U.S. Postal Service workers across the country are gearing up for the 20^th annual National Letter Carrier Food Drive this Saturday, May 12. 

In Southwest Florida, non-perishable food items left at mailboxes will be collected by letter carriers and distributed to food service organizations including the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida in Lee County and Collier Harvest in Collier County.

A Mote Marine Aquarium in downtown Punta Gorda is still in the planning stages, but the city and the research institution have already begun a partnership. 

Social media has proven it can make just about anything go viral. A record number of Floridians enrolled to be organ donors last week – all with a little help from Facebook.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network filed an official intent to sue the Obama administration in mid-April over a lack of critical habitat protection for loggerhead sea turtles.

New research on manatees indicates that despite poor vision, the endangered marine mammal’s hearing is actually quite good. The study from Mote Marine Laboratory finds that the range of pitches manatees can hear falls both within and above the spectrum of human hearing even into the supersonic range.

Even when background noise was added to simulate an actual marine environment; sounds like boat noise should be easy for manatees to detect. Yet so far this year, 29 have died in Florida due to encounters with watercraft, which begs the question, ‘If manatees can hear boats coming, why don’t they get out of the way?’

Chad Knight of Punta Gorda killed this 12.5-inch lionfish Sunday less than one mile off Cayo Costa.

The spearing of a 12-inch lionfish on Sunday by a fisherman less than a mile off Lee County’s barrier island Cayo Costa appears to signal the inevitable arrival of the non-native pest.

The Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra is looking for a new Music Director.

Its management did not renew Michael Hall’s contract.