Warmer with sun and clouds for your Friday plansFDOT to open all lanes of Caloosahatchee Bridge year ahead of construction schedule
the weather authority Warmer with sun and clouds for your Friday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warmer day ahead, with a mixture of sun and clouds expected this Friday afternoon.
FDOT to open all lanes of Caloosahatchee Bridge year ahead of construction schedule The Florida Department of Transportation announced it will open all lanes of the Caloosahatchee Bridge a year ahead of its pedestrian sidewalk project.
NAPLES 12-year-old collecting donations for the needy during the holidays A 12-year-old Naples boy isn’t worried about what he’s getting for Christmas. Instead, he’s working on his 6th annual “Holiday Sock Drive.”
Fort Myers man facing homelessness before the holidays A 75-year-old man is on the brink of homelessness despite working over 80 hours a week.
NAPLES Adoptee uses non-profit to provide suitcases for foster children This holiday season, a Naples woman is on a mission to bring foster children something many take for granted: a suitcase filled with dignity.
MARCO ISLAND City of Marco Island discusses lead awareness during city council meeting The city of Marco Island sent out 4900 letters to residents warning them that their pipes could contain plastic or lead.
NAPLES The future of electric planes in Southwest Florida Features of living near an airport include persistent headache-inducing engine rumbles and foul-smelling jet fuel, but electric planes could play a part in the solution.
PORT CHARLOTTE Neighbors awaiting answers on Port Charlotte Beach Park repairs Neighbors said a contractor hired by the Florida Division of Emergency Management mishandled the boats at Port Charlotte Beach Park.
FGCU introduces new technology for cognitive health screenings Ten minutes. That’s all it takes for doctors to assess how well you remember, how quickly you learn things, and how your brain is working overall.
WINK Investigates: Disgraced contractor faces new lawsuits and allegations Paul Beattie, a disgraced home builder is back doing business but legal challenges continue as another one of his businesses gets sued. Former employees of Beattie speak out, only to WINK.
SWFL reacts to UNC hiring Bill Belichick Southwest Florida reacts to North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick as its new head football coach and how that could impact the decisions of local recruits.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Some Floridians want more alone time during the holidays The holidays are all about spending time with family and friends, but nearly half of Americans say they really want more alone time during the holiday.
LABELLE Hendry County rolls out cameras for school speed zones The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out a new way of enforcing school zone speed limits by using cameras that will target drivers traveling over a certain speed in a school zone.
Aggressive driving concerns on the rise in Southwest Florida The arrest of a man who, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said, killed a motorcyclist after crashing into him on purpose is raising concerns over aggressive driving in Southwest Florida.
SANIBEL Sanibel School students prepare for community Christmas performance The school that has had to claw and fight its way back more than once to reopen is getting the chance to celebrate.
the weather authority Warmer with sun and clouds for your Friday plans The Weather Authority is tracking a warmer day ahead, with a mixture of sun and clouds expected this Friday afternoon.
FDOT to open all lanes of Caloosahatchee Bridge year ahead of construction schedule The Florida Department of Transportation announced it will open all lanes of the Caloosahatchee Bridge a year ahead of its pedestrian sidewalk project.
NAPLES 12-year-old collecting donations for the needy during the holidays A 12-year-old Naples boy isn’t worried about what he’s getting for Christmas. Instead, he’s working on his 6th annual “Holiday Sock Drive.”
Fort Myers man facing homelessness before the holidays A 75-year-old man is on the brink of homelessness despite working over 80 hours a week.
NAPLES Adoptee uses non-profit to provide suitcases for foster children This holiday season, a Naples woman is on a mission to bring foster children something many take for granted: a suitcase filled with dignity.
MARCO ISLAND City of Marco Island discusses lead awareness during city council meeting The city of Marco Island sent out 4900 letters to residents warning them that their pipes could contain plastic or lead.
NAPLES The future of electric planes in Southwest Florida Features of living near an airport include persistent headache-inducing engine rumbles and foul-smelling jet fuel, but electric planes could play a part in the solution.
PORT CHARLOTTE Neighbors awaiting answers on Port Charlotte Beach Park repairs Neighbors said a contractor hired by the Florida Division of Emergency Management mishandled the boats at Port Charlotte Beach Park.
FGCU introduces new technology for cognitive health screenings Ten minutes. That’s all it takes for doctors to assess how well you remember, how quickly you learn things, and how your brain is working overall.
WINK Investigates: Disgraced contractor faces new lawsuits and allegations Paul Beattie, a disgraced home builder is back doing business but legal challenges continue as another one of his businesses gets sued. Former employees of Beattie speak out, only to WINK.
SWFL reacts to UNC hiring Bill Belichick Southwest Florida reacts to North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick as its new head football coach and how that could impact the decisions of local recruits.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Some Floridians want more alone time during the holidays The holidays are all about spending time with family and friends, but nearly half of Americans say they really want more alone time during the holiday.
LABELLE Hendry County rolls out cameras for school speed zones The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out a new way of enforcing school zone speed limits by using cameras that will target drivers traveling over a certain speed in a school zone.
