FORT MYERS Lee County making changes to fix bus issues In the past, the Lee County School District struggled to find enough bus drivers.
NAPLES Naples man gets original Bob Ross paintings appraised Bob Ross took this blank canvas in a small studio in Muncie, Indiana, and transformed it into a beautiful masterpiece.
Lee Schools board considers full-day phone bans The biggest talking point in a Lee County School District safety presentation wasn’t about violence or drugs, it was about phones
PINE ISLAND FDOT asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to busy road The Florida Department of Transportation is asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to the busy road.
Food drive for mental health awareness While someone may look healthy, they may be fighting a real inner battle.
FORT MYERS Overbilled for overflow of water; Residents stuck with hefty water bill The Moore’s make ends meet living at The Cove for almost a year.
ESTERO Scoreless Eagle up for award at NIL Summit FGCU’s Brandon Dwyer is one of the big time performers in NIL despite having never scored a single point in his entire Eagle career.
What happens after a nuisance alligator is captured? For alligators, the month of May means we are in the heart of mating season in the Sunshine State.
Exclusive: Interview with woman who shares hope of recovery on National Fentanyl Awareness Day Lee County Sheriff’s Office said that in 2020 they seized nearly two thousand grams of fentanyl. In 2023, that number jumped to over 8,000.
ESTERO FGCU star in the circle reflects on historical senior season The Eagles’ ace told WINK News she is focused on making every moment count before she hangs up her cleats for the last time.
NAPLES Pastrami Dan’s reopens in Naples after SUV crash Pastrami Dan’s in Naples welcomed customers once again, with people waiting at the door.
FGCU Two FGCU softball players playing for those who impacted their lives Two FGCU softball players, Riley Oakes and Olivia Black, are playing for friends who impacted their lives in a major way.
Police: Cape Coral man breaks into ex-girlfriend’s home, kills fish named ‘Bean’ A man has been arrested after police said he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home, damaged her property and killed her pet fish.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers family blessed with new home In about sixty days, Myrtle Dillard’s home on Lincoln Boulevard went from being run-down and unlivable to brand new.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte woman’s student loans forgiveness after consolidation One Port Charlotte woman was skeptical of her student loan consolidation and potential forgiveness but an email over the weekend changed her life.
FORT MYERS Lee County making changes to fix bus issues In the past, the Lee County School District struggled to find enough bus drivers.
NAPLES Naples man gets original Bob Ross paintings appraised Bob Ross took this blank canvas in a small studio in Muncie, Indiana, and transformed it into a beautiful masterpiece.
Lee Schools board considers full-day phone bans The biggest talking point in a Lee County School District safety presentation wasn’t about violence or drugs, it was about phones
PINE ISLAND FDOT asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to busy road The Florida Department of Transportation is asking you if bike and pedestrian lanes should be added to the busy road.
Food drive for mental health awareness While someone may look healthy, they may be fighting a real inner battle.
FORT MYERS Overbilled for overflow of water; Residents stuck with hefty water bill The Moore’s make ends meet living at The Cove for almost a year.
ESTERO Scoreless Eagle up for award at NIL Summit FGCU’s Brandon Dwyer is one of the big time performers in NIL despite having never scored a single point in his entire Eagle career.
What happens after a nuisance alligator is captured? For alligators, the month of May means we are in the heart of mating season in the Sunshine State.
Exclusive: Interview with woman who shares hope of recovery on National Fentanyl Awareness Day Lee County Sheriff’s Office said that in 2020 they seized nearly two thousand grams of fentanyl. In 2023, that number jumped to over 8,000.
ESTERO FGCU star in the circle reflects on historical senior season The Eagles’ ace told WINK News she is focused on making every moment count before she hangs up her cleats for the last time.
NAPLES Pastrami Dan’s reopens in Naples after SUV crash Pastrami Dan’s in Naples welcomed customers once again, with people waiting at the door.
FGCU Two FGCU softball players playing for those who impacted their lives Two FGCU softball players, Riley Oakes and Olivia Black, are playing for friends who impacted their lives in a major way.
Police: Cape Coral man breaks into ex-girlfriend’s home, kills fish named ‘Bean’ A man has been arrested after police said he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home, damaged her property and killed her pet fish.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers family blessed with new home In about sixty days, Myrtle Dillard’s home on Lincoln Boulevard went from being run-down and unlivable to brand new.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte woman’s student loans forgiveness after consolidation One Port Charlotte woman was skeptical of her student loan consolidation and potential forgiveness but an email over the weekend changed her life.
San Antonio police officers investigate the scene, Sunday, July 23, 2017, where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) SAN ANTONIO (AP) At least nine people died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer Texas heat, authorities said Sunday in what they described as an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong. The driver was arrested, and nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many with extreme dehydration and heatstroke, officials said. “We’re looking at a human-trafficking crime,” Police Chief William McManus said. He called it “a horrific tragedy.” Authorities were called to the San Antonio parking lot late Saturday night or early Sunday and found eight dead inside the truck. A ninth victim died at the hospital, said Liz Johnson, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The victims “were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water,” San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said. It was just the latest smuggling-by-truck operation to end in tragedy. In one of the worst cases on record in the U.S., 19 immigrants locked inside a stifling rig died in Victoria, Texas, in 2003. Based on initial interviews with survivors of the weekend tragedy, more than 100 people may have been packed into the back of the 18-wheeler at some point in its journey, ICE acting Director Thomas Homan said. Thirty-nine were inside when rescuers arrived, and the rest were believed to have escaped or hitched rides to their next destination, officials said. Some of the survivors told authorities they were from Mexico, Homan said. Authorities did not say whether the rig was locked when they arrived, whether it was used to smuggle the occupants across the border into the U.S., or where it might have been headed. San Antonio is about a 150-mile (240-kilometer) drive from the Mexican border. The temperature in San Antonio reached 101 degrees (38 Celsius) on Saturday and didn’t dip below 90 (32 C) until after 10 p.m. The trailer didn’t have a working air conditioning system, Hood said. Federal prosecutors said James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, from Clearwater, Florida, was taken into custody. No immediate charges were filed. The U.S. Homeland Security Department stepped in to take the lead in the investigation. Many of the victims looked to be in their 20s and 30s, and there were also apparently two school-age children, the police chief said. The tragedy came to light after a person from the truck approached a Walmart employee in the parking lot and asked for water late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, McManus said. The employee gave the person water and then called police, who found the dead and the desperate inside the rig. Some of those in the truck ran into the woods, leading to a search, McManus said. Hours later, after daybreak, a helicopter hovered over the area, and investigators were still gathering evidence from the tractor-trailer, which had an Iowa license plate and was registered to Pyle Transportation Inc. of Schaller, Iowa. A company official did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. Investigators checked store surveillance video, which showed vehicles arriving and picking up people from the truck, authorities said. “By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished,” Homan said in a statement. In the May 2003 case, the immigrants were being taken from South Texas to Houston. Prosecutors said the driver heard them begging and screaming for their lives but refused to free them. The driver was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison. The Border Patrol has reported at least four truck seizures this month in and around Laredo, Texas. On July 7, agents found 72 people crammed into a truck with no means of escape, the agency said. They were from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador. Authorities in Mexico have also made a number of such discoveries over the years. Last December, they found 110 migrants trapped and suffocating inside a truck after it crashed while speeding in the state of Veracruz. Most were from Central America, and 48 were minors. Some were injured in the crash. Last October, also in Veracruz state, four migrants suffocated in a truck carrying 55 people.