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Charlotte County’s local government television station, CC-TV, has scheduled a Facebook Live briefing with Florida Department of Health-Charlotte Administrator Joe Pepe for 10 a.m. Tuesday on the county’s Facebook page.

Pepe will review the latest coronavirus and vaccine information, including local case counts, testing sites and personal protection guidance. Staff from the Joint Information Center will answer questions and provide links to sources of information, including the DOH COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard and Centers for Disease Control in the livestream’s comments section.

The video will remain available for viewing after the live interview concludes.

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This year may be one of the most challenging years in recent memory, with a devastating global pandemic leading the list of bad news to come out of 2020. However, a survey of 28 historians found that while 2020 was certainly stressful, it was not the most stressful year ever.

The historians from U.S. and British universities including Yale, Stanford, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as some independent historical authors, participated in the survey conducted by Bloom, a self-therapy app company. “This year has been incredibly stressful,” Bloom CEO Leon Mueller said. “We wondered what other years down the ages had tested human resolve as much — or even more.”

Bloom asked the historians to choose what they believed to be the most stressful year in U.S. history. The eight most stressful years listed below are ranked based on the number of historians who chose each year as the worst.

1. 1862 – The darkest year of the Civil War

Antietam, the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War, occurred on September 17, 1862, when more than 23,000 men on both the Union and Confederate sides were killed, wounded or missing in action. The war would drag on for three more years.

2 (tie). 1929 – The Wall Street stock market crash

The stock market crash on October 29, 1929 — also known as Black Tuesday — wiped out thousands of investors, resulted in the loss of billions of dollars, and spiraled into the Great Depression. The deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in U.S. history lasted a decade, until the brink of World War II.

2 (tie). 1838 – “Trail of Tears”

The “Trail of Tears” tied with the stock market crash of 1929, according to the historians Bloom’s survey. In 1838, thousands of Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their homeland in the southeastern U.S. and marched over a thousand miles to “Indian Territory,” in what is now Oklahoma. Some 4,000 died along the way and were buried in unmarked graves along “The Trail Where They Cried,” according to the Cherokee Museum.

4. 1919 – The Spanish flu pandemic

Similarly to 2020, 1918-19 saw a devastating global pandemic. About 500 million people — one-third of the world’s population — are believed to have been infected with the Spanish flu, whose deadly second wave peaked in 1919. An estimated 675,000 Americans and at least 50 million people worldwide died.

1919 also saw outbreaks of racist violence in American cities, labor strikes and the start of Prohibition, all taking place as the world coped with the aftermath of World War I.

5. 1968 – Assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy

The U.S. reeled from the assassinations of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for president when he was killed. Many cities were scarred by protests and riots.

6. 1962 – The Cuban missile crisis

In October 1962, the Cuban missile crisis between the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War brought the two superpowers the closest they ever came to nuclear conflict.

7. 2001 – 9/11 terrorist attacks

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked planes, flying two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon, and another which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

8. 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic

During 2020, the entire world became impacted by the coronavirus, which has infected more than 80 million people globally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. The U.S. has seen more than 19 million confirmed cases and over 333,000 deaths — the highest toll in the world by far.

The ongoing pandemic has caused widespread economic hardship. And that was still just one of the highly stressful events that impacted the U.S. this year. A bitterly divisive political climate during the presidential election as well as protests against racial injustice and police violence also helped define the 2020 climate in the U.S.

And in world history…

When considering the most stressful years in world history, 2020 ranked sixth in Bloom’s survey. The same panel of 28 historians ranked the following years ahead of 2020 as the worst:

1348 — Peak year of the Black Death
1944 — The Holocaust was at its height
1816 — “The Year Without A Summer,” when a volcanic eruption in Indonesia blocked out the sun
1644 — China’s Ming Dynasty collapsed and the Thirty Years’ War raged in Europe
410 A.D. — Barbarians sacked Rome

At least 10 people were camping out in Lehigh Acres Monday night in hopes to be first in line for round two of coronavirus vaccines at East County Regional Library Tuesday.

