Officials on scene of active fire at Charlotte County homeFort Myers cross country runner reflects on state championship
Officials on scene of active fire at Charlotte County home Firefighters are on the scene of a fire at a Charlotte County home.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers cross country runner reflects on state championship Fort Myers High School senior cross country runner Masha Dorofeev reflects on her state championship win and committing to UCF.
CAPE CORAL Coyote kills beloved family pet For 16 years, Sarge and his owner, James Stewart were inseparable.
FORT MYERS Local artist AHZUWOP to hold fashion show at tattoo shop A local artist is throwing a fashion show at a tattoo shop, an event that will also feature music performances and an art exhibition.
NAPLES Identity released of body found in Collier County retention pond According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a body was found in a retention pond on Sunday. The body was found on Lindsey Lane.
FORT MYERS City leaders looking to improve Fort Myers infrastructure with AI When people think of artificial intelligence (AI), they typically think of online apps like Chat GPT but the City of Fort Myers wants to use it to make a real-world difference.
SAINT JAMES CITY Saint James City neighbors create art from hurricane destruction Many who pass through Saint James City see this as just leftovers from a hundred-year storm but not Floyd Cornett.
FORT MYERS Miracle Moment: Children starting the year cancer free Several youngsters are celebrating starting 2025 cancer-free.
FORT MYERS Flood insurance discount up to 20% in Fort Myers Anyone who lives in the City of Fort Myers will be getting a bigger flood insurance discount.
Message from LCEC raises red flag for customers A push from one of Southwest Florida’s power providers to not use your heater as the temperatures drop has raised a red flag for some customers.
FORT MYERS Cutting down on truck traffic on McGregor Boulevard Giant trucks are rumbling on roads meant to connect neighborhoods, and now city leaders want to eliminate trucks from the roads completely.
Exercise: an instant health boost Did you know that just 30 minutes of exercise can start helping your body right away?
State attorney removes herself from Lee County Sheriff’s Office case A source sent WINK News anchor Claire Galt an executive order saying the state is investigating Ken Romano, a consultant who was on the sheriff’s office payroll.
Collier County woman arrested twice for operating illicit massage parlor The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of operating an illicit massage parlor, her second time arrested on this charge.
Mother accused of killing 4-month-old baby pleads not guilty A woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse.
Officials on scene of active fire at Charlotte County home Firefighters are on the scene of a fire at a Charlotte County home.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers cross country runner reflects on state championship Fort Myers High School senior cross country runner Masha Dorofeev reflects on her state championship win and committing to UCF.
CAPE CORAL Coyote kills beloved family pet For 16 years, Sarge and his owner, James Stewart were inseparable.
FORT MYERS Local artist AHZUWOP to hold fashion show at tattoo shop A local artist is throwing a fashion show at a tattoo shop, an event that will also feature music performances and an art exhibition.
NAPLES Identity released of body found in Collier County retention pond According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a body was found in a retention pond on Sunday. The body was found on Lindsey Lane.
FORT MYERS City leaders looking to improve Fort Myers infrastructure with AI When people think of artificial intelligence (AI), they typically think of online apps like Chat GPT but the City of Fort Myers wants to use it to make a real-world difference.
SAINT JAMES CITY Saint James City neighbors create art from hurricane destruction Many who pass through Saint James City see this as just leftovers from a hundred-year storm but not Floyd Cornett.
FORT MYERS Miracle Moment: Children starting the year cancer free Several youngsters are celebrating starting 2025 cancer-free.
FORT MYERS Flood insurance discount up to 20% in Fort Myers Anyone who lives in the City of Fort Myers will be getting a bigger flood insurance discount.
Message from LCEC raises red flag for customers A push from one of Southwest Florida’s power providers to not use your heater as the temperatures drop has raised a red flag for some customers.
FORT MYERS Cutting down on truck traffic on McGregor Boulevard Giant trucks are rumbling on roads meant to connect neighborhoods, and now city leaders want to eliminate trucks from the roads completely.
Exercise: an instant health boost Did you know that just 30 minutes of exercise can start helping your body right away?
State attorney removes herself from Lee County Sheriff’s Office case A source sent WINK News anchor Claire Galt an executive order saying the state is investigating Ken Romano, a consultant who was on the sheriff’s office payroll.
Collier County woman arrested twice for operating illicit massage parlor The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman accused of operating an illicit massage parlor, her second time arrested on this charge.
Mother accused of killing 4-month-old baby pleads not guilty A woman accused of killing her 4-month-old baby has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse.
Students’ experiment on the ISS. (Credit: Shared with WINK News) Reaching for the stars in education, two Southwest Florida students won a competition to send a project to the International Space Station. The winning experiment was designed to create faster production of RSV vaccines It’s one thing to watch the launch of a spacecraft. It’s another to know the experiment you created is on it. Cypress Lake High School student Rhodes and Dunbar High School graduate Anáis Sarnelli can. “There’s so many cool experiments that go into space, and one of ours is one of them, which is just super cool. And not a lot of you know, 16, 17, 18-year-olds can say that,” said Autumn Rhodes, a Cypress Lake High School student. Their experiment flew into space on the SpaceX CRS-27 mission. SpaceX CRS-27. (Credit: SpaceX via NASA) “I like almost cried like, it was it was really cool,” Sarnelli said. Michelle Lucas, the founder and CEO of Higher Orbits, said she created the program for reactions just like that. “We’ve had 17 teams now. 17 experiments fly to space.” In this program, students compete for two days and define and design a space experiment. They have certain parameters to follow, like making sure it can fit in a cube, doesn’t involve animals with a backbone, and nothing that can hurt the astronauts onboard the ISS. “Then we turn them loose. Like, I want their ideas,” said Lucas. “We work with Space Tango to build the experiments. So they work hand in hand with the students to actually physically build the experiment.” The experiments launched into space can have technical applications that can reach us right here on Earth. “What happens when you put bacteria in space?” Sarnelli asked. Sarnelli and Rhodes joined forces to get an answer. The pair sent deinococcus radiodurans, a radioactive-resistant bacteria that thrive in intense environments, to one of the most intense environments known to man. They will monitor what happens for 30 days. “Is the structure intact so that the lipids can be extracted from the bacteria to be used for vaccines?” asked Sarnelli. “Right now, we’re just looking at the growth rate to see if it produces more of the bacteria over time, and right now, we’re seeing a pretty steady increase in bacteria. We haven’t gotten a lot of data yet,” Rhodes said. That little data is promising, and they believe it could change the medical field as we know it when it comes to cancer research. “Understanding how bacteria can regenerate itself can help us understand how human body cells can regenerate themselves,” said Rhodes. “It’s that repairing of its own DNA and the isolating of its cells to where it’s able to regenerate itself. That application turned to humans could be revolutionary for cancer research, but yeah, the one that we’re mostly targeting is the RSV vaccine.” Depending on the answers the duo gets, it may lead to multiple advancements in medicine.