The city of Cape Coral is being proactive in providing safe, cool places for children to play.

The play ground at the Yacht Club beach in cape coral is closed for the next two weeks while workers install a shade cover. The newly rebuilt handicapped accessible playground opened about a year ago. It’s nice but it’s hot. Bob Burns is parks superintendent for the city.

"45 what we have is – we aware like the rest of the country is about the sun and what it can do to people’s skin and whatever. When we put the new unit in it was somewhat larger, we had to trim back some limbs so they were out of the reach of our kids, so that took away some of our shade so we wanted to come up with a shade cover."

The shade cover fits over the playground sort of a like a tent. It cost about 17 thousand dollars. Burns says they will also be installed in two other city playgrounds.

Two Cape Coral firefighters travelled to Charleston, South Carolina to honor the nine fallen firefighters that died when a roof collapsed during a warehouse blaze earlier this week. It was the single deadliest day for firefighters since 9-11. The tragedy was also fresh on the minds of their colleagues on Thursday during a training session focusing on dealing with structural collapse. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

The Charlotte County Homeless Coalition is distributing mosquito nets to the chronically homeless this summer.

An estimated 200 people live in woods in Charlotte County. Executive Director of the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, Connie Thrasher, says that can be tough – especially in the summer time.

“oh my gosh – have you ever camped in the summer – not in Florida.”

So Thrasher says for the last 3 years the Coalition has handed out large sturdy rectangular mosquito nets that can be draped over polls or tree limbs – or placed inside a tent.

“actually the first time we got them it was the suggestion of a homeless person who was very savvy and went on the computer and found a source for them – and we’ve used that source - he said it is just awful to be living outside with the mosquitoes – it’s beyond comprehension”

The fifty nets were donated to the Homeless Coalition – they cost about 17 dollars each. Thrasher says going to a homeless shelter in Charlotte County is not an option – because there aren’t any.

A group of firefighters from Ft Myers and Cape Coral were honing their skills Thursday as part of a monthly set of training programs.

The three dozen or so firefighters on hand are part of the Technical Rescue Team unit. Early Thursday they trained in structural damage rescue techniques at the old Michigan Links apartments in Ft. They went through a series of drills including setting up structural supports, entering through debris and rescuing victims. The drills were a reminder of the recent tragedy in South Carolina where nine firefighters died after warehouse roof caved in on them. Keith Cortner with Ft Myers Fire Rescue says the tragedy was on everybody’s mind.

“Do we talk about it sure? So it is in our mind? Absolutely! Can this training be tied into that? Sure. There was a structural collapse due to a fire rather than natural disaster and that type of thing. A structural collapse is a structural collapse and a lot of what we do today can be applied to that once the fire is out and taken care of.”

The TRT unit holds monthly training sessions similar to this one. Other skills the team trains on include; high angle rescue, swift water rescue and wilderness search and rescue.

Lee Tran officials are offering everyone in Ft Myers a free ride Thursday in order to get more people to keep their cars at home. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has this report.

First responders from 19 states will be learning strategies to help their peers deal with job related stress at a conference that gets underway Thursday in Naples. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

Settlement negotiations are underway between Florida officials and the family of Franklin Weekley. The 18-year-old Weekley disappeared in 2002 from the state-run Sunland hospital in rural Jackson County. Skeletal remains were found in 2004 near the facility, but despite overwhelming evidence remains were his, for almost three years the state refused to acknowledge he’d even died. Now the family’s suing; the state is apologizing; and Governor Charlie Crist has told the family there will be a full investigation. Meanwhile, there has been little said about who Franklin Weekley was, and how he ended up in state care. WUSF’s John Sepulvado has that story.

A Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy working with the Division of Natural Resources is now one of the only local law enforcement officers in the country to receive Federal Deputy Game Warden status.

Sheriff’s Deputy, Joe Ragen works as a marine officer with the Lee County Division of Natural Resources enforcing manatee speed zone laws, investigating abandoned and derelict boats and protecting the county’s artificial reefs. But now he’ll also act as a Deputy U.S. Game Warden with the authority to enforce federal laws. The agency’s Senior Environmental Specialist, Justin McBride, says the authority to enforce federal regulations will not dramatically change Ragen’s day to day tasks and responsibilities.

“If he stops someone in a manatee zone, he will have the ability to write either a federal citation or a state citation, so from that aspect he’s going to learn the different burden of proof necessary to write a federal citation. Federal citations carry more weight in certain situations so it’s just a newer tool in his tool box for resource protection.”

Until now, only U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers had the authority to enforce federal marine protection laws.

Senator John McCain made a quick stop in Ft Myers Tuesday as part of a five city tour of Florida over the next couple of days.

The Senator’s plane landed at the Private Sky Aviation terminal at Southwest Florida International around 10-30 Tuesday morning. During a brief news conference McCain discussed his take on the war in Iraq, his trailing in the polls and national security. He spoke about the importance of immigration reform in reference to Cuban immigrants who’ve recently landed on Sanibel Island.

“I understand the people who flee from communist oppression…throughout all during the cold war we gave sanctuary to. I understand the feet, wet feet dry policy. This policy is not a good one but no one knows a better one yet.”

McCain also says more needs to be done to protect the nation’s borders which include the thousands of miles of coastline in Florida. From Ft Myers he flew to Miami to meet with campaign finance officials. He will also travel to West Palm Beach, Jacksonville then Orlando during his two day swing through the sunshine state.

Biologists still don’t know why the calf born last week to a deaf dolphin at a marine research facility in the Florida Keys died after only four days. But researchers say its brief life will open new doors in the field of dolphin communication. WGCU’s Mike Kiniry has more.