NAPLES Vigil held for teen shot and killed at Collier party Family, friends and loved ones gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember and honor the life of 18-year-old D’eisha Arthur.
SANIBEL 36th annual Sanibel Luminary Festival begins The Luminary Festival kicked off on Sanibel Island on Friday. This community-wide holiday event puts residents and visitors in the holiday spirit.
FORT MYERS Future unsure for Rachel at the Well During Hurricane Ian, Rachel at the well was uprooted from its spot in front of the Edison Park neighborhood.
NAPLES Naples Yacht Club appoints first woman commodore After 78 years, the Naples Yacht Club has appointed its first woman commodore. Kathy Parks King is her name.
FORT MYERS Mano Santa Tattoos, a woman-owned tattoo shop, opens in Fort Myers Mano Santa Tattoos is the newest tattoo studio in Fort Myers, offering an immersive tattoo experience to clients. The shop is woman-owned and women-staffed.
PUNTA GORDA Punta Gorda residents awaiting Gilchrist Park repairs The City of Punta Gorda has yet to complete repairs or remove the boats that remain stranded in Gilchrist Park after Hurricane Milton.
Unlocking Alzheimer’s mysteries Research shows that some older adults have signs of the disease in their brains after they die, even though they never had symptoms while they were alive. These cases could be key to developing new treatments.
IMMOKALEE 64-year-old drug dealer sentenced in Collier County A 64-year-old drug dealer has been sentenced in Collier County for possession and distribution of cocaine.
WINK NEWS Disaster tax relief bill passed after over 2 years After more than two years of uncertainty, victims of Hurricane Ian and other disasters are getting some financial relief.
Elevate Social Lounge opens Kava bar at University Village near FGCU For almost four years, Mitra 9 has marketed itself as the Budweiser of Kava, trying to make mainstream a growing trend of Kava-infused drinks that are said to help reduce anxiety.
ESTERO Funeral procession held for former Lee County firefighter Hundreds joined to pay their respects to a beloved firefighter who passed away in November.
FORT MYERS Will new developments along SR 82 cause traffic problems? New developments are coming to State Road 82 near the Forum, the biggest of which is Amazon’s new robotics fulfillment center.
FORT MYERS FGCU student arrested, accused of making social media threat against university Florida Gulf Coast University police have arrested a student accused of sending a threat to the university through Snapchat.
SANIBEL Sanibel annual 10K/5K race begins this weekend Sanibel’s annual food programs, island-based social services and Helping Hands’ JOG N JAM 10K/5K race will close several roads this Saturday.
NAPLES Vigil held for teen shot and killed at Collier party Family, friends and loved ones gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember and honor the life of 18-year-old D’eisha Arthur.
SANIBEL 36th annual Sanibel Luminary Festival begins The Luminary Festival kicked off on Sanibel Island on Friday. This community-wide holiday event puts residents and visitors in the holiday spirit.
FORT MYERS Future unsure for Rachel at the Well During Hurricane Ian, Rachel at the well was uprooted from its spot in front of the Edison Park neighborhood.
NAPLES Naples Yacht Club appoints first woman commodore After 78 years, the Naples Yacht Club has appointed its first woman commodore. Kathy Parks King is her name.
FORT MYERS Mano Santa Tattoos, a woman-owned tattoo shop, opens in Fort Myers Mano Santa Tattoos is the newest tattoo studio in Fort Myers, offering an immersive tattoo experience to clients. The shop is woman-owned and women-staffed.
PUNTA GORDA Punta Gorda residents awaiting Gilchrist Park repairs The City of Punta Gorda has yet to complete repairs or remove the boats that remain stranded in Gilchrist Park after Hurricane Milton.
Unlocking Alzheimer’s mysteries Research shows that some older adults have signs of the disease in their brains after they die, even though they never had symptoms while they were alive. These cases could be key to developing new treatments.
