CAPE CORAL Neighbors stuck with previous homeowners’ bill A Cape Coral woman says the city is trying to make her pay for someone else’s mistake after she received a utility bill meant for the home’s previous owner.
NAPLES Teenager denied entrance to prom for wearing a suit Prom is a rite of passage for many teenagers, but one teen had her prom dreams ruined after wasn’t allowed in because of what she was wearing.
SOUTH FORT MYERS Precautionary boil water notice for small portion of Lee County Utilities customers Repair work is expected to be completed overnight and water service will be restored before early morning Wednesday.
NEAR DUNNELLON 8 dead, at least 40 hurt after bus transporting farm workers overturns At least eight people have been killed, and dozens of others have been hurt in a bus crash near Dunnellon after it was hit by a pickup truck.
LEHIGH ACRES Could tiny homes be coming to Lee County? Miniopolis Builders, a company with a vision to revolutionize affordable housing, is facing challenges in bringing their innovative concept to life in Lee County.
ARCADIA Fifteen-year-old beat up during basketball game A pick-up game of basketball at Desoto County High School turned into a physical beating for fifteen-year-old Jeremiah Ward.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte man found guilty for role in January 6 riots John Joseph Richter is now convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Commissioners react to colleague living outside of his district The first Glades Commissioners meeting since Florida Department of Law Enforcement released their investigation findings happened on Tuesday.
NAPLES Former News-Press Food Critic writes powerful memoir, “The Mango Tree” For 15 years, Annabelle Tometich wrote under the famous byline Jean Le Beouf as a food critic for the News-Press. Now, she tells her personal story in her book, “The Mango Tree.”
SAN CARLOS BAY ‘It was incredible’ Couple has close encounter with shark while kayaking on San Carlos Bay Sandrine Fontaine and Arnaud Fontaine come to Southwest Florida twice a year from France, and they try to spend every day kayaking out on the water.
FORT MYERS AI: Friend or Foe for local businesses? Artificial intelligence, otherwise known as AI, has the power to maximize a product. Including local businesses like Vectra Digital.
Protest erupts before Glades Commissioners meeting Early on Tuesday morning, a group of people stood outside of the Glades County Commissioners meeting protesting Commissioner Whidden.
GOLDEN GATE Deputies investigating stabbing at home in Golden Gate Deputies are outside of a house for a stabbing investigation. Collier County deputies said there is one person hurt.
Is there an arsonist on the loose in Lehigh Acres? Fire investigators are looking into a series of suspicious fires in Lehigh Acres that have them wondering if there is an arsonist on the loose.
Collier commissioners push plan to allow rental of guesthouses in Urban Estates The 4-1 vote, which includes a review after one year and a Code Enforcement report, involves homesteaded properties in an area of North Naples west of Collier Boulevard.
CAPE CORAL Neighbors stuck with previous homeowners’ bill A Cape Coral woman says the city is trying to make her pay for someone else’s mistake after she received a utility bill meant for the home’s previous owner.
NAPLES Teenager denied entrance to prom for wearing a suit Prom is a rite of passage for many teenagers, but one teen had her prom dreams ruined after wasn’t allowed in because of what she was wearing.
SOUTH FORT MYERS Precautionary boil water notice for small portion of Lee County Utilities customers Repair work is expected to be completed overnight and water service will be restored before early morning Wednesday.
NEAR DUNNELLON 8 dead, at least 40 hurt after bus transporting farm workers overturns At least eight people have been killed, and dozens of others have been hurt in a bus crash near Dunnellon after it was hit by a pickup truck.
LEHIGH ACRES Could tiny homes be coming to Lee County? Miniopolis Builders, a company with a vision to revolutionize affordable housing, is facing challenges in bringing their innovative concept to life in Lee County.
