Local
Construction blocks the I-75 northbound entrance ramp from westbound Daniels Parkway
FHP lists a construction roadblock on the northbound I-75 entrance ramp from westbound Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers. No completion time is given.
Southwest Florida
Fort Myers News
The latest from Fort Myers, Lee County: public safety, courts, local government, schools, business and the cost of living. Every story names its source and links the record.
Local
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Fort Myers
FHP marks I-75 crash scenes clear near Fort Myers and Naples
FHP lists the roadway clear at a northbound crash near mile marker 136 in Lee County and a southbound crash near mile marker 111 in Collier County.
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Fort Myers
FHP removes Alico Road crash entry after reporting an outside-lane blockage
The October 14 crash at Royal Queen Boulevard in Fort Myers is no longer listed on FHP's active board. No official reopening time was posted.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Construction again restricts the Daniels Parkway entrance ramp and northbound I-75 in Fort Myers
FHP lists a construction roadblock on the westbound Daniels Parkway entrance ramp to northbound I-75 and a blocked right lane on the interstate at mile marker 131.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers crews rescue a dog from a house fire that was out shortly after 9:30 a.m.
Firefighters rescued a dog and returned it to its family after a Tuesday morning house fire. The department reported no injuries.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP marks I-75 at Daniels Parkway clear; ramp status unconfirmed
FHP marked the roadway clear at northbound I-75 mile marker 131. The separate Daniels Parkway entrance-ramp construction entry left the board, without an explicit reopening notice.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A call brought deputies and bomb squad teams to both Evangelical Christian School campuses, and the Lee sheriff says sweeps found no suspicious items
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says deputies, its bomb squad and a K9 unit swept both Evangelical Christian School campuses Friday and found no suspicious items.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP stops listing metal debris that blocked northbound I-75 at mile marker 136 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the metal debris that was in the center lane of northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 136 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP clears northbound I-75 at mile marker 136 after a Fort Myers crash
Florida Highway Patrol now lists the roadway clear after a crash blocked northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 136 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
I-75 mile marker 138 roadway clears after injury crash in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol marked the roadway clear after an injury crash at Interstate 75 mile marker 138 in Fort Myers briefly blocked inside lanes in both directions.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Heavy rain could cause localized flooding across Southwest Florida on Thursday
The National Weather Service says repeated heavy downpours could cause localized flooding Thursday, with a quick 2 to 4 inches possible in isolated locations.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Florida Silver Alert asks Lee County drivers to watch for a blue Toyota Corolla with tag LISV59
Florida Highway Patrol is broadcasting an active Silver Alert through its Fort Myers center for a blue 2004 Toyota Corolla with Florida tag LISV59.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP removes the Daniels and Chamberlin crash entries from its active incident board
Florida Highway Patrol has removed both crash entries at Daniels and Chamberlin parkways from its active incident board. One entry had earlier marked the westbound inside lane clear.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Tropical Depression Nine forms in the Gulf with a dangerous hurricane forecast near the northern Gulf Coast
The National Hurricane Center began advisories on Tropical Depression Nine in the Gulf on Tuesday. It forecasts hurricane strength Thursday and a dangerous hurricane near the northern Gulf Coast Friday. No coastal watch is in effect, but watches could be issued Wednesday.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP says northbound I-75 is clear after a crash near Fort Myers mile marker 131
Florida Highway Patrol says the roadway is clear after a crash on northbound I-75 near mile marker 131 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Courts
Roger Polo De La Cruz receives two consecutive life sentences in Fort Myers attempted-murder case
The State Attorney's Office says Roger Antonio Polo De La Cruz was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County deputies seek Richard Dellatore, 51, whom the sheriff's office calls missing and endangered
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is asking the public to help locate Richard Dellatore, 51, whom the agency describes as missing and endangered.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP no longer lists the I-75 lane-blocking crash near Fort Myers mile marker 138
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the crash that blocked the middle and left northbound I-75 lanes near mile marker 138 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
The sheriff's office announced a short Alico Road closure at WildBlue Boulevard for debris cleanup Monday afternoon
All lanes of Alico Road at WildBlue Boulevard were closed for debris cleanup Monday afternoon, with the sheriff's office estimating about 30 minutes.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Northbound I-75 Exit 128 is clear after an injury crash blocked the ramp in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol lists the roadway clear after an injury crash blocked the northbound exit ramp at Interstate 75 Exit 128 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP no longer lists the Ben C. Pratt Parkway roadblock from Saturday's fatal crash
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the Ben C. Pratt Parkway roadblock from Saturday's fatal crash near Daniels Parkway.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Southbound I-75 is clear at mile marker 127 after a crash blocked the inside lane
Florida Highway Patrol now lists southbound Interstate 75 clear at mile marker 127 in Fort Myers after a crash blocked the inside lane.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP says roadway clear after a disabled vehicle blocked the middle lane of I-75 northbound in Fort Myers
The Florida Highway Patrol says the roadway is clear after a disabled vehicle blocked the middle northbound lane of Interstate 75 at mile marker 140 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Two right lanes are blocked on northbound I-75 near mile marker 129 in Fort Myers
The Florida Highway Patrol incident board lists two right lanes blocked for construction on northbound Interstate 75 near mile marker 129 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Westbound Daniels Parkway has a right lane blocked near I-75 for construction
Florida Highway Patrol lists the right westbound lane of Daniels Parkway at Goldenwood Drive in Fort Myers as blocked before Interstate 75 for construction.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP no longer lists the injury crash that blocked a Daniels Parkway turn lane at I-75
Florida Highway Patrol stopped displaying an injury-crash record that had blocked the eastbound left-turn lane on Daniels Parkway at Interstate 75 in Fort Myers. The board did not publish a clearing time.
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Fort Myers · Business and recovery
Legacy Harbour Marina welcomes boats back nearly four years after Hurricane Ian
Legacy Harbour Marina has reopened its docks along the Caloosahatchee River after a full rebuild following Hurricane Ian. The marina has 131 slips, and its director says a grand opening is planned for October.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
FHP warns of debris around a southbound I-75 crash at mile marker 130 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol lists an active crash and debris warning on southbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 130 in Fort Myers. The record does not list a roadblock.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP no longer lists the Alico Road crash that blocked traffic at I-75 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol stopped displaying a crash record that had carried a roadblock warning at Alico Road and Interstate 75 in Fort Myers. The board did not publish a clearing time.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Two right lanes of westbound Daniels Parkway are again blocked at I-75 for construction
Florida Highway Patrol again lists the two right westbound lanes of Daniels Parkway at Interstate 75 in Fort Myers as blocked for construction.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Old Olga Road closes at 8 a.m. from State Road 80 to Cristobal Street for a week of sewer repairs
Lee County will close Old Olga Road from Palm Beach Boulevard to Cristobal Street at 8 a.m. Thursday to repair a broken sewer line. No through traffic will be possible.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Florida issues a Silver Alert for Joseph Coviello, last seen in Fort Myers in a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee
FDLE says Joseph Coviello, 75, was last seen near Lake Mahogany Boulevard in Fort Myers and may be driving a silver 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee with Florida tag C0VR0C.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The two-lane Daniels Parkway construction block at I-75 is no longer on the Highway Patrol's live board
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the construction restriction that had blocked the two right westbound lanes of Daniels Parkway at Interstate 75 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The state has stopped displaying the northbound I-75 crash at mile marker 128 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol has stopped displaying a crash that blocked northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 128 in Fort Myers. The state published no separate clearing time.
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Fort Myers · Local Government
Two men accuse Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson of sexual misconduct at a council meeting; Anderson says the claims are false
Two men accused Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson of sexual misconduct during Monday's council meeting. Anderson denied the allegations and said they were false.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the southbound I-75 crash near mile marker 128 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the southbound I-75 crash near mile marker 128 in Fort Myers on its populated incident board.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP again lists an injury crash and roadblock on northbound I-75 at mile marker 141 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol again lists the northbound I-75 injury crash at mile marker 141 in Fort Myers with a roadblock after the row briefly disappeared from the live board.