IMMOKALEE 64-year-old drug dealer sentenced in Collier County A 64-year-old drug dealer has been sentenced in Collier County for possession and distribution of cocaine.
WINK NEWS Disaster tax relief bill passed after over 2 years After more than two years of uncertainty, victims of Hurricane Ian and other disasters are getting some financial relief.
Elevate Social Lounge opens Kava bar at University Village near FGCU For almost four years, Mitra 9 has marketed itself as the Budweiser of Kava, trying to make mainstream a growing trend of Kava-infused drinks that are said to help reduce anxiety.
ESTERO Funeral procession held for former Lee County firefighter Hundreds joined to pay their respects to a beloved firefighter who passed away in November.
FORT MYERS Will new developments along SR 82 cause traffic problems? New developments are coming to State Road 82 near the Forum, the biggest of which is Amazon’s new robotics fulfillment center.
FORT MYERS FGCU student arrested, accused of making social media threat against university Florida Gulf Coast University police have arrested a student accused of sending a threat to the university through Snapchat.
SANIBEL Sanibel annual 10K/5K race begins this weekend Sanibel’s annual food programs, island-based social services and Helping Hands’ JOG N JAM 10K/5K race will close several roads this Saturday.
An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China as the Biden administration weighs a broader response to the discovery of a high-altitude Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites in the western United States, a U.S. official said Friday.(AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) China played down the cancellation of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken after a large Chinese balloon suspected of conducting surveillance on U.S. military sites roiled diplomatic relations, saying that neither side had formally announced any such plan. “In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday morning. Blinken was due to visit Beijing on Sunday for talks aimed at reducing U.S.-China tensions, the first such high-profile trip after the countries’ leaders met last November in Indonesia. But the U.S. abruptly canceled the trip after the discovery of the huge balloon despite China’s claim that it was merely a weather research “airship” that had blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand — as well as China’s contention that the balloon was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability. Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping up the situation. Many users made jokes about the balloon. Some said that since the U.S. had put restrictions on the technology that China is able to buy to weaken the Chinese tech industry, they couldn’t control the balloon. Others called it the “wandering balloon” in a pun that refers to the newly released Chinese sci-fi film called “The Wandering Earth 2.” Still, others used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the U.S. One wrote wryly: “The U.S., because of the balloon incident, delays Blinken’s visit to China.” Censorship was visible on the topic — the “wandering balloon” hashtag on Weibo was no longer searchable by Saturday evening. “The U.S. is hyping this as a national security threat posed by China to the U.S. This type of military threat, in actuality, we haven’t done this. And compared with the U.S. military threat normally aimed at us, can you say it’s just little? Their surveillance planes, their submarines, their naval ships are all coming near our borders,” Chinese military expert Chen Haoyang of the Taihe Institute said on Phoenix TV, one of the major national TV outlets. The balloon was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defense officials said. President Joe Biden had declined to shoot down the balloon, following the advice of defense officials who worried the debris could injure people below. In a brief remark Saturday in response to a reporter’s question, Biden said: “We’re going to take care of it.” Meanwhile, people with binoculars and telephoto lenses tried to find the “spy balloon” in the sky as it headed southeastward over Kansas and Missouri at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters). It was spotted Saturday morning over North Carolina as it neared the Atlantic coast. The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon. Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the U.S. was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.” China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. Experts have said that their response was feasible. But analysts said the unexpected incident will not help the strained ties between the two countries, particularly China’s initial response where it said they could not control the balloon and “regretted” that it unintentionally entered U.S. space. On Saturday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs again emphasized that the balloon’s journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. to not “smear” it based on the balloon. Wang said China “has always strictly followed international law, we do not accept any groundless speculation and hype. Faced with unexpected situations, both parties need to keep calm, communicate in a timely manner, avoid misjudgments and manage differences.” Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, said China’s apology did not appear sincere. “In the meantime, the relationship will not improve in the near future … the gap is huge.”