Department of Health warns of blue-green algae in Alva canalCouple accused of drugging and molesting girl make court appearance
ALVA Department of Health warns of blue-green algae in Alva canal If you live on Sebastian Court along the canal in Alva, the Florida Department of Health in Lee County wants you to remain cautious. A blue-green algae bloom has been spotted there.
SAN CARLOS PARK Couple accused of drugging and molesting girl make court appearance A San Carlos Park couple accused of drugging and molesting a girl while covering it up for two years appeared in court.
FORT MYERS Lee County Schools receives over $2M in Juul settlement The Lee County School District has received over $2 million in a settlement with Juul, and now, it’s putting that money to use.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel’s military incursion in the area.
ATLANTA (AP) Georgia appeals court agrees to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Trump election case A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) Police clear pro-Palestinian protest camp and arrest 33 at DC campus as mayor’s hearing is canceled Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday and arrested demonstrators.
2 Collier County men arrested for street racing Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested two men after catching them street racing.
CLEWISTON Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston closed after semi-trailer carrying palm trees loses load Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston from U.S. 27 to 13th Street is closed this morning while crews remove trees from the roadway.
ARCADIA Juvenile and 18-year-old arrested for stealing, burglarizing multiple cars in DeSoto County A juvenile and an 18-year-old have been arrested after allegedly stealing several cars and burglarizing them in DeSoto County.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee man arrested for child porn possession An Immokalee man has been arrested and charged on ten felony counts after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.
ESTERO Caught on Camera: Alligator chases after teen’s catch while fishing in Estero A 15-year-old teenager from Estero bit off more than he could chew while fishing for Peacock Bass as a hungry alligator chased after the fish and him.
Gainsville Gov. DeSantis responds to Pro-Palestinian protest held at University of Florida Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the dispersal of pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Florida.
The Weather Authority Hotter and drier Wednesday with a few inland storms this afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a mild and drier Wednesday morning with rain expected inland this afternoon.
Cape Coral City Council to discuss repairs for yacht club pier The Cape Coral City Council will discuss and possibly decide upon three options to repair the damaged yacht club pier.
LEHIGH ACRES Kitchen fire causes substantial damage to a home in Lehigh Acres The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue responded to a kitchen fire at a Sunset Boulevard home on Tuesday night.
ALVA Department of Health warns of blue-green algae in Alva canal If you live on Sebastian Court along the canal in Alva, the Florida Department of Health in Lee County wants you to remain cautious. A blue-green algae bloom has been spotted there.
SAN CARLOS PARK Couple accused of drugging and molesting girl make court appearance A San Carlos Park couple accused of drugging and molesting a girl while covering it up for two years appeared in court.
FORT MYERS Lee County Schools receives over $2M in Juul settlement The Lee County School District has received over $2 million in a settlement with Juul, and now, it’s putting that money to use.
JERUSALEM (AP) Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel’s military incursion in the area.
ATLANTA (AP) Georgia appeals court agrees to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Trump election case A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) Police clear pro-Palestinian protest camp and arrest 33 at DC campus as mayor’s hearing is canceled Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday and arrested demonstrators.
2 Collier County men arrested for street racing Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested two men after catching them street racing.
CLEWISTON Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston closed after semi-trailer carrying palm trees loses load Lewis Boulevard in Clewiston from U.S. 27 to 13th Street is closed this morning while crews remove trees from the roadway.
ARCADIA Juvenile and 18-year-old arrested for stealing, burglarizing multiple cars in DeSoto County A juvenile and an 18-year-old have been arrested after allegedly stealing several cars and burglarizing them in DeSoto County.
IMMOKALEE Immokalee man arrested for child porn possession An Immokalee man has been arrested and charged on ten felony counts after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.
ESTERO Caught on Camera: Alligator chases after teen’s catch while fishing in Estero A 15-year-old teenager from Estero bit off more than he could chew while fishing for Peacock Bass as a hungry alligator chased after the fish and him.
