FORT MYERS Fort Myers man found guilty of manslaughter A 47-year-old man from Fort Myers has been found guilty of manslaughter after stabbing his neighbor multiple times in 2022.
SNIP Collier volunteer traps her 1000th feral cat A Spay and Neuter Initiative Program has reached a milestone as a Collier County volunteer has captured 1,000 feral cats.
SAINT JAMES CITY Saint James City man sentenced to 5 years for possessing child sexual abuse material A St. James City man has been sentenced to five years for possessing images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
CAPE CORAL Sword-wielding Cape Coral man accused of threatening person with Molotov Cocktail The Cape Coral Police Department arrested a man who allegedly threatened another person with a sword and Molotov Cocktail.
PORT CHARLOTTE Tampa Bay Rays announces spring training season in Port Charlotte The Tampa Bay Rays have announced spring training ticket information for the 2025 spring season in Port Charlotte.
Fort Myers Job Fair set to begin; on-site interviews and offers possible The Fort Myes Job Fair is set to begin, with over 100 openings available from various employers.
the weather authority Tracking rain and storms for your Wednesday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a strong cold front along with rain and storms throughout your Wednesday afternoon.
Man arrested following intense vehicle pursuit; accused of shooting into pregnant girlfriend’s home The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man accused of shooting into his pregnant girlfriend’s home and leading law enforcement through a multi-county pursuit.
ESTERO Everblades head coach Brad Ralph captures 500th career win Florida Everblades head coach Brad Ralph becomes just the fourth coach in ECHL history to record 500 career regular season wins.
Vehicle pursuit in Charlotte County ends in crash A pursuit between the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and a vehicle on Interstate 75 ended in a crash.
Red tide looms off Southwest Florida coastline Beware of the beach! Red tide is making its way towards Southwest Florida once again.
FORT MYERS BEACH $1.2 million approved for repairs for FMB and Sanibel schools This hurricane season left an expensive mess at Fort Myers Beach Elementary and the Sanibel school, but who’s paying the $1.2 million price tag?
FORT MYERS Teen carjacks woman after escaping mental health facility A teenager accused of carjacking a woman in a church parking lot on Friday had just escaped from a facility where he was being held under the Baker Act, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Teachers union raises issues with Lee County School District after arbitration Being a teacher is just like any other profession. Teachers need to take days off, get sick, and sometimes cover for co-workers.
LABELLE LaBelle Animal Shelter hoping to raise money to avoid property being sold The owner of Animal Rescue Inc. in LaBelle is doing everything she can to prevent the shelter from disappearing in a matter of months.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers man found guilty of manslaughter A 47-year-old man from Fort Myers has been found guilty of manslaughter after stabbing his neighbor multiple times in 2022.
SNIP Collier volunteer traps her 1000th feral cat A Spay and Neuter Initiative Program has reached a milestone as a Collier County volunteer has captured 1,000 feral cats.
SAINT JAMES CITY Saint James City man sentenced to 5 years for possessing child sexual abuse material A St. James City man has been sentenced to five years for possessing images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
CAPE CORAL Sword-wielding Cape Coral man accused of threatening person with Molotov Cocktail The Cape Coral Police Department arrested a man who allegedly threatened another person with a sword and Molotov Cocktail.
PORT CHARLOTTE Tampa Bay Rays announces spring training season in Port Charlotte The Tampa Bay Rays have announced spring training ticket information for the 2025 spring season in Port Charlotte.
Fort Myers Job Fair set to begin; on-site interviews and offers possible The Fort Myes Job Fair is set to begin, with over 100 openings available from various employers.
the weather authority Tracking rain and storms for your Wednesday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a strong cold front along with rain and storms throughout your Wednesday afternoon.
Man arrested following intense vehicle pursuit; accused of shooting into pregnant girlfriend’s home The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man accused of shooting into his pregnant girlfriend’s home and leading law enforcement through a multi-county pursuit.
ESTERO Everblades head coach Brad Ralph captures 500th career win Florida Everblades head coach Brad Ralph becomes just the fourth coach in ECHL history to record 500 career regular season wins.
Vehicle pursuit in Charlotte County ends in crash A pursuit between the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and a vehicle on Interstate 75 ended in a crash.
Red tide looms off Southwest Florida coastline Beware of the beach! Red tide is making its way towards Southwest Florida once again.
