Whiskey Creek residents frustrated by worsened floodingBonita Springs firefighters rescue a bulldog in Helene’s aftermath
FORT MYERS Whiskey Creek residents frustrated by worsened flooding Whiskey Creek residents do not know why flooding has worsened, but they said they want something done about it.
BONITA SPRINGS Bonita Springs firefighters rescue a bulldog in Helene’s aftermath In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Bonita Springs Fire Station 27 received a guest: a sweet little bulldog.
FGCU professor speaks on port worker strike 45,000 port workers on the East and Gulf Coasts are officially on strike as of Wednesday after their labor contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance expired.
CAPE CORAL Oasis head football coach leading the Sharks after 22 years with Cape Coral Police Oasis High School head football coach Brice Bearman in his first season after retiring from the Cape Coral Police Department after 22 years.
NAPLES Naples City Council votes to repair Naples Pier Though Helene did cause further damage to the Naples Pier, the city manager said it would not get in the way of its reconstruction.
Florida voter registration deadline upcoming Monday, Oct. 7, is the deadline to register to vote in November’s general election.
FORT MYERS BEACH The future of Church of the Ascension after Helene One of the hardest hit churches by Hurricane Ian is on Fort Myers Beach. Church of the Ascension got more water from Helene, but there wasn’t much left to damage.
HARLEM HEIGHTS How were Harlem Heights residents affected by Helene? A community filled with water nearly two years ago is dry two years later, even after the storm surge of Helene, and now residents told us why.
PUNTA GORDA Harbor Belle residents in Punta Gorda on day 7 with no power after Helene Hurricane Helene’s impact on an RV park in Punta Gorda has left the community in the sweltering heat with nowhere else to turn.
Lee County Sheriff implementing new bus stop signs to improve safety The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has installed three bus stop signs throughout Lee County.
NORTH PORT What’s next for the Rapkins? Family sues Heritage Insurance A family is paying for a mess they didn’t ask for or create.
ENGLEWOOD Englewood neighborhood drying out ahead of potential heavy rain Debris on front lawns, homes gutted, and roofs in need of repair. People in one Englewood community say they are not ready for another bout of rain, let alone another tropical storm.
New AirTag tracking law goes into effect This week, a new state law went into effect, cracking down on tracking devices like AirTags and increasing criminal penalties for people who track others without their consent.
Detecting breast cancer with a wearable patch This year, more than 350,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed. Early detection increases survival rates up to 98%
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office remembers K-9 Scar The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office remembers the life of one of their K9s, Scar.
FORT MYERS Whiskey Creek residents frustrated by worsened flooding Whiskey Creek residents do not know why flooding has worsened, but they said they want something done about it.
BONITA SPRINGS Bonita Springs firefighters rescue a bulldog in Helene’s aftermath In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Bonita Springs Fire Station 27 received a guest: a sweet little bulldog.
FGCU professor speaks on port worker strike 45,000 port workers on the East and Gulf Coasts are officially on strike as of Wednesday after their labor contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance expired.
CAPE CORAL Oasis head football coach leading the Sharks after 22 years with Cape Coral Police Oasis High School head football coach Brice Bearman in his first season after retiring from the Cape Coral Police Department after 22 years.
NAPLES Naples City Council votes to repair Naples Pier Though Helene did cause further damage to the Naples Pier, the city manager said it would not get in the way of its reconstruction.
Florida voter registration deadline upcoming Monday, Oct. 7, is the deadline to register to vote in November’s general election.
FORT MYERS BEACH The future of Church of the Ascension after Helene One of the hardest hit churches by Hurricane Ian is on Fort Myers Beach. Church of the Ascension got more water from Helene, but there wasn’t much left to damage.
HARLEM HEIGHTS How were Harlem Heights residents affected by Helene? A community filled with water nearly two years ago is dry two years later, even after the storm surge of Helene, and now residents told us why.
PUNTA GORDA Harbor Belle residents in Punta Gorda on day 7 with no power after Helene Hurricane Helene’s impact on an RV park in Punta Gorda has left the community in the sweltering heat with nowhere else to turn.