Gainsville Gov. DeSantis responds to Pro-Palestinian protest held at University of Florida Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the dispersal of pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Florida.
The Weather Authority Hotter and drier Wednesday with a few inland storms this afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a mild and drier Wednesday morning with rain expected inland this afternoon.
Cape Coral City Council to discuss repairs for yacht club pier The Cape Coral City Council will discuss and possibly decide upon three options to repair the damaged yacht club pier.
LEHIGH ACRES Kitchen fire causes substantial damage to a home in Lehigh Acres The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue responded to a kitchen fire at a Sunset Boulevard home on Tuesday night.
The problem with sextortion is getting so bad that the FBI has issued a major warning. Sextortion is a form of exploitation where victims, including children and teens, are coerced into sharing explicit photos or videos of themselves. The predator will use the images to blackmail the target with threats to publicly expose the material. “Sextortion is something that we’ve seen blow up and double and triple in the last couple of years,” said Lt. Wade Williams with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. As a parent, how do you even begin to protect your child when they have their phone in their hand at all times? Parent Michelle Wetmore said she has seen fake accounts and strangers trying to talk to her, but Wetmore ensures her daughter isn’t a victim to one of these people. “She’s 16, so — the plus side of 16– there is an app that I can monitor her driving because she just started driving,” she said, “so I know exactly where she is. All the time, it alerts you for accidents, like that is a good side of it, but the flip side of being 16 is she’s a young, attractive 16-year-old girl who, you know, I mean, again, all these different apps and predators and fake people, fake accounts.” Predators demand nude photos or videos from children and teens through apps right in front of us, like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. Williams leads the task force for hunting down predators at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. The problem of sextortion, he said, is happening right inside our homes. “So, they’ll say, ‘You’re going to get exposed‘– is the word they use– ‘if you don’t do what I tell you,'” Williams said. If you think this really couldn’t happen to your child, look at the case of 26-year-old Jorge Ingunza from Naples. He hacked Snapchat accounts of teenagers, captured their nude photos from their Snapchat My Eyes Only section, and then extorted them to send more. “In the case of Jorge Inhunza, which is one of the most prolific sextortion [cases] that we’ve ever experienced, what he was doing was several different things. He would try to Romeo approach where he would pretend to be a boy or girl and try to solicit children for nude images and videos or inappropriate files of them,” Williams said. Williams said that in Ingunza’s case, police were able to identify only 12 victims successfully, but he feels there were many more. He said police weren’t able to identify more due to various technical reasons. Only two of Ingunza’s victims self-reported to authorities. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison. The FBI said over the past year, law enforcement agencies have received over 7,000 reports of online sextortion of minors, resulting in over 3,000 victims who were mostly boys. The FBI said more than a dozen died by suicide. Titiana Jordan is the chief parenting officer at Bark Technologies. Bark is just one of the apps available that allows you to closely monitor your child’s phone. “Last year, we analyzed over four and a half billion data points across children’s text, email and social media, and the top five apps flagged for severe sexual content, which includes grooming and predation were Kik, Tumblr, Twitter, which is now X, Discord and Instagram,” Jordan said. Jordan stresses that having an open conversation with your children about the dangers of predators can save their lives. “These predators can explain to them how to cover their tracks, how to delete messages before you even see them, how to utilize apps that look like other apps that are benign, like a calculator app, for example, to hide messages and photos and videos that they don’t want to see,” Jordan said. If your child sends a nude image of themselves and is scared that it’s online somewhere, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has an online tool to try and get that photo removed. It’s important to take the phone away from your child and not return it, because they are likely to delete evidence out of embarrassment or fear of parental judgement. Click here to learn more about the tool. Here is a list of child monitoring applications that can help parents control what information is sent to their children: Google Safety Center How to install parental controls on Apple devices Bark.com Aura.com