commissioners discuss LSCO Budget and Sheriff Marceno federal investigation
PUNTA GORDA Blue Angels returning for 2025 Florida International Air Show The Blue Angels will finally return for the first time in over 12 years to next year’s Florida International Air Show at Punta Gorda Airport.
Lee County Commissioners discuss LSCO Budget and Sheriff Marceno federal investigation In light of recent investigations into Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, a Lee County Commissioner proposed a change at Tuesday’s commissioner’s meeting that would separate the county budget from the sheriff’s. This potential change is a long way from being implemented because it isn’t necessarily a proposal, but more like the beginning steps of one. […]
NORTH FORT MYERS North Fort Myers cheerleaders push for Nationals with community’s help The North Fort Myers Pop Warner cheer team has the talent to compete on the biggest stage but lacks the money.
Victim identified in Charlotte County shooting A victim has been identified after a shooting on Nasturtium Drive early Monday morning.
Advanced care for lung cancer patients in Lee County The outlook for lung cancer is typically not good, mostly because it’s often picked up in late stages. However, Lee Health hopes to change that trajectory by launching a new advanced care center focusing on lung disease.
CHARLOTTE PARK After the storm: Harbor Belle RV Resort faces a slow path to recovery Here on WINK News, we have told you about the devastation at the Harbor Belle RV Resort in Charlotte Park and how, for months, many people did not have power.
New K-9 honors fallen Fort Myers officer A Fort Myers police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice serving southwest Florida gets a unique honor.
Websites to help you avoid charity rip-offs The holiday season is a popular time for people to open their wallets and make donations to charities, but how can you be sure your money is going to the right place?
Southwest Florida celebrates Giving Tuesday It’s a day of giving to the ones who need it the most. Giving Tuesday is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
FORT MYERS BEACH Pink Shell developers plead their case against Fort Myers Beach To build up and out or to not. That is the debate going on right now on Fort Myers Beach. The Pink Shell wants to expand on the island.
NAPLES Naples football set for first state semifinal appearance in six years The Naples Golden Eagles are the lone Southwest Florida football team still standing in the drive to the 305.
FSW FSW volleyball celebrates history with third straight national title The FSW volleyball team became the first team ever to win three straight NJCAA national titles at the Division I level.
FORT MYERS Police report reveals how child with autism got out of house before drowning in Fort Myers pond A police report has been released revealing new details on how a 7-year-old boy with autism was able to leave his home before drowning in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Firecats 11U team headed to Pop Warner Super Bowl The Fort Myers Firecats 11U football team won the Southeast Region to earn the program’s first trip to the Pop Warner Super Bowl.
NAPLES New details released on former city employee accused of embezzlement More details have been released on purchases made by a former Naples city employee accused of embezzlement.
PUNTA GORDA Blue Angels returning for 2025 Florida International Air Show The Blue Angels will finally return for the first time in over 12 years to next year’s Florida International Air Show at Punta Gorda Airport.
Lee County Commissioners discuss LSCO Budget and Sheriff Marceno federal investigation In light of recent investigations into Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, a Lee County Commissioner proposed a change at Tuesday’s commissioner’s meeting that would separate the county budget from the sheriff’s. This potential change is a long way from being implemented because it isn’t necessarily a proposal, but more like the beginning steps of one. […]
NORTH FORT MYERS North Fort Myers cheerleaders push for Nationals with community’s help The North Fort Myers Pop Warner cheer team has the talent to compete on the biggest stage but lacks the money.
Victim identified in Charlotte County shooting A victim has been identified after a shooting on Nasturtium Drive early Monday morning.
Advanced care for lung cancer patients in Lee County The outlook for lung cancer is typically not good, mostly because it’s often picked up in late stages. However, Lee Health hopes to change that trajectory by launching a new advanced care center focusing on lung disease.
CHARLOTTE PARK After the storm: Harbor Belle RV Resort faces a slow path to recovery Here on WINK News, we have told you about the devastation at the Harbor Belle RV Resort in Charlotte Park and how, for months, many people did not have power.
New K-9 honors fallen Fort Myers officer A Fort Myers police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice serving southwest Florida gets a unique honor.
Websites to help you avoid charity rip-offs The holiday season is a popular time for people to open their wallets and make donations to charities, but how can you be sure your money is going to the right place?
Southwest Florida celebrates Giving Tuesday It’s a day of giving to the ones who need it the most. Giving Tuesday is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
FORT MYERS BEACH Pink Shell developers plead their case against Fort Myers Beach To build up and out or to not. That is the debate going on right now on Fort Myers Beach. The Pink Shell wants to expand on the island.
NAPLES Naples football set for first state semifinal appearance in six years The Naples Golden Eagles are the lone Southwest Florida football team still standing in the drive to the 305.