Lee County Sheriff implementing new bus stop signs to improve safety The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has installed three bus stop signs throughout Lee County.
NORTH PORT What’s next for the Rapkins? Family sues Heritage Insurance A family is paying for a mess they didn’t ask for or create.
ENGLEWOOD Englewood neighborhood drying out ahead of potential heavy rain Debris on front lawns, homes gutted, and roofs in need of repair. People in one Englewood community say they are not ready for another bout of rain, let alone another tropical storm.
New AirTag tracking law goes into effect This week, a new state law went into effect, cracking down on tracking devices like AirTags and increasing criminal penalties for people who track others without their consent.
Detecting breast cancer with a wearable patch This year, more than 350,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed. Early detection increases survival rates up to 98%
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office remembers K-9 Scar The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office remembers the life of one of their K9s, Scar.
A family is paying for a mess they didn’t ask for or create. On “60 Minutes,” Ginny Jeff Rapkin told the nation that they believed their insurance company changed the licensed adjuster’s initial damage report costing the couple more than $200,000. WINK News then confirmed the state opened a criminal investigation. When state chief financial officer Jimmy Patronis confirmed the criminal investigation, WINK News asked him what advice he had for the Rapkins and others trapped in a fight with their insurance company. Patronis told WINK: Don’t file a lawsuit first, come to the state for help. The Rapkins said they did go to the Department of Financial Services, and they told WINK, that didn’t work at all. RELATED: New details emerge confirming state investigation into Heritage Insurance RELATED: Family continues legal battle with Heritage Insurance “This is the room my son stayed in,” said Jeff Rapkin. Just standing in this bedroom gets to Rapkin. “You have all these memories from a home, and this could have been saved. All they had to do was cover the top,” said Rapkin. It pains Rapkin to see the mold growing on the walls, coating the ceiling and the insulation. Hurricane Ian whipped the roof right off the Rapkins’ home and two years later, there’s still this gaping hole. “We were living in this house. We would lie in bed at night thinking, ‘Is it going to crumble underneath us, are we going to die tonight?’ So we had to leave,” said Rapkin. And who can blame them? When it rains, water pours down through the house. Water pouring in through a hole in the ceiling Now, Rapkin and his wife live in an apartment. All because they say Heritage Insurance refused to pay their claim. “What’s happened here is wrong. This is a lack of common human decency, a lack of humanity,” said Rapkin. “We’re out of savings. We’re out of money.” The Rapkins went on “60 minutes” and accused Heritage of changing their licensed adjuster’s initial damage report. Jordan Lee determined there was $231,000 worth of damage, starting with the roof. But Heritage sent the couple a check for $15,000. After watching the story on “60 Minutes,” Florida’s chief financial officer told WINK News his office can’t do much to help the couple because they filed a lawsuit instead of working through the state’s Department of Financial Services. “As soon as they hire an attorney, then it’s in the court system. We can’t do anything,” said Patronis. “That’s why I just tell people, ‘If you’ve got a problem, call our office. You can always hire an attorney. You can always hire a public adjuster, but we offer a lot of services at no cost to the taxpayer, which we’re very good at.'” That’s not Rapkin’s experience. He filed a report with the state’s Department of Financial Services in February of 2023. “Crickets, nothing. Silence, absolute silence. I filed a second complaint with DFS. I’ve gotten nothing,” said Rapkin. Two months later, Jeff and Ginny took matters into their own hands and filed a lawsuit against Heritage. Jeff is a lawyer, an adoption lawyer, who is representing himself. “I’m going to lose. I’m in insurance land, and they’re throwing out rules and laws at me that I’ve never heard before, and I’m struggling to keep up,” said Rapkin. That trial is set to begin in less than three weeks. As for the Rapkins’ claim, no one from the state responded to their complaint. WINK News asked Patronis to look into it, and he said he would, but as of Wednesday, he is busy responding to victims of Hurricane Helene.