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Fort Myers · Roads
The disabled vehicle roadblock on Colonial Boulevard at the I-75 southbound entrance in Fort Myers has cleared from the state board
A disabled vehicle roadblock on Colonial Boulevard at the southbound Interstate 75 entrance ramp at Exit 136 is no longer listed on the Florida Highway Patrol's active incident board.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Lee County flood advisory expires after heavy rain
A National Weather Service Flood Advisory for Cape Coral, Fort Myers and much of Lee County expired at 9:45 p.m. after up to 2.5 inches of rain.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
FHP says all northbound I-75 lanes are open at mile marker 141
Florida Highway Patrol says all northbound lanes of I-75 are open at mile marker 141 in Fort Myers after an earlier crash closure.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Roadblock clears after crash on the Alico Road ramp to I-75 southbound
Florida Highway Patrol now lists no roadblock after a crash blocked the ramp from eastbound Alico Road to southbound Interstate 75 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police charged a man after a stabbing near Main Street sent one person to a hospital
Fort Myers police charged a 41-year-old man after an officer found a stabbing victim with serious cuts near Main Street. The victim was taken to a hospital.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
Daniels Parkway turn lane is clear after a disabled vehicle blocked it near the Interstate 75 southbound entrance
A disabled vehicle that blocked the second left turn lane on Daniels Parkway at the Interstate 75 southbound entrance was gone from the Florida Highway Patrol board by 11:54 a.m.
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Fort Myers · Business
Generators By Design dissolved as WINK reports customer deposit claims
Florida records show that Fort Myers generator business Generators By Design dissolved in February 2025. WINK News reports that Southwest Florida customers say they are still trying to recover deposits for installations that did not happen.
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Fort Myers · Traffic
The ramp from westbound Daniels Parkway to northbound I-75 is closed until 6 a.m. for interchange work
The westbound Daniels Parkway ramp to northbound Interstate 75 is closed until 6 a.m. Thursday, then scheduled to close again from 9 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Construction is blocking the right lane of I-75 northbound at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers
Construction is blocking the right northbound lane of Interstate 75 at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
FHP no longer lists McGregor Boulevard injury crash near Paul Schultz Way
Florida Highway Patrol listed an injury crash at McGregor Boulevard and Paul Schultz Way in Fort Myers Tuesday evening. The incident was no longer on the state board in a closing check.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County sheriff says a second man is charged in Steven Roth's killing
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced a second arrest in the killing of Steven Roth. The county booking record lists Justin Michael Kight on murder and evidence-tampering charges, with no bond recorded.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
An I-75 southbound injury crash at mile marker 134 in Fort Myers is marked roadway clear
The Florida Highway Patrol marks the roadway clear after an injury crash on southbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 134 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
FHP closes its I-75 mile 136 tire debris entry in Fort Myers
The Florida Highway Patrol has closed its entry for tire debris that was in the left southbound lane of Interstate 75 at mile marker 136 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The disabled vehicle call that blocked the left lane of Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 131 is no longer listed
The Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists a disabled vehicle call that blocked the left lane of Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The State Road 82 roadblock at Columbus Boulevard South is no longer listed by the Florida Highway Patrol
The Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the disabled vehicle roadblock at State Road 82 and Columbus Boulevard South in Lee County.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Interstate 75 lanes are clear after crashes at mile marker 141 in Fort Myers
The Florida Highway Patrol now marks the roadway clear after crashes affected both directions of Interstate 75 at mile marker 141 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The I-75 debris incident at mile marker 135 in Fort Myers is no longer on the state board
The Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists a roadway debris incident that affected the center northbound lane of Interstate 75 at mile marker 135 in Fort Myers early Monday.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
Miami cargo plane crash sends diverted flights and stranded travelers to RSW
Southwest Florida International Airport told WINK News that some Miami flights were diverted to Fort Myers after Sunday's fatal cargo plane crash. Federal aviation officials say severe Miami arrival delays continue.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Interstate 75 southbound exit ramp at Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers is clear after an injury crash, the state board says
The Florida Highway Patrol lists the roadway clear after an injury crash blocked the Interstate 75 southbound exit ramp at Daniels Parkway near exit 131.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County says utility crews made 22 repair calls in a neighborhood hit during fiber work
Lee County Utilities told WINK News its crews had made 22 water and sewer repair visits this year in a neighborhood where residents reported repeated damage during fiber installation. The county said it bills contractors when appropriate.
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Fort Myers · Public safety
Fort Myers police say a suspect died after an officer-involved shooting on Katherine Street, with FDLE leading the investigation
Fort Myers police say a suspect died at a hospital after an officer-involved shooting in the 2300 block of Katherine Street early Saturday. The state is leading the investigation.
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Fort Myers · Public safety
The state has stopped displaying a disabled vehicle call that blocked the center lane of Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 128 in Fort Myers
Florida Highway Patrol briefly listed a disabled vehicle blocking the center lane of Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 128 in Fort Myers. The entry is no longer on the live board.
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Fort Myers · Roads
An I-75 crash near mile marker 127 in Fort Myers is no longer on the state incident board
A crash that had partially blocked the inside lane of southbound Interstate 75 near mile marker 127 in Fort Myers is no longer listed on the Florida Highway Patrol's active incident board.
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Fort Myers · Schools
FGCU will close initial enrollment to some undocumented students in 2027 under a statewide admissions rule approved at its Fort Myers campus
Florida's Board of Governors approved Regulation 6.001, which makes people unlawfully present in the United States ineligible for initial enrollment at affected state universities beginning in the 2027-28 academic year.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Highway Patrol has removed the Daniels Parkway crash at Plantation Road from its active incident board
The Highway Patrol listed a crash with a roadblock in the intersection of Daniels Parkway and Plantation Road, then removed it from the active board by 8.55 p.m.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
An injury crash is blocking the westbound lanes of State Road 82 at Haviland Avenue South in Lee County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol
The Florida Highway Patrol live incident board lists an injury crash and says the westbound lanes of State Road 82 are blocked at Haviland Avenue South.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A crash is blocking northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol
The Florida Highway Patrol lists a vehicle crash with the roadway blocked on northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A flood advisory covers northeastern Lee County until 8 p.m. after two to three inches of rain, with more expected from Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres east through Alva
The National Weather Service says minor flooding is ongoing or may begin shortly in low lying and poor drainage areas across northeastern Lee County.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The scene is clear after a crash blocked the left lane of northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 140 in Fort Myers
The Florida Highway Patrol marked the scene clear after a crash blocked the left lane of northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 140 in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
An injury crash is blocking the eastbound left lane of Daniels Parkway at the Interstate 75 southbound entrance in Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol
The Florida Highway Patrol lists an injury crash with the eastbound left lane blocked on Daniels Parkway at the Interstate 75 southbound entrance near exit 131.
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Fort Myers · Local business
Fort Myers will have the last Bahama Breeze to close, with the 27-year-old restaurant scheduled to shut in May 2027 and reopen as Yard House the following month
Darden plans to close the Bahama Breeze at 14701 South Tamiami Trail in May 2027 and reopen the property as Yard House in June. The company is retiring the Bahama Breeze brand.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Highway Patrol has removed a Daniels Parkway crash at Goldenwood Drive from its active incident board
The Highway Patrol listed a vehicle crash and westbound roadblock at Daniels Parkway and Goldenwood Drive shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday, then removed the incident from its active board by 6.08 a.m.
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Fort Myers · Roads
The Florida Highway Patrol has classified an incident at 5179 Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers as a fatality, with no roadblock reported
The state dispatch board lists a fatality at 5179 Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers. The entry says there is no roadblock. The patrol has published no account of what happened and has named nobody.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The Hurricane Center started advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Five in the northern Gulf on Monday morning, with a Tropical Storm Warning up for the upper Texas and southwestern Louisiana coast and nothing at all posted for Florida
The National Hurricane Center began advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Five in the Gulf on Monday morning. The Tropical Storm Warning runs from Port Bolivar, Texas, to the Vermilion/Cameron Parish Line, Louisiana. Southwest Florida has no watch or warning.
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Fort Myers · Public safety
Buckingham Presbyterian Church burned on Friday night with flames already through the roof when the first crews reached it, and by Sunday the congregation was holding its service outdoors
A second-alarm fire tore through the church on Buckingham Road late on Friday. Crews from two districts fought it, the cause is under investigation, and members worshipped outside on Sunday.