The lines became so long in Estero Monday, the health department had to turn people away.

The first couple we spoke to in the Lehigh Acres line told us they arrived at the site at 1:30 p.m. They said they haven’t seen their kids in almost a year

The next person in line, Frank Conway, told us he was celebrating his 78th birthday, and a vaccine would be the best gift yet.

When our crew was at the site in Estero, a sign read “no more vaccines.”

“We couldn’t get anywhere near this place,” said John Stone, who has not yet been vaccinated. “There must have been a thousand cars here.”

Faces we saw showed plenty of disappointment.

“I have a defibrillator in my chest. I am a Type 2 diabetic,” Stone explained. “Have all the reasons to get it.”

Dozens of people like Stone left the Estero Park and Recreation Center without a vaccine Monday with thoughts of loved ones they miss and the places they can’t go.

“We’ll be patient. It’ll show up. We’ll get it,” said Dawn McKay, who has not been vaccinated yet. “It’s either that, or we’re going to live in a cave, and we won’t be able to do anything.”

There are no more vaccines available at the Estero site for now, but it’s just getting started, so no one should lose hope.

“We were going to do anything we could to get our shot, so we could go up and see our grandchildren,” Ronnie Lamm said. “We haven’t seen our children or grandchildren for almost a year now, and we cannot wait.”

Three new sites in Lee County open for COVID-19 vaccinations Tuesday for those 65 or older or high-risk frontline health workers.

That includes:

S.T.A.R.S. Complex in Fort Myers
Old Bonita Springs Library
East County Regional Library in Lehigh Acres

Each site expects to give 300 vaccinations. Those sites open at 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. but could close early if sites run out of vaccines.

“It’s a great day here,” Conway family said. “We’re happy to spend a night here, get our shots, so we can go back to our normal life.”

Three more places open up in Cape Coral, North Fort Myers and at Lakes Regional Library in south Fort Myers Wednesday.

You can dial 211 if you have any questions at all. The telephone line is available to call and ask questions about the vaccine rollout in Lee County.

It seemed like a friendly chat between neighbors. Only after a bomb exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning could Rick Laude grasp the sinister meaning behind his neighbor’s smiling remark that the city and the rest of the world would never forget him.

Laude told The Associated Press on Monday that he was speechless when he learned that authorities identified his 63-year-old neighbor, Anthony Quinn Warner, as the man suspected of detonating a bomb that killed himself, injured three other people and damaged dozens of buildings.

Laude said he saw Warner standing at his mailbox less than a week before Christmas and pulled over in his car to talk. After asking how Warner’s elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked, “Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?”

Warner smiled and said, “Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me,” Laude recalled.

Laude said he didn’t think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that “something good” was going to happen for him financially.

“Nothing about this guy raised any red flags,” Laude said. “He was just quiet.”

Laude said Warner sometimes did not respond when he and other neighbors waved to him, but said he did not take it personally. “I knew that he was just a recluse,” he said.

As investigators continued to search for a motive, body camera video released late Monday by Nashville police offered more insight to the moments leading up to the explosion and its aftermath.

The recording from Officer Michael Sipos’ camera captures officers walking past the RV parked across the street as the recorded warning blares and then helping people evacuate after the thunderous blast off camera. Car alarms and sirens wailed as a police dispatch voice called for all available personnel and people stumbled through downtown streets littered with glass.

Warner left behind clues that suggest he planned the bombing and intended to kill himself, but a clear motive remained elusive.

“We hope to get an answer. Sometimes, it’s just not possible,” David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said Monday in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “The best way to find motive is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case.”

As investigators continued to search for a motive, body camera video released late Monday by Nashville police offered more insight to the moments leading up to the explosion and its aftermath.

The recording from Officer Michael Sipos’ camera captures officers walking past the RV parked across the street as the recorded warning blares and then helping people evacuate after the thunderous blast off camera. Car alarms and sirens wailed as a voice on the dispatcher calls for all available personnel and a roll call and people stumble through the downtown area littered with glass.

