FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herselfSurrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns
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.
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
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.
SARASOTA Alleged sexual abuse victims of Port Charlotte priest comes forward Father Riley worked at three churches in Charlotte County and another in Naples. On Friday, new allegations emerged from a news conference in Sarasota.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte priest accused of sexual abuse appears in court A priest accused of sexually abusing four altar boys in Iowa nearly 40 years ago returned to Charlotte County court.
Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). Paleontologists in southwestern China recently discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a prehistoric marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur. But they also found something completely unexpected — a well-preserved, extremely long reptile inside that creature’s belly. Ichthyosaurs were giant, dolphin-like carnivores that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, thriving during the Mesozoic era. In a study published Thursday in the journal iScience, researchers documented finding one with a fossil in its stomach belonging to a four-meter-long, lizard-like aquatic reptile called a thalattosaur. It’s one of the longest fossils ever found in the stomach of a prehistoric marine reptile. Researchers said the predator likely died soon after ingesting its prey, which could be why it is so well preserved. This last meal back took place back in the Middle Triassic period, roughly 237 million to 247 million years ago. It’s quite rare to find fossils within the stomach of other fossils, so researchers typically rely on tooth and jaw shapes to deduce the diets of prehistoric species. While apex predators tend to have large, sharp teeth, those of ichthyosaurs were blunter, leading researchers to believe they mostly fed on small prey like cephalopods. “If you look across all the similar marine reptiles that lived in the age of dinosaurs, we’ve actually never found something articulated like this in the stomach,” study co-author Ryosuke Motani, a professor of paleobiology at the University of California, Davis, said in a press release. “At first, we just didn’t believe it, but after spending several years visiting the dig site and looking at the same specimens, we finally were able to swallow what we were seeing.” Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). This image shows a closeup of the ichthyosaur’s stomach area. This image shows the ichthyosaur’s teeth. The new discovery could reclassify the species as “apex megapredators” — predators at the top of the food chain. “Now, we can seriously consider that they were eating big animals, even when they had grasping teeth,” Motani said. “It’s been suggested before that maybe a cutting edge was not crucial, and our discovery really supports that. It’s pretty clear that this animal could process this large food item using blunt teeth.” It’s still unclear, however, whether the ichthyosaur killed the thalattosaur or simply scavenged it. “Nobody was there filming it,” Motani joked. But researchers doubt that this was a case of scavenging, given how intact they found the fossil of the thalattosaur. If it was a case of scavenging, they said, its limbs would have decayed; however, its limbs were at least partially attacked and it appears its tail was ripped off. Researchers said that, regardless of how exactly the ichthyosaur consumed its final meal, the discovery marks the oldest direct evidence that the species ate animals larger than modern humans. “We now have a really solid articulated fossil in the stomach of a marine reptile for the first time,” Motani said. “Before, we guessed that they must have eaten these big things, but now, we can say for sure that they did eat large animals. This also suggests that megapredation was probably more common than we previously thought.” Researchers have been studying the quarry where the pair of fossils was found for more than a decade. It has been opened as a museum, but the excavation projects are still ongoing. “Still, new things are coming out,” Motani said. “At this point, it’s beyond our initial expectations, and we’ll just have to see what we’ll discover next.”