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Fort Myers · Cost of living
The relocation pages price Fort Myers housing below the national average. The federal statistic prices it a quarter above.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts the price level of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro at 102.3 for 2024, or 2.3 percent above the national average, 55th of 387 metropolitan areas. Housing carries all of it at 125.1. Goods, utilities and other services all price below the national average.
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Fort Myers · Local Economy
NeoGenomics, the Fort Myers cancer diagnostics company, says Medicare will now cover its RaDaR ST test for immunotherapy monitoring, a third covered indication
The company says the MolDX programme has extended coverage of its RaDaR ST assay to monitoring response to immune-checkpoint therapy in late-stage solid tumours. Two further submissions remain pending.
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Fort Myers · Local Economy
Southwest Florida International handled 680,168 passengers in July, down 5.7 percent, but the airport's year to date is within 2,594 passengers of last year
The Lee County Port Authority reports 680,168 passengers at RSW in July against 720,973 a year earlier. Seven months in, 2026 is running 0.04 percent behind 2025, a gap of 2,594 passengers out of 7.1 million.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A 19 year old student at Coronado High School in Fort Myers has been arrested and accused of bringing a firearm onto campus, after deputies say a backpack check turned up a holster and a police dog alerted on his car
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says a backpack check on Wednesday found a holster and an empty ammunition box, and a K9 then alerted on the student's car, where a Glock 17 was found. Christian Viard, 19, faces two charges.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The eastern Atlantic system this desk has tracked all week as Invest 96L was named Tropical Storm Dolly at 11 o'clock this morning, and the National Hurricane Center's very first advisory on it already forecasts the storm to fall apart into a tropical wave before it ever reaches the Leeward Islands
The National Hurricane Center named Tropical Storm Dolly at 11 a.m., 1,555 miles east of the Leeward Islands with 40 mph winds. The same advisory forecasts it to degenerate into a tropical wave before reaching them. Nothing is in force in Collier or Lee.
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Fort Myers · Roads
The Florida Highway Patrol has now published an account of how Wednesday night's fatal crash on Cemetery Road happened, saying a Nissan crossed the centre line into the direct path of an oncoming Chevrolet and the two vehicles met head-on
The patrol says a Nissan Kicks crossed the centre line on Cemetery Road at about 6.40 p.m. and met an eastbound Chevrolet Suburban head-on. The Nissan driver died at the scene. The investigation is open and nobody has been named.
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Fort Myers · Civic
Dozens of people stood outside the Luminary Hotel in downtown Fort Myers for about three hours on Wednesday night over reported immigration enforcement activity across Lee County, and the hotel put out a statement about it
WINK News reports dozens of protesters gathered outside the Luminary Hotel in downtown Fort Myers on Wednesday night over reported ICE activity in Southwest Florida. The hotel said safety is its priority. No arrests were reported, and no ICE response appeared in the report.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police are asking for the public's help finding a 17 year old girl and her six month old daughter, last seen on Tuesday on Michigan Avenue
Fort Myers police are asking the public to help find Wilbelys Lopez Candelario, 17, and her six month old daughter Marbelys, last seen on Tuesday at 3650 Michigan Avenue. Call 239-321-7700.
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Fort Myers · Roads
One person died and five more were trauma alerted in a two vehicle crash at Cemetery Road and Dana Road, and Gulf Coast News now reports the road has reopened after the Lee County Sheriff's Office had it closed and traffic rerouted onto Skates Circle
One person died and five were trauma alerted in a two vehicle crash at Cemetery Road and Dana Road. The sheriff closed the roads and rerouted traffic; Gulf Coast News now reports the road has reopened.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Immigration agents detained a man outside a Lee Health facility in Fort Myers on Wednesday afternoon, and residents reported seeing agents at several other places across Lee County through the day
WINK News recorded immigration agents detaining a man outside a Lee Health facility on Wednesday afternoon, and reported agents at Palms of Monterrey and other Lee County locations. No agency has released a count.
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Fort Myers · Roads
The Florida Highway Patrol reclassified its call on Cemetery Road at Dana Road outside Fort Myers as a fatality and stamped its own dispatch entry clear at 7.34 p.m., but the Lee County Sheriff's Office says the roads are still closed and traffic is being rerouted
The state dispatch board logged a crash with injuries at Cemetery Road and Dana Road in Lee County at 6.49 p.m., changed the entry to read Fatality, then stamped the call clear at 7.34 p.m. Somebody died. The sheriff's office says the roads remain closed.
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Fort Myers · Roads
The Florida Highway Patrol has stamped its crash involving one of its own patrol cars on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 131 in Fort Myers cleared at 6.55 p.m., forty seven minutes after it was logged, and the roadblock column never moved off unknown
The state dispatch board logged a patrol car crash on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 131 at 6.08 p.m., stamped a trooper on scene seven minutes later, and stamped the call cleared at 6.55 p.m. The roadblock status never moved off unknown.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Immigration agents carried out raids across Southwest Florida neighbourhoods on Wednesday, including one at Madison Avenue in Fort Myers before eight in the morning, and the agency has not said how many people it took into custody
Gulf Coast News reports that immigration agents raided Southwest Florida neighbourhoods on Wednesday and detained dozens, including at Madison Avenue in Fort Myers before eight in the morning. ICE has not released a total, and the outlet reports arrests may continue into Friday.
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Fort Myers · Hurricane Rebuilding
Lee County cut the ribbon this morning on the rebuilt splash pads at Lakes Regional Park in Fort Myers, a 2.6 million dollar replacement paid for with state disaster money after Hurricane Ian ruined the originals almost four years ago
The splash pads at Lakes Regional Park on Gladiolus Drive opened to the public on August 5 and got their ribbon cutting this morning. The 2.6 million dollar rebuild after Hurricane Ian was paid for with Florida Division of Emergency Management money.
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Fort Myers · Health Care
Lee Health is ending its hospital and physician contracts with UnitedHealthcare on 31 December, which puts every Lee Health hospital and doctor out of network on 1 January 2027 for affected employer, individual and Medicare Advantage plans
Lee Health says its UnitedHealthcare contracts end on 31 December, putting its hospitals and physicians out of network on 1 January 2027 for affected employer, individual and Medicare Advantage plans. Coverage runs normally until then, and patients are told not to cancel 2027 appointments yet.
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Fort Myers · Education
The School District of Lee County has lifted the pause it placed on moving Buckingham Exceptional Student Center in April and will now consolidate it with Royal Palm Exceptional Center on the Royal Palm campus, with the combined facility due to open to students in August 2027
Lee County schools have restarted the consolidation of Buckingham Exceptional Student Center into Royal Palm Exceptional Center, four months after pausing it under parent pressure. The district says the revised plan reflects family feedback and that the combined campus opens in August 2027.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee Health says text messages and emails offering a MyChart Medicare Kit or a Senior Health Package are not from the health system, and are being sent by third parties trying to collect personal and sensitive information from its patients
Lee Health says messages promising a MyChart Medicare Kit or a Senior Health Package are not from the health system. Its own MyChart page warns that fraudulent emails, texts and calls may use the MyChart name or logo to look legitimate.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Six hours after saying a tropical depression was likely to form in the eastern Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center has cut Invest 96L to 60 percent in both of its windows and now says conditions there turn against the system by the weekend
The 8 a.m. outlook cuts Invest 96L from 70 percent to 60 percent in both windows, softens depression formation from likely to could, and warns conditions turn less favorable by the weekend. Nothing is in force in Collier or Lee.
