SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Preparing for hurricane season with FDEM Hurricane season is just weeks away, and experts say It’s time to start making a plan to have in place.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents stuck living days without water A quick shower led to a daunting discovery by the Perkins family: They had no water.
ESTERO Gabriel Iglesias coming to Hertz Arena Comedian Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias will be performing a comedy set in Estero in November.
CAPE CORAL Water woes: Cape Coral to address water issues with townhall meeting In a city with more canals than Venice, water in Cape Coral doesn’t seem that hard to find. Interestingly enough, some people say their water is running dry. That’s why the city wants to hear from you. On Monday, the city will host a water conservation town hall. Since last November, Northeast Cape Coral has […]
Florida insurer fined $1M over Hurricane Ian claims The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued the seven figure fine to Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance Company for violating a number of Florida laws when handling some of its Hurricane Ian- related claims.
NORTH NAPLES One Step at a Time: NAMI of Collier County Mental Health Walk Hundreds of people walked one mile with the goal of raising awareness of mental health challenges.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: A warm Sunday with lower humidity for Mother’s Day The Weather Authority has your Mother’s Day forecast. For Sunday, things heat up with highs in the 90s, but it is less humid out.
FORT MYERS BEACH Little League is back on Fort Myers Beach The crack of the bat is something these little league players never thought they’d get to see again here on Fort Myers Beach.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Aunt and father of Christopher Horne Jr. released from jail The aunt and father of Christopher Horne Jr. have been released Saturday afternoon.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Salad Knife, Fish, and Shooting Update This week’s segment of WINK Neighborhood Watch features a knife-wielding customer, a fish named ‘Bean,’ and an update on a double shooting.
The Weather Authority National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Take action today For Hurricane Preparedness Week, we are recapping the importance of taking action to be better prepared for when a storm develops.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Warm weekend but lower humidity briefly in the forecast The Weather Authority Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler said to expect a warm weekend, but there is a present for Mom on Sunday – lower humidity.
CAPE CORAL 3 family members of teen accused in murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller arrested New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of a woman whose 16-year-old son is accused of being involved in the murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller, and now her husband and sister are also in jail.
FORT MYERS Death investigation in Fort Myers after body is found in truck bed Fort Myers Police confirm that there is a death investigation at the corner of Market Street and brown street.
NAPLES Naples ‘celebrity bartender’ stirring up new cocktails at LoLa 41 Michael Slabach often researches ideas, finding a new balance of layers, color, texture and selective glassware to turn his drinks into art.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Preparing for hurricane season with FDEM Hurricane season is just weeks away, and experts say It’s time to start making a plan to have in place.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral residents stuck living days without water A quick shower led to a daunting discovery by the Perkins family: They had no water.
ESTERO Gabriel Iglesias coming to Hertz Arena Comedian Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias will be performing a comedy set in Estero in November.
CAPE CORAL Water woes: Cape Coral to address water issues with townhall meeting In a city with more canals than Venice, water in Cape Coral doesn’t seem that hard to find. Interestingly enough, some people say their water is running dry. That’s why the city wants to hear from you. On Monday, the city will host a water conservation town hall. Since last November, Northeast Cape Coral has […]
Florida insurer fined $1M over Hurricane Ian claims The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued the seven figure fine to Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance Company for violating a number of Florida laws when handling some of its Hurricane Ian- related claims.
NORTH NAPLES One Step at a Time: NAMI of Collier County Mental Health Walk Hundreds of people walked one mile with the goal of raising awareness of mental health challenges.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: A warm Sunday with lower humidity for Mother’s Day The Weather Authority has your Mother’s Day forecast. For Sunday, things heat up with highs in the 90s, but it is less humid out.
FORT MYERS BEACH Little League is back on Fort Myers Beach The crack of the bat is something these little league players never thought they’d get to see again here on Fort Myers Beach.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Aunt and father of Christopher Horne Jr. released from jail The aunt and father of Christopher Horne Jr. have been released Saturday afternoon.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Salad Knife, Fish, and Shooting Update This week’s segment of WINK Neighborhood Watch features a knife-wielding customer, a fish named ‘Bean,’ and an update on a double shooting.
The Weather Authority National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Take action today For Hurricane Preparedness Week, we are recapping the importance of taking action to be better prepared for when a storm develops.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Warm weekend but lower humidity briefly in the forecast The Weather Authority Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler said to expect a warm weekend, but there is a present for Mom on Sunday – lower humidity.
