SWFL High School Football Scoreboard Week 12 The regular season finale of high school football in SWFL brings district champions crowned and playoff spots fortified. .
Trash pile on San Carlos Island continues to grow Residents of San Carlos Island have grown tired as garbage and debris from hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton piles up.
Law enforcement presence at Alfie Oakes’ North Naples home and Immokalee packing house Several federal and state law enforcement agencies were at Alfie Oakes’ home and packing house for an investigation that remains undisclosed.
MATLACHA Matlacha restaurant Miceli’s reopens after six weeks Popular Matlacha restaurant Miceli’s has reopened just six weeks after enduring damage from back-to-back storms.
NORTH FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Accused Dollar General thief arrested A man accused of robbing a Dollar General store is behind bars.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Ward 4 candidate seeks vote recount In the race for Fort Myers city council, Cindy Banyai lost the Ward 4 race to incumbent Liston Bochette by just 77 votes or 1.58% of the vote.
FORT MYERS Lee County considers adding second fixed-base operator to RSW The Lee County Port Authority is officially moving forward with negotiations for a new fixed-base operator at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW).
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral roofing business owes $2M to IRS after guilty plea The owner of a Cape Coral roofing business owes the Internal Revenue Service over $2 million after pleading guilty to fraud charges.
FDA approves new shoulder implant From high school seniors to senior citizens, more than 100,000 people will need a shoulder replacement each year.
Private Sky sues future competitor at RSW Private Sky Aviation Services will be getting future competition from a company with trillions of dollars in assets.
Taberna Burntwood opens rebranded tavern at Mercato in North Naples The Mercato restaurant’s difference in decor is clearly striking. Taberna is less rustic and more modern.
IONA Iona home catches fire, at least 2 vehicles also ruined A person lost their home and at least two vehicles after a fire engulfed their property.
FORT MYERS LeeTran scheduled to resume trolley system this month LeeTran brings back the popular seasonal River District trolleys and Fort Myers Beach tram later this month.
MBA Transportation no longer sole transporter at RSW After serving Southwest Florida locals and travelers for nearly 20 years, MBA Transportation is being forced to leave its booth at Southwest Florida International Airport.
WINK NEWS Veterans Day events across Southwest Florida Veterans Day is a time to honor and celebrate the sacrifices and bravery of those who have served in the military.
SWFL High School Football Scoreboard Week 12 The regular season finale of high school football in SWFL brings district champions crowned and playoff spots fortified. .
Trash pile on San Carlos Island continues to grow Residents of San Carlos Island have grown tired as garbage and debris from hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton piles up.
Law enforcement presence at Alfie Oakes’ North Naples home and Immokalee packing house Several federal and state law enforcement agencies were at Alfie Oakes’ home and packing house for an investigation that remains undisclosed.
MATLACHA Matlacha restaurant Miceli’s reopens after six weeks Popular Matlacha restaurant Miceli’s has reopened just six weeks after enduring damage from back-to-back storms.
NORTH FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Accused Dollar General thief arrested A man accused of robbing a Dollar General store is behind bars.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Ward 4 candidate seeks vote recount In the race for Fort Myers city council, Cindy Banyai lost the Ward 4 race to incumbent Liston Bochette by just 77 votes or 1.58% of the vote.
FORT MYERS Lee County considers adding second fixed-base operator to RSW The Lee County Port Authority is officially moving forward with negotiations for a new fixed-base operator at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW).
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral roofing business owes $2M to IRS after guilty plea The owner of a Cape Coral roofing business owes the Internal Revenue Service over $2 million after pleading guilty to fraud charges.
FDA approves new shoulder implant From high school seniors to senior citizens, more than 100,000 people will need a shoulder replacement each year.
Private Sky sues future competitor at RSW Private Sky Aviation Services will be getting future competition from a company with trillions of dollars in assets.
Taberna Burntwood opens rebranded tavern at Mercato in North Naples The Mercato restaurant’s difference in decor is clearly striking. Taberna is less rustic and more modern.
IONA Iona home catches fire, at least 2 vehicles also ruined A person lost their home and at least two vehicles after a fire engulfed their property.
FORT MYERS LeeTran scheduled to resume trolley system this month LeeTran brings back the popular seasonal River District trolleys and Fort Myers Beach tram later this month.
MBA Transportation no longer sole transporter at RSW After serving Southwest Florida locals and travelers for nearly 20 years, MBA Transportation is being forced to leave its booth at Southwest Florida International Airport.