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Fort Myers · Consumer Protection
RV Doctor in Fort Myers is named in two active Lee County civil cases and a run of customer complaints over motorhomes their owners say sat unfinished for a year or longer
An eight-month WINK Investigates report names RV Doctor, Inc. of Fort Myers in two active Lee County civil cases and a run of customer complaints over unfinished work. The company denies wrongdoing and blames parts backorders and insurance limits.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center now carries the eastern Atlantic disturbance at 70 percent in both of its windows and says a tropical depression is likely to form there within a day or two, while the Bermuda system has fallen to near zero and is no longer expected to develop at all
The 2 a.m. outlook raises the 48-hour odds on Invest 96L to 70 percent and says a depression is likely within a day or two. The Bermuda system, Invest 95L, fell to near zero. Nothing is in force in Collier or Lee.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County logged three more boil water notices on Tuesday, two of them at the same Heron Coach Way address three hours apart, and lifted the Chandler Avenue notice after ninety six hours
Lee County Utilities added three precautionary boil water notices on Tuesday and rescinded the Chandler Avenue notice at 9.57 that morning, leaving five areas active including one that starts Wednesday.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Twelve of the 163 children recovered in Florida's largest child recovery operation are credited to the Fort Myers region, and the state's own release does not say the twelve were found here
Florida announced 163 children recovered in a five day operation, with twelve credited to the Fort Myers region. Neither the Lee nor the Collier sheriff's office is among the thirteen named.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
Southwest Florida International Airport proposes to charge the airlines $16.64 for every departing passenger next year, up from $14.03, and the rise is bond coverage on the terminal expansion rather than the cost of running the place
The Lee County Port Authority's proposed 2026-27 budget puts the average cost per enplaned passenger at $16.64 against $14.03 this year, and projects 11,324,210 passengers, 91,311 fewer than the current budget.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County opened two more boil water notices at lunchtime on Monday, one of them the third main break in the Villas in four days, and the Chandler Avenue notice from Friday morning has now been open more than ninety hours
Lee County Utilities is carrying three open boil water notices. Two went up Monday, one on Entrada Drive North and McGregor Boulevard, the other on Woodland Boulevard and Crest Lane in the Villas. The Chandler Avenue notice from Friday is open at 91 hours.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center now puts the eastern Atlantic disturbance at 70 percent and says a tropical depression is likely within days, while the Bermuda system it was tracking has slipped to 40 percent, and neither area is forecast toward Southwest Florida
The 2 a.m. outlook lifts the Cabo Verde system to 70 percent over seven days and says a tropical depression is likely within days. The Bermuda low fell to 40 percent. No watch, warning or advisory is in force anywhere in Florida.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Immigration agents made arrests and detentions across Lee County on Monday morning, drivers reported repeated stops along Interstate 75, and the agency says it will not discuss the operation
Gulf Coast News reports ICE conducted arrests and detentions across Lee County on Monday morning, with drivers describing multiple stops on I-75 between the Alico Road and Corkscrew Road exits. ICE said DHS does not discuss ongoing or future operations.
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Fort Myers · Transport
Breeze Airways is pausing its Fort Myers to Albany route for the whole of September, blaming fuel costs, and says the flights come back in October
Gulf Coast News reports Breeze will suspend RSW to Albany for September, citing high fuel costs, with the route returning in October and seats already on sale. It is one of several network cuts.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center has raised the Bermuda area low to a 50 percent chance of forming and a second disturbance southeast of the Cabo Verde islands now carries the tracking number 96L, and neither of the two areas the outlook is carrying threatens Southwest Florida
The 2 p.m. outlook lifts the low east-southeast of Bermuda from 30 to 50 percent over seven days and gives the eastern Atlantic low 60 percent. Nothing is forecast toward Florida, and no watch, warning or advisory is in force in Lee or Collier.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police say a fire set outside an occupied home in the 100 block of Williams Street on Sunday night did significant damage to the exterior, and they arrested a 24-year-old man at the scene on a charge of first-degree arson
Fort Myers police say the Sunday night fire was set outside a home with people inside. Mario Cabrera, 24, was arrested at the scene and booked into the Lee County jail on a first-degree arson charge.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A crash with injuries blocked the left lane of Interstate 75 southbound at the Alico Road overpass in Lee County for about forty minutes on Monday morning, and the Florida Highway Patrol has since marked the roadway open
The Florida Highway Patrol logged a crash with injuries on I-75 southbound near the Alico Road interchange at 8.43 on Monday morning. By 9.24 its own board carried the words ROADWAY IS OPEN, and by lunchtime the entry had gone.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County lifted the boil water notice on Dorchester Street in the Villas at 9.23 on Sunday morning, forty eight hours after the main broke, and left the Chandler Avenue notice a few streets away open
One of the two Villas boil water notices Lee County had left open since Friday was rescinded at 9.23 a.m. Sunday. The 8921 through 8949 Dorchester Street notice is lifted. The 2418 through 2457 Chandler Avenue notice is still in force.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A crash blocked the right lane of Interstate 75 southbound at mile marker 141 in Lee County late on Sunday morning, and the state dispatch board had dropped it by lunchtime
The Florida Highway Patrol logged a crash with a roadblock on I-75 southbound at mile marker 141 at 11.21 Sunday morning, later noting the right lane blocked. Three readings of the dispatch board at 12.55 carried no Lee County entry.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Two precautionary boil water notices covering a stretch of Dorchester Street and Chandler Avenue in the Villas area of Fort Myers have been open on Lee County's water map since Friday morning, and the county did not lift either one when it cleared three others on Saturday
Two main breaks in the Villas area, both logged Friday morning, are still unlifted on Lee County's water map: 8921 through 8949 Dorchester Street and 2418 through 2457 Chandler Avenue. The county lifted three other notices on Saturday and left these two open.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A hit-and-run crash was blocking Alico Road southbound where it meets Corkscrew Road in eastern Lee County at two o'clock this morning, Gulf Coast News reported, and the state dispatch board carried no Lee County entry half an hour later
Gulf Coast News reported at 2 o'clock this morning that the Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a hit-and-run crash on Alico Road near Corkscrew Road, with southbound lanes blocked by emergency vehicles. The state dispatch board carried no Lee County entry at 2.28.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The pilot who put a Page Field aeroplane into the Atlantic off Boca Raton on Saturday has been named, and she has given her own account of a broken landing gear, a failed engine and a decision that a full fuel load made the water safer than the runway
Faith Tenkley, 23, told Gulf Coast News she was flying her family's aeroplane from Fort Myers to Bimini when trouble began fifteen miles west of Boca Raton. Her account describes a twin engine aircraft, where the first reports described a single engine Piper.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center is carrying three areas of interest in the Atlantic on Saturday night, and the closest one to the United States, the low east-southeast of Bermuda that Gulf Coast News identifies as Invest 95L, is given 30 percent over seven days and no direct threat to Florida
The 8 p.m. outlook gives the Bermuda-area low 20 percent over two days and 30 percent over seven, and a wave leaving west Africa Monday 40 percent. There are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, and nothing threatens Southwest Florida.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A single engine plane that took off from Page Field in Fort Myers came down in the Atlantic off Boca Raton this morning, and the one person on board, the pilot, was pulled from the water without injury
The Boca Raton Airport Authority says a single engine plane that left Page Field in Fort Myers for the Bahamas declared an emergency en route and went into the Atlantic at about 10.25 this morning. The pilot, alone on board, was uninjured.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Florida Highway Patrol has carried a crash with injuries on Interstate 75 northbound near Fort Myers since 12.16 this afternoon, a unit was recorded on scene at 1.04, and the state has still not published whether any lane is blocked
The state dispatch board has carried a crash with injuries on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 126 in Lee County since 12.16 this afternoon. A unit was recorded on scene at 1.04, and the roadblock field still reads unknown.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A North Fort Myers man who was already a federal felon for selling ricin and abrin on the dark web has been sentenced to 24 years for the pipe bomb Fort Myers officers found coming out of his pocket at a 911 hang-up call
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday that Jesse William Korff, 32, drew 24 years from Judge Sheri Polster Chappell for firearms, silencer and explosives offenses committed while on federal supervised release.
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Fort Myers · Schools
A state administrative judge has recommended that Lee County end a middle school teacher's suspension over a Facebook post and pay her the wages she lost, and the school board is the body that decides whether to follow him
An administrative law judge has recommended that the Lee County School Board end the suspension of Three Oaks Middle School teacher Mariah Roller and award back pay. The recommendation is not binding, and the board issues the final order.
