close

Local Columns

The Lee Health Board of Directors voted 9-1 Thursday to approve converting from a government special district to a private nonprofit. The vote is the first step in the process. A vote from the Lee County Board of County Commissioners is still needed. Lee Health spokesperson Jaclyn Bevis said ...

Cancer survivor grateful for support

When you’re diagnosed with stage 4 blood cancer, your world changes in ways you never could have imagined. Today, I am cancer-free, and I am thankful for every day that I feel stronger. Nearly 40% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes, according ...

A wish for Florida waters

I had a lifelong dream. A life just to be on, in, and harvest our waters. First a kid on the Chesapeake Bay, 27 years in the Florida Keys and in 2014, owning a small waterfront motel in Matlacha, FL giving boat tours to guests from around the world. A place to live the rest of my life ...

Spring is a time of change, as birds begin their migrations and estuarine species start their spawn. Important changes also happen in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary as waters begin to warm and the wet season looms on the horizon. In Southwest Florida, seasonal water quality is strongly ...

Wow … what a struggle we’ve been having! Lots of people, both residents and commercial business owners, were replanting their landscapes in 2023 and then Hurricane Idalia flooded their properties with salt water in August. Then the wind and high tides in December caused additional flooding ...

Saying no to fertilizer ban

Given the recent releases from Lake Okeechobee, Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt joined more than 50 other elected officials from around the state calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature to reject any legislation that would attempt to restrict the ability of local ...