Starting next year Florida middle school students must pass a civics test to be promoted to high school.     

Greg Martin, who teaches the pre-International Baccalaureate program at Ft. Myers High School, said his student receive a solid civics education.  They are enrolled in American Government in ninth grade.

 “It may be perceived that we’re not teaching it. Maybe some people on the street can’t answer rudimentary questions, so maybe we do need to do a better job, but it is part of the curriculum and we are teaching it,” he said.

Martin devotes an entire class period to the First Amendment. Student Diane Rivera-Ramos said it’s very interesting.

“When I watch the news I know what they’re talking about and I have an insight into the political world and when I grow up older I’ll be like able to know who to vote for and what they’re talking about like what they’re trying to do for the country,” Ramos-Rivera said.

But there is concern that Americans don’t know enoughabout their government.  

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Discount retailers  are flourishing in Florida – and stocking their shelves with lots of food items.   That’s good news for bargain shoppers  but not for emergency food suppliers.  WGCU’s Valerie Alker has more.

Having a mental or emotional illness can be debilitating on many levels. It can keep people from working, holding jobs, and being around others.

However, a rehabilitation program is aiming to fill those gaps.

Hope Clubhouse was founded in March of 2010. The Fort Myers program is for those living with severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, clinical depression, schizophrenia and severe anxiety.  READ MORE

Gov. Rick Scott’s attitude toward liberal art degrees is still drawing fire from academics.

Last month the Governor said Florida’s state universities should back away from liberal arts degrees and put more resources into engineering, math and science. In doing so, he specifically targeted anthropology. 

Scott’s daughter received an undergraduate degree in anthropology before becoming a special education teacher and later enrolling in an MBA program. Merrill Eisenberg, President of the Society for Applied Anthropology said that’s evidence that the discipline prepares young people for a broad range of careers.  

“It’s a wonderful liberal arts perspective to have on the world no matter what field you go in – so some people with anthro(sic) degrees will go on to get graduate degrees in anthropology others will go on to fields in the other disciplines but they will be well prepared by having the perspective across time and across cultures of human behavior,” she said.

Eisenberg, who teaches in the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, mailed a letter to Scott detailing the benefits of studying anthropology.  She said she has not received a response.

Shelves at the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition Food Pantry are not ready for Thanksgiving.

Director of Operations John Jay Fanning said this year resources to provide turkey and trimmings for Thanksgiving to needy families have declined dramatically. 

“Last year our food pantry gave out over 200 turkeys plus the meals between the week before and the day before Thanksgiving, and right now I don’t think I’ll have enough to be able to do a third of that,” he said.

Fanning urges anyone who can to donate food to the Homeless Coalition.   He said his turkey supply is fairly good – but potatoes, dressing and other components of the traditional meal are in short supply.

Jennifer Lee and her four year-old daughter Kristin check out the Halloween candy she brought home from school.

“Arlin was so sad that he couldn’t go trick-or-treating that I promised him we wouldn’t go either,” reminded Lee to her daughter. “No, he couldn’t go, because he was in the hospital, right?”

“No,” answered Kristen.

Lee’s seven-year-old son Arlin has been in a behavioral hospital in Orlando for almost two weeks. He lives with bipolar disorder and had reached a crisis point. The single mom drove her son three hours away from their Cape Coral home to get help. 

No matter what war they fought in, what battlefield they bled upon, combat veterans have one thing in common. No matter how hard they try, they can’t forget. Rod Clarke interviewed dozens of vets from World War II to the Gulf wars. On this Veteran’s Day he presents their stories.

They fought on Iwo Jima and in Danang, at the Chosen Reservoir and Kabul. And while the battles raged, warriors dreamt of going home.  Rod Clarke talked with Southwest Florida veterans from World War II to the Gulf Wars about what they found, when they came home..

An estimated 200-thousand veterans call Southwest Florida home. That’s one of the highest concentrations of vets in the country. For many, the horrors of war remain long after they leave the battlefield, driving them down a long, dark path of torment. Experts say every 18 hours, a veteran somewhere tries to commit suicide. Rod Clarke talks to vets who know that dark path.

Retired DEA Special Agent, Bob Stutman is in Naples this week giving talks to parents about what he says is really going on in the U.S. with kids and drug use.  WGCU’s John Davis has more.