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Fort Myers · Media and Telecom
José Alberto Suárez, the president and general manager of Telemundo Fort Myers-Naples, was among those killed when a safari helicopter came down in northern Kenya on Wednesday morning, NBCUniversal leadership told staff
Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority says a helicopter with seven aboard crashed Wednesday in Samburu County. NBCUniversal leadership identified one of the dead as José Alberto Suárez, 55, who ran Telemundo Fort Myers-Naples, Telemundo 31 and Telemundo 49.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Florida Highway Patrol has reclassified its Interstate 75 entry at the Colonial Boulevard interchange in Fort Myers from a crash with injuries to a disabled vehicle in the roadway, and the left lane is still logged as blocked
The state has replaced the entry type on this call, from a vehicle crash with injuries and a roadblock to a disabled vehicle in the roadway. Every stamp that identifies the call is unchanged, and the remarks still read that the left lane is blocked.
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Fort Myers · Policy
Lee County is weighing a $713,000 state funding request to dredge a sandbar left in the Orange River by Hurricane Irma and realign an upstream ditch, work the county says would ease chronic flooding across an 80 square mile drainage area covering Lehigh Acres and Buckingham
Gulf Coast News reports Lee County is weighing a $713,000 state request, $500,000 for dredging and $213,000 for ditch realignment, to reduce Orange River flooding risk. Commissioners review the draft legislative agenda at a Wednesday afternoon workshop.
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Fort Myers · Elections
The Republican nomination for Southwest Florida's open congressional seat went to Jim Schwartzel by 6,426 votes across Lee and Collier, and on the Democratic side Victor Arias took his nomination while losing Collier County by 27 votes
With every participating precinct reporting in both counties, Jim Schwartzel took 26,140 votes, 29.14 percent of a ten candidate Republican field, ahead of Catalina Lauf on 19,714. Victor Arias won the Democratic nomination with 15,406 votes to Howard Sapp's 13,909.
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Fort Myers · Bankruptcy
Two Moe's Southwest Grill restaurants in Lee and Collier are on the closing list in a Chapter 11 filed by the chain's largest franchisee, which has already shut 31 stores since 2021
Quality Fresca I, LLC filed for chapter 11 on August 4 in the Southern District of Florida. Its restructuring officer told the court the company is down to 38 restaurants, six of them in its Fort Myers and Naples group, with 603 employees.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Fort Myers has booked a September 21 hearing on the ordinance that confirms a 5 percent utility rate rise for 2027, rewrites the increases already scheduled through 2031 and adds an administrative fee
City Council voted to advertise Ordinance 4107 for a September 21 hearing. The agenda confirms a 5 percent rise for fiscal 2027, rewrites the increases scheduled through 2031 and introduces an administrative fee whose amount the item does not state.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Both Southwest Florida forecast offices wrote new heat advisories overnight again, and this time each one carries a heat index of 112, the highest figure either office has attached to these counties this month
The Miami office issued at 12.28 a.m. and Tampa Bay at 12.52 a.m., both new products rather than extensions. Lee is written at a heat index of up to 112 and Collier at 105 to 112, on an 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. window.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says it has arrested a 44 year old man over the skeletal remains found in March in a hidden grave behind the county elections building, and says the elections building itself had nothing to do with the case
The sheriff's office says its Major Crimes Unit arrested Gabriel Carlo Leon-Torres, 44, over the death of a man whose remains were found in March behind the Lee County Elections Center in Fort Myers. He is charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County lifted the Forest Knoll Court notice at a quarter to ten this morning, which leaves the San Carlos Boulevard fireline repair as the only open item on the county water map
The Forest Knoll Court cut and cap was rescinded at 9.46 a.m., 48 hours and 46 minutes after its incident stamp. One notice is now open, the fireline repair on San Carlos Boulevard stamped for 2 p.m.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The man accused in July's I-75 standoff in Lee County was released by the Lee County Jail on Thursday and is now in the custody of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Jail records show Ladavion King was released by the Lee County Jail on Thursday. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says he is now in its custody, is still hospitalized, and will be booked once discharged. Nothing here affects the road.
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Fort Myers · Utilities
Lee County Utilities is carrying two open notices on its water map this morning, and one of them is stamped for two o'clock this afternoon on San Carlos Boulevard
The county's own map returns eight records, six of them lifted. The two with no lift date are a cut and cap on Forest Knoll Court open since Wednesday, and a fireline repair on San Carlos Boulevard stamped for 2 p.m. today.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Both Southwest Florida forecast offices wrote new heat advisories overnight, and this time the window opens at 11 a.m. rather than noon, with the Lee County index raised to 111
The Tampa Bay office issued at 12.16 a.m. and the Miami office at 1.04 a.m., both new products. Lee and Charlotte are written at a heat index of up to 111, Collier at 105 to 110, on an 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. window.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Investigators are looking at whether a medical condition played a part in the crash that killed a driver on Six Mile Cypress Parkway, and the account now on the record has the vehicle crossing the westbound lanes and going airborne before it landed on its side
WINK News reports the driver killed in Wednesday's crash east of Six Mile Crossing Boulevard was pronounced dead at the scene, and that investigators are working out whether a medical condition played a role. No name, age or home town released.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A vehicle fire has put the Florida Highway Patrol on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 140 in Fort Myers, and the state dispatch board carries no remark at all about whether any lane is blocked
A vehicle fire is logged on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 140 in Fort Myers. The Florida Highway Patrol took the call at 5.13 and stamped a unit on scene at 5.21. Its remarks field is empty: no lane closure, no all clear.
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Fort Myers · Personal Finance
Fort Myers police say a man used other people's personal information to apply for car financing, and the thing that stopped it was a dealership employee looking closely at an ID rather than anything in the credit system
Fort Myers police arrested Johnathan Andrew Decker, 41, on August 7 on two counts of fraud-impersonation, WINK News reports. Police say two people found their information had been used to seek vehicle financing they never applied for, and more victims were identified since.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Cristobal is finished and the hurricane center has issued its last advisory on it, and the Cabo Verde system this desk has been calling the one to watch is now forecast to be killed off by shear and dry air by late Friday
The National Hurricane Center declared Cristobal post-tropical Thursday and issued its final advisory. AL92 sits at 80 percent, but strong upper level winds and dry air should end its development by late Friday. AL94 is at 30 percent. No watch covers Collier or Lee.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Lee County is in the heat advisory after all: the Tampa Bay office extended its Levy product at 7.45 a.m. to add both Lee zones, on the same noon to 7 p.m. window Collier already carried.
At 2.35 a.m. both Lee zones returned nothing active and the Tampa Bay office had drawn its only Florida heat advisory around Levy County. At 7.45 a.m. it extended that same advisory to cover Coastal and Inland Lee, index up to 109.
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Fort Myers · Property Taxes
Fort Myers has put five ways to close a 9.2 million dollar hole in front of its council, and four of the five raise the fire assessment on every house in the city from 218 dollars to about 240
The city's own budget workshop presentation puts next year's general fund spending 9.2 million dollars above revenue at the rolled-back rate, and offers the council five combinations of millage, fire assessment and reserves to close it.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
A steel plate laid down during the Edison Bridge joint repairs has left drivers paying for tyres and suspension work, and the Florida Department of Transportation's answer is a warning sign and a claims form
Gulf Coast News reports drivers hitting a plate installed during Edison Bridge joint work, one facing about $1,100 in tyres. FDOT says it is aware and points drivers to its claims office. Its own project page runs the joint work to Winter 2026.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
One person died in the Six Mile Cypress Parkway crash in south Fort Myers, the Highway Patrol has told a Lee County newsroom, the first count released on an incident this desk has carried since the middle of the afternoon
Gulf Coast News reports the Florida Highway Patrol saying one person died in the afternoon crash at Six Mile Crossing Boulevard. It is the first count released, and the parkway is open again.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The state dispatch board that carried the westbound lanes of Ben C Pratt Six Mile Cypress Parkway closed after a fatal crash in south Fort Myers now reads roadway open, about two hours after the call came in
The Highway Patrol entry that went up at 3.09 p.m. as a crash with injuries, was reclassified a fatality, then took the westbound lanes out, now carries the remark roadway open. The type still reads Fatality.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Florida Highway Patrol has replaced the roadblock wording on its fatal crash in south Fort Myers with a specific closure, and it is the westbound lanes of Ben C Pratt Six Mile Cypress Parkway between Independence Circle and Six Mile Crossing Boulevard
The state board carried a roadblock at the intersection from 3.09 p.m. A reading at 3.55 p.m. replaces that with the westbound lanes of the parkway closed between Independence Circle and Six Mile Crossing Boulevard. Every other field is unchanged.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Florida Highway Patrol has reclassified the crash it has open at Six Mile Crossing Boulevard and Ben C Pratt Six Mile Cypress Parkway in south Fort Myers as a fatality, and the roadblock at that intersection is still standing on its board
The entry went on the state dispatch board at 3.09 p.m. as a crash with injuries. A reading at 3.22 p.m. carries it reclassified as a fatality, and one at 3.30 p.m. adds a trooper arrival at 3.27 p.m., with the roadblock still listed.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The area the hurricane center gave a 10 percent chance is the one that got a name, and Tropical Storm Cristobal formed 880 miles west of the Azores on Wednesday with no hazards to land and nothing to do with Florida
The season's third named storm formed in the central subtropical Atlantic with 45 mph winds, moving east away from the United States and forecast to dissipate Thursday. The advisory lists hazards affecting land as none. The Cabo Verde system is now at 80 percent.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A double-lane closure is running on the northbound inside lanes of the Edison Bridge in the middle of a Tuesday, and when the joint work there is finished the department will move the same closure across to the outside lanes
The Florida Department of Transportation says a double-lane closure is in effect on the northbound inside lanes and shoulder of the Edison Bridge for bridge joint work, and that it will then shift to the outside lanes. No end time is given.
