‘Lucy’s Law’ aims to enhance boating safety after Florida Keys accidentLocal record store and venue, Beach Records, closing after 6 years
‘Lucy’s Law’ aims to enhance boating safety after Florida Keys accident A proposed bill in Florida, known as “Lucy’s Law,” seeks to increase penalties for vessel collisions, accidents, and casualties.
IONA Local record store and venue, Beach Records, closing after 6 years Beach Records, a record store doubling as a music venue, is closing down after hundreds of shows held and many more records sold.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach businesses thrive as spring break crowds return Fort Myers Beach is bustling with activity as spring break draws crowds to the area. The influx of visitors is a welcome sight for local businesses, especially after the community faces challenges from recent hurricanes.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral businesses worry over parking loss in road expansion Cape Coral is set to undergo a significant change with a road expansion project on Cape Coral Parkway, increasing it from four lanes to six.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for March 12, 2025 This weekly Most Wanted Wednesday WINK News segment features fugitives from justice in Southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS 97.7 Latino hosts Fort Myers event to aid St. Jude kids this March WTLQ 97.7 Orgullo Latino is gearing up for its annual Partners in Hope event.
Is a mini-retirement right for you? Experts share insights Taking a temporary extended break from work, known as a mini-retirement, is becoming a popular trend, especially among younger generations.
FSW Transfer portal boosts FSW baseball’s roster with D1 talent In the age of the transfer portal, Florida Southwestern baseball is made up of players who have transferred from various prestigious programs.
NORTH PORT Day in the life of CoolToday Park’s mascot, Palmer Palmer, the friendly palm tree, roams the ballpark spreading joy wherever he goes.
MATLACHA Residents voice traffic control concerns for Little Pine Island Bridge The Little Pine Island Bridge has been a main focus of recovery for southwest Florida since Hurricane Ian damaged it in 2022, but construction has been a headache for people on the island since then.
FORT MYERS RSW Phase 2 expansion begins despite delays The second phase of the RSW expansion project has officially broken ground, even as the first phase encounters delays.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral boaters warned of sunken barge hazard in Caloosahatchee River A barge capsized in the Caloosahatchee River near Jaycee Park, leaking fuel into the water is causing a hazard for boaters.
WINK NEWS Estero crash on I-75 involves four cars; trooper unharmed A traffic crash on Tuesday evening involving multiple vehicles occurred on Northbound Interstate 75 near Estero.
Hair loss could be unexpected side effect of losing weight Hair loss can be an unexpected side effect of losing weight. While shedding between 50 to 100 strands of hair a day is normal, losing more could indicate a problem.
Lee County School District central office under hiring freeze; superintendent weighs in The Lee County School District’s central office is currently under a hiring freeze. WINK News confirmed this exclusive development.
‘Lucy’s Law’ aims to enhance boating safety after Florida Keys accident A proposed bill in Florida, known as “Lucy’s Law,” seeks to increase penalties for vessel collisions, accidents, and casualties.
IONA Local record store and venue, Beach Records, closing after 6 years Beach Records, a record store doubling as a music venue, is closing down after hundreds of shows held and many more records sold.
FORT MYERS BEACH Fort Myers Beach businesses thrive as spring break crowds return Fort Myers Beach is bustling with activity as spring break draws crowds to the area. The influx of visitors is a welcome sight for local businesses, especially after the community faces challenges from recent hurricanes.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral businesses worry over parking loss in road expansion Cape Coral is set to undergo a significant change with a road expansion project on Cape Coral Parkway, increasing it from four lanes to six.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for March 12, 2025 This weekly Most Wanted Wednesday WINK News segment features fugitives from justice in Southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS 97.7 Latino hosts Fort Myers event to aid St. Jude kids this March WTLQ 97.7 Orgullo Latino is gearing up for its annual Partners in Hope event.
Is a mini-retirement right for you? Experts share insights Taking a temporary extended break from work, known as a mini-retirement, is becoming a popular trend, especially among younger generations.