ARCADIA Fifteen-year-old beat up during basketball game A pick-up game of basketball at Desoto County High School turned into a physical beating for fifteen-year-old Jeremiah Ward.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte man found guilty for role in January 6 riots John Joseph Richter is now convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Commissioners react to colleague living outside of his district The first Glades Commissioners meeting since Florida Department of Law Enforcement released their investigation findings happened on Tuesday.
NAPLES Former News-Press Food Critic writes powerful memoir, “The Mango Tree” For 15 years, Annabelle Tometich wrote under the famous byline Jean Le Beouf as a food critic for the News-Press. Now, she tells her personal story in her book, “The Mango Tree.”
SAN CARLOS BAY ‘It was incredible’ Couple has close encounter with shark while kayaking on San Carlos Bay Sandrine Fontaine and Arnaud Fontaine come to Southwest Florida twice a year from France, and they try to spend every day kayaking out on the water.
FORT MYERS AI: Friend or Foe for local businesses? Artificial intelligence, otherwise known as AI, has the power to maximize a product. Including local businesses like Vectra Digital.
Protest erupts before Glades Commissioners meeting Early on Tuesday morning, a group of people stood outside of the Glades County Commissioners meeting protesting Commissioner Whidden.
GOLDEN GATE Deputies investigating stabbing at home in Golden Gate Deputies are outside of a house for a stabbing investigation. Collier County deputies said there is one person hurt.
Is there an arsonist on the loose in Lehigh Acres? Fire investigators are looking into a series of suspicious fires in Lehigh Acres that have them wondering if there is an arsonist on the loose.
Collier commissioners push plan to allow rental of guesthouses in Urban Estates The 4-1 vote, which includes a review after one year and a Code Enforcement report, involves homesteaded properties in an area of North Naples west of Collier Boulevard.
Gov. Ron DeSantis. AP file photo Continuing to target treatment for transgender people, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is requiring state universities to provide information from the past five years about services they have provided to people with gender dysphoria, according to documents released Wednesday. Chris Spencer, director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, sent a memo last week requiring that universities answer a lengthy list of questions about issues including numbers of people who sought “sex-reassignment treatment,” numbers of people prescribed such things as hormones and puberty blockers and numbers of people who underwent surgical treatments such as mastectomies. It also seeks breakdowns of the information by age. Answers are due by Feb. 10. The memo and an accompanying document did not detail what the DeSantis administration will do with the information dating back to Jan. 1, 2018. But the administration has taken a series of steps during the past year to curb treatment for transgender people, including prohibiting Medicaid coverage for such treatments as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery. DeSantis, who is widely viewed as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, also has taken aim at what he has called “trendy ideology” in colleges and universities. As an example, Spencer on Dec. 28 issued a memo that required colleges and universities to provide “a comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” The memo last week said the governor’s office “has learned that several state universities provide services to persons suffering from gender dysphoria.” The federal government defines gender dysphoria as clinically “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity.” The accompanying document included the list of information sought and was broadly written. It did not appear to be limited to information about services provided to students and university employees. It was unclear whether that could implicate services provided to the general public by university faculty members. The University of Florida’s UF Health, for instance, says on its website that “UF Health is committed to improving the health and well-being of transgender and non-binary individuals in the communities we serve.” “At UF Health, we aim to provide compassionate, evidence-driven care for our patients of the transgender and gender non-binary communities,” the website says. “Our multidisciplinary approach allows our patients to work with a physician to develop a care plan that meets their specific needs. We are committed to providing comprehensive primary care, hormone management, behavioral health, surgical services and more.” Similarly, the University of South Florida’s USF Health says on its website, “We provide specialized services for individuals who are going through the phases of gender affirmation. As an academic medical center, we have a multispecialty approach to providing comprehensive care to the transgender community.” The document that accompanied Spencer’s memo gave an instruction that universities “provide all information or data for all individuals, including those who were under 18 at the time of any encounter or treatment, as the case may be.” The memo also made clear that the universities should not provide information that would identify patients. “Please ensure all responses do not contain personally identifiable information or protected health information and are provided in an aggregated and de-identified format,” the memo said.