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Fort Myers · Cost of Living
Fort Myers seniors at Calusa Harbour face a 1,000 dollar charge for each hurricane evacuation, and Florida's price gouging statute only switches on once the Governor declares an emergency
Residents told WINK News that Sinceri Senior Living introduced a 1,000 dollar charge for each mandatory evacuation after taking over the Fort Myers community this year. Calusa Harbour says the fee covers transport, lodging and meals for independent living residents.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County Utilities went from a clean map to a live precautionary boil water notice on Monday, after a 4 inch main break on Wittman Drive in the McGregor area south of Fort Myers, and the notice was still in force on Tuesday morning covering about fifty addresses
The county logged a 4 inch main break at 6953 Wittman Drive at 11.30 on Monday morning and drew a notice covering 6896 through 6943 Wittman Drive. It carries no lift date and is the only one on the county system.
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Fort Myers · Health
Lee County has two dengue cases this year and the state report attributes both to travel, while the four cases Florida mosquitoes actually transmitted sit in three other counties and neither Lee nor Collier is under an advisory
The state counted 51 travel-associated dengue cases for 2026 and four acquired in Florida, all four in Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Lee County Mosquito Control is testing trapped specimens at its Buckingham laboratory.
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Fort Myers · Weather
Lee County joins Collier under a heat advisory on Tuesday, the first day this week both halves of Southwest Florida are covered, with the window shifted an hour later at each end to noon until 7 p.m.
Two forecast offices wrote separate products before three in the morning. Tampa Bay carries Coastal and Inland Lee at an index of up to 109, and Miami carries both Collier zones at 105 to 110.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center has raised the Cabo Verde disturbance from 60 percent to 70 percent over seven days in its 8 p.m. outlook and hardened its language from a depression that could form to one that will likely form, while still placing nothing in the Atlantic within reach of Southwest Florida
The 8 p.m. outlook moves the west Africa system to 30 percent over 48 hours and 70 percent over seven days, and says a tropical depression will likely form later this week. Nothing is near Florida and no cyclones exist in the Atlantic.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Fort Myers Police Department has confirmed an active death investigation on Black Eagle Lane, the residential street off Colonial Boulevard inside the Heritage Palms golf community, and two Southwest Florida newsrooms reporting from the scene say part of the street was taped off on Monday evening with no cause released by the department
Fort Myers police have confirmed an active death investigation on Black Eagle Lane, off Colonial Boulevard by Heritage Palms. WINK News says officers taped off part of the street. No cause has been released.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Lee County Sheriff's Office shut McGregor Boulevard in both directions at Bay Drive on Monday afternoon after power lines came down across the road, and its advisory to avoid the area was still the agency's most recent public word on it more than two hours later, with no reopening announced by either the sheriff or the outlet carrying it
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says both directions of McGregor Boulevard are shut at Bay Drive because of downed power lines, with cars diverted. Gulf Coast News logged it at 2.58 p.m. No all clear had been posted by 5.03 p.m.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Firefighters cut the windshield out of a car to free a driver trapped in a single vehicle rollover on Bald Cypress Circle in Fort Myers, and the driver was taken to hospital for evaluation
South Trail Fire Protection and Rescue Service District crews freed a driver trapped after a single vehicle rollover on Bald Cypress Circle on Saturday. Firefighters report the car struck a palm tree and rolled onto its side.
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Fort Myers · Weather
The National Hurricane Center is carrying three areas of interest in the Atlantic a month before the climatological peak of the season, and not one of them is anywhere near Southwest Florida, with the highest seven day formation chance sitting at 60 percent thousands of miles away off west Africa
The 2 a.m. outlook gives two areas a 10 percent chance over seven days and the third 60 percent. That one sits south of the Cabo Verde Islands, off west Africa. No tropical cyclones exist in the Atlantic this morning.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Every precautionary boil water notice on the Lee County Utilities map now carries a lift date, leaving the county water utility with none in force, while Cape Coral, which runs its own system, still has two areas under notice and one of them is into a fourth day
A count run against the Lee County Utilities notice layer returns zero records without a lift date. The last three came off on Sunday morning. Cape Coral runs its own water system and its map still shows two live areas.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The crash the Florida Highway Patrol had open on Interstate 75 northbound at the Palm Beach Boulevard interchange in Fort Myers carries a clearance stamp of 8.01 on Sunday evening, and the entry has since dropped off the state dispatch board altogether
The state board logged the crash at 7.32 p.m. at mile marker 141 and never moved its remarks off unknown roadblock. A clearance stamp of 8.01 p.m. was on the row by 8.04, and two reads at 8.06 do not carry it.
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Fort Myers · Real Estate
Fort Myers council decides on August 17 whether Royal Palm Square can grow, and Lee County's roll already carries the site cut into seven tracts across 14.10 acres
The amendment would take the Colonial Boulevard project from 12.64 to 14.09 acres and add 93 apartments, against a 4 to 2 planning board vote to deny. County records already show the land replatted into seven tracts totalling 14.10 acres under one owner.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Two of the three northbound lanes of the Edison Bridge have been closed since eight o'clock last night and are not due back until around noon today, which is six hours later than the nightly closures on this bridge normally end
The Florida Department of Transportation closed the northbound outside lanes and shoulder of the Edison Bridge at 8 p.m. Friday and expects them back around noon Saturday. The inside lane stays open. Nightly closures here normally clear at 6 a.m., but the joints must cure.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Florida Highway Patrol has an injury crash open on Palm Beach Boulevard at Davis Boulevard in Fort Myers this Saturday morning, and its own board does not say whether the road is blocked, only that the roadblock status there is unknown
The state board logged the crash at 5.32 a.m., its remarks read that the roadblock status is unknown, and four readings to 5.48 a.m. carry no clearance stamp. A second Lee entry went up at 5.46 a.m. on Interstate 75.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The crash that blocked the left and centre lanes of Daniels Parkway at Danport Boulevard in Fort Myers cleared about half an hour after it was logged, and the debris the same board had across the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 a third of a mile away has gone with it
The Florida Highway Patrol logged the crash at 12.26 a.m. with the left and centre lanes blocked, and stamped it 01:01:13 with its remarks changed to no roadblock. The debris entry on Interstate 75 southbound at mile marker 131 is off the board too.
