Rising real estate prices are making it difficult for some municipalities to recruit and retain employees. Wendy Humphrey reports from Sanibel Island where real estate prices have skyrocketed and island workers are out of luck. (AUDIO)

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A long-time Londoner— now living in Cape Coral—awoke Thursday to news of the deadly subway and bus bombings in his hometown. Danny Jackson says he immediately called family—and was relieved to learn they were okay. Jackson—a part-time DJ—works at a local English pub and belongs to the British American Club of Southwest Florida. He says Londoners have dealt with public attacks before— albeit at the hands of the IRA; not Al Qaeda. Jackson also says he’s very familiar with the targeted underground stations.

“… especially the Algate—which is a matter of minutes from where I’m from. The other areas are pretty familiar to all Londoners. They basically hit the tube stations that are all pretty major intersections in London. They obviously picked their targets carefully.”

Jackson had just yesterday been celebrating London’s selection to host the 2012 Olympic games. He agrees that event may take on more significance after these attacks.

The Sanibel City Council held an emergency meeting today to prepare for Hurricane Dennis. Sanibel Police Chief Bill Tomlinson
Says he’s hoping for the best but ready for action.

“Our biggest concern is whether the storm stays on its projected path. We hope it does and we hope that the worse we get is a little bit of wind and some rain. We’re preparing for that eventuality, but we’re also keeping in the back of our mind that the storm may change course and we’re prepared to take action if that occurs.”

Cranes are being moved away from the bridges on the Sanibel Causeway. If winds reach 45 miles and hour, the drawbridge will be closed to boat traffic and the bridge tender leaves. It’s not recommended people drive across the bridges once winds are sustained at that level. The city is stocking up on emergency supplies and making sure city employees are available to handle possible evacuation. Tomlinson says only people with special needs are being asked to think about leaving now.

“Our recommendation is that people who have special needs if they have family and friends that live inland that they move, just in case at the last moment the storm turns. So if people have a special need that they think they need to attend to our recommendation is that they take the opportunity now the opportunity is good to go inland further.”

Lee County Electrical Cooperative is moving some resources closer to the island so that they can respond quickly in the case of power outages.Hurricane passes are at the police station at Sanibel City Hall. Nine thousand residents have applied for hurricane passes this year – that compare to only 700 last year.

Almost 90 percent of food distributed by the Harry Chapin Food Banks of Southwest Florida comes from outside the area. Part of the reason is a lack of proper storage space for donated food. But that could soon change. The food bank is raising money to build a warehouse… which could house locally-grown foods, like citrus and vegetables. Director of Development – John Morill says the food bank gets more offers for food than it can handle…

“We have been offered millions and millions of pounds – literally dozens of truckloads a week of this kind of product. However we don’t have the warehouse to be able to contain that. Once we’re stabilized in about 18 months, and we can start distributing that kind of food around here and having nutrition education classes, we can begin to ship that kind of food to other food banks.”

Morril says in addition to benefiting southwest Floridians, food banks across the country would love to get ahold of more fresh produce. Besides storing food – the new facility would contain a “community kitchen”—to train people in cooking and food service. The Harry Chapin Food Bank serves people in Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades and Lee counties – from a 30-thousand square foot facility located near downtown Fort Myers. It distributes more than 4 million pounds of food to nearly 160 non-profit agencies in southwest Florida every year.

A group of researchers met today in Texas to review their recent expedition to the deepest coral reef in the United States. They ended their 8-day exploration last Friday. The trip to Pulley Ridge was the first step in what will be a comprehensive regional assessment of marine resources and habitats in Florida’s waters, including the Gulf of Mexico to the edge of the continental shelf. Amy Tardif has more. (AUDIO)

Following the fatal alligator attack on Sanibel last year, the city becomes the first municipality in the nation to sponsor a study on ways in which residents can live in harmony with the reptile. Wendy Humphrey reports. (AUDIO)

Southwest Florida emergency operations leaders held their first conference call with the media Wednesday afternoon. It’s a new way to communicate in the event of an emergency. They shared some information regarding preparations for Tropical Storm Dennis. Charlotte County ECO manager Wayne Sallade says not to panic.

“And when this forecast presents a concern for us beyond a ten percent probability, which is about where the Fort Myers area sits right now then there’s some action that can be taken but personally Charlotte County is not in a position at this point to recommend any protective measures and we would be the first to be doing that since I’ve got people living in travel trailers in their front yards.”

He does suggest people check and replenish supplies and monitor storm forecasts. Sallade also warns that Charley was less than half a hurricane – all wind and no water. Whereas Hurricane Earle in 1998 passed well out in the gulf and left a foot of water in downtown Punta Gorda.

Meteorologists say Hurricane Dennis could turn into a Category three hurricane with winds of 111 to 130 miles per hour by the time it enters the Gulf of Mexico. But they also caution that their ability to predict a storm's strength isn't very good that far in advance. At 8 am in Miami, Dennis' center was about 160 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 165 miles south of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The storm had sustained winds of near 105 miles per hour. State Meterologist Ben Nelson says it's following a familiar path.

"Just like we saw last year with Charley and Ivan we do expect Dennis to come up into the gulf this weekend. It should be a major hurricane by Friday morning as it nears Cuba. And then thereafter we'll be looking to see just how strong this ridge of high pressure is that's located over the Florida peninsula right now. The strength of that ridge will determine just where Dennis does go this weekend once it does get into the gulf. But we do expect a major hurricane at least category 3 intensity which is about 115 miles per hour at the lower end."

Dennis is moving west-northwest at about ten miles per hour and is forecast to be anywhere from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the west coast of Florida by Saturday. The season's peak is still about four months away, and Florida has already been affected by two tropical storms that brought rain and minor problems to the Florida Panhandle.

The University of Florida has started a new safety-training program aimed at the state’s 200,000 migrant farm workers. UF’s Regional Extention Agent, Cesar Asuaje says the program is being expanded to prevent fatal and nonfatal injuries among the Hispanic population.

“Most of these people have a language barrier where it really limited them to get training through the regular sections through county station offices. So by providing training in their own language we will increase knowledge and safety in pesticide safety and farm safety.”

The one-day, on-the-job training covers topics ranging from operating tractors and other heavy equipment to handling pesticides and avoiding back injuries. Classes to get licensed in applying pest control products will also be offered. The program is held in Collier, Hendry, Manatee and 8 other counties.