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.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
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.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
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.