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Fort Myers · Public Money
The consultant Fort Myers hired to scope the redevelopment of City of Palms Park is run by a man whose Marco Island home federal prosecutors are trying to seize, and the city says it is proceeding as planned for now
Fort Myers paid Card and Associates 66,237.50 dollars of a 356,180 dollar contract for City of Palms Park. A federal forfeiture complaint alleges the firm's founder put over 2.2 million dollars of Indiana public money toward a Marco Island house. He is not criminally charged.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police taped off part of a shopping plaza on Ramsey Way and searched a preschool after a driver ran from a traffic stop, and everyone inside the school was found safe
Police say a driver fled an attempted traffic stop in the 5200 block of Ramsey Way and may have gone into a childcare centre. Staff and children were moved out, the search found nobody, and officers are still looking.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County Utilities lifted two boil water notices within forty one seconds of each other on Wednesday morning, and the county's active count has come down from five to three
Handy Court and Harbour Yacht Court were cleared at 10.24 and 10.25 a.m. Handy Court had stood 64.4 hours, past the 24 to 48 hour window the utility itself publishes. The three notices still active are all scheduled shutdowns, two of them for hydrant replacement.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A Fort Myers man is being held on seven counts with no bond set on any of them, after the Lee County Sheriff's Office says an emailed threat was traced back to him, and the jail record puts his hearing on September 8
The county booking record shows Adam Jeffrey Vaughn, 37, booked at 1.33 a.m. Wednesday on seven counts, among them a written or electronic threat of a mass shooting or terrorism. Every count is recorded no bond, and he remained in custody Wednesday evening.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A Range Rover caught fire on Interstate 75 southbound in Lee County on Wednesday afternoon between Palm Beach Boulevard and Luckett Road, and the Highway Patrol says the fire is out and nobody was hurt
Gulf Coast News reported the vehicle fire on I-75 South between Palm Beach Boulevard and Luckett Road, and that the Florida Highway Patrol said the fire is out with no injuries. Traffic was affected. No time, lane count or cause is given.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The exit ramp where the terminal access road at Southwest Florida International Airport meets Interstate 75 southbound is recorded open again, about forty minutes after a crash with injuries put a roadblock on it.
The Florida Highway Patrol logged the crash at 4.17 p.m. and had the exit ramp marked as a roadblock at 4.32 p.m. Two reads of the board at 4.56 p.m. now read roadway open. This item has been updated.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The storm that spent the afternoon over Collier crossed into Lee at 4.23 p.m., and the National Weather Service put coastal and inland Lee under a special weather statement until 5 p.m. with 40 to 50 mph gusts from Cape Coral through Fort Myers to Estero
The Tampa Bay Ruskin office issued the statement at 4.23 p.m. for a line of storms moving northwest at 10 mph. The hazard is radar indicated gusts of 40 to 50 mph with frequent cloud to ground lightning. It runs to 5 p.m.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
One person was taken from a burning house on Stella Street in Fort Myers as a trauma alert on Wednesday afternoon, and the fire department has called in the Red Cross for them
The Fort Myers Fire Department took the call around 1 p.m., found a working fire with one person inside, and sent them to hospital with burns. Gulf Coast News reported it. The fire is out.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Meadow Avenue house fire in Fort Myers has been reported as accidental, and crews reached it within three minutes of the call
Gulf Coast News reported on Tuesday night that Monday morning's fire started accidentally. The Fort Myers Fire Department had left the cause open on Monday. The tenant was at work when it began.
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Fort Myers · Taxes
Fort Myers set a not-to-exceed property tax rate of 7.3112 mills on August 3, and that ceiling is the number Lee County TRIM notices will carry this month
City Council voted 5 to 2 to advertise 7.3112 mills, up from 6.5. The rate can still come down before the September hearings and by law cannot go up, which is why the notice number is not the bill.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County Utilities is carrying five boil water notices, the most this site has recorded, and the largest of them takes effect at 9 a.m. Wednesday on Beacon Street
Two records are new since this site read the map on Monday. The newer covers Beacon Street from Crystal Drive to Dover Avenue and starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The one emergency repair has stood 59.5 hours, longer than any notice took to clear.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Highway Patrol has a smoke caution running on Interstate 75 northbound at mile marker 125 in Lee County, logged as a brush fire at 4.43 p.m. Tuesday
The state incident board carries a brush or forest fire on I-75 northbound at mile marker 125, received 4.43 p.m., with the remark smoke in area use caution. No roadblock is claimed and no lane closure is recorded. No outlet has it yet.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Meadow Avenue house that burned in Fort Myers on Monday morning is a total loss, and the tenant who was out when it started has been left displaced
A follow-up on Monday morning's fire. Flames went through the roof and into the attic, and heavy smoke damage through the rest of the house has left it a write-off. The Red Cross was called in for the displaced tenant.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The man accused in the July I-75 standoff in Lee County is still hospitalized, and Monday's hearing was put off to August 26
Ladavion King was due at a motion hearing Monday afternoon. It was postponed for medical reasons and reset for August 26 at 8.30 a.m. He faces seven felony counts in Lee County. Nothing about the road is affected; the closure ended in July.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Both nose gear tires on a Southwest flight out of Fort Myers lost air pressure while it landed at Chicago Midway, and mechanics changed them on the runway
Southwest Airlines Flight 1243 left Southwest Florida International Monday and landed at Chicago Midway after 7 a.m. Central with both nose gear tires flat, the airline said. Mechanics changed them on the runway and towed the aircraft to the gate. No injuries were reported.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A house fire on Meadow Avenue in Fort Myers forced neighbouring homes to evacuate and closed Hanson Street, and the fire department says the home was in an extreme hoarding condition
A passing driver reported the single storey home engulfed shortly after 10 a.m. Monday. Neighbouring homes were evacuated as a precaution and Hanson Street closed from Meadow Avenue to Central Avenue. Two cats were rescued and no injuries were reported.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County Utilities is carrying three boil water notices again, and two of the three are planned shutdowns rather than breaks
The county map showed none active when this site checked on Saturday. It now carries an emergency notice on Handy Court dated Sunday evening, a scheduled shutdown covering forty eight units that began at 9 a.m. Monday, and a third due Tuesday.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers emptied its boil water map on Sunday morning after five days, and the three areas were deleted outright rather than marked rescinded
The city layer had carried three areas coded active since Wednesday. It took its first edit in ninety hours at 10.13 on Sunday morning, and it now returns nothing at all. No rescission date was recorded.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
Southbound Three Oaks Parkway moves onto the new roadway on Monday morning, and a second change the county announced in the same notice closes Old Fiddlesticks Boulevard
Southbound Three Oaks Parkway traffic moves into the inside lane of the new roadway from Monday, weather permitting. The same county notice closes Old Fiddlesticks Boulevard at the Publix plaza and cuts Cody Lee Road to right in and right out.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers has taken all three boil water areas off its map in the first edit to that layer in ninety hours, and it entered no rescission date and published no notice
The city's boil water layer moved at 10.13 on Sunday morning after sitting still since Wednesday, and the three areas coded active are now gone. The records were removed rather than marked rescinded, and the city website has been unreachable for six days.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers has left three areas coded under a boil water notice for a fifth day, and the same city GIS account that has not touched that layer since Wednesday took an edit to its road closure layer on Friday
The city's boil water layer has taken no edit since Wednesday afternoon, and its three areas are still coded active with no dates. The city website has been unreachable for five days, from this newsroom and from an outside network.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County Utilities has rescinded all four of the boil water notices this site reported on Wednesday, and its map has shown none active since Friday morning
The last two came off at 9:26 and 9:45 a.m. Friday. Every one of the seven records the county layer holds now carries a rescind date, and the four most recent all cleared within forty five minutes of the two day mark.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers has not touched its boil water map since Wednesday afternoon, leaving Paseo, Reflection Isles and Botanica Lakes coded active into a third day with no start time, no cause and no end date
The City of Fort Myers boil water layer still returns the same three areas it gained at 4:24 p.m. Wednesday, with identical shapes, blank names and null dates. The city's website has been unreachable across the whole period.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A former bookkeeper is charged with two first degree felonies over a Fort Myers demolition firm's money, and the county's own record shows the 35,000 dollars was posted and she was released on Thursday
WINK News reported the arrest of a former bookkeeper at a Fort Myers demolition firm. The Lee County booking record shows two first degree felony counts, bonds of 10,000 and 25,000 dollars posted on Thursday, a release that afternoon and an August 31 hearing.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A Lee County deputy used a grappler to stop a car on Three Oaks Parkway, and the jail record shows both counts from the four day domestic investigation held with no bond
Lee County deputies stopped a car with a grappler device on Thursday morning. The booking record shows Ryan Corey Hillaker, 46, held on two counts, both with no bond set and a hearing listed for August 31.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A Lee County judge ordered the man charged in the Winkler Avenue killing held without bond, and said he is subject to an immigration detainer
Willian Rosa Do'Amaral, charged with second-degree murder over the fatal shooting of a woman on Winkler Avenue, was returned to court on Thursday for a pretrial detention hearing. Judge Robert J. Branning ordered him held in the Lee County Jail without bond.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fire crews contained a blaze at a Fort Myers home built in 1926 that had been divided into an efficiency, and the fire department reported no injuries
The Fort Myers Fire Department brought a fire at a nearly hundred year old house under control on Thursday, July 30. The owner was evaluated at the scene and was not taken to hospital.
