Voters meet with Collier County candidatesTexas Roadhouse honors memory of five teenagers lost in tragic crash
NAPLES Voters meet with Collier County candidates It was a packed house at Seed to Table on Tuesday night as Collier County voters met with the candidates running to represent them.
FORT MYERS Texas Roadhouse honors memory of five teenagers lost in tragic crash It has been one year since the tragic crash that took the lives of five teenagers on Top Golf Way in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Locals react to Wade Wilson jury recommendation Wade Wilson, the man found guilty of killing two innocent women, has his life in the hands of a jury and judge. In less than two hours on Tuesday – the jury came to their decision.
FORT MYERS Austan Cristiaan talks joining Bishop Verot and first D-1 offers Quarterback Austan Cristiaan talks about joining Bishop Verot for his freshman season and securing his first two D-1 offers.
FL researchers testing Zika virus to fight childhood brain cancer Neuroblastoma is one of the deadliest childhood cancers. Now, a team of researchers out of Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando are taking a novel approach to wipe out disease. Their studies involve the use of the Zika virus.
FORT MYERS Community Redevelopment Agency seeks public input for Cleveland Avenue project Mayor Kevin Anderson said Tuesday was an opportunity for the Community Redevelopment Agency and leaders to hear what the public thinks this redevelopment should look like.
FGCU professor agrees with US Surgeon General: gun violence is a public health crisis Gun violence: We’ve seen it here firsthand in southwest Florida. Many agree gun violence is a growing problem in the United States. Now, the U.S. Surgeon General is calling it a crisis.
Charlotte County Charlotte County now requiring condo and co-op inspections for building 25-years or older On the 3-year anniversary of the Champlain Towers South building collapse in Surfside, FL, many look to remember those lost and continue to learn from the tragedy.
FORT MYERS A third diamond interchange on its way to Southwest Florida The third iteration of a construction project that strikes fear into some drivers could be a tell-tell sign about the trends of Southwest Florida.
NAPLES Naples practice comes under fire from a former employee A Naples dermatology practice acknowledges it had issues when it first opened two years ago but says those issues are now behind them.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral hosts more FEMA hearings Red tags are rearing their ugly head. Cape Coral homeowners who were slapped with these tags and found non-compliant with city code permits are back to defend themselves.
4 local music shows to choose from in one day If you’re an indecisive local music fan, Friday will be a tough day for you.
FORT MYERS Walt Wesley Way unveiled in honor of local legend Take a drive down Lincoln Blvd. in Fort Myers and you will notice above the street sign is another that reads ‘Honorary Walt Wesley Way.’
LABELLE Man reunited with dog after she appears in LaBelle 2 years after disappearing in Maryland A man has been reunited with his dog after she went missing for two years and many states away.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Several brands of ice cream, a variety of products, recalled for possible Listeria contamination Several brands of ice cream sold at Southwest Florida grocery stores are part of a massive nationwide recall involving 14 brands.
NAPLES Voters meet with Collier County candidates It was a packed house at Seed to Table on Tuesday night as Collier County voters met with the candidates running to represent them.
FORT MYERS Texas Roadhouse honors memory of five teenagers lost in tragic crash It has been one year since the tragic crash that took the lives of five teenagers on Top Golf Way in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Locals react to Wade Wilson jury recommendation Wade Wilson, the man found guilty of killing two innocent women, has his life in the hands of a jury and judge. In less than two hours on Tuesday – the jury came to their decision.
FORT MYERS Austan Cristiaan talks joining Bishop Verot and first D-1 offers Quarterback Austan Cristiaan talks about joining Bishop Verot for his freshman season and securing his first two D-1 offers.
FL researchers testing Zika virus to fight childhood brain cancer Neuroblastoma is one of the deadliest childhood cancers. Now, a team of researchers out of Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando are taking a novel approach to wipe out disease. Their studies involve the use of the Zika virus.
FORT MYERS Community Redevelopment Agency seeks public input for Cleveland Avenue project Mayor Kevin Anderson said Tuesday was an opportunity for the Community Redevelopment Agency and leaders to hear what the public thinks this redevelopment should look like.
FGCU professor agrees with US Surgeon General: gun violence is a public health crisis Gun violence: We’ve seen it here firsthand in southwest Florida. Many agree gun violence is a growing problem in the United States. Now, the U.S. Surgeon General is calling it a crisis.
Charlotte County Charlotte County now requiring condo and co-op inspections for building 25-years or older On the 3-year anniversary of the Champlain Towers South building collapse in Surfside, FL, many look to remember those lost and continue to learn from the tragedy.
FORT MYERS A third diamond interchange on its way to Southwest Florida The third iteration of a construction project that strikes fear into some drivers could be a tell-tell sign about the trends of Southwest Florida.
NAPLES Naples practice comes under fire from a former employee A Naples dermatology practice acknowledges it had issues when it first opened two years ago but says those issues are now behind them.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral hosts more FEMA hearings Red tags are rearing their ugly head. Cape Coral homeowners who were slapped with these tags and found non-compliant with city code permits are back to defend themselves.
4 local music shows to choose from in one day If you’re an indecisive local music fan, Friday will be a tough day for you.
FORT MYERS Walt Wesley Way unveiled in honor of local legend Take a drive down Lincoln Blvd. in Fort Myers and you will notice above the street sign is another that reads ‘Honorary Walt Wesley Way.’