Aggressive driving concerns on the rise in Southwest Florida The arrest of a man who, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said, killed a motorcyclist after crashing into him on purpose is raising concerns over aggressive driving in Southwest Florida.
SANIBEL Sanibel School students prepare for community Christmas performance The school that has had to claw and fight its way back more than once to reopen is getting the chance to celebrate.
In this photo provided by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a 22 Wing member is seen showing how they track Santa on his sleigh on Christmas evening during a media preview at the Canadian Forces Base in North Bay on Dec. 9, 2021. In a Christmas Eve tradition going on its 66th year, a wildly popular program run by the U.S. and Canadian militaries is providing real-time updates on Santa’s progress around the globe — and fielding calls from children who want to know St. Nick’s exact whereabouts. (Sable Brown/NORAD via AP) For 68 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command — known as NORAD — has tracked Santa Claus’ global gift-giving journey every Christmas Eve. The annual tradition started in 1955, when, according to NORAD and Col. Elizabeth Mathias, U.S. Northern Command public affairs director, a child hoping to speak with Santa dialed the wrong number and ended up on the line with a U.S. colonel instead. The child had mistakenly called the operations center of NORAD’s precursor, the Continental Air Defense Command, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Col. Harry Shoup, the commander on duty, asked his staff to check the radar for jolly old Saint Nick’s whereabouts, and thus began the first incarnation of the Santa tracking program, NORAD says. Now, what began as an accidental phone call has grown into a sprawling operation involving more than 1,000 volunteers. “When I meet perfect strangers, and they ask what I do, and I say that I’m in the military, and that I’m stationed at NORAD, they always ask me about NORAD Tracks Santa,” Mathias told CBS News. “It really has been amazing how it brings people together who maybe have no knowledge of the military.” Mathias, who oversees the Santa tracker project but prefers to call herself a “steward of the program” out of deference to its storied history, started her role in 2022. “I actually remember calling into NORAD as a child and asking NORAD where Santa was,” Mathias said. “When I was able to come back here in my job and find out that this was part of my main duties, my husband actually said to me, ‘Just make sure you don’t break Santa.'” Months of planning Although the Santa tracker is only live for less than 24 hours a year, preparations begin months in advance. “My team and I think about [it] all year long,” Mathias said. Mathias’ team spends the early part of the year reviewing how things went in the previous December, and thanking the program’s more than 70 corporate contributors “who bear virtually all of the costs” associated with the project, according to NORAD’s website. In the spring, the team starts reaching out to past participants again to ask for their support in the coming holiday season. Then, in the first months of fall, they begin coordinating with service members at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs to prep the facility with the communications equipment necessary for its transformation into the NORAD Tracks Santa operations center. “When we get into November, we start to schedule our volunteers to come in and take those calls,” Mathias said. “So where we are now in December, middle of December, we get to start decorating the space, make sure we’re plugging in the phone calls, so that we’re ready on Dec. 24 for everybody to start going.” The big day The tracker launched at 6 a.m. ET on Dec. 24, when Santa begins his approach to far eastern Asia. With the help of radars, satellites and jet fighters, NORAD says, it is able to keep tabs on Mr. Claus’ globetrotting. Throughout the day, “about 1,100 to 1,200” volunteers will answer phone calls from people around the world who dial into the 1-877-HI-NORAD hotline. Members of the Colorado Springs community bring food for everyone, Mathias said, and the program’s partners at the base make sure the lights stay on. While many volunteers are in-person at the operations center, those on leave or off-station also participate remotely through a call bridge. In 2022, the program answered 73,000 calls in-person, and 260,000 total, according to Mathias. “When they still call us and find out it’s real people, they’re very surprised,” Mathias said. “I’ve had callers literally go speechless because they weren’t expecting to talk to someone.” Apart from the hotline, NORAD shares Santa’s progress on its website, mobile apps and social media pages, as well as with Amazon Alexa, OnStar and SiriusXM Radio. Everything comes to a close at 2 a.m. ET on Dec. 25, when the last volunteers sign off for the night. The future of the Santa tracker With the 70th anniversary of NORAD Tracks Santa only two years away, Mathias credits the program’s continuation to the dedication of everyone involved — as well as to Santa’s everlasting popularity. “He doesn’t need me to tell you how great he is,” she said. “I think there are many fans around the world who can tell you that.” NORAD’s willingness to adapt the tradition to evolving technology may be another reason it has kept going after nearly seven decades. The tracker first hit the internet in 1997, and now it may soon make a similar leap — this time into virtual reality. Mathias told CBS News that NORAD has discussed possibly developing a VR experience that lets people fly along with Santa, but “it’s not quite ready yet.” “We’re always thinking of ways to make sure that we keep the experience relevant for the people who want to track Santa today, while still also being true to the tradition that started in 1955,” Mathias said. “We as a command take great, great pride in running the NORAD Tracks Santa program every year, and bringing that little bit of extra goodwill to people around the world.”