Caught on video: Lehigh Acres man confronts car thief in his drivewayCourtroom continues to analyze Sebring murderer’s brain
LEHIGH ACRES Caught on video: Lehigh Acres man confronts car thief in his driveway A Lehigh Acres father confronted and stopped a person breaking into his son’s car.
WINK NEWS Courtroom continues to analyze Sebring murderer’s brain Could a tumor, in some way, have driven Xaver to kill five women? The state’s medical expert said no in court.
CAPE CORAL The hunt for credit card skimmers in Cape Coral Your credit cards may be at risk; Cape Coral Police want to warn residents about the threat of credit card skimmers.
HENDRY COUNTY 3rd day in: still no answers on hazmat situation in Hendry County Some are feeling anxious in a small Hendry County community after several people, including first responders, got sick.
CLEWISTON 2 men arrested by Clewiston police thanks to community help Two men in Hendry County were taken into custody on drugs and other charges following several police tips from concerned citizens.
New overtime rules could mean higher staffing costs for SWFL businesses Big changes and potentially higher staffing costs are in store for thousands of businesses and nonprofits in Southwest Florida and around the country if new U.S. Department of Labor overtime rules go into effect as planned July 1.
Tim Aten Knows: More SWFL pizzerias permanently close post-season Naples Pizza permanently closed Memorial Day weekend after doing business for more than 15 years in East Naples.
FORT MYERS Apparent fatal crash involving bicyclist in Fort Myers on Veronica Shoemaker Blvd. Police are investigating a collision between a vehicle and a bicyclist on Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard that appears to be fatal.
Tropics: AL 92 approaches NE Florida coast, second disturbance 60% chance of development According to the National Hurricane Center, a small but concentrated area of showers and thunderstorms persists, and an area of low pressure, designated as AL 92, is around 80 miles east-southeast of Brunswick, Georgia.
Triple-digit feels-like temps and isolated storms for your Friday forecast Isolated storms are expected on Friday, mainly in the late afternoon and just after sunset. The best rain coverage will be south of the Caloosahatchee and inland.
Meet Therese, Brianna, and Windy: OCEARCH Tracking Florida Loggerhead Sea Turtles During Nesting Season We are well into the 2024 sea turtle nesting season, and OCEARCH is now monitoring nine turtles that have pinged on the Florida coastline.
49-year-old Collier County man found guilty of molesting child A Collier County man was convicted of molesting a child following a three-day trial.
FORT MYERS Crews respond to car fire near a Fort Myers home Crews are on the scene of a car fire near a home in Fort Myers early Friday morning.
CAPE CORAL Blue-green algae reported in a Cape Coral canal Blue-green algae is back in parts of Southwest Florida. This time, authorities are finding the gunky substance in a Cape Coral canal.
CAPE CORAL Driver killed in Cape Coral rollover crash A driver has been pronounced dead after their vehicle rolled over and crashed in Cape Coral.
LEHIGH ACRES Caught on video: Lehigh Acres man confronts car thief in his driveway A Lehigh Acres father confronted and stopped a person breaking into his son’s car.
WINK NEWS Courtroom continues to analyze Sebring murderer’s brain Could a tumor, in some way, have driven Xaver to kill five women? The state’s medical expert said no in court.
CAPE CORAL The hunt for credit card skimmers in Cape Coral Your credit cards may be at risk; Cape Coral Police want to warn residents about the threat of credit card skimmers.
HENDRY COUNTY 3rd day in: still no answers on hazmat situation in Hendry County Some are feeling anxious in a small Hendry County community after several people, including first responders, got sick.
CLEWISTON 2 men arrested by Clewiston police thanks to community help Two men in Hendry County were taken into custody on drugs and other charges following several police tips from concerned citizens.
New overtime rules could mean higher staffing costs for SWFL businesses Big changes and potentially higher staffing costs are in store for thousands of businesses and nonprofits in Southwest Florida and around the country if new U.S. Department of Labor overtime rules go into effect as planned July 1.
Tim Aten Knows: More SWFL pizzerias permanently close post-season Naples Pizza permanently closed Memorial Day weekend after doing business for more than 15 years in East Naples.
FORT MYERS Apparent fatal crash involving bicyclist in Fort Myers on Veronica Shoemaker Blvd. Police are investigating a collision between a vehicle and a bicyclist on Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard that appears to be fatal.