FSW FSW volleyball celebrates history with third straight national title The FSW volleyball team became the first team ever to win three straight NJCAA national titles at the Division I level.
FORT MYERS Police report reveals how child with autism got out of house before drowning in Fort Myers pond A police report has been released revealing new details on how a 7-year-old boy with autism was able to leave his home before drowning in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Firecats 11U team headed to Pop Warner Super Bowl The Fort Myers Firecats 11U football team won the Southeast Region to earn the program’s first trip to the Pop Warner Super Bowl.
NAPLES New details released on former city employee accused of embezzlement More details have been released on purchases made by a former Naples city employee accused of embezzlement.
FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Fort of Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southern France, Monday Aug. 19, 2019. Rarely in recent years has the Kremlin been so popular with European visitors. French President Emmanuel Macron arrives Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. The Hungarian prime minister visited last week. And in days to come, the German chancellor will be there, too. (Gerard Julien, Pool via AP, File) International efforts to defuse the standoff over Ukraine intensified Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron holding talks in Moscow and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington to coordinate policies as fears of a Russian invasion mounted. The buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled Western worries of a possible offensive. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” triggering a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.” Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbor but demands that the U.S. and its allies bar Ukraine and other former Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO reject those demands. Macron, who met in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he is scheduled to head to Ukraine on Tuesday, spoke by phone Sunday with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss “ongoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts,” according to the White House. “The security and sovereignty of Ukraine or any other European state cannot be a subject for compromise, while it is also legitimate for Russia to pose the question of its own security,” Macron said in an interview with French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, adding that he believes that “the geopolitical objective of Russia today is clearly not Ukraine, but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with NATO and the EU.” Macron told reporters that he felt “reasonably optimistic” ahead of his meeting with Putin. “I don’t think there are short-term victories,” he said. “We can prevent some things in the short term. I don’t believe in spontaneous miracles. There are lots of tensions, nervousness. That’s also why I decided to start the discussion a few weeks ago.” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, described Macron’s visit as “very important,” but sought to temper expectations, saying “the situation is too complex to expect a decisive breakthrough after just one meeting.” He noted that “the atmosphere has remained tense,” adding that the U.S. and its allies have continued to ignore Moscow’s security demands. Continuing the high-level diplomacy, Scholz is to meet with Biden later Monday in Washington. Scholz is set to travel to Kyiv and Moscow on Feb. 14-15. Sullivan, the national security adviser, reiterated Sunday that the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany “will not move forward” if Russia attacks Ukraine. Biden and Scholz are expected to address the pipeline during their first face-to-face meeting since Scholz became the head of the German government nearly two months ago. Ahead of the visit, the White House sought to play down Germany’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troops in Eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia — a cautious stance that has drawn criticism abroad and inside Germany. White House officials, who briefed reporters ahead of the meeting on the condition of anonymity, noted that Germany has been a top contributor of nonmilitary aid to Ukraine and has been supportive of the U.S. decision to bolster its troop presence in Poland and Romania to demonstrate its commitment to NATO. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht raised the possibility Sunday that the country could send more troops to Lithuania to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. Biden has deployed additional U.S. troops to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite U.S troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal for eastern Ukraine in a bid to end the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that erupted the previous year following the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The agreement signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk helped stop large-scale fighting, but efforts at a political settlement have stalled and frequent skirmishes have continued along the tense line of contact in Ukraine’s industrial heartland known as the Donbas. The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany last met in Paris in 2019 in the so-called Normandy format summit, but they failed to resolve the main issues. Amid tensions over the Russian military buildup, presidential advisers from the four countries met in Paris on Jan. 26 but didn’t make any visible progress and agreed to meet again in Berlin in two weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed for another four-way Normandy summit, but the Kremlin said such a meeting would only make sense if the parties agree on the next steps to give special status to the rebel east. Putin and his officials have urged France, Germany and other Western allies to encourage Ukraine to fulfill its obligations under the 2015 agreement, which envisaged a broad autonomy for the Donbas region and a sweeping amnesty for the separatists. The agreement stipulated that only after those conditions are met would Ukraine be able to restore control of its border with Russia in rebel regions. The Minsk deal was seen by many Ukrainians as a betrayal of national interests, and its implementation has stalled. During the latest tensions, Ukrainian authorities have warned the West against pressuring Ukraine to implement the agreement. Last week, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told The Associated Press that an attempt by Ukraine to fulfill the Minsk deal could trigger internal unrest that would play into Moscow’s hand. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the country has received more than 1,000 metric tons of weapons and military supplies from its allies, noting that visits by Western officials have helped deter Russia. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is set to hold talks in Kyiv and later head to the area near the line of contact in the east. The British government said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will visit Moscow on Thursday and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will follow meet Friday with his Russian counterparts. __ Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.