FSW Transfer portal boosts FSW baseball’s roster with D1 talent In the age of the transfer portal, Florida Southwestern baseball is made up of players who have transferred from various prestigious programs.
NORTH PORT Day in the life of CoolToday Park’s mascot, Palmer Palmer, the friendly palm tree, roams the ballpark spreading joy wherever he goes.
MATLACHA Residents voice traffic control concerns for Little Pine Island Bridge The Little Pine Island Bridge has been a main focus of recovery for southwest Florida since Hurricane Ian damaged it in 2022, but construction has been a headache for people on the island since then.
FORT MYERS RSW Phase 2 expansion begins despite delays The second phase of the RSW expansion project has officially broken ground, even as the first phase encounters delays.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral boaters warned of sunken barge hazard in Caloosahatchee River A barge capsized in the Caloosahatchee River near Jaycee Park, leaking fuel into the water is causing a hazard for boaters.
WINK NEWS Estero crash on I-75 involves four cars; trooper unharmed A traffic crash on Tuesday evening involving multiple vehicles occurred on Northbound Interstate 75 near Estero.
Hair loss could be unexpected side effect of losing weight Hair loss can be an unexpected side effect of losing weight. While shedding between 50 to 100 strands of hair a day is normal, losing more could indicate a problem.
Lee County School District central office under hiring freeze; superintendent weighs in The Lee County School District’s central office is currently under a hiring freeze. WINK News confirmed this exclusive development.
Credit: WINK News. The U.S. real estate market was already tough for prospective buyers, who have faced double-digit price increases and cutthroat competition for listed properties. Now they are facing another challenge as rising mortgage rates add to the affordability squeeze. The average mortgage rate jumped to 4.42% for the week ended March 24, according to Freddie Mac. That’s more than a one percentage-point jump since January 2022, when rates were hovering at about 3.2%. The current rate is the highest homebuyers have seen since March 2019. The higher rate translates into significant costs for homebuyers. For a median-priced home, a rate of 4.4% on a fixed 30-year mortgage would cost someone an additional $250 a month, compared with a purchaser who had bought in January when the rate was about 3.2%, according to Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of Realtors. That jump in housing costs is pricing millions of potential buyers out of the market, she added. “Since the beginning of the year, about 7.9 million households have already been priced out due to higher mortgage rates,” she said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch, adding that “2.5 million of these households are millennials.” The rapid increase in home prices during the pandemic has pushed the dream of homeownership beyond the means of many middle-class Americans, who increasingly are bidding against investors and higher-income buyers for a limited pool of homes. One question many have asked is when prices might come back to earth; so far, however, there are no signs prices are softening. In February, the median listing price for U.S. homes jumped almost 13% to $392,000 compared with the previous year, Realtor.com said earlier this month. Only about 40% of renters who are millennials — whose generation is now the biggest buyers of homes — can afford to buy a starter home under today’s rates, compared with 53% a year earlier, Evangelou said. Housing market cooling fast Even so, there are some cracks emerging in the real estate market. For one, the pending home sales index, which tracks contracts signed for existing home sales, dipped 4.1% in February, which experts say is due to affordability concerns as well as a lack of inventory. The number of active listings dropped by almost 25% in February compared with a year earlier, according to Realtor.com. “Pending home sales follow mortgage demand, which has been falling rapidly since the turn of the year, and is nowhere near bottom, given the continued surge in mortgage rates,” noted Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a research note. “The housing market is cooling very rapidly, and sales are set to fall by 20%-to-30% by mid-year.” He added, “The writing is on the wall, in big, sharp, clear letters.” Buyers are also facing a triple-whammy: Not only are housing and borrowing costs higher now, but inflation is at its highest level in four decades. The typical household is likely to face an additional $2,000 in costs this year due to high gas prices — money that will erode their ability to spend on other goods and services. “For buyers looking for a home, the higher price came at the same time as speeding #inflation not only took more out of each paycheck, but also pushed mortgage rates higher,” said George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com on Twitter. “The net effect, especially for first-time buyers, was a shrinking of their budgets & fewer options.”