Tropics: AL 92 approaches NE Florida coast, second disturbance 60% chance of development According to the National Hurricane Center, a small but concentrated area of showers and thunderstorms persists, and an area of low pressure, designated as AL 92, is around 80 miles east-southeast of Brunswick, Georgia.
Triple-digit feels-like temps and isolated storms for your Friday forecast Isolated storms are expected on Friday, mainly in the late afternoon and just after sunset. The best rain coverage will be south of the Caloosahatchee and inland.
Meet Therese, Brianna, and Windy: OCEARCH Tracking Florida Loggerhead Sea Turtles During Nesting Season We are well into the 2024 sea turtle nesting season, and OCEARCH is now monitoring nine turtles that have pinged on the Florida coastline.
49-year-old Collier County man found guilty of molesting child A Collier County man was convicted of molesting a child following a three-day trial.
FORT MYERS Crews respond to car fire near a Fort Myers home Crews are on the scene of a car fire near a home in Fort Myers early Friday morning.
CAPE CORAL Blue-green algae reported in a Cape Coral canal Blue-green algae is back in parts of Southwest Florida. This time, authorities are finding the gunky substance in a Cape Coral canal.
CAPE CORAL Driver killed in Cape Coral rollover crash A driver has been pronounced dead after their vehicle rolled over and crashed in Cape Coral.
Blue paint littered in the Orange River has neighbors seeing red. The bright blue paint got in the water when Lee Department of Transportation crews were painting the underside of a bridge that crosses over the river. Lee County told WINK News the crew, “performing routine maintenance on the bridge Tuesday experienced some paint overspray due to wind,” and added, “They immediately set up control measures to contain the paint overspray and notified Lee County Natural Resources and our partners at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.” The Department of Environmental Protection has filed a notice of pollution for this river. Neighbors said it wasn’t until they called attention to the problem that the crews who caused the mess came out and started cleaning it up. Neighbors saw them use a cloth to soak up the paint, scoop some out and put in oil booms. Betsy Burdette, who was spotted kayaking around the blue paint, said it’s too late. The paint is here. “It’s mostly along the banks. It stuck to a lot of the leaves and the plants. It’s down in the water,” Burdette said. Kelly Grey’s home backs up to the water. She said it looked like toxic blue lily pads. “It was bright blue, and it was obviously there was a paint smell in the air,” Grey said. Grey confronted the crew first. “I asked him if they were aware that there was a large amount of paint up and down the river floating in the river. And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Is this paint marine safe?’ And he said, ‘I’ve no idea.'” Lee County hasn’t answered our question about what paint was used or if it was environmentally safe. Dr. Nora Demers, an Associate Professor of Biology at FGCU, said she needs to know what paint it is to determine risk but said. “Obviously, any manmade thing that we put into the environment is going to have more negative consequences than positive,” Demers said. Demers added, “If there was enough paint present that they needed to put in a boom or something to prevent it from spreading, then that in itself is an indication that the impact is higher than it would have been if it was just a little bit of overspray from the wind.” On her kayak, pointing to the river bank, Betsy Burnette said the paint on the plants around the river worries her for the manatees. “They almost always have a baby with them. And when they eat, they kind of throw their bodies up on the side of the banks, and they eat the greenery,” Burnette said. Dr. Demers said, “If manatees are consuming this, then that’s not good. I mean, I can’t think of anybody that would think that it was good.” Grey noticed the blue splotches in her backyard first and then the smell. “So anything that smells means that it’s likely an environmental endocrine disruptor, so in paints, they often use VOCs, volatile organic compounds, and these help with the ability of the paint to do its job,” said Dr. Demers. “But in the past decade or so, they have removed volatile organic compounds from paints that we use in homes, specifically, because the damage that they do to human health has become so obvious.” In the long term, Burnette worries about their drinking water. “I’m worried about our Well, we have a shallow well,” Burnette said. Dr. Demers needs to know specifically what paint is used to determine whether potential chemicals can break down into the water and shallow wells neighbors drink from. “I can tell you that research that I’m doing about environmental endocrine disruptors is finding very high concentrations of chemicals in people’s drinking water wells that are drinking from those shallow wells,” said Dr. Demers. “It’s not necessarily the aquifer, but it’s groundwater that’s percolating through the soil. And so, absolutely, anything we do on the land ends up in the water. It’s that simple.” WINK News reporter Liz Biro collected samples of the paint and plans to get it tested.