Tackling the teacher shortage in Lee CountyGreater Naples Fire Rescue District starts Project Fire Buddies
Tackling the teacher shortage in Lee County Are your kids losing out on the value of going to school because of inconsistency in who their teachers are?
Greater Naples Fire Rescue District starts Project Fire Buddies Greater Naples Fire is the first fire department to start a Project Fire Buddies program in Florida.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO: shooting injures 1 person near Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is reporting one person has been injured in a shooting near the Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres, and they have an active scene.
LEHIGH ACRES Deputies investigating reports of man pulling rifle on Waste Pro worker in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports of a man pulling a rifle on a garbage truck worker in Lehigh Acres.
Collier County Schools postpones possible school zoning changes The Collier County School Board voted four to one against two different proposals that could redraw school boundaries.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres arsonist on the loose; how to catch one Lehigh Acres neighborhoods have been getting hit left and right with a dozen man-made fires since January.
Man arrested after road rage incident in Collier County A Naples man has been arrested after deputies say he struck another vehicle on the road and fled the scene.
FORT MYERS Haze over Southwest Florida from fires more than 1,000 miles away The last couple of days there have seen hazy skies over the Sunshine State due to wildfires in Mexico and Central America.
WASHINGTON (AP) Biden and Trump agree to 2 presidential debates, in June and in September President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates — the first on June 27 hosted by CNN and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC — setting the stage for the first presidential face-off in just weeks.
FORT MYERS Dump truck knocks down power wires over Deleon Street, causing hours-long closure A dump truck knocked down power wires on Deleon Street, forcing a road closure and causing temporary outages in the surrounding area in Fort Myers.
GOLDEN GATE Woman arrested for stabbing boyfriend in the buttocks in Golden Gate Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested a woman for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend several times in his behind.
clearwater Gov. DeSantis cancels news conference in Clearwater due to weather Due to severe weather in Northern Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis had to cancel a news conference in Clearwater.
COLLIER COUNTY FHP arrest Lehigh Acres driver accused of shooting at family in another car A man has been arrested after allegedly shooting into another car on Interstate 75 in Collier County and fleeing the scene.
Tableside American-Romanian restaurant launches in North Naples Tableside Restaurant opened in the 2,225-square-foot space that most recently was Alpine Restaurant for more than 10 years and, initially, was Bajio Mexican Grill in the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt on the corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads.
Tackling the teacher shortage in Lee County Are your kids losing out on the value of going to school because of inconsistency in who their teachers are?
Greater Naples Fire Rescue District starts Project Fire Buddies Greater Naples Fire is the first fire department to start a Project Fire Buddies program in Florida.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO: shooting injures 1 person near Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is reporting one person has been injured in a shooting near the Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres, and they have an active scene.
LEHIGH ACRES Deputies investigating reports of man pulling rifle on Waste Pro worker in Lehigh Acres The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports of a man pulling a rifle on a garbage truck worker in Lehigh Acres.
Collier County Schools postpones possible school zoning changes The Collier County School Board voted four to one against two different proposals that could redraw school boundaries.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres arsonist on the loose; how to catch one Lehigh Acres neighborhoods have been getting hit left and right with a dozen man-made fires since January.
Man arrested after road rage incident in Collier County A Naples man has been arrested after deputies say he struck another vehicle on the road and fled the scene.
FORT MYERS Haze over Southwest Florida from fires more than 1,000 miles away The last couple of days there have seen hazy skies over the Sunshine State due to wildfires in Mexico and Central America.
WASHINGTON (AP) Biden and Trump agree to 2 presidential debates, in June and in September President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates — the first on June 27 hosted by CNN and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC — setting the stage for the first presidential face-off in just weeks.
FORT MYERS Dump truck knocks down power wires over Deleon Street, causing hours-long closure A dump truck knocked down power wires on Deleon Street, forcing a road closure and causing temporary outages in the surrounding area in Fort Myers.
GOLDEN GATE Woman arrested for stabbing boyfriend in the buttocks in Golden Gate Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested a woman for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend several times in his behind.
clearwater Gov. DeSantis cancels news conference in Clearwater due to weather Due to severe weather in Northern Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis had to cancel a news conference in Clearwater.
COLLIER COUNTY FHP arrest Lehigh Acres driver accused of shooting at family in another car A man has been arrested after allegedly shooting into another car on Interstate 75 in Collier County and fleeing the scene.
Tableside American-Romanian restaurant launches in North Naples Tableside Restaurant opened in the 2,225-square-foot space that most recently was Alpine Restaurant for more than 10 years and, initially, was Bajio Mexican Grill in the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt on the corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (File/AP) Reversing its previous position, the University of Florida said Friday that it will allow three professors to testify as experts in a lawsuit challenging a new state election law that critics say restricts voting rights. Last month, the university prohibited Dan Smith, Michael McDonald and Sharon Austin from testifying in the lawsuit brought by civic groups, saying that such testimony would put the school in conflict with the administration of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, which pushed the election law. More than half of the university’s trustees are appointed by the governor. In a letter to the campus, university president Kent Fuchs said he is asking the office responsible for approving professors’ outside work to greenlight their request to serve as expert witnesses in the litigation. Fuchs said the outside work would have to be on the professors’ own time and not use university resources. Attorneys representing the professors said they were assessing their options following the reversal. “While the University of Florida reversed course and allowed our clients to testify in this particular case, the fact remains that the university curtailed their First Amendment rights and academic freedoms, and as long as the university’s policy remains, those rights and freedoms are at risk,” David O’Neil and Paul Donnelly said in a statement. The university’s announcement came after the union for faculty members urged donors to withhold contributions and scholars and artists to turn down invitations to campus until university administrators affirmed the free speech rights of school employees. Not allowing them to testify would be “an attack on all of us,” said Paul Ortiz, a history professor who is president of the union chapter at the university. Hours later, after hearing about the reversal, Ortiz called the announcement, “a really positive step forward,” and said the union chapter’s executive committee will meet to decide how to proceed. “I’m delighted to see this,” Ortiz said. “We want some kind of guarantee that this isn’t going to be on a case-by-case basis — if another faculty member says, ‘I want to engage in this type of activity,’ that we aren’t going to end up back in the same place.” The union also had asked the university to issue an apology, affirm its support for voting rights and declare that the school’s mission is for the public good. Fuchs and Provost Joe Glover said in a letter to the campus community earlier this week that the school will immediately appoint a task force “to review the university’s conflict of interest policy and examine it for consistency and fidelity.” On Friday, Fuchs said a preliminary recommendation will be ready by the end of the month. Also this week, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges told news outlets the organization planned to investigate the university’s previous decision to prohibit the professors from testifying. The University of Florida’s president answers to its board of trustees, which has six members appointed by the governor and five appointed by the state university system’s board of governors. The board of governors, in turn, has 17 members, 14 of whom are appointed by the Florida governor and confirmed by the state Senate. These offices have been in Republican hands for many years. In a statement this week, DeSantis’ office denied being behind the decision to block the faculty members’ testimony. Florida Democratic elected officials, many of whom attended the University of Florida, were critical of the university’s initial rejection of the professors’ requests, tying it to other controversial recent decisions by the school, such as the quick hiring of DeSantis’ pick to be Florida’s surgeon general. Dr. Joseph Ladapo recently came under fire for refusing to don a mask at a meeting with a lawmaker who was being treated for cancer. “The rapid reversal of this ill-advised policy will restore the pride and integrity of the Gator Nation of which I am so incredibly proud,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “Go Gators!”