Punta Gorda, YMCA inch closer to New Operation Cooper Street leaseTeen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes
Punta Gorda, YMCA inch closer to New Operation Cooper Street lease Punta Gorda City Council and representatives of the YMCA of Southwest Florida approached a lease agreement for New Operation Cooper Street during a special session May 14 where members of the public commented on the matter.
BOSTON (AP) Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes A teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media died from ingesting a high amount of a chili pepper extract.
CAPE CORAL Former Cape Coral teacher accused of sending nudes to student will be in court A former Cape Coral teacher accused of sending a photo of his genitals to a student is scheduled to be in court.
The Weather Authority Strong storms moving through SWFL Minor flooding in low-lying and poor-draining areas is expected in Southwest Florida due to stormy conditions.
BOKEELIA Waterspout spotted near the Bokeelia Fishing Pier A WINK News viewer spotted a water spout near the Bokeelia Fishing Pier on Thursday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Man accused of groping woman in North Fort Myers Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is seeking information on a man accused of groping a woman of 65 years or older in North Fort Myers.
WINK NEWS Disease affecting avocado growth impacts Florida farmers The citrus industry has suffered due to Greening Disease, and now the avocado industry is experiencing issues of its own.
NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO investigating possible connection between shooting and fire in North Fort Myers Deputies are investigating the alleged shooting of a family’s camper home, which was then burned down by a fire in North Fort Myers.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral approves grant funding for Utilities Extension Project The City of Cape Coral voted unanimously to provide $25 million in funding for the Utilities Extension Project.
downtown fort myers The downtown Fort Myers post office is set to reopen Monday The long-awaited return of the downtown Fort Myers post office is soon to be over, as the location is expected to reopen on Monday.
NAPLES Naples-based fashion designer supports teen who was denied entrance to prom Sophie Savidge is getting some swanky bow ties from Naples-based fashion designer Peter Jean-Marie.
FORT MYERS BEACH Staying safe against rip currents Mother Nature is throwing us for a loop. Right now, most of our beaches are at high risk for rip currents.
FORT MYERS Football officials work to keep the ‘Friday’ in Friday night lights Whether you think they are making good calls or bad ones, without officials there would be no Friday night lights.
CAPE CORAL The legality of iguana hunting in Southwest Florida The canals throughout Cape Coral are known mainly for fishing and boating. However, the canals have also become the primary home for green iguanas.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE Army Corps prepares Lake Okeechobee ahead of ‘extremely active’ hurricane season This year, we had an abnormally wet dry season. The lake rose when it should have been receding.
Punta Gorda, YMCA inch closer to New Operation Cooper Street lease Punta Gorda City Council and representatives of the YMCA of Southwest Florida approached a lease agreement for New Operation Cooper Street during a special session May 14 where members of the public commented on the matter.
BOSTON (AP) Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes A teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media died from ingesting a high amount of a chili pepper extract.
CAPE CORAL Former Cape Coral teacher accused of sending nudes to student will be in court A former Cape Coral teacher accused of sending a photo of his genitals to a student is scheduled to be in court.
The Weather Authority Strong storms moving through SWFL Minor flooding in low-lying and poor-draining areas is expected in Southwest Florida due to stormy conditions.
BOKEELIA Waterspout spotted near the Bokeelia Fishing Pier A WINK News viewer spotted a water spout near the Bokeelia Fishing Pier on Thursday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Man accused of groping woman in North Fort Myers Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is seeking information on a man accused of groping a woman of 65 years or older in North Fort Myers.
WINK NEWS Disease affecting avocado growth impacts Florida farmers The citrus industry has suffered due to Greening Disease, and now the avocado industry is experiencing issues of its own.
NORTH FORT MYERS LCSO investigating possible connection between shooting and fire in North Fort Myers Deputies are investigating the alleged shooting of a family’s camper home, which was then burned down by a fire in North Fort Myers.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral approves grant funding for Utilities Extension Project The City of Cape Coral voted unanimously to provide $25 million in funding for the Utilities Extension Project.
downtown fort myers The downtown Fort Myers post office is set to reopen Monday The long-awaited return of the downtown Fort Myers post office is soon to be over, as the location is expected to reopen on Monday.
