NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO searching for missing endangered adult Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a missing person.
The Weather Authority: Scattered storms for your Saturday The Weather Authority is tracking afternoon scattered storms for Saturday this Labor Day weekend.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 2 The Golden Eagles took down the Cougars 64-7 to win the Crosstown Showdown for the 26th year in a row.
NAPLES Naples mayor speaks out after DUI arrest Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann has sent a statement to WINK News after being charged with a DUI.
FORT MYERS Woman stabbed at Fort Myers gas station Authorities responded to an active scene at a 7-eleven in Fort Myers after a woman was stabbed early Friday evening.
FORT MYERS FMPD investigating a van that followed a student from bus stop Police said a suspicious van followed a middle school student home from the bus stop on Thursday and yelled, “Get in the van.”
CAPE CORAL Report: Teen was on crosswalk when she was hit The driver of the box truck told officers he didn’t see Kendra as she rode in front of him, and he started to go.
FORT MYERS BEACH Celebration of Jimmy Buffet Day at Margaritaville Friday was Jimmy Buffett Day at Margaritaville and Fort Myers Beach is gearing up for a fun party all weekend long.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County deputies hold training for mental health encounters Charlotte County deputies are entering the community equipped with a new tool for handling mental health: the crisis initiative training.
Neighbors worried about flooding in Rotonda Heights Neighbors in Rotonda Heights are fed up with the flooding and they want to see it fixed.
ORLANDO Smart living moms reclaim their careers Betsy Gardner president and CEO of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce started Relaunch, a program to help stay-at-home moms.
FORT MYERS BEACH A closer look at the gas leak that killed 2 men at Fort Myers Beach home A closer look at the gas leak that killed two men in Fort Myers Beach has revealed some new details leading up to the deaths.
SANIBEL Sanibel CVS Pharmacy reopening after Hurricane Ian The CVS Pharmacy in Sanibel is reopening nearly two years after Hurricane Ian caused severe damage to it.
FORT MYERS Woman transported after boat hits large wake under Midpoint Bridge A woman had to be transported to the hospital after suffering an injury when the boat she was in struck the wake of a yacht.
NEW YORK (AP) Trump has history sparking outrage for incidents around veterans even as military voters backed him The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trump’s staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.
NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO searching for missing endangered adult Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a missing person.
The Weather Authority: Scattered storms for your Saturday The Weather Authority is tracking afternoon scattered storms for Saturday this Labor Day weekend.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 2 The Golden Eagles took down the Cougars 64-7 to win the Crosstown Showdown for the 26th year in a row.
NAPLES Naples mayor speaks out after DUI arrest Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann has sent a statement to WINK News after being charged with a DUI.
FORT MYERS Woman stabbed at Fort Myers gas station Authorities responded to an active scene at a 7-eleven in Fort Myers after a woman was stabbed early Friday evening.
FORT MYERS FMPD investigating a van that followed a student from bus stop Police said a suspicious van followed a middle school student home from the bus stop on Thursday and yelled, “Get in the van.”
CAPE CORAL Report: Teen was on crosswalk when she was hit The driver of the box truck told officers he didn’t see Kendra as she rode in front of him, and he started to go.
FORT MYERS BEACH Celebration of Jimmy Buffet Day at Margaritaville Friday was Jimmy Buffett Day at Margaritaville and Fort Myers Beach is gearing up for a fun party all weekend long.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte County deputies hold training for mental health encounters Charlotte County deputies are entering the community equipped with a new tool for handling mental health: the crisis initiative training.
Neighbors worried about flooding in Rotonda Heights Neighbors in Rotonda Heights are fed up with the flooding and they want to see it fixed.
ORLANDO Smart living moms reclaim their careers Betsy Gardner president and CEO of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce started Relaunch, a program to help stay-at-home moms.
FORT MYERS BEACH A closer look at the gas leak that killed 2 men at Fort Myers Beach home A closer look at the gas leak that killed two men in Fort Myers Beach has revealed some new details leading up to the deaths.
SANIBEL Sanibel CVS Pharmacy reopening after Hurricane Ian The CVS Pharmacy in Sanibel is reopening nearly two years after Hurricane Ian caused severe damage to it.
FORT MYERS Woman transported after boat hits large wake under Midpoint Bridge A woman had to be transported to the hospital after suffering an injury when the boat she was in struck the wake of a yacht.
NEW YORK (AP) Trump has history sparking outrage for incidents around veterans even as military voters backed him The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trump’s staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.
Stuck waiting with no place to go. It is the situation for many people who lost almost everything in Hurricane Ian and are waiting on housing assistance. For two months and counting, people have been waiting on trailers to live in from FEMA or the state, but the steps to get to that point are endless. A spokesperson from FEMA said Thursday that they don’t know when the trailers are going to get here. They have no time frame for that, but he says they are working as hard as they can. There is some hope, though. Neighbors in Island Park say trailers were brought in by FEMA. One woman applied for assistance, and FEMA said her situation was bad enough that she deserved a trailer. She said they came out and painted lines on her driveway where the trailer was supposed to go, but it still hasn’t arrived. Until it does, she says she’s homeless. “Please give me my trailer so I have a place to live,” said Patsy Howell. Howell has been homeless since the hurricane hit. “I’m staying at an Airbnb. And the county gave me money for an Airbnb because I thought the trailer was coming. I didn’t apply for the next set of funding to move somewhere else,” said Howell. Like hundreds of others, she applied for female assistance, and for a moment, she felt like one of the lucky ones. About four weeks ago, FEMA came out to her house and marked her driveway up. “These little lines right here are where they mark saying this is where the trailer is going to be put,” said Howell. Lines marking where a FEMA trailer would go. (Credit: WINK News) FEMA was demarcating it for a trailer as part of its temporary housing program. “I signed a contract with them that they were going to be delivering me a trailer to be able to live on my home. And they said it should be within the week. It did not come within the week,” Howell said. Since then, she hasn’t heard a word, and she hasn’t seen a trailer. WINK News called FEMA and asked them when are the trailers going to get here. “We don’t really have a time period. Those take a lot more time to put in place because we have to inspect the site to determine if it’s even feasible to put it there. And then, of course, we have to abide by all local codes and ordinances in order to place it there. It is not something that happens quickly,” said Michael Wade, a FEMA spokesperson. WINK News reached out to the state of Florida, too, because they announced their own statewide temporary housing program to supplement FEMA’s. The state’s emergency management director, Kevin Guthrie, never got back to us, but a spokesperson for their office said they have over 1,200 applications and expect to roll out some of their trailers sometime this week. For now, Howell is just trying to keep her spirits high because she almost didn’t survive the storm. “I was saved by my neighbor. And because I was saved by my neighbor, I figured I’m here for a reason, whatever it is,” said Howell. “We all need help, and we’re not getting what we need,” said Patti Hansen, one of the many people who applied for FEMA assistance. “FEMA has dropped the ball here.” Neither Howell nor Hansen wants to fight FEMA for assistance. “It’s just doubly frustrating. You have to fight everything. You have to fight insurance. You have to fight the FEMA,” said Hansen. Some people, like Diane Key, have a trailer. “They’ve applied for a trailer, and there’s no help. They’re not getting anything, they’re not getting any response. They’re not getting what they need,” said Key. Key didn’t get her trailer from FEMA. She got it herself because she couldn’t afford to wait for FEMA to bring one. “You have solutions that are being talked about, but you don’t have the implementation of those solutions, and that’s a problem,” said Key. “At the time that we bought this, we didn’t know that they were doing trailers. But having said that, it’s better that we bought one because we’d still be waiting for one.” There are other options, too. Unite Florida is the state’s first-ever temporary housing program, designed to supplement FEMA. For it to work, it has to work with FEMA. WINK News asked FEMA spokesperson Michael Wade how that is all working. “To be very honest with you, I don’t understand how their program is working,” said Wade. “How those two programs tie together, I just don’t have those. I don’t have that technical knowledge as to how we’re going to end, how the state’s going to implement their program, and how we, how we tie ours back into theirs at some point.” WINK News will continue to follow up with state and federal agencies to determine when people in need can get a trailer.