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Fort Myers · Property Taxes
Fort Myers votes August 3 on lifting its property tax cap to 7.3112 mills, which is exactly the ceiling a two-thirds vote allows
The Fort Myers City Council will vote August 3 on raising its property tax rate cap from 6.5 mills to 7.3112 mills, the highest rate it can reach without voting unanimously, alongside a higher fire fee cap and a bond issue.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The private weather radar on the roof of Lee County's Public Safety Center is days from going live, eleven months after the county signed for it
A supplemental weather radar mounted on the Lee County Public Safety Center in Fort Myers is expected to be operational within days, WFLX reported on Wednesday evening, July 29.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The City of Fort Myers boil water notice map, empty on every previous check this month, was populated at 4:24 p.m. on Wednesday with three active areas covering Paseo, Reflection Isles and Botanica Lakes
The feature layer that the City of Fort Myers publishes its boil water notice areas from now holds three areas, each coded Active.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police say a person was found dead inside a Maravilla Avenue apartment and that a barricaded man, named by the department as Aaron Spencer, 23, was killed in an officer-involved shooting
The Fort Myers Police Department has released the outcome of the Maravilla Avenue scene it worked on Wednesday morning, July 29, and it involves two deaths.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police lifted the Cleveland Avenue roadblocks at 11:13 a.m. on Wednesday, after a morning scene the department described as a barricaded subject with shots fired
The Fort Myers Police Department posted three times on Wednesday morning, July 29, about a scene on Maravilla Avenue.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Four Lee County Utilities boil water notices are in effect on Wednesday morning, and two of them started at 9 a.m.
The layer that feeds Lee County Utilities' public boil water notice map held four notices with no rescind date on Wednesday morning, July 29.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Ranchette Road arrest report says the man charged admitted killing his mother, but the Lee County Sheriff's Office still cannot positively identify the woman who died
Two things emerged on Tuesday, July 28 in the Ranchette Road case in South Fort Myers, and they sit awkwardly together.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police say the man who turned himself in over the Winkler Avenue shooting is now charged with second-degree murder
Fort Myers police say Willian Rosa Do'Amaral turned himself in to law enforcement and is being held in the Lee County Jail on a charge of second-degree murder, following the fatal shooting of a woman at an apartment complex on Winkler Avenue on Monday morning.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
Southbound Ortiz Avenue traffic shifts onto the new roadway overnight Wednesday in Fort Myers
Lee County crews will shift southbound Ortiz Avenue traffic onto the newly built roadway between Colonial Boulevard and the Hanson Street roundabout, most likely overnight from 7 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Lee County deputies say a 23-year-old man is charged with murder and arson in the Ranchette Road house fire that killed a woman
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says George Beemer, 23, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree arson and abuse of a dead human body in connection with the Ranchette Road fire. The charges are allegations.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Fort Myers police say one person is in custody after a fatal shooting near Winkler Avenue on Monday morning
The Fort Myers Police Department said on Monday that one person is in custody following a fatal shooting, after an active scene near Winkler Avenue on Monday morning.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
Investigators have determined the Ranchette Road fire in Lee County that killed one person was intentionally set, and say it started in the kitchen
Investigators determined the Saturday structure fire on Ranchette Road in Lee County was incendiary, meaning intentionally set, and originated in the kitchen. One person was found dead after the fire.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The man charged over the I-75 standoff in Lee County had his first court appearance from a hospital bed, and the judge set no bond
Ladavion King, the 43-year-old man the Florida Highway Patrol charged after the standoff that closed Interstate 75 in both directions near Alico Road on Wednesday, July 22, made his first appearance in a Lee County court on Saturday, July 25.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
An e-bike rider was hospitalized after a crash with a vehicle at State Road 82 and Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers, and the intersection closed temporarily while crews cleared it
The Fort Myers Police Department responded Saturday afternoon, July 25, to a crash involving a vehicle and an e-bike at the intersection of State Road 82 and Colonial Boulevard.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
The Lee County Sheriff's Office has released the 911 calls from the death of a 17-month-old left in a car in south Fort Myers, and says no arrests have been made
The Lee County Sheriff's Office released the initial 911 calls from the death of a 17-month-old girl found in a vehicle in a church parking lot in south Fort Myers on July 21. No arrests have been made.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
One person was found dead after a structure fire on Ranchette Road in Fort Myers, and the Lee County Sheriff's Office says the scene is contained with no threat to the public
The Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to a structure fire in the 11000 block of Ranchette Road in Fort Myers on Saturday afternoon, July 25, and one person was found dead.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
A crash with injuries at Bell Tower Road and Tamiami Trail in Fort Myers shut three northbound lanes on Saturday, and the sheriff's office told motorists to find an alternate route
The Lee County Sheriff's Office issued a traffic advisory around midday Saturday, July 25 for a crash with injuries at Bell Tower Road and Tamiami Trail in Fort Myers.
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Fort Myers · Elections
Lee County pulled a machine out of service during the mandatory pre-primary accuracy test, and the supervisor has recused herself from certifying this election
Lee County election officials ran the logic and accuracy test on their vote counting equipment on Friday, July 24, ahead of the August 18 primary, and one machine failed it.
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Fort Myers · Transportation
Wrong-way detection is going in at the I-75 and Daniels Parkway interchange, part of the $42.8 million rebuild running to summer 2028
The Florida Department of Transportation is installing wrong-way detection devices at Exit 131, where I-75 meets Daniels Parkway in Lee County. The equipment warns a driver who has entered an exit ramp against traffic and alerts traffic managers at the same time.
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Fort Myers · Public Safety
I-75 in Lee County was shut in both directions during an hours-long standoff with a homicide suspect near Alico Road
Both directions of Interstate 75 near Alico Road in Lee County were shut for hours on July 22 during a standoff with a man the Florida Highway Patrol said was wanted in a fatal St. Petersburg shooting.
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Fort Myers · Economy
Fort Myers approves a $109 million contract for a police headquarters the city plans to borrow for
Fort Myers City Council voted unanimously on July 20 to approve a $109 million construction contract with Wharton-Smith, Inc. for a new police headquarters, a project whose total cost is put at about $147 million.
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Fort Myers · Economy
NeoGenomics, a Fort Myers cancer lab, will pay $9.8 million to settle a federal investigation
NeoGenomics, the Fort Myers-based cancer diagnostics company, will pay $9,813,260 plus interest to settle a Justice Department investigation into consulting arrangements it self-disclosed in 2021, with no admission of liability.
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Fort Myers · Real Estate
Fort Myers home prices ease as the region's largest construction project rises
The median Fort Myers sale price slipped to about $348,000 in the spring, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, even as Lee Health broke ground on an $824 million hospital campus that will be the biggest healthcare build in Southwest Florida history.
Lee County
Set at the county level, and it lands on every parcel in Fort Myers.
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Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs and Estero return to a 6:30 a.m. trash set-out time October 26
Lee County ends its 5 a.m. summer trash set-out requirement October 26 for unincorporated areas, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers Beach.
What it changes →
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Sanibel Fire adopts tentative rollback rate and $30.85m budget
Sanibel Fire and Rescue District adopted a tentative 1.3016-mill property tax rate and a $30,853,878 fiscal 2027 budget. The final hearing is September 21.
What it changes →
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Lee County school board adopts a $3.055 billion budget with a lower 5.271-mill property tax rate
The School Board of Lee County approved a $3.055 billion fiscal 2027 budget and cut its total property tax rate to 5.271 mills, down 0.048 mill from fiscal 2026.
What it changes →
