FGCU softball senior balances EMT training and Regional playHomes For Our Troops grants veteran new home
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball senior balances EMT training and Regional play Ahead of NCAA Regional play, FGCU senior outfielder Riley Oakes started EMT training as she works toward being a trauma surgeon.
PUNTA GORDA Homes For Our Troops grants veteran new home Through all the cheers and a community-wide escort, it’s a ‘welcome to your forever home for army sergeant veteran Brandon Rethmel and his family.
ALVA LCSO responds to triple drowning in Alva The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is responding to a scene of a water rescue where three people were recovered.
PUNTA GORDA Preparing for hurricane season at the 2024 Charlotte County Hurricane Expo With hurricane season less than two weeks away, it’s important to start preparing.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Beat the Heat: Stay safe during extreme weather The Weather Authority has issued a heat advisory for portions of South, Southeast, and Southwest Florida from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
FORT MYERS Leaders discuss possibility of shutting down Caloosahatchee Bridge Should residents endure two years of partial lane closures, or fully shut the Caloosahatchee bridge down for 10 weeks?
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball parents cherish NCAA Tournament experience The parents of the FGCU softball team are relishing seeing their daughters play in the NCAA Tournament.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Hot, hot, hot Heat advisory in place for Saturday until 8 p.m.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over five and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball senior balances EMT training and Regional play Ahead of NCAA Regional play, FGCU senior outfielder Riley Oakes started EMT training as she works toward being a trauma surgeon.
PUNTA GORDA Homes For Our Troops grants veteran new home Through all the cheers and a community-wide escort, it’s a ‘welcome to your forever home for army sergeant veteran Brandon Rethmel and his family.
ALVA LCSO responds to triple drowning in Alva The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is responding to a scene of a water rescue where three people were recovered.
PUNTA GORDA Preparing for hurricane season at the 2024 Charlotte County Hurricane Expo With hurricane season less than two weeks away, it’s important to start preparing.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Beat the Heat: Stay safe during extreme weather The Weather Authority has issued a heat advisory for portions of South, Southeast, and Southwest Florida from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
FORT MYERS Leaders discuss possibility of shutting down Caloosahatchee Bridge Should residents endure two years of partial lane closures, or fully shut the Caloosahatchee bridge down for 10 weeks?
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball parents cherish NCAA Tournament experience The parents of the FGCU softball team are relishing seeing their daughters play in the NCAA Tournament.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Hot, hot, hot Heat advisory in place for Saturday until 8 p.m.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers teen finds dead body in bed of his truck A 16-year-old in Fort Myers drove to school, drove home, drove to the barbershop and back home again. Then, he noticed a swarm of flies in the back of his truck.
Scottie Scheffler facing felony charges; local attorney reacts The attorney we spoke with told us that, at a minimum, we’d spend the night in jail before having our first appearance and getting bail.
GAINESVILLE FGCU softball falls to No. 4 Florida in NCAA Tournament The FGCU softball team couldn’t keep up with the No. 4 Florida Gators as the Eagles drop their first Regional game 6-0 to the Gators.
Summer Safety: Swim safety tips to know before the summer The pool is warming up to be the hot spot for kids and families this summer. It’s now also the number one leading cause of drowning deaths for children ages 1-4 in the state.
FORT MYERS BEACH ‘The Whale’ restaurant to break ground on new building The Whale is a place that has shown great strength and determination.
COLLIER COUNTY Endangered Florida panther deaths surpass 2023 total in 5 months It’s taken wildlife officials just over five and a half months to report finding more dead endangered Florida panthers than in all of 2023.
FORT MYERS FMPD honors 7 officers and 2 K-9s who died in the line of duty dating back to 1930 Nine lives were given, and all nine will remain remembered. A lifetime of gratitude for the fallen officers.
It’s called “wetlaculture.” The marriage between agriculture and wetlands restoration is being pitched by scientists as the middle ground in the tug of war between the farming industry and environmentalists. “It’s an approach for putting more wetlands back on the landscape but it’s also an approach for allowing more sustainable agriculture as well,” said Dr. William Mitsch, the director for Florida Gulf Coast University’s Wetland Research Park. Mitsch, and other scientists, recently presented “The Economics of Wetlaculture” at the North American Lake Management Conference in Cincinnati in early November. The idea is to convince farmers to transform some of their acreage into wetlands, which scientists believe helps filter nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen. The farmers would be paid for their environmental benefit by government programs. Those nutrients, according to Mitsch, are caused by fertilizer use and when they build up in our water supply it leads to algal blooms. Eventually, the lands that have been converted to wetlands will be so dense with nutrients they should be able to be drained and converted back into farmland. But when they are flipped back, the idea is that there will no longer be a need for so much fertilizer. “You don’t see any reduction in the amount of fertilizer we are adding to the land each year, that’s an opiate. We got to get off of that opiate,” he said. Currently, the process of flipping wetlands into farmland is being studied through the use of mesocosms, artificial wetlands set up in baby pools, at an experiment site in Four Freedoms Park in Naples. Two other similar sites have been set up in Ohio, one near Lake Erie and one near Buckeye Lake in Central Ohio. “What we’re applying here is equally applicable at Lake Eire and down here (in Florida) and anywhere else where there is a green body of water that is being absolutely trashed by human beings, we think this will work,” said Mitsch. He said the mesocosm experiments are relatively new, so it will be a few years before they attempt to flip them to farmland. Until the experiments are completed they won’t really know how long a site has to remain a wetland before it can be flipped back to be used for agriculture. For the idea to be a long-term solution to Florida’s water crisis, state and federal leaders would need to be on board. Congressman Francis Rooney told WINK News in an email: “This is an interesting idea that we will investigate further. It seems to be similar to what the Army Corps and SFWMD are doing now with the A-1 and new A-2 (EAA) reservoirs, as well as the limited scope “water farming” projects.The problem with addition of additional reservoir capacity is how to acquire land now that the majority of state property has been used.” WINK News also reached out to Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Elect, Nikki Fried who issued this statement: “As I work with my transition team, we will bring experts to the table to ensure we build a Department that has a proactive approach and will consider all options available to take on on Florida’s water crisis. Innovation is key to progress—this is a long-term issue and can’t be solved in the immediate, but we must take a new approach, think bigger, and take bold action. If we’re only working to solve these problems when they have intensified to extreme levels, we will not succeed.” A spokesperson for US Sugar said Wetlaculture is not something the company is currently involved in. WINK News was not able to get a comment from Governor Elect Ron Desantis prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday.