Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University VillageGunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood
Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University Village The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a crash that injured a pedestrian at the University Village Shops in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Gunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood Neighbors have reported hearing multiple gunshots in the early hours of the morning in Cape Coral.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Tracking the Tropics: Patty forms in North Atlantic, tracking Caribbean development An area in the Southwestern Caribbean has a high, 80% chance of developing over the upcoming week.Â
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Warm weekend with spotty showers, daylight saving time ends tonight The Weather Authority says Saturday is starting nice and dry with some passing clouds and pleasant conditions.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 11 The Lehigh Lightning beat the Sarasota Sailors in a Monday night matchup to earn their first win of the season in week 11.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man files injunction against city over Jaycee Park A Cape Coral man has filed an injunction against the City of Cape Coral over the renovation of Jaycee Park.
CAPE CORAL Brothers gain highest Boy Scout award for repairing food pantry General Manager of the Adventist Community Services Alexandra Berru said she couldn’t be more grateful for the twin brothers.
2 Vietnam veterans raise $20,000 for monument in Naples Two Vietnam veterans raised over $20,000 to create a Vietnam monument at Cambier Park in Naples.
BONITA SPRINGS Lee County to pick up debris on Estero and Hickory boulevards After three weeks of hard work clearing mountains of sand from Estero and Hickory boulevards, Lee County crews are ready to switch gears to storm debris collection along these main county roads.
SANIBEL Are our habitats on the brink of a slow collapse? For two years, Sanibel Island’s delicate ecosystems have been battered by unrelenting storm surges, leaving behind dead trees and tainted freshwater pools.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres driver wants more safety measures for State Road 82 A Lehigh Acres man wants other drivers to know to pay attention. He also wants the county, city or state to put some more patrols out here.
SANIBEL What beaches are experiencing red tide issues now? Parts of Southewst Florida are dealing with red tide. But it’s not impacting Sanibel or beachgoers there.
NAPLES Naples Police Department begins celebrations of 100 years of service The City of Naples Police Department will hit 100 years of service in November of 2025, and they are now beginning their year of celebrations.
ESTERO FGCU students and professor weigh in on upcoming election As the nation gears up for a pivotal election, a question lingers among young voters. Will students turn out to vote?
New procedure helping disc pain Neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and arm pain can all be caused by a herniated disc. If left untreated, this can become debilitating and lead to nerve damage.
Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University Village The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a crash that injured a pedestrian at the University Village Shops in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Gunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood Neighbors have reported hearing multiple gunshots in the early hours of the morning in Cape Coral.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Tracking the Tropics: Patty forms in North Atlantic, tracking Caribbean development An area in the Southwestern Caribbean has a high, 80% chance of developing over the upcoming week.Â
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Warm weekend with spotty showers, daylight saving time ends tonight The Weather Authority says Saturday is starting nice and dry with some passing clouds and pleasant conditions.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 11 The Lehigh Lightning beat the Sarasota Sailors in a Monday night matchup to earn their first win of the season in week 11.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man files injunction against city over Jaycee Park A Cape Coral man has filed an injunction against the City of Cape Coral over the renovation of Jaycee Park.
CAPE CORAL Brothers gain highest Boy Scout award for repairing food pantry General Manager of the Adventist Community Services Alexandra Berru said she couldn’t be more grateful for the twin brothers.
2 Vietnam veterans raise $20,000 for monument in Naples Two Vietnam veterans raised over $20,000 to create a Vietnam monument at Cambier Park in Naples.
BONITA SPRINGS Lee County to pick up debris on Estero and Hickory boulevards After three weeks of hard work clearing mountains of sand from Estero and Hickory boulevards, Lee County crews are ready to switch gears to storm debris collection along these main county roads.
SANIBEL Are our habitats on the brink of a slow collapse? For two years, Sanibel Island’s delicate ecosystems have been battered by unrelenting storm surges, leaving behind dead trees and tainted freshwater pools.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres driver wants more safety measures for State Road 82 A Lehigh Acres man wants other drivers to know to pay attention. He also wants the county, city or state to put some more patrols out here.
SANIBEL What beaches are experiencing red tide issues now? Parts of Southewst Florida are dealing with red tide. But it’s not impacting Sanibel or beachgoers there.
NAPLES Naples Police Department begins celebrations of 100 years of service The City of Naples Police Department will hit 100 years of service in November of 2025, and they are now beginning their year of celebrations.
ESTERO FGCU students and professor weigh in on upcoming election As the nation gears up for a pivotal election, a question lingers among young voters. Will students turn out to vote?
New procedure helping disc pain Neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and arm pain can all be caused by a herniated disc. If left untreated, this can become debilitating and lead to nerve damage.
