The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropicsWoodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
Researchers will inspect the waters in the Gulf to see how Ian affected it. (CREDIT: WINK News) Researchers from FGCU and the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation spent seven days at sea studying Ian’s effects on the ecosystem. They set sail on Oct. 18 aboard the Hogarth, a 78-foot research vessel owned and operated by the Florida Institute of Oceanography. The voyage began in St. Petersburg. From there, the ship traveled south to Marco Island. The floating laboratory has different workstations. At one workstation, a machine can test the total cell count in the water. During the journey, they stopped at least 40 different sites at all different depths. It’s a collaborative effort among many environmental groups and universities in Florida. MORE: Researchers studying red tides off the coast of Southwest Florida The team of researchers looked at various things but were most concerned with the possibility of harmful algal blooms. During the first two days, the team used a machine to pull up water from different sites to test for things like chlorophyll and DNA. Eric Milbrandt, with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, is the marine lab director. He focused on hypoxia or oxygen levels in the water. Milbrandt studied the levels of oxygen because when hurricanes occur, they deposit freshwater on coastal waters, which creates a layered cake effect in the sea, meaning it traps saltier water on the bottom. That results in a lack of oxygen in the bottom layer, which can be detrimental to invertebrates and other sea life. Fish can swim away and survive, but this is devastating to corals. During the trip, scientists noticed a lack of oxygen in areas around Gasparilla. On Oct. 24, near the end of the voyage, researchers spotted what looked like reddish water. The water mostly looked green, murky and dirty from both above the surface and below but this one was different. Milbrandt determined the red-colored water could be associated with red tide blooms. Scientists also found that sea life was hurting. A reef called 240 Ledge, about 25 miles off Fort Myers Beach, was changed. Once teaming with life, many of the specimens were caked over in muck. 240 Ledge before Hurricane Ian. (Credit: Dr. James Douglass, associate professor of marine science at the Water School at FGCU) “It was very beat up down there,” said Dr. James Douglas, an associate professor of marine science at The Water School at FGCU. 240 Ledge after Hurricane Ian. (Credit: Dr. James Douglass, associate professor of marine science at the Water School at FGCU) “It almost looked like the moon,” he added. Hard corals at 240 Ledge were completely wiped away. They spotted fish, but many native species were gone, allowing invasive species like the lionfish to move in. The ecosystem could improve if the water quality does, but advocates are worried about what renewed Lake Okeechobee water releases to the Caloosahatchee could do to the water quality in Southwest Florida. “What we hope is in the meantime we don’t get any further after effects to the storm like algae blooms because if we have this physical disturbance of the waves and the burial in mud and then we have algae blooms afterward that can really be a knockout punch for the life down there,” Douglass said. Red tide is now appearing as far north as Sarasota down toward Lee County. While red tide is a natural phenomenon, humans contribute and storms are known to churn up the waters. “The thing that is we really just no one honestly knows is where it’s gonna go. So where’s it gonna move? Is it gonna grow more? Is it gonna get bigger? Or is it just gonna kind of wobble and just move around in the same area? We don’t know,” said Adam Catasus, an education and research coordinator at the Vester Field Station. Hogarth researchers will continue to analyze their results to try to determine how to manage and understand the conditions making the red tide bloom.