Investigators are analyzing Warner’s belongings collected during the investigation, including a computer and a portable storage drive, and continue to interview witnesses as they try to identify a motive for the explosion, a law enforcement official said. A review of his financial transactions also uncovered purchases of potential bomb-making components, the official said.

Warner had recently given away a vehicle and told the person he gave it to that he had been diagnosed with cancer, though it is unclear whether he indeed had cancer, the official said. Investigators used some items collected from the vehicle, including a hat and gloves, to match Warner’s DNA and DNA was taken from one of his family members, the official said.

The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Warner also apparently gave away his home in Antioch, a Nashville suburb, to a Los Angeles woman a month before the bombing. A property record dated Nov. 25 indicates Warner transferred the home to the woman in exchange for no money after living there for decades. The woman’s signature is not on that document.

Warner had worked as a computer consultant for Nashville real estate agent Steve Fridrich, who told the AP in a text message that Warner had said he was retiring earlier this month.

Officials said Warner had not been on their radar before Christmas. A law enforcement report released Monday showed that Warner’s only arrest was for a 1978 marijuana-related charge.

“It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death, but again that’s all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all our partners,” Rausch added.

Furthermore, officials have not provided insight into why Warner selected the particular location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and wreaked havoc on cellphone service and police and hospital communications in several Southern states. By Monday, the company said the majority of services had been restored for residents and businesses.

Forensic analysts were reviewing evidence from the blast site to try to identify the components of the explosives as well as information from the U.S. Bomb Data Center for intelligence and investigative leads, according to a law enforcement official who said investigators were examining Warner’s digital footprint and financial history.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said federal agents were examining a number of potential leads and pursuing several theories, including the possibility that the AT&T building was targeted.

Doug Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis field office, said Sunday that officials were looking at any and all motives and were interviewing acquaintances of Warner’s to try to determine what may have motivated him.

The bombing took place early on a holiday morning well before downtown streets were bustling with activity. Police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. Then, for reasons that may never be known, the audio switched to a recording of Petula Clark’s 1964 hit “Downtown” shortly before the blast.

In addition to the DNA found at the blast site, investigators from the Tennessee Highway Patrol were able to link the vehicle identification number recovered from the wreckage to an RV registered to Warner, officials said.

“We’re still following leads, but right now there is no indication that any other persons were involved,” Korneski said. “We’ve reviewed hours of security video surrounding the recreation vehicle. We saw no other people involved.”

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday called the bombing “a reminder of the destructive power an individual or a small group can muster and the need for continued vigilance across the board.”

President Donald Trump hasn’t publicly commented on the explosion but has spoken to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and offered resources and support, according to the governor’s office.

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist in China, was sentenced to four years in prison in Shanghai on Monday for her reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan early this year. She didn’t immediately say if she would appeal the sentence, her lawyer, Zhang Keke, told CBS News.

During the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Zhang Zhan’s live reports and essays were widely shared on social media, grabbing the attention of authorities. She was fiercely critical of the government for its virus containment measures and eagerly sought answers to the silencing of whistleblowers and other citizen journalists.

Zhang was arrested in May and was officially convicted for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague charge often brought against activists and critics of the government in China.

Zhang’s trial on Monday lasted less than three hours. She was sentenced to four years in prison.

“The pronouncement of sentence in court was quite rare and unexpected,” said defense lawyer Zhang Keke. “It has something to do with the holiday timing in the West.”

China’s communist authorities have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year’s to minimize Western scrutiny.

The trial comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of COVID-19.

Zhang Keke told CBS News that during the trial, the prosecutor only read out the list of evidence, without showing most of it, including the core evidence, such as the videos and articles Zhang Zhan posted on social media platforms.

“The hearing was very hollow,” the lawyer said.

Attending the trial in wheelchair, Zhang Zhan was in poor health. “She barely spoke except for saying citizens’ speech should not be censored, to protest against the ‘illegal trial’,” said her lawyer.

