Crews on scene of 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village DriveJake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people
ESTERO Crews on scene of 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive San Carlos Park Fire District is on the scene fighting a 2.5-acre brushfire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive.
FORT MYERS Jake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people One Fort Myers mom is turning her pain into purpose after her son, who she refers to as her “heavenly Angel,” took his own life.
LEHIGH ACRES Owner bars public from Barefoot Lake, LCSO installs Watch Tower Every weekend, roughly 200 people go to Barefoot Lake in Lehigh Acres to relax, fish, swim and have a good time.
CAPE CORAL Concern over water shortage in Cape Coral Concern is flowing through Cape Coral as neighbors are seeing their canal levels low and their wells run dry.
FORT MYERS FSW softball swinging for success in the postseason Now their focus shifts to states which means the newbies are looking to the experienced sophomores for advice.
BONITA SPRINGS Young SWFL tennis player competing with professionals You may not know her name now, but you might want remember it because 16-year-old Cookie Jarvis-Tredgett is already competing with professionals.
NORTH NAPLES ‘It’s all about connection,’ Statement Peace makes jewelry with sustainability in mind The brand Statement Peace, once started inside founder Jessica Lee’s home, is now in 2,700 stores across the country
Pine Manor 2 arrested for firing gun at birthday party in Pine Manor A party ended with two people behind bars.
FORT MYERS Shooting investigation on busy Fort Myers street Police are conducting a shooting investigation that involves a traffic crash near Michigan Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.
FGCU New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis ready to build on department’s success New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis talks about the department’s future amid the age of NIL and the transfer portal.
FORT MYERS More middle-aged women being treated for acne You probably thought you broke up with it after high school, but acne is rearing it’s ugly blackheads in adult women.
Lee County student ran up and hit teacher in head, report shows The report says a 13-year-old student ran up and smacked a teacher in the head because multiple classmates offered him money to do so.
NAPLES Collier Planning Commission continues discussion for apartments near Fiddler’s Creek The developer of Fiddler’s Creek wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments on a slice of a 600 acre-plus property known as section 29.
CAPE CORAL Fatigue sets in for third day of FEMA hearings Flying several hours to come to a FEMA code compliance hearing in Cape Coral is the reality for John Gasparini from Maryland.
Prescription drug shortages lead to higher prices There are currently more than 250 medications on the nation’s drug shortage list, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The organization says 2023 marked the worst year for shortages in about a decade.
ESTERO Crews on scene of 2.5-acre brush fire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive San Carlos Park Fire District is on the scene fighting a 2.5-acre brushfire near Alico and Eagle Village Drive.
FORT MYERS Jake’s story: A mother’s mission to share her son’s story and help other young people One Fort Myers mom is turning her pain into purpose after her son, who she refers to as her “heavenly Angel,” took his own life.
LEHIGH ACRES Owner bars public from Barefoot Lake, LCSO installs Watch Tower Every weekend, roughly 200 people go to Barefoot Lake in Lehigh Acres to relax, fish, swim and have a good time.
CAPE CORAL Concern over water shortage in Cape Coral Concern is flowing through Cape Coral as neighbors are seeing their canal levels low and their wells run dry.
FORT MYERS FSW softball swinging for success in the postseason Now their focus shifts to states which means the newbies are looking to the experienced sophomores for advice.
BONITA SPRINGS Young SWFL tennis player competing with professionals You may not know her name now, but you might want remember it because 16-year-old Cookie Jarvis-Tredgett is already competing with professionals.
NORTH NAPLES ‘It’s all about connection,’ Statement Peace makes jewelry with sustainability in mind The brand Statement Peace, once started inside founder Jessica Lee’s home, is now in 2,700 stores across the country
Pine Manor 2 arrested for firing gun at birthday party in Pine Manor A party ended with two people behind bars.
FORT MYERS Shooting investigation on busy Fort Myers street Police are conducting a shooting investigation that involves a traffic crash near Michigan Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.
FGCU New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis ready to build on department’s success New FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis talks about the department’s future amid the age of NIL and the transfer portal.
FORT MYERS More middle-aged women being treated for acne You probably thought you broke up with it after high school, but acne is rearing it’s ugly blackheads in adult women.
Lee County student ran up and hit teacher in head, report shows The report says a 13-year-old student ran up and smacked a teacher in the head because multiple classmates offered him money to do so.
NAPLES Collier Planning Commission continues discussion for apartments near Fiddler’s Creek The developer of Fiddler’s Creek wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments on a slice of a 600 acre-plus property known as section 29.
CAPE CORAL Fatigue sets in for third day of FEMA hearings Flying several hours to come to a FEMA code compliance hearing in Cape Coral is the reality for John Gasparini from Maryland.
Prescription drug shortages lead to higher prices There are currently more than 250 medications on the nation’s drug shortage list, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The organization says 2023 marked the worst year for shortages in about a decade.
WINK News is diving deeper into documents that explain how $1.1 billion in federal money will be used to help housing and infrastructure in Lee County after Hurricane Ian. Tuesday, Resilient Lee released dozens of documents explaining how $1.1 billion of federal funding could help Lee County bounce back from Hurricane Ian. Housing is one of the eight branches of the Resilient Lee plan. February 2023, Lee County formed it’s recovery task force after Hurricane Ian and came up with Resilient Lee. The goal? To build back smarter and stronger. Lee County Commissioner and Resilient Lee Chairman Kevin Ruane said the funds from the federal government will be divided between housing and infrastructure. Under housing, there are seven initiatives with lots of ideas, including buying out homeowners prone to flooding and supporting housing repair-reconstruction program initiatives, something Soyna Layour of Lee County said should be top of mind. “Why are people still homeless?” said Layour. “This is a 911 sense of urgency. Let’s get teams together. Teams of 20, put them in neighborhoods door to door with paperwork, applications, seeing what the need is. Let’s come back. Now we collab. Now we fix the problem.” Another initiative is to attack the shortage of affordable housing in Lee County and spark new housing development through financial assistance and policies. Layour said the initiatives are words with no action. “If history repeats itself, I want everybody that sits on that roundtable to hear the sound of my voice. If history repeats itself, the blood is going to be on your hands because I’m telling you, between loss of lives and the loss of everything, we’re not ready. Do something now,” said Layour. Another critical issue? Drinking water. When Hurricane Ian hit Lee County, nearly 10,000 people lost their homes. Tens of thousands more lost their drinking water for days, even weeks. “You know, when you go through a Category 5 with 15-foot storm surges,” said Ruane, “when it affects potable water in water, natural resources, drinking water, you start to get into it, and then we start to see the way our structure is.” Hurricane Ian highlighted the vulnerability of our infrastructure. Ruane said that clearly includes our water system. “We had breaks, we had transmission lines that were damaged,” said Ruane “We had a potable water situation down on Fort Myers Beach. We had to build a new plant. We’re doing necessary repairs, but like everything, the destruction of the storm required certain immediate repairs, and then some long-term replacements.” Resilient Lee’s potable water initiative focuses on improving water delivery and distribution. The objective? To establish a self-sustaining water infrastructure, even in the aftermath of natural disasters. “God forbid we get another hurricane in or worse,” said Layour. “We’re gonna still have that same conversation, or is this time someone going to step down and say, we really got to get this done. I’m for the potable water. But let’s do it.” To be fair to task force members, it’s not that simple. As the plan points out, “The interconnection between various regional water utilities should be seamless, efficient, redundant and coordinated.” That will take time. Lee County residents can read through the plan and give online feedback for the next 10 days here. Afterwards, the plan will be sent in for approval.