‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into colorCollier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate The Golden Gate golf course has been closed for more than four years, but the future looks bright. “We’re just very honored to be a part of this, and the team, and we’re having fun and I can’t wait for the doors to open,” said Cindy Darland, executive producer at First Tee Naples/Collier. Collier commissioners […]
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema prepares for opening at Mercato The newest movie theater in Southwest Florida opens April 29, and it does so with an array of entertainment offerings that go beyond the usual options across the region.
Let’s Waffle opens in Cape Coral Let’s Waffle is one of two businesses the Feix family launched locally, with the FMS Florida Boat Tours and Limousine Service owned and operated by Feix’s husband, Alexander.
Planned Punta Gorda hotel, pub, brewery faces construction delay Kevin Doyle, owner of Celtic Ray Public House Irish pub in downtown Punta Gorda, and his partner, S4 Global Investments, were found in violation of the city’s exposed soils code.
Three Sisters Spring Toast the manatee released by FWC, SeaWorld and Casey DeSantis near Crystal River A manatee named Toast was released back into the Florida waters after a final medical evaluation from wildlife officials.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Man arrested and charged with over 90 counts of fraud The Cape Coral Police Department arrested a man for allegedly stealing items from a business and then pawning them.
Man accused of pulling gun on someone ordering at Collier County Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru A man has been arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on someone ordering at a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru in Collier County.
League Club of Naples awards record $683K in grants to Collier, Lee nonprofits At a mid-April breakfast event, the 35 area nonprofit agencies—chosen from a record number of applicants—were awarded grants from the women’s volunteer organization in areas ranging from arts education, to fighting hunger and homelessness, to providing bikes and wheelchairs to children in need
Tim Aten Knows: Chick-fil-A drive-thru proposal faces criticism in Naples Chick-fil-A is proposing a drive-thru restaurant at the site of the former Red Lobster restaurant on U.S. 41 in Naples, but the project is facing early criticism.
Man convicted for murder of 17-year-old girl will be in court for resentencing A convicted man will be in court for resentencing for a murder that he committed as a teenager almost 20 years ago.
NAPLES Friday’s Furry Friends: Holly, Slim For this week’s Friday’s Furry Friends, WINK visits the Collier County Domestic Animal Services to showcase two adorable animals ready to be adopted.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Dust Devil spotted spiraling in Fort Myers A dust devil was spotted and recorded by a WINK News viewer on Hanson Street in Fort Myers.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate The Golden Gate golf course has been closed for more than four years, but the future looks bright. “We’re just very honored to be a part of this, and the team, and we’re having fun and I can’t wait for the doors to open,” said Cindy Darland, executive producer at First Tee Naples/Collier. Collier commissioners […]
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema prepares for opening at Mercato The newest movie theater in Southwest Florida opens April 29, and it does so with an array of entertainment offerings that go beyond the usual options across the region.
Let’s Waffle opens in Cape Coral Let’s Waffle is one of two businesses the Feix family launched locally, with the FMS Florida Boat Tours and Limousine Service owned and operated by Feix’s husband, Alexander.
Planned Punta Gorda hotel, pub, brewery faces construction delay Kevin Doyle, owner of Celtic Ray Public House Irish pub in downtown Punta Gorda, and his partner, S4 Global Investments, were found in violation of the city’s exposed soils code.
Three Sisters Spring Toast the manatee released by FWC, SeaWorld and Casey DeSantis near Crystal River A manatee named Toast was released back into the Florida waters after a final medical evaluation from wildlife officials.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral Man arrested and charged with over 90 counts of fraud The Cape Coral Police Department arrested a man for allegedly stealing items from a business and then pawning them.
Man accused of pulling gun on someone ordering at Collier County Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru A man has been arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on someone ordering at a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru in Collier County.
League Club of Naples awards record $683K in grants to Collier, Lee nonprofits At a mid-April breakfast event, the 35 area nonprofit agencies—chosen from a record number of applicants—were awarded grants from the women’s volunteer organization in areas ranging from arts education, to fighting hunger and homelessness, to providing bikes and wheelchairs to children in need
Tim Aten Knows: Chick-fil-A drive-thru proposal faces criticism in Naples Chick-fil-A is proposing a drive-thru restaurant at the site of the former Red Lobster restaurant on U.S. 41 in Naples, but the project is facing early criticism.
Man convicted for murder of 17-year-old girl will be in court for resentencing A convicted man will be in court for resentencing for a murder that he committed as a teenager almost 20 years ago.
NAPLES Friday’s Furry Friends: Holly, Slim For this week’s Friday’s Furry Friends, WINK visits the Collier County Domestic Animal Services to showcase two adorable animals ready to be adopted.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Dust Devil spotted spiraling in Fort Myers A dust devil was spotted and recorded by a WINK News viewer on Hanson Street in Fort Myers.