Competitors battle in a muddy pool with weapons made from pool noodles at the Florida Man Games on Saturday Feb. 24,2024 in St. Augustine, Fla. (AP photo/ Russ Bynum) They rose up by the dozens from across Florida, caricatured competitors in tank tops and cutoff shorts, for a showdown that treats evading police and wrestling over beer like Olympic sports. Promoted as âthe most insane athletic showdown on Earth,â the Florida Man Games poke fun at the stateâs reputation for bizarre stories that involve brawling, drinking, gunfire, reptile wrangling and other antics carrying a risk of time in jail or intensive care. The games kicked off Saturday with the âStar Spangled Bannerâ played on electric guitar. Then spectators sipping canned beers behind metal barricades cheered and frequently shouted expletives as a dozen teams battled in contests inspired by real events from Americaâs most surreal state. James Gordon of DeLand won the first event, wolfing down a plate loaded with barbecue pork and sausage a fraction of a second before his nearest competitor. He chugged a beer to celebrate. âIâve lived in Florida my whole life,â Gordon said after washing sauce from his hands and beard. âTheyâre calling these âevents.â Iâm calling this (expletive) Tuesday afternoon.â One event had contenders dueling in muddy water in an inflatable pool, pummeling each other with weapons made from pool noodles and duct tape. Another was a theft-simulation relay in which competitors raced while toting a pair of bicycles, copper pipes and catalytic converters. Larry Donnelly trained for the relay race by riding a bicycle around his neighborhood with a second bike strapped to his back. It paid off Saturday, when he won his heat after picking up a bike in each hand and running with them. âI have an absolute disregard for self-preservation. I will do anything,â said Donnelly, 42, who owns a St. Augustine pressure-washing business and serves as captain of the five-man team Hanky Spanky. âWhen I was in the military, I did a little alligator wrestling.â Other events involved contenders wrestling sumo-style while holding pitchers of beer, or running from actual sheriffâs deputies while jumping fences and avoiding obstacles. Others faced a scramble to grab cash flying in simulated hurricane winds. Spectators paid real money â $45 per ticket or more â to watch the games at Francis Field in downtown St. Augustine. Yusuf El Shihibi said he and his wife made the 180-mile (290-kilometer) trip from Port St. Richey âto watch stupidity occur on the grandest, most spectacular scale.â Organizer Pete Melfi said he expected ticket sales to exceed 5,000. He said he was stunned to find nobody else had beaten him to the ripped-from-headlines idea for a spoof sporting event. âWe kind of give a person an opportunity to live a day in the life of âFlorida Manâ without ending up in a cop car,â said Melfi, who runs the St. Augustine media outlet The 904 Now. But he had to tone down some racier aspects of the âFlorida Manâ mythos to obtain a permit. âThereâs typically drugs and nudity,â he said. âBut the city frowned on it when I asked for drugs and nudity.â The âFlorida Manâ phenomenon seeped into the nationâs conscience thanks in part to a Twitter account that started in 2013 with the handle @_FloridaMan. The account touted âreal-life stories of the worldâs worst superhero,â sharing news headlines such as âFlorida Man Bites Dog to âEstablish Dominanceââ and âFlorida Man Tried to Pay for McDonaldâs With Weed.â Floridaâs claim to being the strangest state goes back much further, said journalist Craig Pittman, who wrote the book âOh, Florida! How Americaâs Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country.â He noted that the first flag to fly over its Capitol in 1845 bore the motto âLet Us Alone.â Apparently nobody listened. Florida today has 22 million residents, the third largest population of any U.S. state. And they all share roads, beaches and timeshares with more than 130 million tourists per year. âYou cram that many people together, theyâre bound to start running into each othersâ cars and chasing each other with machetes,â Pittman said. Pittman noted there have also been plenty of crazy stories featuring Florida women â and plenty of them turned out to watch the games Saturday. Sally Yarbrough and her daughter, Danielle Yarbrough, got tickets as a Christmas gift from their boss â along with a case of vodka. âHopefully more women will be here like us,â Danielle Yarbrough said. âWeâre usually the only rowdy ones.â The only womenâs event Saturday was a Florida Maâam Pinup contest. That should change if the games continue, said Lori âIceâ Fetrick, a former competitor on the 1990s show âAmerican Gladiatorsâ who served as a judge at the Florida Man Games. âI personally believe we need the Florida Woman Games,â Fetrick told the crowd, which cheered its approval. âOr maybe put women against the men.â Leading up to Saturday, Joshua Barr and his Cooter Commandos teammates spent time whipping up fan support on Facebook with posts showing the trio chugging Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and jogging in jean shorts and mirrored sunglasses. Their team name comes from a turtle species celebrated by their hometown of Inverness. The Commandos didnât stop with online promotion and trash-talking of rival teams. Barr, a 37-year-old movie reviewer and podcaster, said they also printed T-shirts, temporary tattoos and a large custom flag to wave on the field. âWe might be taking it more seriously than most people,â Barr said. âYou kind of just have to be a part of the joke at this point.â