WINK NEWS Veterans Day events across Southwest Florida Veterans Day is a time to honor and celebrate the sacrifices and bravery of those who have served in the military.
FILE – A sign advising visitors to don face coverings stands outside the main entrance to UCHealth University of Colorado hospital Friday, April 1, 2022, in Aurora, Colo. COVID cases are starting to rise again in the United States, with numbers up in most states and up steeply in several. One expert says he expects more of a “bump” than the monstrous surge of the first omicron wave, but another says it’s unclear how high the curve will rise and it may be more like a hill. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) Yet again, the U.S. is trudging into what could be another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. One big unknown? “We don’t know how high that mountain’s gonna grow,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. No one expects a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. But experts warn that the coming wave – caused by a mutant called BA.2 that’s thought to be about 30% more contagious – will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states in the coming weeks. And the case wave will be bigger than it looks, they say, because reported numbers are vast undercounts as more people test at home without reporting their infections or skip testing altogether. At the height of the previous omicron surge, reported daily cases reached into the hundreds of thousands. On April 14, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose to 39,521, up from 30,724 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins collected by The Associated Press. Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the numbers will likely keep growing until the surge reaches about a quarter the height of the last “monstrous” one. BA.2 may well have the same effect in the U.S. as it did in Israel, where it created a “bump” in the chart measuring cases, he said. Keeping the surge somewhat in check, experts said, is a higher level of immunity in the U.S. from vaccination or past infection compared with early winter. But Ray said the U.S. could wind up looking like Europe, where the BA.2 surge was “substantial” in some places that had comparable levels of immunity. “We could have a substantial surge here,” he said. Both experts said BA.2 will move through the country gradually. The Northeast has been hit hardest so far — with more than 90% of new infections caused by BA.2 last week compared with 86% nationally. As of Thursday, the highest rates of new COVID cases per capita over the past 14 days were in Vermont, Rhode Island, Alaska, New York and Massachusetts. In Washington, D.C., which also ranks in the top 10 for rates of new cases, Howard University announced it was moving most undergraduate classes online for the rest of the semester because of “a significant increase in COVID-19 positivity” in the district and on campus. Some states, such as Rhode Island and New Hampshire, saw the average of daily new cases rise by more than 100% in two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins data. Joseph Wendelken, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said despite rising cases, hospitalizations remain relatively low, and that’s the metric they are most focused on right now. About 55 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, compared with more than 600 at one point in the pandemic. Officials credit high vaccination rates. State statistics show 99% of Rhode Island adults are at least partially vaccinated and 48% have gotten the booster dose that scientists say is key in protecting against severe illness with omicron. Vermont also has relatively high levels of vaccination and fewer patients in the hospital than during the height of the first omicron wave. But Dr. Mark Levine, the health commissioner there, said hospitalizations and the numbers of patients in intensive care units are both up slightly, although deaths have not risen. Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that new hospital admissions of patients with confirmed COVID-19 were up slightly in New England and the New York region. On the West Coast, modelers from Oregon Health & Science University are projecting a slight increase in hospitalizations over the next two months in that state, where cases have also risen steeply. As the wave moves across the country, experts said states with low rates of vaccination may face substantially more infections and severe cases that wind up in the hospital. Ray said government leaders must be careful to strike the right tone when talking to people about protecting themselves and others after COVID restrictions have largely been lifted. Philadelphia recently became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after a sharp increase in infections. But Vermont’s Levine said there are no plans to bring back any of the restrictions that were imposed earlier during the pandemic. “It’s going to be hard to institute restrictive, draconian measures,” Ray said. “Fortunately, we have some tools that we can use to mitigate risk. And so I hope that leaders will emphasize the importance for people to watch the numbers,” be aware of risks and consider taking precautions such as wearing masks and getting vaccinated and boosted if they’re not already. Lynne Richmond, a 59-year-old breast cancer survivor who lives in Silver Spring, Md., said she plans to get her second booster and keep wearing her mask in public as cases rise in her state and nearby Washington, D.C. “I never really stopped wearing my mask…I’ve stayed ultra-vigilant,” she said. “I feel like I’ve come this far; I don’t want to get COVID.” Vigilance is a good strategy, experts said, because the coronavirus is constantly throwing curveballs. One of the latest: even more contagious subvariants of BA.2 found in New York state, known as BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1. And scientists warn that new and potentially dangerous variants could arise at any time. “We shouldn’t be thinking the pandemic is over,” Topol said. “We should still keep our guard up.”