When the sentence was announced, Zhang Zhan did not react with any words or facial expression, but her body moved slightly, suggesting “maybe she was shocked as well,” the lawyer said, adding that Zhang Zhan’s mother sobbed uncontrollably after the announcement of the sentence.

In praying for her daughter’s safe return, Zhang Zhan’s mother Shao Wenxia obeyed a police order to not give interviews with the media, but after the heavy sentence from court Monday, she regretted that decision and felt she was tricked by the authorities, according to lawyer Zhang.

“Four years is too heavy of a sentence, especially for an innocent person,” he said.

“Zhang Zhan thinks she will die in prison,” said Ren Quanniu, the other defense lawyer. “It’s an extreme method of protesting against this society and this environment.”

Lawyers Ren Quanniu, left, and Zhang Keke, right, are defending Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was arrested for reporting on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. At center is Zhang Zhan’s mother Shao Wenxia.

In protest of her arrest and indictment, Zhang Zhan began a prolonged hunger strike in June. To punish her and keep her alive, the authorities force-fed her through a feeding tube and restrained her hands 24 hours a day so she could not pull it out. Lawyer Zhang described her as “out of phase” when he visited her on Christmas Day, noting that she has lost 20 kg (about 44 pounds) since the beginning of detention in May.

Zhang’s hearing was supposed to be public, but supporters were denied entry to the courtroom, and police pushed journalists and observers away from the entrance as the defendant and her lawyer arrived.

“It’s a disguised form of ‘private hearing’,” said lawyer Zhang.

He told CBS News that the court will mail him the official verdict in five days and he will arrange to visit Zhang Zhan next week to discuss whether she wants to appeal.

Zhang Zhan is the first to face trial of a group of four citizen journalists whose work offered some of the only glimpses to the outside world of what was going on in Wuhan in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic – and who were subsequently detained by the Chinese government.

Fellow citizen journalist Chen Qiushi went missing in February, at about the same time as Li Zehua and Wuhan resident Fang Bin, both of whom also reported on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. The fourth, Li Zehua, was released in April.

Rights groups have also drawn attention to Zhang’s case. Authorities “want to use her case as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year,” said Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders organization.

The United Nations human rights office also voiced concern, tweeting, “we raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release.”

A deadly crash on Sunday evening at Airport Pulling Road and Progress Avenue was caught on camera. The man who captured the video says he saw everything.

The car went up in flames and began billowing smoke. The wreck caused many who were driving the busy stretch of road to stop and look, including Andre Griggs.

“It happened right in front of me,” said Griggs. He was on his way home.

“We heard this explosion, and then there was this big gush of black smoke,” Griggs said. “And then there was this huge flame that burst out.”

Andre said he thought a building was on fire. “I thought a building was on fire at first it was that much smoke,” said Griggs.

The 47-year-old driver died at the scene and the car was destroyed. “The car was in pieces,” Griggs said.

According to the FHP report, the driver was heading north on Airport Pulling Road and crashed in a stoplight pole near Progress Avenue. The car was split in two. The impact threw the driver from his car.

“I didn’t see anything but fire and then I saw the guy laying down in the median,” he said.

The man who died was not wearing a seatbelt.

“I’m just sorry that someone had to go through that around the holidays. It’s hard enough for most people,” Griggs said. “I’m just praying for his family and hope they have enough strength to deal with this.”

No other cars or passengers were involved in the crash.

*The Florida Highway Patrol no longer releases the names of those involved in crashes, citing Marsy’s Law.

A new stimulus bill means more money is on the way for unemployed people across the country, but some in Florida are still trying to collect the payments they’re already owed.

Now without 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, Julio Rivera says tough times got even tougher.

“I eventually started getting behind, owing for this month, and then owing for the next month, and then it just kept building up to where I eventually had to go.”

He and four of his kids were kicked out of their home and forced to live in his truck. Since then, a friend has taken them in.

“It was Dec. 3 when the sheriffs actually came to the door, and they were like, we have to go.”

Rivera is missing more than $3,000, and when he calls the Department of Economic Opportunity every week, he says he gets the same answer.