CAPE CORAL 3 family members of teen accused in murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller arrested New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of a woman whose 16-year-old son is accused of being involved in the murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller, and now her husband and sister are also in jail.
FORT MYERS Death investigation in Fort Myers after body is found in truck bed Fort Myers Police confirm that there is a death investigation at the corner of Market Street and brown street.
NAPLES Naples ‘celebrity bartender’ stirring up new cocktails at LoLa 41 Michael Slabach often researches ideas, finding a new balance of layers, color, texture and selective glassware to turn his drinks into art.
ATLANTA (AP) – Karen Butler still remembers the first time she picked up an AR-15-style rifle a decade ago. “Quite honestly, I was scared of it,” she recalls. But as soon as she fired it, she became a fan. “You know some of these people that are fearful, it’s just because they don’t have knowledge,” she said. “We call it furniture – it’s got all the accessories on it that make it look a little intimidating. But once you shoot it you realize it’s so much fun.” Butler, of Huntsville, Alabama, started Shoot Like a Girl, an outfit that seeks to introduce and inspire women to participate in shooting sports. An estimated 8 million AR-style guns have been sold since they were first introduced to the public in the 1960s, and about half of them are owned by current or former members of the military or law enforcement, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gunmakers. Even the name stirs up controversy. “AR” does not stand for “assault rifle,” as many believe, but for ArmaLite Rifle, a nod to the company that first designed it for military use. Assault rifles are fully automatic; the bullets keep flying for as long as the trigger is depressed. AR-style guns are semi-automatic, meaning the trigger has to be pulled separately for each shot. More than 12,000 people were killed last year in the United States by guns, and most of those incidents involved handguns. A tiny fraction involved an AR-style gun. But of those, most have been high-profile shootings, including the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, where Omar Mateen used a Sig Sauer MCX model in an attack that killed 49 people. That shooting has revived calls for banning ARs among critics who believe it is too powerful and too deadly, with standard magazines that hold 20 to 30 rounds, compared with handguns that generally hold nine to 15 rounds. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has called for reinstating a ban that expired in 2004. “We have to make it harder for people who should not have those weapons of war,” she said the day after June 12 shooting. For Dara Humphries, the AR-style firearm isn’t to be feared, scorned or banned. Rather, she says, it’s just a different type of weapon with a different feel. “It’s like driving a truck versus driving a car, a sports car. Every firearm has a different feel to it,” said Humphries, an NRA instructor based in Georgia. “So a Ruger Mini 14 may feel like a Jaguar to you and may feel like a truck to me and vice versa. And to me an AR-15 feels like a smooth ride whereas a Ruger feels like a bumpy truck.” Humphries, who also goes by the nickname Tactical Barbie, believes the debate over gun measures has focused too much on the firearm and not enough on the person behind the gun. “Normal people who purchase guns don’t do this,” she said of mass shooters. “If I want to defend my home and my family then I have the right to do that. We’re legal gun owners who aren’t out there shooting people up.” Erich Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, says the AR-style firearm is easy to use, has little recoil and can be customized, such as with a collapsible stock, making it easier for women to handle. While it’s too large to carry concealed, he and others describe it as a good weapon for home defense or in other crises. “When you’re facing multiple attackers, you want something that will shoot more than six rounds,” Pratt said. He and others in the gun lobby say the AR is targeted because of the way it looks, and any fears are misplaced because it’s only cosmetically different from other types of rifles and long guns. Kevin Michalowski, executive editor of Concealed Carry magazine, first fired an AR-15 in the early 1990s while hunting coyotes in South Dakota. He found it easier to use and more accurate than his old bolt-action rifle. He now owns three. While you can “do all kinds of cool things” with the AR – adding a scope or optics, putting a flashlight on the barrel, changing the stock – “none of this stuff makes a firearm any more deadly,” Michalowski said. For Shoot Like a Girl’s Butler, shooting was inspiring. After a divorce in her 30s that undermined her confidence, she went to the shooting range with a group of friends. She started shooting at Gatorade bottles and by the end of the day was using bottle caps as targets. “I went in there feeling like a failure in life and I walked out having this renewed confidence,” said Butler, 49. Butler said she believes the anger directed at the AR is unfair and misdirected. “It’s a shame because we don’t have the same outcry over knives, over baseball bats, over texting and driving, over all of these other things that are killing Americans every single day,” she said.