Is Gov. Ron DeSantis unbeatable in November? He is leading Charlie Crist by an average of 4 percentage points, and there are nearly a quarter million more registered Republican voters than Democratic voters in Florida. Still, Crist says he is confident he can get the votes needed for a win, with the help of his running mate Karla Hernandez. While 230,000 more registered voters is a lot to overcome, Crist is looking at this number: non-party-affiliated registered voters. There are nearly 4 million of them in Florida. Crist says Hernandez, his pick for lieutenant governor, can help secure the votes. Hernandez is the president of the largest teachers union in the southeast: United Teachers of Dade. It has 300,000 members. She is a former special ed teacher and was the teacher of the year at Hialeah Community Middle School in 2010. But now, Hernandez is facing backlash after she said, “I’m a special-ed teacher, so my major is emotionally-handicapped education, OK? That by itself qualifies me to deal with a dysfunctional legislature.” Hernandez made the comments during a campaign event about a week ago. “I am trained in emotionally behaviorally disturbing education. It was an insult to the legislature because they are dysfunctional … that population of students is actually magical and magnificent, so it’s actually a disservice to them that I compared them to dysfunctional lawmakers,” Hernandez said. She then pivots to what she says is a bigger concern: DeSantis flying migrants out of Florida and into sanctuary cities. She believes voters are tired of the political games and want change. “Folks are tired of the fear-mongering,” she said. “Folks are tired of you know, seeing their liberties and freedoms being taken away.” Hernandez takes aim at DeSantis on social media with Chalkboard Talk. “Today’s word of the day is ‘dictator.’ A person who gives orders and behaves as if they have complete power. A person who behaves in an autocratic way,” she said on Tiktok. “The freedoms that Gov. DeSantis has taken away from people, and how he oppresses communities, I mean, he took away through gerrymandering, to voting districts, congressional districts that are African American, that doesn’t happen in a free country, democracy like the United States,” she said. “A women’s freedom, autonomy, making sure that you know we have reproductive health in the state of Florida, that we have a high-quality public education system where children have the freedom to learn, and teachers have the freedom to teach.” The three-time elected teachers union president that she knows the public education system does not work for the public. She said the state of education of Florida is awful. “We’re 48th in the nation,” she said in a union of 50. As a union leader, she also has experience engaging with lawmakers in Tallahassee. “I have had the opportunity to go and meet with lawmakers and lobby on educational issues on children’s issues. And that’s important, it’s important that, you know, all constituencies from all across the state really get heard. And you know that we have a seat at the table,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said she is worried the impact DeSantis’ rules and rhetoric are having on teaching and learning in Florida schools, including his attacks on “woke culture,” and the Parental Rights in Education law, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. “It’s just really terrible that there’s so many attacks on public education,” she said. “We’ve never seen such a concerted effort to ban books, you know, the freedom to learn, censoring teachers. I mean, we’re truth-tellers. And so teachers want to teach with authenticity.” DeSantis once said: “We are sick of the indoctrination.” The Stop Woke Act was passed by the Florida legislature. It now awaits a signature from Gov. Ron DeSantis. (CREDIT: WINK News) But Hernandez sees it another way. “So when we talk about indoctrinating, he’s the one that’s doing it. He’s putting politics into the classroom, which is not what parents want. It’s not what teachers want. He’s putting people in school boards that are going to follow and toe the line and do whatever it is that he says,” Hernandez said. Hernandez also criticizes DeSantis’ plan to put veterans and first responders in classrooms to address the teacher shortage. “This is the way of teaching them cheap. This is saying that anybody can just come off the street, you know, good, right, indifferent, it doesn’t matter, right? But we went to school and did the pedagogy and have the skill sets and the tactics and, you know, to teach children, and we would never do this to any other profession,” Hernandez said. “I, as a middle school special ed teacher, would not be on the front lines of a war because I’m not trained for that. And you know, I’m not trained to be a surgeon either. So why is it that it’s OK to do it with our children?” Hernandez doesn’t offer a specific figure but said raising pay and reducing political attacks on the profession will help with recruiting and retaining teachers. She challenges DeSantis to prove his controversial policies are making education better. “Kids tell us, you know, everything that’s happening, they feel attacked, when you have laws, like don’t say gay, because some of their family members might be of the LGBTQ plus community, their parents, or maybe themselves, you know, we don’t know how children, you know, grow up and develop and how they identify,” Hernandez said. “But our kids are so bright and so empathetic that even if they’re not part of the LGBTQ plus community, they know it’s wrong to attack somebody that is. And so our children, you know, are our heroes like, they’re, they have the banners and they’re telling us, teacher teacher, this is exactly what you tell us that bad people do. Bad people take away freedoms, bad people attack others, and they see right through it. So they know what’s going on.” “These are things that are troubling to me that you know, I, I feel like yes, I am the protector, and I am a child advocate, and I gotta stick my neck out. And I have to show kids that you fight for freedoms, and you fight for what’s right. And this is how we make community better,” she added. WINK News reached out to DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez for interviews. They have not said yes, but we will let you know if that changes. More TalkingPoints: Understanding the Lee County court judge race One-on-one with Lindsay Scott Garza, Lee County judge candidate One-on-one with Lee County Court Judge Archie B. Hayward, running for reelection US Senate race in Florida One-on-one with Sen. Marco Rubio, running for reelection One-on-one with Congresswoman Val Demings, candidate for US Senate If you have a story you want us to cover on TalkingPoints, email us at talkingpoints@winknews.com. Connect with Céline McArthur on Twitter or on Facebook. You can also reach Céline via email at celine.mcarthur@winknews.com.