“They just left me hanging there, with kids, just telling me just wait.”

Rivera says he was laid off when the pandemic started and got his benefits just fine until he found a new job. He says the problems started when he got laid off again in September. Now, he still can’t find work.

“I’m a painter, I like being in construction and that involves other people, other customers. And not a lot of people want to be around other people right now.”

All he wants is to stop relying on friends, pay off his bills and get a stable roof back over his family’s head.

Without his benefits, that feels impossible.

“Just so that they can sleep on their own beds, have their own pillows, their own toys back. Just to see them happy again would be the greatest thing ever, and the income right now will be the only thing to help it immediately.”

Looking to the future, many of you are now asking what the next round of stimulus benefits will look like for Florida.

WINK News asked the DEO on Monday if you’ll need to reapply and when you should expect to get paid. A representative sent back this statement:

STATEMENT FROM DEO:

On Dec. 27, 2020, a federal COVID-19 relief package that extends and provides additional federal unemployment benefits was signed into law.

While the Department has been working diligently on these additional benefits, it must first receive guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) before changes can be fully implemented and payments can be issued, as was the case when the CARES Act was initially enacted.

The Department has been in frequent communication with USDOL and will provide more information when it becomes available.

“With the recent signing of federal COVID-19 relief, DEO has begun implementing revisions and updates for eligible Floridians seeking Reemployment Assistance and awaits the required guidelines from the U.S. Department of Labor,” said Dane Eagle Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. “Our number one priority continues to be ensuring that all eligible Floridians are paid as quickly as possible, and we look forward to assisting Floridians navigate the new program extensions as they become available.”

For ongoing updates and information on unemployment, follow WINK News Investigative Reporter Sara Girard on Twitter and Facebook.

She also updates the WINK News FAQ: Unemployment Resources page as information is received.

Ringing in the new year will look just a little bit different in the middle of a pandemic. While Times Square is still setting up for its ball drop, the event is closed to the public. In Southwest Florida, many public events have been canceled because of the pandemic.

That being said, most people say they will keep their gatherings small, not go out at all or they may just stay on their boats.

All of this to make sure people are ringing in 2021 safely.

We were able to ring in 2020 with hugs, kisses, loved ones and large gatherings. At this time last year, we had no idea that this pandemic was coming.

Now, there will be fewer people, if any by our side. Robert Bettis visiting from Vermont.

“Well, this year is going to be a lot different I think it’ll just be my wife and I in a little camper because I don’t think we’ll be going out much,” said Robert Bettis.

New Year’s Eve celebrations from Fort Myers to New York have been canceled this year due to COVID-19. No crowds to watch the ball drop or see the fireworks.

Instead, the party will be in many people’s living or dining rooms.

Amanda Kish oversees the Galaxy Fireworks Tent in Cape Coral and says she’s seen a boom in business this year.

“Families are finding it safer to come to the fireworks stands just to buy stuff for their community or for an individual gathering they may have,” Kish said.

This is because many people are opting for smaller gatherings as a way to stay safe.

Drew Williams lives in Fort Myers. “We haven’t invited anyone to come on the boat with us on the fourth either to watch the fireworks or on New Year’s because of that,” Williams said.

It may not be the grand celebration we’re used to, but that doesn’t slow down the excitement of this year coming to a close.

“Look how fast it goes it don’t wait for nobody,” Bettis said.

Donald Brunelle lives on Fort Myers Beach. “Look forward to next year to coming down here and watching the ball drop,” Brunelle said.

At-home fireworks displays are not permitted in the Town of Fort Myers Beach. It is part of a ban to protect the surrounding environment.

The House voted Monday to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000, meeting President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger payments and sending the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the outcome is uncertain.

Democrats led passage, 275-134, their majority favoring additional assistance. They had settled for smaller $600 payments in a compromise with Republicans over the big year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law.

The vote divides Republicans who mostly resist more spending. But many House Republicans joined in support, despite being wary of bucking the president. Senators are set to return to session Tuesday to consider the measure.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

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