NAPLES Naples-based fashion designer supports teen who was denied entrance to prom Sophie Savidge is getting some swanky bow ties from Naples-based fashion designer Peter Jean-Marie.
FORT MYERS BEACH Staying safe against rip currents Mother Nature is throwing us for a loop. Right now, most of our beaches are at high risk for rip currents.
FORT MYERS Football officials work to keep the ‘Friday’ in Friday night lights Whether you think they are making good calls or bad ones, without officials there would be no Friday night lights.
CAPE CORAL The legality of iguana hunting in Southwest Florida The canals throughout Cape Coral are known mainly for fishing and boating. However, the canals have also become the primary home for green iguanas.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE Army Corps prepares Lake Okeechobee ahead of ‘extremely active’ hurricane season This year, we had an abnormally wet dry season. The lake rose when it should have been receding.
Medicaid documents. (Credit: CBS News) TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge has cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit that alleges Florida did not properly inform people before dropping them from the Medicaid program after a COVID-19 public health emergency ended. U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard last week issued a 70-page order that rejected arguments by the state that the case should not proceed as a class action. Howard also denied a state request for a continuance of a trial scheduled to start May 13. The lawsuit, filed in August in Jacksonville and revamped in January, stems from a process that the state started in spring 2023 to determine whether more than 5 million people enrolled in Medicaid remained eligible for benefits. The process came after the end of the federal COVID-19 public-health emergency — a three-year period when the state effectively could not drop people from Medicaid. Attorneys for Medicaid beneficiaries contend that a lack of proper notice about the discontinuation of coverage violated due-process rights and a federal Medicaid law. In part, the lawsuit seeks an injunction to block continued use of the disputed notices and to reinstate Medicaid coverage to people until they receive adequate notices of termination. “In this case, it is undisputed that plaintiffs have a constitutionally protected property interest in their Medicaid benefits, and that they were deprived of that interest when the state terminated those benefits,” Howard wrote. “Thus, the issue in resolving this claim will be whether the state provided constitutionally-inadequate process.” The lawsuit has five named plaintiffs, but their attorneys argued it should be a class action that would apply to a far-larger number of people. While narrowing the plaintiffs’ proposed definition of people included in the class, Howard ruled that the lawsuit met legal tests to be treated as a class action. The ruling did not decide the underlying issues in the case. Family income plays a key role in determining whether people are eligible for Medicaid. In the narrowed class definition, Howard focused on how the notices provided information about people being dropped because of income determinations. “The record reflects that all termination notices based on income contain uniform omissions such as the lack of individualized income information and income standards,” wrote Howard, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush. “As such, the court will certify a single class to resolve the issue of whether termination notices which lack this information are adequate to satisfy the requirements of due process and the Medicaid Act when the enrollee is found ineligible based on income.” She added that “some notices reflect an additional omission in the lack of a designated reason identifying income as the basis for the ineligibility determination. As such, the court finds it appropriate to certify a subclass encompassing individuals who received this form of notice.” Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, and Washington agreed to pick up more of the tab for the program as part of the public-health emergency, which was declared in January 2020. But in exchange for the extra money, states had to agree that they wouldn’t drop people from the Medicaid rolls during the emergency. Florida’s program grew from about 3.8 million beneficiaries in January 2020 to nearly 5.78 million in April 2023. Beginning in spring 2023, Florida and other states began redetermining beneficiaries’ eligibility. Florida’s Medicaid enrollment totaled 4.675 million in March 2024, about 1.1 million lower than in April 2023, according to state Agency for Health Care Administration numbers. Attorneys for state Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Jason Weida and Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris, the named defendants in the case, have disputed the allegations about improper notice and tried to prevent certification as a class action. In a March court filing, the attorneys argued that the case is “ill-suited to class treatment” and pointed to different circumstances among people who received notices. “Plaintiffs’ claim that class members were deprived of due process ignores dissimilarities and case-specific variations that defeat any attempt to adjudicate the rights of all class members at once,” the March filing said. “It incorrectly assumes that the court need only assess in isolation standard passages in the notices to determine whether DCF (the Department of Children and Families) denied due process to every class member. Because individualized facts are relevant, the rights of class members cannot be litigated as though they are not.”