LABELLE Man reunited with dog after she appears in LaBelle 2 years after disappearing in Maryland A man has been reunited with his dog after she went missing for two years and many states away.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Several brands of ice cream, a variety of products, recalled for possible Listeria contamination Several brands of ice cream sold at Southwest Florida grocery stores are part of a massive nationwide recall involving 14 brands.
FILE – A Palestinian protester throws a Molotov cocktail towards Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, April 3, 2013. On social media, the world has cheered Ukrainians as they stockpile Molotov cocktails and take up arms against an occupying army. When Palestinians and Iraqis do the same thing, they are branded terrorists and legitimate targets. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi, File) Within days of the Russian invasion, Western countries invoked international law, imposed crippling sanctions, began welcoming refugees with open arms and cheered on Ukraine’s armed resistance. The response has elicited outrage across the Middle East, where many see a glaring double standard in how the West responds to international conflicts. “We have seen every means we were told could not be activated for over 70 years deployed in less than seven days,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told a security forum in Turkey earlier this month. “Amazing hypocrisy,” he added. The U.S.-led war in Iraq, which began 19 years ago this month, was widely seen as an unlawful invasion of one state by another. But Iraqis who fought the Americans were branded terrorists, and refugees fleeing to the West were often turned away, treated as potential security threats. The Biden administration said Wednesday the United States has assessed that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine and would work with others to prosecute offenders. But the U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court and staunchly opposes any international probe of its own conduct or of its ally, Israel. When Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war on behalf of President Bashar Assad in 2015, helping his forces to pummel and starve entire cities into submission, there was international outrage but little action. Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe died on perilous sea voyages or were turned back as many branded them a threat to Western culture. In Yemen, a grinding yearslong war between a Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels has left 13 million people at risk of starvation. But even searing accounts of infants starving to death have not brought sustained international attention. Bruce Riedel, formerly of the CIA and National Security Council, and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said it was “understandable” that many in the Middle East see a double standard by the West. “The United States and the United Kingdom have supported Saudi Arabia’s seven-years-old war in Yemen, which created the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in decades,” he said. Israel’s occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state is well into its sixth decade, and millions of Palestinians live under military rule with no end in sight. The U.S., Israel and Germany have passed legislation aimed at suppressing the Palestinian-led boycott movement, while major firms like McDonald’s, Exxon Mobil and Apple have won praise by suspending business in Russia. On social media, the world has cheered Ukrainians as they stockpile Molotov cocktails and take up arms against an occupying army. When Palestinians and Iraqis do the same thing, they are branded terrorists and legitimate targets. “We resisted the occupiers, even when the world was with the Americans, including the Ukrainians, who were part of their coalition,” said Sheikh Jabbar al-Rubai, 51, who fought in the 2003-2011 Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces. “Because the world was with the Americans, they didn’t give us this glory and call us a patriotic resistance,” instead emphasizing the insurgency’s religious character, he said. “This is of course a double standard, as if we are subhuman.” Abdulameer Khalid, a 41-year-old Baghdad delivery driver, sees “no difference” between the Iraqi and Ukrainian resistance. “If anything, the resistance to the Americans in Iraq was more justified, given that the Americans traveled thousands of kilometers to come to our country, while the Russians are going after a supposed threat next door to them,” he said. To be sure, there are important differences between the war in Ukraine — a clear case of one U.N.-member state invading another — and the conflicts in the Middle East, which often involve civil war and Islamic extremism. “By and large, Middle East conflicts are incredibly complicated. They are not morality plays,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Mideast adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations. He said the Ukraine conflict is unique in its degree of moral clarity, with Russia widely seen as launching an aggressive, devastating war against its neighbor. The closest Mideast analogy might be Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 when Washington responded by assembling a military coalition including Arab states that drove out the Iraqi forces. Still, Miller acknowledges that U.S. foreign policy “is filled with anomalies, inconsistencies, contradictions and yes, hypocrisy.” The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was a response to the 9/11 attacks, which Osama bin Laden planned while being sheltered by the Taliban there. The U.S. justified its war in Iraq with false claims about weapons of mass destruction, but the invasion also toppled a brutal dictator who had himself flouted international law and committed crimes against humanity. Still, the invasion is regarded by most Iraqis and other Arabs as an unprovoked disaster that set the stage for years of sectarian strife and bloodletting. Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a White House adviser when the U.S. invaded Iraq, said there was a difference between Ukrainians battling Russian invaders and insurgents in Iraq who fought Americans. “Iraqis who fought U.S. troops on behalf of Iran or ISIS were not freedom fighters,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group. ”Making these moral distinctions is not an act of hypocrisy.” The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back more than a century — long before the 1967 war in which Israel seized east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the world considers those areas to be occupied Palestinian territory and Israel’s ongoing settlement construction to be a violation of international law. Israel portrays the conflict as a territorial dispute, accusing the Palestinians of refusing to accept its right to exist as a Jewish state. “Only the severely context-challenged could compare Israel’s wars of defense to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor,” the Jerusalem Post said in a March 1 editorial on the topic. Russia’s intervention in Syria was part of a complex civil war in which several factions — including the Islamic State group — committed atrocities. As IS seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, many feared extremists would slip into Europe amid waves of refugees. Still, many in the Middle East saw harsh treatment of Arab and Muslim migrants as proof that Western nations still harbor cultural biases despite espousing universal rights and values. Many feel their suffering is taken less seriously because of pervasive views that the Middle East has always been mired in violence — never mind the West’s role in creating and perpetuating many of its intractable conflicts. “There’s this expectation, drawn from colonialism, that it’s more normal for us to be killed, to grieve our families, than it is for the West,” said Ines Abdel Razek, advocacy director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy.