Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior nightPolice: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
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.
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
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.
Pretty flowers and lush green leaves sound like something you might want in your backyard, but water hyacinths can take over an entire body of water in a very short time. The aquatic weed kills other plants and depletes the water of oxygen. A blanket of water hyacinth sits like a green carpet over a southwest Cape Coral canal. Hyacinth on a Cape Coral canal. (Credit: WINK News) “You could see the birds walking across it just using it using it like it was a floor,” said Cape Coral residents Elsa Rodriguez-Foy and Isabelle Foy. The mother and daughter have watched the plants get removed over the last two weeks. “Well, they are pretty. I think all plants are pretty. It’s just that they become a problem.” “We’ve had a couple of people come over here say it’s such a pretty plant and want to take it with them,” said Jason Cull, the operations manager at Lee County Hyacinth Control District. Hyacinth on a Cape Coral canal. (Credit: WINK News) It almost looks like a lily pad, but Cull says you shouldn’t mess with these. “It’s actually a federal crime to remove this plant. You need a permit to remove this plant. So let us take it out. Let us get rid of it. That way, it doesn’t spread into all their systems.” One of the most invasive plants in the country, it’s loathed for its ability to reproduce so quickly. “Once it starts growing, [you] can’t stop it. It doubles every couple of weeks. So once it gets into an established system, it chokes everything else out. You have no more recreation on them or navigation, and actually, no more native plants grown in here,” Cull said. The plants eat up all the oxygen in the water choking out the fish “I used to see them jump. And I will hear the fish jumping. And after that whole area was covered. There wasn’t any more jumping going on,” said the Foys. The pretty plants give life to one of the peskiest of bugs. “It does breed mosquitoes, so water lettuce and water hyacinth are one of the top readers for mansonia mosquitoes. And those are those mosquitoes that come out right in the evening time and bite you. So by getting rid of this water plant, we’re also getting rid of mosquitoes,” said Cull. Hyacinth on a Cape Coral canal. (Credit: WINK News) Getting rid of the plant requires a monumental effort. “With the help of the city of cape coral, their crane out there, it’s been able to scoop quite a bit of it out, too,” Cull said. Quite a bit is an understatement when 20 to 30 tons worth of hyacinth has been removed. Lee County Hyacinth Control District has been removing the plants since the 1960s. Once removed, they are taken to a horticulture waste facility.