Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the legCaught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
GOLDEN GATE Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate Collier commissioners unanimously approved a long term lease and operating agreement to reopen the Golden Gate golf course Tuesday.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcyclists ride in SWFL to help veterans battle suicide A group of veterans from the American Legion are grabbing their helmets and boots for a motorcycle ride to bring awareness to the staggering rates of suicide among veterans.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
GOLDEN GATE Collier commissioners approve agreement for golf complex in Golden Gate Collier commissioners unanimously approved a long term lease and operating agreement to reopen the Golden Gate golf course Tuesday.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcyclists ride in SWFL to help veterans battle suicide A group of veterans from the American Legion are grabbing their helmets and boots for a motorcycle ride to bring awareness to the staggering rates of suicide among veterans.
The crew access arm is swung into position for the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission, Thursday, May 21, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP) Following their historic Crew Dragon flight test in May, NASA and SpaceX are planning their first operational astronaut launch for September. Three US astronauts — Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, and Shannon Walker — will join Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut with the Japanese space agency, JAXA, on a mission to the International Space Station that will take off from SpaceX’s launch site in Florida “no earlier than” September 14, NASA announced this week. The mission, dubbed Crew-1, will be the first fully operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, a gumdrop-shaped spacecraft developed by Elon Musk’s exploration company designed to ferry NASA astronauts, and eventually tourists, to the ISS. Crew-1 will follow SpaceX and NASA’s Demo-2 mission, which carried NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the ISS after launching from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on May 30. Behnken and Hurley, both test pilots chosen specifically to fly Crew Dragon on its first-ever manned mission, are expected to return home from the ISS on August 2. Demo-2 was technically a test mission, and NASA is waiting until the Crew Dragon vehicle that brought them to the ISS can safely return Behnken and Hurley to Earth before certifying the capsule worthy of human spaceflight missions. The Crew-1 launch won’t receive the official go-ahead until then. NASA also said in a press release that it “continues to monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, and a limited number of media will be granted access” to Kennedy Space Center to cover the launch “in order to protect the health and safety of media and employees.” The Demo-2 mission in May was carried out when Florida had a relatively low number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell had urged space fans to stay home and watch the Demo-2 launch online. But SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had said in a series of tweets this spring that he thinks the United States’ coronavirus lockdowns were overblown and shared misinformation about its threat. In the weeks before the Demo-2 launch, local and state officials in Florida began to ease lockdown restrictions. Many nearby beaches and public viewing sites were opened. And despite a tornado warning, rolling thunderstorms and the pandemic, hundreds of people — few of whom wore masks — packed into tight crowds to catch a glimpse of the rocket’s liftoff. Florida is now grappling with one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation and more than 50 intensive care units across the state are at full capacity, according to public data, including the Cape Canaveral Hospital, which is nearest to NASA’s to Kennedy Space Center launch site. It’s not clear how many, if any, of the infections are linked to the crowds that gathered for the May launch. “The agency will follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency’s chief health and medical officer, and will immediately communicate any updates that may impact media access for [the Crew-1] launch” in September, NASA said Wednesday. The US space industry has mostly remained open for business amid the pandemic because its operations are widely deemed “essential” by federal and state officials, though NASA has halted much of its operations. Bridenstine has said that keeping the ISS fully staffed is among the agency’s top priorities. “The station’s design requires humans living aboard to maintain it, operate it, and upgrade it; thus, International Space Station operations, including commercial resupply and commercial crew, are essential to the mission,” Bridenstine said in May. SpaceX worked for a decade to develop a replacement for NASA’s Space Shuttle program, which was retired in 2011. SpaceX worked under a $2.6 billion fixed-price contract with NASA that covers design, development, testing, and the first few crewed flights of the Dragon spacecraft. Though largely funded by taxpayers, SpaceX designed and owns its Crew Dragon capsules and the Falcon 9 rockets they fly aboard. NASA serves as SpaceX’s customer, purchasing seats for astronauts as needed. Meanwhile, SpaceX can sign up its own passengers, including tourists, scientists, and even movie stars for future missions.