FORT MYERS BEACH $1.2 million approved for repairs for FMB and Sanibel schools This hurricane season left an expensive mess at Fort Myers Beach Elementary and the Sanibel school, but who’s paying the $1.2 million price tag?
FORT MYERS Teen carjacks woman after escaping mental health facility A teenager accused of carjacking a woman in a church parking lot on Friday had just escaped from a facility where he was being held under the Baker Act, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Teachers union raises issues with Lee County School District after arbitration Being a teacher is just like any other profession. Teachers need to take days off, get sick, and sometimes cover for co-workers.
LABELLE LaBelle Animal Shelter hoping to raise money to avoid property being sold The owner of Animal Rescue Inc. in LaBelle is doing everything she can to prevent the shelter from disappearing in a matter of months.
This March 29, 2021, photo provided by Paul Christiansen shows Louisiana iris on the location of the Battle of New Orleans and of the small historic Black neighborhood of Fazendeville, founded about 1870 for recently emancipated Blacks and torn down in the mid-1960s to expand a national park in Chalmette, La. The park’s visitor center is in the background. (Paul Christiansen via AP) Nearly 60 years ago, a historic Black community founded as a home for newly freed slaves was demolished to expand a national park commemorating the Battle of New Orleans and Civil War casualties. Now park rangers and iris enthusiasts believe they may have found a botanical reminder — Louisiana iris and African lilies that the village’s residents may have planted. The dark purple iris and white and pink crinum lilies were first noticed last spring, nearly 60 years after the tiny community of Fazendeville was torn down to join the national park’s two sections. One part was the land where the Battle of New Orleans was fought; the other was a national cemetery where about 7,300 Union soldiers and sailors rest with later U.S military members. “We may never know for certain” that the flowers were planted by residents, but it seems very likely, said Gary Salathe, who created a group to rescue native irises and who first noticed those on the battlefield. The community, called “The Village” by people who lived there, was founded around 1870 by Jean-Pierre Fazende, a grocer from a family prominent in the social class known as free people of color, said Bill Hyland, the official historian for St. Bernard Parish, where the national park is located southeast of New Orleans along the Mississippi River. Fazende wanted to give recently freed slaves a place to live. So he subdivided an inherited strip of land that was wide enough only for a single row of houses into 33 lots for a “freedmen’s colony.” The land eventually included 30 homes, a church, bars, a grocery store and a school that was used at night as a dance hall. “Like so many people of his class, he understood that the transition of the enslaved to freedom would be a long and arduous process,” Hyland said. For decades families lived and worked in the small community built where American forces had defeated the powerful British military on Jan. 8, 1815. In the early 1960s, with an eye toward unifying the national park in time for the battle’s 150th anniversary in 1965, the park service tried to buy the land. Owners refused. Eventually, Congress approved expropriation and the community was demolished. Homeowners were paid about $6,000 at a time when new homes in the area cost $16,000, according to a 2014 article in the “64 Parishes” magazine published by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. In later years, the park service addressed the expropriation in an article on its website. “The choice to preserve one history sacrificed another,” the park service said. “While we may be able to better visualize the experience of soldiers during the War of 1812 as a result of this choice, it leaves us less able to appreciate the struggles and triumphs of later generations, and less aware of the complex layers that make up our shared history.” In 2010, a marker commemorating Fazendeville was erected near the battlefield road. In February of last year, Salathe and other members of his Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative were planting a small group of blue iris in another part of the park. Salathe, whose group seeks to save Louisiana iris from areas slated for development and plant them in visible spots in nature preserves and parks, noticed long, tall leaves growing in the grass a distance from the road. They looked like iris. A closer look confirmed it. He and park rangers went back a month later when the iris bloomed and got two surprises. First, they were dark purple, not the better known blue iris that is the state flower. Then came a more startling discovery — crinum lilies. Volunteer Paul Christiansen recognized them as a species from Africa, possibly brought by enslaved people, that could not have been growing wild there. “They would have had to be planted by people,” he said. The group then found the slight depression where Fazendeville’s road once ran. The stands of iris all were on the side where houses once had stood, ending about where the back yards would have ended, Salathe said. Salathe said he asked permission to move some of the iris and lilies to an area where they can be more easily seen. The park is considering such a display, said park ranger Kim Acker.